“Princess, I’m going to screw up this parenting thing at one time or another. But never,neverwould I intentionally place my children in harm’s way. Never would I lay a finger on them, other than to keep them safe and protected. Not everything I teach our boys will you agree with, but trust me when I say, I am doing it for their survival, for their betterment as men. Too many people in this world will try to attribute any accomplishments of theirs to their last name. It’s my job to show them they can’t rest on who and what came before them. They will need to work for everything they desire in this life.”
“And what’s my job?”
“To make sure I don’t get out of line.”
She lifted an eyebrow, eyeing me for a few seconds. Eventually, she leaned forward, cupping my face. “Robert?”
“Yes?”
“I love you more than anything in this world.”
I felt like I could breathe again for the first time in days.
“But I promise you, I will kill you and anyone else who hurts my kids.”
Sure, my wife had just threatened to kill me, but the deep chuckle that emerged from my belly couldn’t be stopped. I pressed my lips to hers. Again, she didn’t pull back, further alleviating the ache I’d been carrying in my chest for days.
“You only have to worry about killing me. Leave anyone else who tries to hurt our boys to me,” I vowed, staring deeply into her eyes.
She sighed. “Carter asked me this morning if he could go out on the lake to practice swimming this summer.” She paused.
In a few weeks, Carter’s school year was ending as summer was beginning.
“I guess his fear of the water is lessening. Maybe he can teach his little brother how to swim.”
“Yeah, maybe—” Pausing, I pulled back, staring at Deborah. Slowly I lowered my gaze to see her right hand covering her belly. “Are you …”
“I’ve already chosen his name. Since you insist this one will be a boy, too, his name will be Joshua. Joshua Townsend.”
And that was how I found out my wife was pregnant with our second son.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Present
Deborah
“I appreciate the way that story turned out,” Kayla stated, smiling across the table at Joshua as we sat in their dining area. Kayla held a sleeping Victoria who’d been fussy and clingy all day, likely due to a little cold she was getting over.
“Carter told me that story,” Michelle said from the other end of the table. She had joined us over Josh and Kayla’s since Carter was working late and their oldest, Diego, was sleeping over his friend Monique’s house that night. Sam, who was nearing eighteen months, was upstairs, in one of the spare bedrooms sleeping. “I remember thinking that sounded completely insane.” She giggled, as did we all.
I shook my head. “Trust me. I waslividwith Robert. But after a few days, I realized it was the emotion of seeing my crying five-year-old son more than anything that had gotten to me. That and pregnancy hormones.” I glanced across the table at Joshua, my second born, but third youngest.
“Well, Carter’s a hell of a swimmer now, and he did teach me to swim right in that lake,” Joshua added.
“He’snotdoing that to Sam,” Michelle firmly interjected. “Thankfully, Diego can already swim.”
I wouldn’t put it past Carter or any of my sons. As Robert’d said, they had his blood running through their veins.
“Carter told me that was the biggest fight you two ever had,” Michelle noted.
I nodded. “We’ve had plenty of disagreements, sure, but since then, they’ve never risen to the level of me kicking Robert out of our bedroom.”
“Father was soft by then. There’s no way Kay’s kicking me out of our bed for days.” Joshua’s voice was full of bravado.
“Try that mess and see what happens,” Kayla quickly retorted.
Watching the two of them stare one another down, I giggled.
