Unexpected Fall (Unexpected Arrivals 3)

“Is that what you want?” It’s important to me that she has her special day. I know it won’t be the same without her parents or sister, but it still needs to be a day she will always remember.

“Sure.” She shrugs.

“No.”

Her head whips up. “No?”

“Nope. Not with a reply like sure. I want this day to be all you hoped it would be. I know it’s going to be hard as hell for you, but we’re a family, us and Daisy. You deserve a day of your dreams to celebrate that. So yeah, my answer is no. Try again.”

“You’re… let me think about it,” she concedes.

“Better. Now eat before it gets cold. I have something I want to show you.”

“There’s more?”

“Yep. It was my backup plan,” I admit.

“Backup plan?”

“Yeah, in case you said no. A man’s always gotta have a backup plan to win over his girls.”

“You’re too much.” She smiles, and it warms me from the inside out.

We finish eating, then clean up the kitchen. I can’t help but think that I’m glad that I got to propose here instead of at the hospital like I had planned. I hate that she lost her sister so soon after her parents, but I’m glad I could be there for her.

“You ready?” I ask her.

“Yes.” She sits up straighter on the couch and watches me as I stand.

“So, I thought if you said no, I would have this big reveal to prove to you that I was all in, but since you said yes, I’ve got nothing so I’m just going to show you.”

“Enough already. Let me see. Where is it?” Her eyes scan the room.

“Close your eyes.”

“Mark,” she groans.

“Close ’em, baby.”

“Fine.”

I wait until her eyes are closed to remove my shirt. Turning, I stand with my back to her. “Open,” I say. I stand still, letting her look at my back. I have lots of ink, but there was still some real estate on my back, and my girls have now claimed that spot.

“Pixie?” I ask when I hear nothing.

“I don’t, I mean, when did you? Mark, this is amazing,” she says and her voice grows closer. “When did you do this?”

“Earlier this week. It’s still healing, but you can make it out, right?”

She laughs. It’s a light and airy beautiful sound that fills our home. “Yeah,” she says with a tremble in her voice. “It’s easy to see the daisies growing in the dawn of day. This is incredible and no one has ever—” She chokes on a sob.

I turn to face her. “I love you. Both of you. You both already own my heart. I thought it was only fitting to have you etched into my skin as well.”

“It’s beautiful and incredible, and I— Turn around so I can see it again,” she says, making me laugh. Her arms wrap around me from behind and she rests her head against my back, the side opposite my tattoo. “I love you, Marcus Adams.”

“I love you too, future Mrs. Adams, and our daughter.” Moving us to the couch, I kiss her as if my last breath depends on it.

Daisy wakes up soon after so we cuddle with her before it’s time for a bath, another bottle, and bed. I want to ravish my fiancée, but we’re both exhausted. We fall into bed with full bellies and full hearts, and let sleep claim us. It was the perfect night at home with my family.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Dawn

Life is passing by like a freight train. Daisy turned three-months-old last week. It’s hard to believe. My sweet baby girl is growing and thriving. She smiles constantly, and she has Mark and I both wrapped around her little finger. However, it’s not just us. Mark’s parents are just as bad as we are. Theresa has always been a stay-at-home mom and has volunteered to watch her for us. She refuses to let us pay her so we do other things like this weekend. It’s Labor Day, and we got them a weekend away at a bed-and-breakfast a couple of hours away. Their friends Jim and Tammy are going with them.

They took to her as their granddaughter without question. Theresa even went as far as to pull me aside and assure me that she will love her for my parents and her, and that we’ll keep their memory alive. Of course, I cried. I’ve cried more tears in the last year than I have my entire life. Each day it gets a little easier, but there will always be a hole in my heart that they left behind.

I’m in the kitchen packing up some bottles for our outing today. We’re headed to Tyler and Reagan’s for a cookout.

“Phew-ee baby girl, what have you been eating?” I hear through the monitor and stifle my laughter so I can hear more. “Bleh,” he says, and I have to put my hand over my mouth. “Ew, you’re stinky,” he says, in the voice he uses just for her. I hear baby laughter, which is new. “You think this is funny? Daddy needs a clothespin,” he tells her.

I stand here and listen until I hear him tell her it’s time to come and find me. I get back to work packing up the extra bottles for the day.

“What can I do?” he asks, holding Daisy in his arms.

“I’m good, just packing up some extra bottles and formula.”

“This one,” he says, jostling her in his arms and making her smile, “she about stunk up the entire house.”

“Did she?” I ask as if I didn’t hear him.

He shudders. “How can someone so tiny and so cute produce that?” he asks as if he’s truly appalled.

“You’ve smelled the formula she eats, right?”

“When can we give her baby food again?”

“Not for a few more months, but that’s not much better.”

“When is she out of diapers?”

I throw my head back and laugh. “We have lots of months before that happens.”

“What? Like seven?”

“Usually two and a half to three. Kendall started Knox at two and a half.”

“So, years, that’s what you meant to say.”

“Pretty much.”

“Damn,” he mutters under his breath.

“Still want to add to this brood?” I ask him, remembering his proposal and the promise of brothers and sisters for Daisy.

“Pft, you think a few sh— poopy diapers are going to keep me from knocking you up? Think again, beautiful.” He leans down and kisses the corner of my mouth, and Daisy squeals her delight.

There’s not really anything I can say to that, so I don’t. I focus on closing up the diaper bag after another check that we have diapers, wipes, clothes, blanket, binky, and the rest of the items on my list.

“Pack ’n Play is in the back of your SUV,” Mark says, coming in from the garage, Daisy still in his arms.

“She’s going to be spoiled if you keep packing her around like that.”

&nbs

p; “Okay?”

“Okay,” I repeat. “We don’t want her to cry because she wants to be held.”

“If she wants to be held, I’ll hold her.”

“What if it’s at 2:00 a.m.?” I ask him.

He shrugs. “Whatever she needs she gets.”

I can’t believe how incredibly in love with her he is. I knew he loved her, but he will stop at nothing if he thinks she needs or might want it. I’m warning him to not spoil her when the reality is, it’s too late. She’s spoiled rotten and to be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“So, when’s the wedding?” Kendall asks. “I would have thought Mark would have made you pick a date by now.”

We’re sitting in the living room. I came in to change Daisy and ended up feeding her while I was in here. Kendall came looking for me and here we sit. Daisy has long since finished her bottle.

“I don’t know,” I confess. “I can’t decide where, and Mark vetoed when I said our house.”

“Why?”

“At the time, it was just an idea that popped into my head, and when he asked if it’s what I really wanted, I said sure. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. He said no, and to figure out where my dream wedding would be and he would make it happen.”

“And now?”

“I keep going back to it. I mean, it makes sense. I want something small, and our house is set up for the kids and people to stay if they wanted to.”

“So tell him again. This time don’t let him tell you no. Tell him it’s what you want.”

“I just… the day is going to be hard enough without them there, and I like the thought of starting forever in our forever home. It’s going to be small, just all of you, your parents, and his, so it’s not like there’s not enough space. Hell, I’d be good with one of the guys marrying us.”

She laughs. “Oh my God! That’s perfect. Which one?” she says, her eyes lighting up.

I shrug. “Who do you think?”

“I’m thinking Kent.”

“You think he’d do it?”

“I know he would. You should totally do it.”