Our business had more than tripled in the last few years and I’d been able to buy Dad out two weeks before we found out Cass was pregnant with baby number three. He and Mama were happy to be retired. Well, as retired as you can be living on a ranch. He still wakes up at dawn with me to feed everyone, but as for the rest of it, he leaves it up to me.
Basically, life was good. I’d never been happier.
“Hey, everyone,” I called as I reached the living room.
“Dad!”
“Daddy!”
Asher and Jax slammed into my legs and latched on as I kept walking into the room. Tyler was too worn out to get up, so I just slapped his hand as I walked by, kissed Aria on the cheek, then bent to kiss Cassidy long and slow.
Her cheeks were red by the time I pulled back. “Hey, baby,” she said softly, and her whiskey eyes went to mine as my fingertips went to her throat.
Four years later, and I still needed this. And not once in the four years had she ever said a word, but now I knew for sure she knew what I was doing. Asher had always been healthy; even when he was an infant he never really got sick and I could count on one hand how many colds he’d had. I could look at Asher and know without a doubt that my oldest son was fine, but Jax was different.
The doctor had to tell us throughout Cassidy’s entire pregnancy that we had to be prepared to lose the baby because of what was happening, and then with the delivery—God, that delivery almost stopped my heart for good.
Almost as soon as he’d been delivered, the nurses announced Jax’s time of death while the doctor and two other nurses tried to make sure Cassidy pulled through the delivery alive. She’d fainted when something had ruptured and she was losing too much blood way too fast. Those moments had been a hundred times worse than the night she’d been stung. Then all at once, Cassidy’s eyes shot wide open and she gasped loudly, and Jax started screaming from the table where they’d originally been trying to get him to breathe. The room froze for a whole second before everyone flew into action. Both of them ended up being just fine and were released from the hospital and in our home three days later.
Just a few months ago, I snuck out of bed and went into the boys’ room to let my fingertips lightly brush Jax’s throat, then his wrists, as I did every night. Satisfied that my youngest son was fine, I turned to go back to bed, only this time Cassidy was standing in the doorway, with my soft smile on her lips. She nodded and reached for my hand, put it to her throat, and just watched me as I took a deep breath in, then kissed me, and we went back to bed. I thought I was crazy for still needing to feel their heartbeats, but thankfully she accepted it.
“Gonna hop in the shower before everyone gets here. Do you need help?”
“Nope, go clean up. I missed you today.”
I smiled down at her and kissed her softly. “Missed you too, darlin’.”
When I got out of the shower, she was sitting on the bed with a large smile on her face. “So what do you think about Emma?”
“Emma?” Shoot, was I supposed to know who Emma was? Did Emily decide she wanted to go by that now? When Cass pointed to her swollen belly, I smiled wide. Emma was definitely a little princess name. “I think it’s perfect.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, Cass.” I finished pulling on my jeans, then sat down with my back against the headboard and dragged her in between my legs, placing my hands on her stomach. “And how’s our Emma doing today?”
“She’s good. Kickin’ a lot. She loves Christmas music.”
“Just like her mama.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Her head fell back to my shoulder when my hands glided up to her breasts. “Oh, Gage.”
God, I loved how sensitive she was when she was pregnant too. I nipped at the place she loved behind her ear and she moaned.
“Everyone will be here in twenty minutes.”
“I can be fast,” I whispered against her ear, and she shivered.
“Gage, I’m huge pregnant. You can’t want a quickie with me, and we have people in the living room.”
My hands and lips stopped. Was she serious? “Darlin’, you pregnant isn’t just incredibly beautiful; it’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. You are outside your damn mind if you think seeing you like this isn’t a constant turn-on.”
“Mama!” Asher called, and Jax was right behind him shouting, “Mommy! Mommy!”
“And that turns it right back off,” I whispered, and she giggled.
“What, baby?” she asked sweetly when Jax jumped onto her legs. Asher had climbed onto the side of the bed and was hanging off my arm as he answered for both of them.
“Aunt Dana and Uncle Adam are here. Can we go outside and play with Abbi and Brandon?”
“It’s cold outside,” I whispered in the ear that was farthest from Asher.
“Ash, honey, it’s too cold outside. Why don’t y’all go into the game room, and when Aunt Jackie and Uncle Ethan get here with Caden, I’ll send him in there too, okay?”
“Go outside, please!” Jax begged with a cheesy grin, and I had to shove my face into Cassidy’s shoulder so he wouldn’t see me laugh.
“Not tonight, baby.”
“Mommy!” He sighed. “Said please!” Jax said, like that should have ensured they got their way.
I almost snorted.
“Jax.” Her voice was still sweet, as only Cassidy’s could be, but it’d taken on that mom tone and the boys knew there was no point in arguing further.
“All right, Mama,” Asher said, and he kissed her cheek, hugged my neck tightly, and climbed off the bed. “C’mon, Jax, let’s go to the game room!”
Jax didn’t move but he waved at us. “Bye, Mommy! Daddy, go a room now!”
I knew what he meant to say, but God, that kid was a riot without trying or realizing it. I couldn’t hold back my next laugh.
Cassidy lifted him up over her belly and kissed his chubby cheek before hugging him. How she did all that with her belly so big was beyond me. He looked up at me and grinned as he waved at me from behind her head. I kissed his forehead and held the hand that had been waving, let my index finger run over his wrist, then watched him run up to Asher and the two of them leave our room. I couldn’t help but smile watching them leave. We had great kids, and I couldn’t wait to see how Emma would shake things up. Now that I’d gotten my wish for a girl, I had only one more thing to ask for. Both boys had my black hair and green eyes; I couldn’t care less what color hair Emma had, but Lord, I wanted her to have wide honey-gold eyes.
Cass started to get up, but I gently brought her body back to mine. “Babe, they’re all starting to get here now; I gotta go make sure the food’s all good.”
“Sweetheart, you’ll have my mom, Amanda, Nikki, Emily, Aria, Jackie, and Dana here. I’m sure one of them is bound to check on the food if you’re not in there. I just need a few more minutes with you,” I whispered, and reached into my nightstand and dug around in the back ’til my hand hit the velvet box. Bringing it up around her, I set it on her belly and kissed her neck. “Merry Christmas, darlin’.”
“Oh, honey,” she whispered, and covered her mouth when she opened it. It was a set of three white-gold bands soldered together, each with a large birthstone on it, the birthstones going in a diagonal. The top had a ruby between Asher and July 15, 2013; the middle had an amethyst between Jax and Feb. 1, 2015; the bottom had a garnet and was blank on each side.
“As soon as Emma’s born, I’ll get the bottom engraved.” I wasn’t worried about Emma going into February; if she didn’t come early, Cassidy and her doctor had already decided she would be induced January twentieth. If she came sometime in the next week, which I doubted, then I’d just get the gem changed. “I know this is more of a Mother’s Day gift, but I bought it for this last Mother’s Day, and we found out about Emma right before I could give it to you. So I took it back and had them add on another ring when we found out the due date, and I’m not about to wait another seven months to give it to you.”