“He always had a book close by,” Allie told me. “I think he read every parenting book the library had to lend.”
“You read books about taking care of Leia?” I asked him, my heart going a little soft at the thought of him studying up on what to do as a parent since he had no idea at all.
“He still does,” Leia told me. “He explained the birds and the bees to me and used this book he’d been studying to make sure he gave me all the facts and details. He wanted to make sure I knew what was right and wrong so no one tried to take advantage of me like my birth mother did to him.”
The table was quiet suddenly and I could tell that Leia was embarrassed as was Rowdy.
“Well, I told Lexi about the same thing but I didn’t use a book,” I laughed. “I probably totally messed up. She seemed even more confused when I was done.”
“Maybe Rowdy should give me the talk again, Mom,” Lexi laughed. “He can use his book and explain with facts and details instead of starting stuff with ‘when you’re in love’ and calling body parts by funny names.”
I rolled my eyes at my daughter, but was proud of her helping to break the tension after Leia’s admission to our little group.
“I’ll show you the book,” Leia told Lexi. “He showed me where he put it on the bookshelf and said I could use it for reference if I had any questions I wasn’t comfortable asking him. It was really funny when he was talking. His face was so red and he stuttered a lot.”
“Why do I feel like this is just the first of many times that I’ll have the two of you ganging up on me?” Rowdy asked the girls with a laugh. “I’m outnumbered.”
“Then you and Mom should give us a baby brother,” Lexi said with a nod. “And a baby sister. I want to do her hair.”
“I vote the same. I want one of each,” Leia agreed.
“You know that’s not how it works, honey,” Rowdy started to explain.
“I know, I know. The egg is fertilized by the sperm and at that point, it’s already a boy or a girl. The sex of the baby is determined by the sperm. I remember,” Leia rolled her eyes. “But we can wish, right?”
“Positive thoughts,” Lexi told her. “We’ll just have to push the positive thought out every time we get near your dad, so when they do ‘the business’, it knows what to make.”
“The business,” Shanda laughed. “That’s awesome.”
“I didn’t have a book!” I laughed. “I didn’t know what to say! She asked me how it worked and I told her.”
“We’ll look at the book when we get home,” Leia told Lexi with a nod. “I’ve got this.”
“Oh, my God,” Rowdy propped his elbow up on the table and let his head fall down so he could pinch the bridge of his nose. His eyes were squinted shut and I heard him mutter, “I’m not ready for this at all.”
Shanda, Allie, and I all laughed at Rowdy’s pain and finally, the waitress came back with drink refills and the girls changed the subject. I reached over and took Rowdy’s hand and squeezed it. When he lifted his head and looked at me, I smiled at him. I leaned toward him and gave him a soft kiss.
“We’re a team now,” I whispered. “Remember?”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “I’m glad to have someone in my corner.”
“Oh, explanations are all you, buddy. You apparently do it much better than me,” I smiled. “But I’ll help when I can.”
12.
SIERRA
“Did you check your room to make sure you have everything?” I asked the girls when they walked through the door that joined their hotel room to ours.
“Dad doesn’t trust us, so he’s making sure,” Leia said as she flopped down on the bed. “I don’t want to go home yet. I’ve had so much fun here with my aunties.”
“I have, too!” Lexi agreed. “They said that they’d be my aunties now since you and Rowdy are getting married.”
“Yeah,” Leia smiled over at me. “I’ve been trying to tell her about everyone, but it will be easier to just introduce her at the wedding. She’s going to love Aunt Carlie and Aunt Lisa. We want to see if they think we’re old enough to babysit yet so we can make some money.”
“Leia and I are going to buy our own horses. She wants a gray one with spots and I want a black one.”
“We’ll have to keep babysitting even after we get them so we can afford feed for them. They’ll need hay and tack, too, but we can ask for that sort of stuff for our birthdays and Christmas.”
I looked up and saw Rowdy leaning against the doorframe listening in on our conversation. He had a secretive smile on his face and I knew he was planning something big. If I had to guess, he was figuring out how to afford a spotted gray pony along with a solid black one.
I walked over to him and when he stood up straight, I stepped into his arms.
“Things like that is what I want you to make sure to spend our money on,” I whispered. “And I don’t even want to hear any arguments on it, mister.”
Rowdy pulled me into the other room and shut the door firmly before he swept me up into a long kiss.
“The man I’ve been talking to about Leia’s dappled gray has a black with a white forelock and white socks. They’re both well-trained, well-loved horses who are calm and used to young riders,” Rowdy whispered when he pulled away. “We can see if he’ll sell us both and have them delivered on Saturday before the ceremony. We can give the girls a wedding gift.”
“I have no fucking idea what a forelock is or why a horse needs socks, but I’ll take your word for
