“It’s okay. I didn’t mind.”
She smiled and brought her mouth to mine. “Thank you,” she murmured against my lips.
“For what?”
“For making today possible. I’ve dreamed about it for so long. Do you know what an amazing feeling it is to be bringing our son and daughter home?”
I grinned. “Pretty damn amazing.” I motioned to the door. “Let me get that for you.”
“What a gentleman,” she mused.
With a laugh, I hopped out of the door and came around the side for her. I opened the door and held out my hand to help her. “Jake, I’m not that fragile.”
“Just humor me,” I replied.
She put her hand in mine, and I helped her from the car. “Hi honey!” Laura called from the front porch.
“Hi Mom. Where’s dad?”
“Oh he’s taking Angel for a walk.” Laura hurried down the stairs. “Need some help?”
“No, we’re—” Abby began before I interrupted her.
“Can you get Jules’s carrier?”
“Sure,” Laura replied.
“I could have gotten her, Jake,” Abby protested.
“I don’t think so. Now go on and get in the house. You need to be off of your feet.”
Abby rolled her eyes. “I thought once I had the twins you would stop being so overprotective.”
I smiled and kissed her cheek. “Once you’ve recovered from the C-Section, you’re all on your own.”
She laughed. “I hope so.”
As she started up the stairs, I opened the back seat. The twins stirred, but thankfully, they didn’t start screaming. I passed Jules’s carrier over to Laura before I went around to get Jax out. As I worked to release him, he peered up at me. “Hey buddy, you have a nice nap?”
His response was to flail his hands and poke out his tongue. As I stared into his face, I couldn’t help seeing some of Abby in him. Sure, he had my dark hair, but the shape of his eyes, his nose, the dimple in his cheek—those were definitely her. Seeing a little mini-Abby made me smile.
I picked up the carrier and then started for the stairs. Rhys was standing at the bottom, grinning at me. “I didn’t expect to see you here,” I exclaimed, giving him a hug.
“Yeah, the guys and Mia and Lily wanted to surprise you. They’re all inside. Brayden’s helping Lily make lunch for you guys.”
“That’s awesome. Thanks.”
“You need any help?”
“Uh, yeah, actually I do. Can you grab the diaper bag out of the back seat?”
His brows furrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You want me to carry some purse thing?”
I laughed. “No one will revoke your man card, I promise. It’s black, so it can be unisex for the twins.”
“Fine,” he grumbled, as he made his way over to the SUV. Once he had the diaper bag, he rejoined me, and we started up the stairs.
“So where are you headed on your break?” I asked.
“As much as I’d rather be shot, I’m heading down to Savannah to see the folks.”
I grimaced as I thought of the two snobbish ass**les who were Rhys’s parents. A thought popped into my mind. “Hey man, while you’re down there, can you check in on Allison?”
“Sure. But why?”
With a sigh, I thought of how my baby sister had broken down on me when she’d come up to see the twins. She was twenty now, and she was going to school in Savannah. “Her douchebag boyfriend broke up with her, and she’s kinda down.”
Rhys held open the door for me. “Heartbroken and away from home, huh?”
I nodded. “She needs to see a familiar face.”
“Yeah, I’ll call her up while I’m down there.”
“Thanks, man, I appreciate it.”
When we got inside, Andrew was in the living room with Angel on a leash. At the sight of us, she strained, wanting to get free.
I set Jax’s carrier down on the floor next to Jules. “Wanna meet the babies, Angel?” Abby asked.
“I don’t know if that is a good idea,” Andrew said, holding firm to Angel’s leash.
Abby’s blonde brows furrowed. “And why not? She’s a part of our lives and now the twins will be a part of hers.”
Laura’s forehead crinkled with worry. “I just think it would be best not to have a dog around the babies until they’re a little older. Angel can just stay down at the barn with us.”
“But I worked hard before the twins were born to get her used to the idea of a baby in the house, and she’s the sweetest dog ever, so I know she wouldn’t do anything to hurt them,” Abby protested.
Andrew glanced over to me as if expecting me to put my foot down. He should have known that there was no way in hell, when Abby was less than two weeks off birthing two kids, that I was going to tell her no on anything, even if I thought it was the best not to have an eighty-pound dog slobbering over our newborns. When I just shook my head at him, he sighed. “Fine then.” He unhooked the leash off of Angel’s collar.
She made a beeline for the twins. My breath hitched when she stuck her nose into Jax’s face. But she didn’t try to bite his head off or anything crazy like that. She gave him a small lick on his hand before moving on to Jules. After she did the same thing to her, Angel hustled over to Abby. “Did you miss me?” Abby cooed.