of the ladder in a quick release and grabbed it again before falling back.
“Knock it off! I’ve spent weeks in the hospital with your sister, and I’m not prepared to go back!”
“Okay, okay,” he muttered and climbed back up, making it to the top of the ladder and disappearing through the hatch.
“You okay?” I asked Ella.
She took two steps and buried her face in my chest with a huge sigh.
“He’s fine. It was just a slip.” My arms closed around her, and I kissed the top of her head. “Accidents happen.”
“I don’t have enough energy for accidents. Can’t we just put them both in a bubble?”
“I’ll work on building one of those next.” I glanced over at Maisie, who was studying the tree house supports. “What do you think?”
“It’s awesome!” She grinned.
“Today, you’re my favorite.”
“I heard that!” Colt yelled down, directly above us. “Send her up or walk the plank!”
“No one is walking a plank,” Ella warned me as she left my arms and started up the ladder.
“There’s no plank,” I promised her.
“I think you have that backward,” Maisie called up to Colt. “We’re already down here.”
“Whatever! Get up here!”
“Watch this,” I told Maisie, pulling the net harness down from where it was stored on the tree. I spread it out with one hand and sat her in it with the other. “Now hold on to the sides.”
Her eyes lit up as the net rose around her, and she grasped the edges, hooking her fingers through the white loops. “Really?”
“Ella, prepare to receive!” I called up. I looked through the secondary hatch and saw Ella nod, confused but ready. Then I went to the pulley and started to heft Maisie upward.
“Ahhh! This is so cool!” she squealed.
She made it through the hatch, and Ella got her out of the seat. Then I took the ladder and met my little family on the porch. We were about fifteen feet in the air, and we’d chosen a spot where the kids could see the lake. The kids, who were currently checking out the cool things Colt had asked for in the tree house, like a table and chairs, a play kitchen, and a giant cardboard tube we’d painted red because he wanted to call the tree house “the Death Star.”
“This is amazing,” Ella said, wrapping her arms around my waist. “Ryan would have loved it.”
“Yeah, but he’d wanted a giant trampoline for Colt to jump on from up here.”
Her eyes flew wide.
“Well, Colt asked for a zip line.”
“From up here?”
“Hey, he’s your kid,” I said with a shrug and hugged her closer to me.
“I like this,” she whispered. “Coming home to you, knowing Colt wasn’t lonely.”
“Me, too.” I kissed her forehead. “It’s all really normal, and I know it sounds crazy, but I’m really loving normal. Spending time with you and the kids, getting you alone whenever I can, it’s really…”
“Perfect,” she supplied.
“Perfect,” I agreed, looking over my shoulder to make sure the kids were occupied before I kissed her.
Our lips met, and then Ella deepened it. I was more than happy to oblige. Our tongues touched briefly, and then we broke apart, hearing the kids coming.
“Isn’t it so cool? It’s like you’re all alone up here!” Colt said.
“Almost alone,” Ella answered, shooting me a knowing smirk.
“Almost, but not quite,” I agreed over the kids’ heads as they looked out at the lake.
“I love it,” Maisie told me with a grin.
“Then it was all worth it.”
They ran to the other side of the house, and Ella leaned against my back, wrapping her arms around me.
“Can I get you alone later?” she asked, her hands skimming under my shirt to run the lines of my abs.
“Yes, as many times as you can handle.” God, I wanted her. Needed to get her under me, over me, around me. Needed to feel connected to her in the way that only sex gave us, the moments when there were no worries, no cancer, no kids underfoot, just us and the love we had for each other.
Before she could answer, my phone rang. I reached between us to my back pocket and pulled it out, swiping to answer. “Gentry.”
“Hey, I know you’re not on call this weekend, but we’ve got some lost hikers,” Mark’s voice came through the line.
I sighed. All I wanted to do was have dinner with the kids, tuck their smiling faces into bed, and then get very alone with their mother.