Taking Chances (Taking Chances #1)(139)
We drove to Mom and Dad’s for our annual night of celebrating Chase’s life and I took a deep breath before we walked in. Our crazy family was all already there, as well as the new additions. Kristi and Liam tried to tackle Sir, who actually preferred to be called Papa now, and he gladly went down and let them jump on him. He was a completely different man from the Sir I’d grown up with, but he was great with the kids, and Brandon and I spent a lot of nights with him. He’d moved to California just as soon as he’d left from his first visit and after a lot of pushing on Carrie and Mom’s part, was now dating a great lady named Veronica.
Konrad hugged Brandon and gave me a kiss on the cheek before rushing a plate of food to an extremely pregnant and moody Bree. Their little girl Cadence was helping our kids tickle Sir, and girl number two was due any day. Aubrey and Jeremy were curled up on each other on one of the chairs and deliriously in love. They were definitely still in the honeymoon stage…seeing as they’d just gotten back from their honeymoon three days ago. Carrie’s new husband Bruce was helping Dad bring in the food off the grill and Kate almost knocked into him as she came storming around the corner.
“Harper! Oh my God, how do you deal with him?” She pressed the tips of her fingers to her forehead and shook her head, “He’s impossible!”
Brandon and I smiled at each other and rolled our eyes, “What’d he do now?”
“He wants to name him AIDIEAS.”
“It’s better than freaking Wrinkles!” Carter mocked as he rounded the corner with their new English Bulldog puppy. “Baby, you can’t name a male bulldog Wrinkles.”
Can’t argue with that. “What kind of name is Ideas?”
Carter hugged me and clapped Brandon on the shoulder, “No, it’s said AY-DIAS. All I Do Is Eat And Shit.”
Brandon and I burst into laughter. Oh dear.
Carter set down the squirmy ball of wrinkles and he took off running toward the screeching and laughing kids, crashing into a chair on his way. “We can always call him crash?”
“Oh! I like Crash.” Kate said with a little clap.
“Yeah? Well, I like you.” Carter’s voice went deep and husky causing Brandon and me to back away.
Kate launched herself at Carter and we groaned as we tried to step around them. Those two couldn’t have been more perfect for each other. Apparently Carter didn’t learn much since not even a month after their first date they eloped in Vegas, but at least this marriage was still going strong. They fought on a daily basis, but their fights never lasted more than ten minutes and always ended in everyone else within seeing distance yelling at them to get a room while they attacked each other with lips and searching hands.
Once we were away from the love fest, we made our way around the house hugging and kissing everyone as we passed them. Mom’s eyes were bright with unshed tears and she kept me in a hug for a long time before sending me to the table with another platter of food. When I was done, I stood off to the side and watched our large mismatched family and smiled.
“What are you thinking?” Brandon’s deep voice still made my heart pick up its pace and warmed my body. His lips on my neck and hands pulling me closer to his body weren’t helping much either.
A soft moan escaped my lips and he laughed against my skin. “Um – well before my husband started distracting me, I was thinking about how much I love this.” I gestured out to everyone around us, “I love our family…I love our life.”
Brandon grunted in agreement and rested his chin on top of my head. “It took a lot for all of us to get here, but I think that’s what makes all of us put together, perfect.”
As always, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Turning in his arms, I reached up on the balls of my feet and he leaned down to press our lips together. I sighed contentedly and rested my forehead against his, “I couldn’t agree more.”
The End