Nash Brothers Box Set - Carrie Aarons Page 0,158

roll my eyes.

“Oh, you love it. And I’m going to teach all the same things to little man here.” Bowen reaches down, rubbing my big baby belly.

His wedding ring glints as he smooths his hand over the place his son currently occupies, and I shift uncomfortably as said boy kicks at my internal organs.

“Any day now, I feel it.” I huff out a breath.

If my husband had his way, we’d have six little ones toddling around by now. But I wanted to plan a real wedding after he proposed on Christmas, and it took us almost a year to save up. And once we’d had Molly, I wanted to enjoy motherhood and give her time to be the baby before we added another to the mix. Turns out, being a mom is even better than I thought it would be.

I’ve cut back at the library and only work part-time now. Eliza watches Molly the two days I’m at work, and we explore Fawn Hill on the other three days. We even do mommy and me yoga with Presley and her one-year-old son, Maxwell, on Thursdays.

Bowen is busier than ever at the shop, and in his fourth year as the head baseball coach at the high school. Between his customers and the pressure of adding to the two championships he won back-to-back in the last two seasons, he’s a constant ball of energy. There is something I never thought I’d say about Bowen. But with his schedule, he was forced, and coerced by me, to give up firefighting. I couldn’t stand it when he went out on the few calls he got after we were married. I had flashbacks of the night I fell asleep on his porch, and I don’t think I could suffer through that kind of anxiety forever.

Watching him as a father … it’s been magical. Molly has him wrapped around her little finger, and when I walk in to her putting butterfly clips in his hair, I know it’s real love. Bowen won’t let anyone touch his hair … except for our girl.

“The monster has come for you!” Fletcher runs at Molly, scooping her up biting her little legs as he spins her upside down.

She giggles wildly. “Monsta! Monsta!”

Bowen and I laugh because she also has her uncles wrapped around her finger. Fletcher and Forrest have really melted, becoming fun uncles who will let her ride them around like petting zoo animals. Forrest Nash, ladies and gentlemen, lets my daughter use him as a zoo animal. He’s really changed since falling for the woman who tamed him.

“Did you see your mom is here? Working the rotary club tent?” Bowen leans in when Fletcher carts our girl off, probably taking her to get something that will spoil her dinner.

I nod, leaning into him as he begins to massage my shoulders. “We talked for a minute. She was happy to see Molly.”

I’d love to say that my parents and I fixed our relationship, but truthfully, it’s still just as awkward as it was five years ago. Bowen and I don’t speak about my dad, or to him, and he has only met Molly once. From what I can gather, he spends most of his time in Washington, and his marriage to my mother is still there but severely broken.

The light in my mother’s eyes is dimmer than it once was. I almost feel sorry for her, but then I remember how much she aided in my father’s change. How she stood beside him as he morphed into an evil man. She could have left him, over the last five years, and I would have welcomed her with open arms. But she gave up her relationship with her child over her relationship with her husband and being a mother now, I couldn’t imagine ever doing that.

I love Bowen with my whole heart, but Molly is my everything. She takes precedence over all.

“Well, at least she got to see her for a little.” Bowen is trying to change the subject, and I’m appreciative of it. “So, what does my wife want to eat?”

“I’d love a whole plate of funnel cake, but I’m afraid it won’t fit. I’m not even hungry anymore, which is sad. This kid is going to be a bowling ball by the time he comes out.”

“I can’t wait to see him. You think he’ll be another me clone?” He smirks.

I roll my eyes. “Hopefully, my genes will stick on this one. But if he does look exactly like