Page 129 of The Irresistible One
“But I want to know if that’s okay with you. Because thatmeans that you’ll be spending a lot of time with Ellie and me. And there will be a ton more sleepovers at both of our houses, and maybe even one day soon, we’ll all live together.”
“We will?” Abbi asked.
I rubbed the toe of my shoe up the back of Sophie’s leg. “What do you think of that? Is it okay if I love your mommy? And if the four of us spend a lot more time together?”
“As long as you love her this much.” She spread her arms out wide and smiled.
I extended my hand across the table and replied, “I promise you, Abbi, I will love her even more than that.” I shook her tiny fingers.
“Miss Ellie,” Sophie said, “are you okay if I spend more time with your daddy? And if I love him this much?” She imitated the way Abbi’s arms had spread.
“You love him ’cause my dad’s the best,” Ellie said.
Sophie and I laughed.
“Yes, he is,” Sophie admitted. “There’s no one better than him.”
Once I released Abbi, I took Ellie’s hand. “What do you think of all this, baby?”
Every time she blinked, I could see the glitter had spread to her eyelashes.
“Are you getting married like Mommy and Daddy Matt?”
“Not yet,” I told her. “But one day, we might. Would you be okay with that?”
Her entire expression changed, and she swung her head toward Abbi. “That makes us sisters!”
Abbi shouted, “I have a sister!”
“You’re not sistersyet,” I clarified. “But if you were, I’m assuming you’d be happy about that news?”
“Yesss,” they both replied.
The two little ones immediately started chatting, so I turned toward Sophie. “The bosses approve.”
“Thank God.” She released a breath. “I think they’re most excited about the sister part.”
I found her hand, which was resting on her thigh, and linked our fingers together. “Maybe we should give them another one.”
FORTY-TWO
SOPHIE
“Mommy, can we have one more cupcake?” Abbi asked from the corner of Colson’s oversize sectional, the couch so big that it practically swallowed my daughter.
“Please just one more,” Ellie pleaded. “We’ll even share it.”
The girls were in matching princess T-shirts that we’d gotten several weeks ago at the ice-skating show, several sizes too big so they could intentionally wear them to bed. They were even sitting the same way, with their legs tucked beneath them, their short arms and tiny hands intertwined.
If I thought saying no to one was difficult, two was even more challenging.
“You girls have already taken showers and brushed your teeth. Bedtime is in five minutes.”
Colson lay next to me on the couch and rubbed my back. A quick glance showed he was smiling, which told me he was absolutely loving that it was my turn to play the bad guy. Thathad been his role at dinner when the girls were acting sassy over the pizza toppings we ordered.
“We’ll brush our teeth again!” Ellie promised.
What had followed dinner was dessert, and then a swim in the pool and some play time. They were exhausted. So, the last thing Colson and I needed was a burst of sugar to hit their veins before they got into bed.
