stood as though she’d made the decision all on her own that she was finished tormenting Jesse. “Riri,” she called up the stairs to our oldest daughter. “Can you help me with my ’kini?” Then she lifted her chin and marched to the second floor as if she owned the place.
But let’s be real, she did. It was Caroline’s world and we were just living in it.
Hudson huffed beside my ear and then said in another familiar tone, “Are you sure you don’t want to try one more time for a boy?”
Alone in the kitchen, I spun in his arms and fisted the collar of his shirt. “Listen here, big dick. I have an at-home vasectomy kit in my Amazon cart right now. Do not make me one-click.” Despite my threats, I couldn’t help but enjoy the thought of another tiny blond boy who’d always have my back.
Hudson would have six more if I agreed to it, and sometimes—especially when he grinned at me with that wicked half smile of his—I considered it. But that wasn’t anything I had time to think about that day. That day was about our Jackie Boy and making sure his eighteenth birthday was all about him.
Ignoring his request to procreate again, I wiped a smudge of grease off his cheek with my thumb. “Did you get it all waxed up?”
“The Chevelle has never looked better. Are you sure he deserves it? I mean, he loves it more than both of us combined, but it seems like a lot of power to give a kid who’s barely legal.”
Maybe he was right, but Jack was also the most responsible, intelligent, and deserving young man. Plus, it would drive Cal crazy, so it was an all-around win-win for me. Besides, it would be parked here while he was away at college and we could still drive it whenever we wanted.
“He’s getting the Chevelle. End of discussion.”
He pressed a kiss to my lips. “End of discussion, eh, Mrs. Bradley?”
“I said what I said. My foot is officially down.”
His eyebrow rose. “Think he’d still want it if he knew that’s where Caroline was conceived?”
I laughed, licking my lips with the memory of that date night. “There’s no way you can prove that’s when I got pregnant.”
“Oh, I know exactly every place I knocked your fine ass up.” He leaned down to whisper in my ear, hearing a commotion at the top of the stairs. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as he listed, “Riley Elaine was our first night in this house right after our honeymoon. You were still sunburned, so I got you from behind over a pile of moving boxes just inside the front door. I still have the scar where Boop mangled my ankle when you screamed my name.”
Boop had always had my back, and Boop Two was just as vicious.
I leaned in, enjoying the story and sure he’d continue.
“Melody Jade happened one morning at the beach in our spot. Watching the sun come up, you rode me until you had sand burns on your knees.”
I still had a scar from that one, but that sweet baby loved the ocean just as much as I did.
“And Caroline Rose was in the back seat of my Chevelle after your mom and dad’s forty-fifth wedding anniversary party in the parking lot of the country club like a bunch of teenagers.”
I pursed my lips to stifle the chuckle, because I specifically remember what he’d said before that party when he saw me in my dress. In the way only Hudson could, he’d said, “Babe, someone’s getting pregnant tonight.”
Lo and behold, nine months later, our hellion screamed her way into the world.
“I still have that little black dress,” I teased.
His hold on me tightened, and he growled as he playfully bit my lobe. “You better watch what you say before this party becomes part of our family legacy.”
“Dad,” Jack said, popping his head in through the French door, saving me from three trimesters of swollen feet.
Hudson’s chin shot up, but he didn’t let go.
“Since you got the SS out, can I drive it to go pick up Nolan?”
I looked up into Hudson’s eyes and my heart grew for the billionth time.
“Yes, but no stopping to make out. Get right back. If I have to sit through an afternoon with your aunt Vanessa for your birthday, you and your boyfriend do too.”
When Jack had come out to us, scared and unsure how we’d take it only