He shook off all those thoughts. Right now, they were having a great time spending the day in the park.
After an hour passed, they stopped playing with the ball and headed for the playground. The kids ran towards the slide first, then the swings. Finally, Quinn looked at his watch and asked, “Who wants ice cream?”
Of course, everyone cheered—even Aiden chimed in—and Quinn couldn’t keep the happiness from his face. After collecting everything they’d brought, they left the park, loaded up in the car, and headed to the nearest ice cream shop. Aiden decided to leave his car there so he could ride with them.
“What’s your favorite flavor?” Aiden tossed a look over the car seat to speak to the kids.
“Chocolate!” Haley piped up immediately.
“I love strawberry,” Leo said.
“What about you, Keith?” Aiden asked.
“Vanilla is yummy.”
The whole car erupted into laughter. Even though they were triplets and the boys were identical twins, they were very different.
“What about you, Aiden?” Haley asked.
“Well, I think I’m with you on this one. Chocolate is my favorite.”
“Good,” she said. Quinn heard the satisfaction in his daughter’s voice and had to swallow his laughter. He loved watching the kids interact, and he hoped that things continued going as well as they were.
* * *
After they’d eatentheir fill of ice cream, they stopped back at the park so Aiden could pick up his car. All three triplets wanted to ride with Aiden since he had the nicer vehicle, and Quinn had to play referee, settling on coin tosses to see which one of them would go with Aiden. Keith was the lucky winner and clapped his hands as he walked over and got into the back seat.
Once they were all back at Quinn’s house, he walked over to Aiden and whispered, “You could have said no to Keith riding with you.”
Aiden’s eyebrows shot up. “How could I have done that? He was so excited, and I wasn’t going to ruin that for him. It was no problem at all. He’s a great kid. They all are, and I would have taken all three.”
Quinn nearly melted into a puddle there on the spot. Not wanting to show the alpha how his words had affected him, he turned to the triplets. “Do you guys want to take a nap?” Quinn asked.
Haley laughed. “Really? Papa, we don’t do naps anymore.”
Quinn chuckled and shook his head. “Of course, Papa forgot.” He winked at her and then looked over at Aiden. He hadn’t stopped smiling, and Quinn was glad to see that the kids hadn’t scared him away thus far.
“Wanna watch a movie?” Keith eagerly asked.
“Sounds great! You three pick,” Quinn said.
“Yayyyy…” The triplets ran into the living room, and Quinn turned to Aiden.
“Are you sure about this?” Quinn asked. “It’s been a long day already, and if you want to go, I get it, because once you get to watching movies with them, then you’ll never leave.”
Aiden laughed. “I’m positive. They’re great. You don’t need to worry. Besides, we can order in Chinese or something and spend the afternoon and evening together. Unless you don’t want to be stuck with me for that long.”
Quinn quickly shook his head. “That sounds wonderful.”
“Great!” Aiden leaned in and kissed him, then went into the living room with Quinn following after him. “What movie is first?” Aiden asked, plopping himself down on the couch. Quinn sat next to him as Haley, Keith, and Leo sat on the floor.
“Frozen!” Haley said.
Quinn groaned. “Should have known.”
Aiden chuckled, and Quinn looked in his direction. “If you knew how many times we’ve watched this, you wouldn’t be so amused.”
Aiden’s smile was bright. He reached across Quinn’s lap and grabbed his hand. “Well, I haven’t seen it, so I’m looking forward to it.”
