It took the twins about a week to be allowed to go home. Demi and Luke were doing their all to make everything run smoothly, but she was awfully sore from the C-section, so Mom went to help out every evening, while Luke’s mom did the morning shift.
On the weekend, Payton helped Mom with meal prep for both the new parents and for the rest of us, because Mom, who did most of the cooking, wasn’t there for dinnertime.
I went to deliver a horse near Hays in Kansas and ended up stopping for a meal at a shopping center on my way back. Since I had nothing but time, I walked around for a while to stretch my legs before heading home. That’s when I spotted this little novelty shop and got an idea.
Payton’s expression when I presented him with his own apron with his name and the text “Mimi’s Sous Chef” was priceless. Paying for the customization while I waited was totally worth it.
The way both Mal and Crew gave me hugs when they next saw me made me feel good, too.
I had never wanted kids. I just liked horses better than humans, and while Payton was an awesome kid and hell, evenlittle Aria was great, I was just glad I could hand them over to their parents and go do my own thing.
The twins’ characters were yet to be seen, but if they’d be anything like their mom and uncles who were twins… yeah. They’d be as much the same as they’d be different. Which, I supposed, was a good thing. Kept them separate people while having the built in best friend from birth.
That was one of the things I’d never wanted. I remembered how Fern had once said that she would’ve loved to have a twin of her own. It sounded like a lot, if I was honest. Sharing everything with someone that close?
Yeah, I was fine with flying solo.
I liked my solitude, and I chose it every time over anyone but my family. Hell, sometimes even over them.
I’d been seven years old when I’d felt so damn overwhelmed one day. My siblings were playing together, and I’d sat on the porch with Mom who was holding Keegan because he wasn’t feeling well, and Judson sat splashing around in a tiny pool next to the porch steps.
Bodhi and his best friend Wren had vanished somewhere, but they were sixteen so it was understandable. They didn’t want to hang out with the little ones as much anymore, even though Wren really liked all of us a lot.
Crew was somewhere helping Dad, even though he was just thirteen. It was the other twins who were wrangling the middle kids and having fun doing so.
Everyone was having so much fun.
Suddenly overcome with a feeling I couldn’t name yet, I’d turned to Mom and asked, “Is there something wrong with me?”
Somehow, she’d understood what I’d meant immediately without explanation.
“No, baby boy. You know how we say everyone is different?” When I nodded, she smiled and leaned over to kiss my foreheadwhile holding the toddler in her arms secure. “I’ll let you in on a secret if you don’t tell the others, okay? You know sometimes Daddy goes to ride the fence alone, right? And how sometimes I go to the library?”
I knew they did those things, so I nodded again. “Yeah.”
“Well sometimes we go because we need alone time. We love all ten of you more than life itself, but let’s face it, you’re a noisy bunch.”
As if on cue, the racket made by my siblings intensified and Judson in his little pool started to splash around and shriek louder. Both Mom and I started to laugh. Yeah.
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting less of that and more time with the animals and quiet.”
“Okay.” I leaned into her arm and sighed.
I felt Keegan’s little fingers in my hair. Mom thought he’d been in the sun for too long or something, so for once he was peaceful and I liked that.
A while later, Russ had ambled over. “Hawk? You want to come ride the fence?”
Fifteen minutes later I was where I belonged: on horseback, hanging out with a man who was almost like another dad to me.
Russ understood. He liked quiet, too.
“Russ?” I asked and looked up at him.
“What’s up, kid?” He smiled from where he sat on his mare, Lucille.
“Do you think Lucille could one day have a baby that would be just my horse?”
I didn’t have a horse of my own yet, but I rode Paddy, the old gelding that was the calmest one on the ranch, the most.
