Cadence nods, leaning in and pressing her lips to mine. “You’re one of a kind, Trevin Hubbard. I’m so glad we found our way back.”
“Me too, baby. Me too.” My voice is thick, and I’m man enough to admit I’m choked up. I went from wondering if I had imagined her and our night together, to having a family. I’ll take the latter every damn time.
“You better get moving,” Thea says. I can hear the tears in her voice, and sure enough, when I glance at my sister, she’s wiping at her cheeks as Scott takes their son into his arms.
“Hear that, baby girl?” I ask Hazel. “You get to come home with Daddy for a few days.” I’m already imagining them in my space. Sure it’s not where we’re going to be living, but having them in my home, it’s going to make this all that much more real.
“Call me when you get there,” Thea says.
“We will,” Cadence assures her.
I stand with Hazel in my arms, offering Cadence my hand. We say a quick goodbye before heading across the hall to pack.
“For such a tiny thing, she sure needs a lot,” I say as I carry in the final bag.
“Well, she needed the Pack ’n Play to have a safe place to sleep. Bottles, diapers, formula, clothes, blankets, toys.” Cadence stops and begins to laugh. “She does have a lot. I’ve never gone anywhere except to Thea’s or to visit Shelby for a few hours or to the doctor’s office. This is a first for me.”
“Well, we’re going to need to find a bigger place. She’s already overrunning your apartment, and when we have more, it’s going to get worse. Besides, there are only two bedrooms.”
“We? A bigger house?” she asks.
“Yeah, we’re doing this, right? You, me, and Hazel?” I study her hard and see the tears well in her eyes.
Slowly, she nods. “Y-Yes. We’re doing this.”
“Good. Now, let me figure out how to set this thing up in my room, and we’ll get her fed and changed and back into bed.”
“Let’s just set up the Pack ’n Play and try to lay her down. She might sleep a little longer.”
“Okay. Well, here goes nothing.”
“You watch her, and I’ll put it up.”
“I need to learn how to do it,” I tell her.
“It’s easy. It just pops open. Show me where to set it up.”
Picking up Hazel’s car seat which she’s snoozing in, I lead Cadence to my bedroom. “In the corner, maybe?”
“That should be fine.” Cadence wastes no time getting to work setting up the Pack ’n Play, and I watch, making sure I see how she does it. I don’t want to be the dad who never does a damn thing for his kid. We made her together. We’re going to take care of her together. That’s how my parents raised Thea and me, and that’s how I plan for us to raise Hazel.
Together.
“You want to try, or do you want me to?” Cadence points to our sleeping daughter.
“I’ll do it.” I set the seat on the bed and slowly unclasp the straps. Well, I try to. “What is this, some kind of torture device?” I ask Cadence, making her laugh.
“Let me show you.” She moves in close, and I step back, letting her do her thing. My hands rest on her hips. She’s standing in front of me, with me looking over her shoulder, watching her as she expertly unclasps the straps and lifts our sleeping daughter. Hazel’s little body stretches, but she doesn’t wake up, not even when Cadence lays her back down. “She’ll sleep for a few more hours.”
“Okay. Well, let’s make sure we have everything we might need unpacked for when she does, and we can lie down and try to get some sleep too.”
“Everything we should need is going to be in the diaper bag. I made sure it was well packed before we left.”
“Perfect. T-shirts are in the top drawer. I’m going to go lock up. Need anything?”
“No.” She shakes her head.
“I’ll be right back.” With a quick kiss to her lips, I leave my room to lock up the house. I find myself checking all the doors twice, and even the windows. I have two ladies to protect, and I take that shit seriously. Satisfied that the house is secure, I grab two bottles of water from the fridge and, in the dark, make my way to my room.
“Is this okay?” she asks, looking down at the old concert T-shirt of mine that’s covering what I know is the sexiest body I’ll ever lay eyes on.
“You’re perfect.” I place one of the bottles of water on the nightstand next to where she’s standing and walk around the bed, peeking in on Hazel before stripping down to my underwear. I take a drink of water and turn to Cadence. “Do we need to keep the lamp on for her?”
“No, she’ll be fine in the dark.”
“What about you?”
“You’re here to protect me, right?” she teases.
“Always.” I switch off the lamp and crawl under the covers. The bed dips when she does the same, and I waste no time moving over and pulling her into my arms. “Night, baby.”
“Night, Trevin.”
I’m exhausted from the drive and the two previous sleepless nights. With both of my girls here with me, though, it takes no amount of time for sleep to claim me.
Chapter Nine
Cadence
We’ve been at Trevin’s place in Lexington for four days, and the time has been nothing short of amazing. He’s had to go into the office each day while Hazel and I hang out at the house. He brought boxes home the first day and asked me if I minded helping him pack. That’s when it hits me that this is really happening. He’s moving back to Indianapolis. He’s going to be a constant in our lives.
“Honey, I’m home,” Trevin calls out. I don’t bother to hide my smile when he walks into the living room where Hazel and I are spread out on a blanket on the living room floor. “I missed you.” He settles on the other side of Hazel, leaning over her to kiss me, then dropping a kiss to her forehead. “What did my girls do today?”
“The kitchen is packed, and it wore us out, huh, Hazel?” I ask like my daughter is actually going to respond.
“Thank you for doing that. I know it’s a lot to ask of you when you’re also taking care of her.”
“It’s no problem. I did most of it while she was napping. How was work?”
“Well, we got it all figured out. I’ll be transferring to the Indy plant. I’m going to be the new assistant plant manager. It’s a small pay cut, but that’s okay. It gets me home with my family, and I love working for Riggins Enterprises. It’s the best of both worlds. Not to mention, Harold, the current plant manager, is talking about retiring next year. I had a meeting with Royce and Grant today, and they’ve assured me that the position is mine when that happens.”
“Are you sure this is what you want?” I know I sound like a broken record. I’ve asked him this same question every day since we’ve been here. This is all happening so fast. I just want to make sure this is truly what he wants.
“Positive. I was prepared to leave Riggins Enterprises all together. Luckily, I don’t have to. They’re a great company to work for, and they’ve been good to me. I get my girls, I get to move closer to my parents and my sister, and I get to keep working for them. I couldn’t think of a better scenario.”