“Do you need one of your brothers to help bring in stuff?” she asked him.
“I just need the car seat for now.”
“I’ll get it,” Carly said once her hands were empty.
“No.” His mother turned toward Hannah. “Hannah, help your uncle.”
Hannah’s mouth dropped open.
Mary Ann lifted her brows when the girl didn’t move fast enough. “Now. Your cousin will need his car seat.”
“But we’re going to open presents now.”
“Carly,” Ron called out. “Can you grab one of Hannah’s presents?”
“Grandpa!” Hannah cried out, got to her feet and ran out of the room. A few seconds later the front door slammed.
“Oh, I kind of like that method,” Amanda said before shoving a couple slices of bacon into her mouth. “Maybe it’ll work for her chores.”
Suddenly, Marc’s two sons were jumping onto the couch and onto him, Jax’s knee hitting him squarely in the nuts. “Ooof. Good thing your mom is carrying your last sibling, because I think you just destroyed your chances of having any more.”
Austin wrapped his arms around his neck. “Daddy, can we open presents now?”
“Is everyone here?”
“Yes!”
“Then it’s up to Grandpa.”
Both of his boys’ heads spun toward Marc’s father. Who, thankfully, got to his feet—albeit slowly and with a deep groan—and stopped rubbing Leah’s.
Ron moved over to the tree. “This is going to be done in an orderly fashion and—”
All the kids bum rushed him, even Greg, and started pawing through the presents looking for theirs.
Ron whistled so loudly, Marc winced. But it was effective because all the kids froze in place. “First of all, that was not orderly and you need to wait until Hannah is back.”
Greg clapped his hands with excitement as he yelled, “Hannah!”
“I’m coming!” came a shout from the entryway. The door slammed shut again and she hurried into the room, dropping the car seat at Matt’s feet as she rushed past him.
Matt picked it up, set it out of the way, and carefully sat on the couch between Marc and Carly.
Carly leaned over Marc’s younger brother and whispered with one eye on Leah, “I brought what you wanted. It’s in the diaper bag.”
Marc only nodded but his heart began thumping out a frantic beat. He hoped what he asked Carly to bring was the right decision. He wanted to make his wife happy today, not disappointed. He still had time to decide whether to give it to her or just wait.
Ron had all the kids, including Greg, sit in a semi-circle around the tree and, along with Marc’s mother, directed who opened what. The joy on his parents’ faces as they handed the kids their gifts and watched them torn open was priceless.
Wrapping paper flew everywhere, even covering Chaos, whose black and white tail thumped slowly against the floor as he watched over his three charges: Hannah, Oliver and Greg.
None of Marc’s brothers or their wives, or even Teddy, said a word as the kids and Greg took their turn getting a present, opening it while everyone watched and then showing off what Santa brought.
One day the kids wouldn’t believe in Santa but for now, they did. Hannah might know the truth already, but if she did, she still acted like the jolly fat man in a red suit who slid down the chimney into a roaring fire at the bottom existed.
And for that, Marc was grateful. He loved seeing his sons be surprised with their gifts. Life was simple for them right now and he wanted to keep it that way as long as possible.
He glanced over at Leah, who now had the recliner in the upright position. Menace sat between her legs and she was petting the Mastiff, but kept her eyes on the activity.
He never expected this to be his life. A wife, soon to be three kids, and two dogs.
Leah glanced over at him, a smile on her face and a sparkle in her hazel eyes. She mouthed, “Love you,” and turned back to watch the kids instead of waiting for him to say it back.
Trouble lumbered over to him and flopped into a crooked sit, her tongue hanging out and a string of slobber dangling precariously from the corner.
“They need towels attached to their collars,” Matt complained. “Amanda should invent something for her business that’s a collar where you can pull out disposable wipes for sloppy-ass monsters like yours.”
That wasn’t a bad idea.
He stared at his youngest brother, who appeared peaceful and calm. No anxiety, no stress, even with a baby strapped to his chest. “Look at you, brother. Landed a doctor wife, now have a kid, plus a job you haven’t gotten fired from yet. Next up is a dog of your own and then you might actually be living a normal life.”
“If getting a dog makes us normal, we can skip it,” Matt said. “Normal is boring.”
“Normal is messy,” Marc reminded him. “With dogs and kids.”
“I’m aware of that. I have three nephews and a niece, remember?”
“You’ve come a long way since Hannah was born.” Marc will never forget the day Matt was triggered after being forced to hold their niece when she was just a baby. His reaction had scared all of them. He’d refused to take his meds or go to therapy, and Max had been close to firing him. The Chief of Police couldn’t risk having someone so volatile on the force.
“Took ten years to get this far,” his brother said softly, his one hand curved around Levi’s rear end in the wrap.
“It was worth the wait,” Carly whispered, squeezing the hand Matt had planted on her knee.
Teddy came over to the couch, turned around and wiggled his ass as he sat, managing to wedge himself between Marc and Matt with a loud, “Beep. Beep.”
Marc and Matt both sighed and shifted as much as they could, which wasn’t much since four adults on the couch was a tight fit. If they hadn’t moved, Teddy would have no qualms sitting in Marc’s lap since Matt’s was full with Levi.
He loved
