“Thank God. I’ll leave the twins to you two idiots.” She smiled then, a huge, warm smile meant just for me. “Glad you’re here, Trix.”
“Me, too.”
“Sit, sit,” Casper ordered, falling back into his recliner. “Stay a while.”
We all settled into our places, with Cam and I sitting on one couch, Gramps and Nan on the other, and Farrah on Casper’s lap.
“What are you guys doing today?” Nan asked, settling into my Gramps’ side. “Any plans?”
“Probably lookin’ for a house,” Cam answered, glancing down at me. “Need a place to bring the boys home to.”
“An apartment would work,” I interrupted, glancing quickly at Casper and Farrah. “It doesn’t have to be a house.”
“Boys need room to play, Sweetbea.”
“They won’t even be walking for like two more years!”
“Doesn’t matter—need a place to settle—” Cam argued before Gramps cut him off.
“Well, I got an idea if you two are done bickerin’.” Gramps said, waiting until we were both looking his way before he continued. “Came over today to talk to Farrah about Charlie and Vera’s place. They didn’t leave a will and it was in my name—but I figured they’d want Farrah to have it—take what she wants, at least.”
“Okay,” I said in confusion.
“Farrah and Casper wanna stay here, so that leaves a vacant house right near the clubhouse. Ain’t like we could sell it.”
“You serious?” Cam asked.
“Yep.”
Cam turned to look at Farrah. “You sure, Ma?”
“Of course. Even after all that happened in this house—we love it here. We raised you and the girls here. Wanna raise the new baby here, too. If you want Slider and Vera’s place, it’s yours.”
“Trix?” Cam asked, turning back to me. I didn’t answer him verbally, but the indecision must have been clear on my face, because he was immediately pulling me up off the couch and dragging me toward the kitchen.
“What were you thinkin’ for rent?” Cam asked, pausing to look back at Farrah.
“Place is paid off. You take care of the taxes and we’ll call it even.”
Then Cam was moving again.
“What’re you thinkin’?” Cam asked the minute we were alone.
“I don’t know.” I tucked my thumbs into my fists, a nervous tick my psychologist had pointed out to me, and was startled as Cam gently raised my hands and loosened my fingers.
“Talk to me, Bea.”
“I just—that’s a big gift, Cam. That’s huge. I mean, a house?”
“Yeah, that was my first thought, too,” he replied, nodding his head. “But, baby. Think of how much we could save if we weren’t payin’ rent. You know?”
“Yeah.”
“I wanna be able to set up accounts or somethin’ for the boys—you know, in case they wanna go to college or a trade school or somethin’.” He was looking over my shoulder like he was seeing into the future, and I felt my eyes start to water.
“Plus, you know you’re gonna wanna go to work at some point, right? I mean, after the boys are a little older—or when they’re little—whatever you want,” he said hurriedly. “If we lived at Slider and Vera’s old place, your mom would be right there. You know she’d babysit. And I’d work so close to home, I could be with the bo—”
I cut off his words with my lips as the first tears fell down my cheeks.
“Okay,” I mumbled against his mouth. “Sounds perfect.”
Cam lifted his fist and pulled it sharply down to his side in the dorkiest move I’d seen in ten years… and he was the one I’d seen do it back then.
“I thought you’d grown out of that shit,” Farrah drawled from the entry to the kitchen.
“Hell, no,” Cam replied, laughing as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and kissed the side of my head. “I was savin’ it for the right time.”
Epilogue
Cameron
“Time to wake up, Sweetbea,” I called softly as I pulled the blankets down Trix’s bare shoulder.
“No. Sleep time,” Trix mumbled, scooting awkwardly down the bed and trying to stay under the covers as I moved them.
“Got a big day today.”
“Don’t care. Need sleep.”
“You sure?” I leaned down and ran my lips over the poppies tattooed on her bicep, licking around the edges. “I can let you sleep for another hour, or you can have an orgasm.”
“Sleep,” she replied instantly, making me chuckle.
“Yeah, that’s not gonna work for me.”
“Does this really have to be a thing?” Trix gasped as she rolled onto her back. “I like orgasms as much as the next girl, but your sons kept me up all damn night.”
“Yeah?” I asked, running my hand down her huge belly. Every day, she woke up bigger, and I kept thinking, there’s no way she has any more room in there—and then the next day, she was even bigger than before.
“I love you,” she said sleepily.
“Love you, too, Sweetbea. Kiss me.”
“You’re gonna have to come down here,” she said ruefully, dropping her head back against the pillow. “I don’t think I’ll even be able to roll back over.”