Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 66205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
“Christ.” Darius rubbed his chest and winced. “If someone had told me a few years ago that I’d find out what it feels like to miss your kids to the point where it hurts…”
Gray smiled so fucking hard. “How much shit do your brothers and Avery have on you for their speeches at the reception? How many times have you vowed to never settle down in your day?”
Darius shook his head and turned onto Mom and Aiden’s street. “Let’s not go there.”
Gray smirked and let it go, because at the end of the circular drive where five yellow houses were kinda grouped together, a door opened and revealed Jayden.
He spotted their car and turned around, and they could hear him shout, “They’re here!” into the house.
Gray’s heart flooded with warmth.
Mom’s old Beetle was parked next to Aiden’s much newer Audi, so Darius parked right outside on the street, and Gray was out of the car the moment they stopped.
“Dad!” Jayden’s eyes lit up before he sprinted barefoot down the driveway.
Gray met him between the cars and wrapped the kid in his arms, squeezing him tightly. Fuck, the boy was growing up way too fast. Five months to go till he turned eleven, Jayden was just a head shorter than Gray—but he hadn’t lost the affection of someone much younger once it’d been restored a few years ago. He still preferred to be home with his dads. He didn’t get squirmy at hugs anymore. Quite the opposite.
“Did you grow another foot while we were gone?” Gray kissed the top of his head. “Damn, we missed you.”
Jayden smirked up at him. “Yo, you got a tan. Where’ve you been?”
“In a freaking jungle,” Gray chuckled.
“Daddy, I drawed you something!” Justin was next, and their five-year-old tumbled out while struggling to put on his shoes. He was not going to waste his socks on a driveway that’d just seen rain.
Jayden moved on to Darius, so Gray jogged forward to scoop up Justin.
“What’s this fuckin’ growth spurt you’ve hit, son?” Darius asked somewhere behind them.
“How’s my sweetheart?” Gray peppered Justin’s face with kisses, to which the boy laughed and grinned goofily.
“I’m good! We’ve had ice cream with Nana every day and cookies with Pops every day also.”
Jeesh. Why did that not surprise Gray? It was more than spoiling the kids, though. Mom dove for the ice cream when she was worried, and Aiden snuck cookies on the sly when he thought nobody was watching.
“Nana buys the best ice cream, doesn’t she?” Gray repositioned Justin on his hip and spied Mom in the doorway, and she—
“I wanna say hi to Daddy,” Justin said, squirming his way down to the ground.
“All right.” Gray smiled before walking over to Mom, who had his favorite girl in the whole world on her hip. “Hi, my little sleepyhead.”
Cass blinked drowsily, rocking her purple unicorn pajamas, and her smile was just as sleepy. Her hair was all over the place, and she had sleep lines on her cheek.
“Hi, Dada…” She yawned and reached for Gray, who was all too happy to take over and hug her to him.
She giggled sleepily when he squeezed her a little too hard. “Dada, noooo.”
“Dada can’t help himself,” Gray replied. “I missed you so damn much.”
Mom couldn’t be too upset with him. She was smiling at their reunion in her freshly awoken glory, complete with a robe and some messy updo. Gray dipped down and kissed her cheek.
“It’s good to be home. I got you something.” He handed over the Tahitian vanilla, hoping it would earn him a few brownie points.
She inspected the jar with a little smirk on her face, then looked up and raised a brow. “Product of Belize?”
Gray grinned sheepishly. This was him extending a hand. With an olive branch.
“Hi, Dada!” Cass hollered.
And Darius appeared right behind them, with Justin in his arms. “Hey, angel. How you been? You good? You raisin’ hell with your brothers?”
She laughed and shrugged, probably not understanding half of what Darius had said. Their toddler was a delicate little thing, but she was making progress every day, it seemed.
Aside from lagging behind on the growth charts, she wasn’t developing that much later than her peers. It was her walking, maybe. Her steps were a bit unsteady. She was equal parts clumsy and careful. But at that age, just a little over two years, it was hardly something to worry about.
Mom ushered everyone inside and said breakfast was ready, and the kids talked a mile a minute about everything they’d done this week. Grandma and Grandpa had visited, of course. Pops and Grandpa had, with Jayden’s assistance, tried to teach Justin how to fish. According to Justin, Cass slept soooo long. They’d all drawn pictures for Gray and Darius, and they’d gone shopping with Nana, and, and, and they’d had lunch at Daddy’s fish camp!