“One hundred percent your fault for being a fertile Myrtle.”
They’d had this “fight” for years about who was ultimately responsible for them having ten kids.
“Remember after we had Colton and we said seven was more than enough?” Molly asked.
“I sure do.”
“And then somehow, a few years later, you managed to knock me up again with twins. You’re lucky I didn’t murder you then.”
“I can’t help it that you’re powerless to resist me, or that your eggs were always so welcoming to my boys.”
Molly sputtered with laughter. “Shut up with your prowess and your boys.”
“Is it or is it not the truth?”
From behind them, Will leaned forward. “I have no idea what you two are talking about, and let me be crystal clear—I don’t want to know. But I’m hearing enough to plead with you, for the love of God, to change the subject.”
Molly rocked with silent laughter.
“It’s your mother’s fault, William,” Linc said. “She’s always been this way. I did my best to try to manage her, but you saw how that went. Ten children later…”
“Oh, stuff it, Lincoln Abbott.”
And so it went for seven hours full of family, fun, arguments over who initiated the most pit stops—Charley—and who farted—Colton, Lucas and Landon in a competition for volume and stink that had everyone screaming and opening the windows to frigid air—and in-depth discussions about where they ought to stop for dinner. They settled on a roadside steak house in New Jersey.
They arrived at their hotel shortly after eleven. Hunter took care of the check-in using Linc’s credit card and returned with room keys.
“Hannah, you and Callie are with me,” Hunter said. “Will, you’re with Wade.”
“Thank you for not giving me Colton,” Will said.
“Max gets him,” Hunter said.
“What’d I do to piss you off?” Max asked to laughter from the others.
Hunter handed Max his key. “Sorry, pal, but someone has to take one for the team.”
“I made sure to double down on the beans at dinner,” Colton said.
“I have a child,” Max reminded his brother. “Who needs to breathe fresh air. Can’t we leave Colton on the bus?”
“There’s no law that says we can’t, right, Mol?” Linc asked.
“Not that I know of.”
“I’m not staying on the bus,” Colton said indignantly.
“Then I need a cork.” Max carried Caden as he followed Colton off the bus. “A very large cork.”
“Lucas and Landon are together, and Ella and Gavin,” Hunter said, handing them keycards.
Charley pumped her fist in the air. “That leaves me with my own room.”
“You get Gramps,” Hunter said, handing keys to her and Elmer.
“Sorry to disappoint you, Charley,” Elmer said, grinning.
“You’re the only one I’d want, Gramps,” Charley said, hooking her arm through his. “Best roommate ever.”
Hunter gestured for his parents to go ahead of him off the bus.
“Thank you for wrangling this unruly crew, son,” Linc said.
“My pleasure. For the most part, anyway.”
“We get it,” Molly said, smiling at their eldest. “We know how it goes.”
“In light of the reason for the mission, is it weird to think this is actually kind of fun?” Hunter asked.
“Not at all,” Linc said. “We were saying the same thing earlier. It’s a rare moment when the original twelve get to do anything like this. Even when we went to Boston, Wade wasn’t with us. I suppose we can thank my father for giving us a good excuse.”
“Nah, we aren’t giving him credit for anything other than your life,” Hunter said. “For that, we shall always be thankful. Otherwise, he can go fuck himself.”
Linc laughed. “I can live with that. You took care of Bill, right?”
“Yep. He’s the only one who gets his own room.”
“Excellent. Thank you.”
“Let’s get some sleep,” Hunter said. “And just remember—no matter how difficult tomorrow may be, nothing that matters will change.”
Linc squeezed his son’s shoulder. “That’s a very comforting thought, son. And it’s true.” Lincoln followed Molly and Hunter off the bus and into the hotel. They took the elevator to the fourth floor.
“I hope we have this floor to ourselves,” Linc said when they stepped off the elevator into a low hum of voices and laughter.
“I mentioned to the reservations people that they might want to give us our own area since we’re known for being loud.”
“Good call,” Linc said. “We’ll see you in the morning.”
“Sleep well,” Hunter said.
Linc opened the door, ushered Molly in ahead of him and carried both their bags as he followed her into the spacious room with a king-size bed.
Molly sat on the bed to test its firmness.
“How is it?”
“Very good. You know how I feel about hotels.”
“I do indeed. I believe Charley and Wade were the result of hotel stays.”
“Remember how we used to leave the older kids with Mom and Dad and run for our lives to a hotel for the night?”
“Do I ever. And wasn’t it just our luck that we’d come home with even more kids?”
“It took us a while to figure out where they were coming from, and by the time we did, we had ten of them.”
“And thank goodness for that. I can’t imagine life without any of them.”
“You say that now that we’re empty nesters. For a while, you wanted to sell them all to the circus.”
“That’s true,” Linc said, unbuttoning his shirt. “I would’ve actually given them away for a few years there.”
“It was fun, though, wasn’t it? Even during the crazy years?”
“Always fun, and even more so now that they’ve grown up to be outstanding adults.”
“With the manners, at times, of the cows who used to live in our barn.”
“That might be an insult to the cows.” Linc sat next to her on the foot of the bed and put his arm around her. “Despite the farting contest and the fact that Colton can sing the national anthem in burps, we did good, didn’t we?”
“We did great, and that’s what your dad will see tomorrow, Linc. He’ll see a man who grew into a smashing success in all the ways that matter most. He’ll see an outstanding husband, father, grandfather, uncle and businessman. He’ll see that you thrived in spite of him.”
“You always did make me look good, Molly Stillman.”
“We make each other look good. None of this happens without both of us, and frankly, I can’t wait for him to meet our ten beautiful children and see what he missed out on.”
Her fiercely spoken words made him love her so damned much. “Want to try for number eleven?” he asked, using his regular pickup line because it always got a laugh out of her.
“Absolutely, but tell the boys no more doubles.”
“I’ll let them know.”