Shaking her head, Amelia looks me dead in the eye and smiles. “No. Kash.” She points.
“I don’t know why you bother.” Cora laughs behind me. The sound warms my chest, and the feeling spreads through my body. “Kash is always number one somehow.”
Sighing, I nod in agreement. “Who’s this?” I point to my favorite picture.
“Mama.” She smiles. “Mamapwetty.”
Cora smiles and takes Amelia from my arms. “Yes. Mama is very pretty, just like you,” I agree as she walks away with her. I stare at the photo a moment longer. It was the first time we had dinner at Emma’s with Noah. Over the last few years, we’ve added all sorts of memories, but I always come back to this one.
Emma saw what I felt and knew what it meant even before we fully understood. The day we got married, Daniel walked Cora down the aisle, and I had Noah as my best man. We got married under an arch of dahlias. It wasn’t traditional, but because dahlias representstrength, resilience, and beauty, I was all about my Firefly having what she wanted.
Watching her walk down the aisle to me was one of the most important moments of my life, the other being when Amelia was born. Cora was so brave as she brought our daughter into the world. I’m man enough to admit that I cried when they handed me my daughter. The perfect mix of Cora and me. Her blue eyes and my dark hair. I’m going to have to homeschool her to keep all the boys away.
Seth has already offered the use of his workshop should I ever need it again.
At eight o’clock on the dot, the door opens again. I swear we need to start locking it. Emma walks in and walks straight past me. “Where’s my girls?”
“You meanmygirls,” I correct her.
Waving me away, she shakes her head. “I said what I said. There they are!” she exclaims, walking over to grab Amelia from Cora.
“What am I, chopped liver?” I ask incredulously. I’m pretty sure Amelia is one of the most loved little kids. Noah is, too, but it feels like she’s the start of a new era for our family.
“No. Right now, you’re being a crybaby. Go get ready for the day, and we’ll see you guys later. Wave bye to Mommy and Daddy.” Emma kisses her cheek as Cora helps put her coat on.
“Bye, baby.” I kiss her cheek and tug her hat over her dark hair. “Be good for your Grandmas today.”
“She’ll be an angel.” Emma smiles at her, “You’ll be the perfect girl for Grandmas Emma and Willa, right?” she asks.
“Angel,” Amelia repeats.
“Yeah. Good luck with that, Mom.” I smile at her. “Love you, baby bug.” I kiss her cheek again and get one more inhale of her sweet smell. I never thought I could love anyone more than I love Cora, but our daughter definitely comes close.
“Bye, baby. Behave.” Cora kisses her other cheek and hugs Emma. As they close the door, Cora turns to me. “So.”
“So, what, Firefly?” I parrot back, pulling her into my arms.
“We need to talk,” she starts, looking up at me with her big blue eyes.
“Whatever it is, I didn’t do it, and if I did, I’m sorry and I’ll buy you flowers to make up for it.” I take her lips with mine, kissing her swiftly.
“Flowers aren’t going to cover this,” she scolds, pulling back with a sigh.
“Oh?” I quirk a brow. “What did I do?”
“More like what you didn’t do.” She pulls back and crosses her arms over her chest. Naturally, my eyes go straight to her breasts, but she shakes her head.
“Do you remember when we went away a month or two ago?” she asks with a tilt of her head.Boy, do I.
We went away for the weekend while Emma kept Amelia and Noah. We hadn’t been away in a while, so I surprised Cora with a weekend at a cabin. The only thing I packed for us was food and some bodywash. Zero clothes were worn that weekend, except for the night I convinced her to wear a sexy little librarian outfit. A wide grin splits my face at the memories.I finally got her to silence me for ‘talking too loud in the library.’
“Oh, I see you remember exactly what I’m talking about.”
She shakes her head.
“What? It was a great weekend, and I refuse to apologize for any part of it, baby.” I yank her back into my arms. “What’s wrong, Firefly?”
“That’s just it.” She pulls a stick out from her back pocket and holds it up. “I guess maybe we weren’t as careful as we thought.”
