I got to the upstairs hallway just as Jace popped out of his room in what I assumed was a fresh outfit. “Hey, buddy. Lookin’ sharp!” I said, trying to keep him calm after his accident.
Mara’s face popped around the corner and she gave an overly bright, “Welcome home! Oh, shoot, does she need a change?”
“I got it,” I said. “You take care of you.”
“Thanks,” she said, grabbing a plastic bag full of Jace’s soiled clothes and shaking it. “Going to go manage these.”
“Sorry,” I mouthed.
“It’s all good,” she said, walking past me. I caught her by the waist and pulled her close.
“Hi,” I cooed, looking down into her eyes.
“Hey,” she said, tipping her chin up. I gave her the requested kiss, then felt two wet lips on the side of my face. Mara turned to Hazel and gave her a kiss too. “Everybody gets a kiss. Dinner’s almost ready. Can you pack the hockey bags?”
“You got it,” I said, kissing her one more time before patting her butt to send her down the hall.
Mara took the steps slowly, and I couldn’t quite tell if it was from pain or just the pace she was choosing. I didn’t want her to strain herself, but she seemed to be handling the changes with surprising ease. While I changed Hazel’s diaper, I thought of how despite there being double the number of us I was used to, things were going pretty smoothly. Maybe it was just ahoneymoon period, but I was kind of liking having the three of them with us under one roof.
Was this what normalcy felt like?
But then, there was the sex. And we were not being very normal about that. Because of my schedule, I was gone about half the time since we got married. Mara was wiped out at the end of each day, especially if I’d been gone. But unless I got home in the middle of the night, we ended our days with some kind of quiet sex. It usually started as touching under the covers and escalated. We weren’t constantly talking like our first time. We were just feeling each other and kissing, and occasionally I was begging her to let me come.
We never talked about it by the light of day. I didn’t know what that meant. Secretly, I wanted more. I wanted Mara calling me a good boy. I wanted her telling me what to do, using me for her pleasure.
When I first hinted that I liked Mara dominating me, she acted like it was no big deal. Did she not really want to do it? Had I read everything wrong? Was that just a short-term game, an experiment? Did I not behave well enough, and she decided not to do that with me?
I was in my head about it. I knew we had more in us, and it was kind of baffling why we weren’t getting as rowdy as we had before.
Right before sat down for dinner, Mara’s phone buzzed. She read the screen and her face fell before she put it face down on the counter.
“What was on your phone?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Mara said.
“Mar—”
“God, you’re demanding,” she said with a glare. “It was just a reminder to send Christmas cards. But I haven’t taken any pictures, and Bryce took my good camera when he left, and somepeople on the Christmas card list probably don’t even know about Bryce, and now it’s the three of us?—”
“The six of us,” I said firmly. “We’re a family now.”
“Right, well, is it an elopement announcement? Surprise, we added three more?”
“What’s e-lope-ment?” Aspen sounded out.
My jaw clenched. “I’m not ashamed of this family, or our decision, Mara.”
Mara rubbed her forehead. “I’m not, either. But it does look pretty strange from the outside.”
“So, just don’t send cards.” I shrugged and sank my fork into another piece of salmon. Really good salmon, actually. Mara was a hell of a cook.
And the hell of a cook burst into tears at the other end of the table.
I fucked up. “What did I do?”
Mara rolled her eyes and wiped under them. “You’re just not sentimental. I like to watch how the kids grow from year to year. I like to show people we don’t see often how we’re doing, to reflect on our year. It’s not just about the picture. It’s reflecting on life.”
“Okay. So, it’s important to you?”
