The bartender caught my attention as he handed me the plate of wings and onion rings I’d ordered.
“Those smell delicious.” Kayla practically drooled.
I held them toward her. “Please, have some.”
“She would’ve swiped them from you anyway. Trust me, she’s good for that.” Joshua chuckled before placing a kiss to Kayla’s forehead and sauntering off.
We both headed back to the table with our food.
“Andreas, shhh,” Patience tried to console one of the twins.
I glanced around to see Aaron had stepped outside of the doorway to take a call.
“Do you need some help?” I asked Patience as I watched her struggle with both twins.
“Yes, please. They don’t usually go to new people, but—” She didn’t finish her sentence before she placed one of the twins in my arms.
I smiled down at the honey-toned baby whose eyes were at half-mast. “Poor guy. You’re fighting sleep, huh?” I cooed. “Aww.” I bounced him up and down and began humming a little. Soon he was nodding off.
“They usually don’t like new people,” Patience said low next to me. “I need to add you to the babysitting list,” she joked.
Smiling, I gazed down upon the sleeping baby in my arms. Just then, Carter and Michelle’s oldest son, Diego, passed in front of us as he played some game with Kyle.
“How old is he?”
“Nine,” came Michelle’s answer as she sat down in the seat to my right. “Going on twenty-five.”
We all laughed. But soon enough I found myself staring at the children in awe, a heaviness settling over my heart. It took me back to the conversation I’d had with Tyler the previous week in which he’d told me about him saving his income to pass to his own family.
“I need to get something to drink.”
“I got him.” Aaron’s voice sounded above me as he reached down, plucking his son from my arms.
I didn’t have time to even ask where he’d come from. I was on my feet and heading to the bar before I gave it much thought. I didn’t order anything—instead, just standing off to the side, trying to get my bearings underneath me. I wasn’t usually this emotional but being surrounded by all these children and babies …
“I know that expression.”
I looked up to find Tyler’s mother standing only a few inches from me. Her eyes dipped to my hand that rested on my abdomen.
“I’ve worn that expression. The look of mourning only a mother could wear.”
All of the air escaped my lungs. I clenched my teeth and shook my head. “I-I wasn’t a mom. H-he wasn’t even born yet,” I stated, honestly not understanding what’d made me share this with this woman who was a practical stranger. Save for the fact, that she’d raised the man who I was sure I was falling in love with.
Deborah Townsend moved in front of me, taking my hands into hers. “You were.” She nodded before pulling me into a warm hug. It was the type of hug I’d wanted to get from my own mother but I was more her comforter than the other way around for the last six years.
“I needed that,” I stated, when she pulled back.
She took my chin in between her thumb and forefinger. “I know.” She smiled. “Game’s about to restart.”
I inhaled and watched Deborah Townsend head back to where she had been sitting next to her husband during the first half of the game. I ordered a water with lemon from the bar and then resumed my previous seat to watch the Cougars beat the Broncos twenty-one to ten.
****
Tyler
“I really should kick your ass,” Destiny growled at me as I strolled down the hall toward the elevator bank that led up to my penthouse condo.
“How’re you going to do that when you’re not even standing?” I questioned, nuzzling my face in the side of her neck, while I firmly held her in my arms.
