Ichabod stared into his eyes, watching him closely. “Taking the job. For showing up and being you. For letting me believe I could fall in love again.”
He kissed Ichabod nice and deep and slow. “I’m here for the long haul. Thankyoufor trusting me with the kids. And your love.” Words could be tough for him, but they were important, and he knew Ichabod needed to hear them.
“We’re going to be good, man. Trust me. I love being part of a couple. I love being part of an us. I love you.” Ichabod took a deep, hard kiss, flavored with hops.
“Mmm. I love you. And this is our first Christmas. You think the kids will freak out over the animals and the car?”
“I think so. We’ll be insane tomorrow night, with worried puppies and a new filly…”
He nodded, but it was going to be amazing. Two black-mouthed cur puppies would be great with the kids and stunning ranch dogs to boot.
“We got this.” He hoped so, anyway. And Dad would help once he rested up.
“As much as we have anything, yeah.” Ichabod leaned back, then handed him the remote. “Come on, babe. Let’s watch a movie. Have a beer. Have our last puppy-free night that we’re going to have for the next two years.”
“Yeah, maybe by the time they’re grown up, we’ll get to have another kid…”
Ichabod stared at him, “Watch your mouth. Four is a lot of children, a lot! And in two years, Chrissy will be in school, and we will have so many hours every day to do work.”
He chuckled. Fact was, he wouldn’t argue against having another kid. Man, in two years, he’d have convinced this man to marry him.
It was all going to work out.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Bell. Belly, Bell, Bell.”
Ichabod heard Allie whispering, and he opened one eye enough to see her in the gloom of the early morning. She had her nose pressed to Ellis’s, and she was shaking his shoulders.
He tried not to snort or snuffle, but the laughter wanted to come.
“There’s something on my face,” Ellis murmured, humor strong in his voice.
“Bell, Santa has been here. Bell, there’s something moving on the porch. Bell, it’s barking. We have to go see what it is, okay? Come on, Santa has come.” She stared at him and at Ichabod. “Daddy, we have to go see. Chrissy’s awake. So is Michael. The sign on the door says, ‘Don’t go out.’ He said so. But please. Please there’s something on the porch. I think Mavis might even have to pee.”
Ichabod couldn’t help his laugh for love or money. There was no way. She was so cute and so smart. “All right, give us a second. We’ve got to wait for Zane and Grandpa Joe.”
“Right, Bob-a-Joe. I’ll go get him.” And then she disappeared, bare feet running down the hall.
“Well, I reckon it’s a good thing Dad’s an early riser.” Ellis kissed him before rolling out of bed. “Christ on a sparkly birthday crutch, it’s cold.”
“Mmhmm.” They’d had a great Christmas Eve yesterday—and the puppies and horse were delivered at ten p.m.. They’d been up and down with them all night, but they’d finally gotten the puppies asleep in the warm covered porch around five.
Finally.
Three hours was not enough sleep…
He staggered out of bed, watching Ellis hunt clothes, laughing as his lover hopped around to get pants on.
“Your dangly bits are dangling, love.”
“At least on yours, I would be able to attach a jingle bell on the ring.”
Ichabod cracked up. “Hand me my glasses, you goof. No talking about penises on Christmas morning.”
“You started it!”
“I know!”
