“Where do I start?” I smiled tenderly, reaching over to stroke his bearded jaw. I decided to settle on the easiest answer. “For everything.”
He lifted my hand to kiss my knuckles. “Always, baby.”
“Always,” I agreed.
Despite everything, I felt like the luckiest girl in the whole world.
Chapter 20
“Did you, uh, cook the eggs?” Ry asked cautiously the next morning. I’d wanted to cook breakfast for the guys but my culinary skills still required some practice evidently.
“Yeah, why?” I asked, leaning over to look at my handiwork on their plates. Maddox babbled in my arms and I moved him to my other hip. He was getting so big.
The eggs did look slightly runny, but last time I’d overcooked them.
Dammit.
Axel shot him a glare but Ryker threw up his hands in reply. “Dude, I know she’s your wife and I love her like a sister, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let her poison me!”
I rolled my eyes, shoving a box of cereal at him and tried not to take it personally when Axel was the first to reach for it.
He pulled me over so I stood between his muscular thighs with Maddox cradled in my arms. “You wanna start on Mad’s room today?” His eyes burned with an intensity that was now familiar but no less butterfly-inducing.
“Yeah,” I agreed softly.
He tweaked the rings on my left hand and grinned. “That’s good, babe. I think I’ll even have another set of hands with this knucklehead.” He hooked a thumb in Ry’s direction.
“Great,” Ry muttered as he shoved a huge bite of cereal into his mouth.
As it turned out, we had more help than we needed. Sal and Cole stopped by to check on things and stayed to help dismantle the office. Scarlet and Connie offered to stay with Mad and Gracie while Kat and I went into town to buy some new things for the nursery with Mack and Wes in tow.
The image of Wes and Mack folding their big bodies into the rocking chairs at the front of the children’s store while we shopped would be permanently burned into my mind. Perfect material for whenever I’d need a quick laugh – for the next twenty years.
“What are you guys going to do for Thanksgiving?” Kat asked as we sifted through racks of baby clothes. We’d picked out the furniture for the room relatively quickly and had soon grown distracted with the tiny clothing for Kat’s little one.
I grimaced. “Well, if I wanted to punish Ax, I could cook.” I hadn’t given the holiday much thought despite it being just a few weeks away.
She laughed. “Well, I think Scar is planning to host. You guys should come. Invite Jill.”
“I’ll talk to her,” I nodded.
“I’ll make sure Cal is coming.” She winked as though I was in on the secret.
My brows knit with confusion. “Why would you do that?”
She looked at me with wide eyes. “He’s sweet on her,” she replied as though I were daft.
“I didn’t notice,” I admitted, embarrassed at how little attention I’d obviously been paying my best friend. Clearly, I needed to rectify that. “She’s going through some stuff; I don’t know if…” I trailed off.
“He knows,” she interjected with assurance.
How?
“I’ve been a terrible friend,” I shook my head with a grimace.
“You’ve been through some serious shit, girl. Cut yourself some slack,” Kat admonished, linking her arm through mine and towing me toward the register.
“Finally,” Wes muttered.
“Hey, this’ll be you someday,” Kat retorted, gesturing to all the baby clothes she cradled.
He had a moment of wide-eyed acknowledgement. “Fuck me,” he muttered, shaking his head.
“Well, that won’t bring a baby around anytime soon,” Kat replied with a wink in my direction.
“Christ, you chicks love to bust my fucking balls,” he retorted as I fought my struggle and let the laugh I’d been fighting burst out.
Mack’s deep-throated chuckle filled the space as he got a good laugh at Wes’ expense.
By the time we got home, I was impressed with how much work they’d done. The guys had all cleared out except for Ryker. The office was completely empty and Axel was painting it a beautiful grey-blue.
“Get what you needed?” he asked when he saw me standing in the doorway.
“Yeah,” I smiled. “Looks good in here. The delivery folks will be bringing everything up shortly. It was all in stock.”
“Good,” he nodded, looking thoughtfully at the wall. “You know, I never thought to ask if you wanted to stay here. This was my place that I rebuilt with Ry. It has meaning to me but…” he trailed off.
I moved into the room, wrapping arms around him from behind. “This is the first real home I’ve ever known. I love it,” I assured him.
“I’m glad,” he nodded, turning in my arms and laying his lips over mine.
“I wouldn’t mind doing some updating though?” I mentioned hesitantly against his lips.
He chuckled. “Yeah, babe, we can do that. We’ll have to expand someday, too,” he winked, smacking my ass as I headed back out of the room.
“Right, for that football team you want to have.” I rolled my eyes with a smile.
“Damn straight,” he nodded.
The next few days felt like a tense waiting game. There was still no news on my father – the authorities were still looking for him. Axel was still on high alert with eyes on the house.
We finished the nursery and moved on to the master. The space that had always felt like home became something more. It became an oasis that I had put my own mark on. Putting Mad to bed every night in his beautiful room gave me a sense of peace I hadn’t realized I’d been missing.
We kept up my driving lessons. I convinced Axel to let me practice on something smaller and we’d borrowed Connie’s car a few times. I was much more confident than the first time I’d gotten behind the wheel.
If I could only learn not to burn everything I tried to cook, I’d be in pretty good shape.
Axel liked to tease me that miracles didn’t happen overnight.
After many failed attempts, I ended up with something close enough to resembling pumpkin pie to bring to Thanksgiving dinner. It certainly wouldn’t win any contests but at least it wouldn’t kill anybody, hopefully.
Cole and Scarlet’s house was packed with club members and their families as the smell of the holiday permeated the air.
“Here,” I handed Scar my pie with a grimace. “It’s the thought that counts, right?”
“Right,” she nodded with a laugh, wrapping me in a one-armed hug.
The meal was delicious, the mood raucous and light in a way it hadn’t been in several days. I watched Cal lean over and talk to Jill from my place across the table. Every time he spoke to her, which was often, her face flushed. She seemed hesitant to engage him, but there was something going on there.
“You’re staring,” Axel reprimanded me with a quiet chuckle.
“Fine,” I grumbled, looking away from my source of curiosity and locking eyes with my husband. His beautiful eyes gleamed back at me. “I like staring at you better,” I smiled.