When I'm with You (Hope Town #3)(85)
FOUR YEARS, SEVEN MONTHS, AND TWO DAYS LATER
“QUINNIE, BABY, WHERE IS MOMMY’S makeup bag?”
She turns and looks at me over her shoulder with a face that is so much like her father’s, it’s almost like looking in the mirror, and shrugs. Her chestnut ringlets dance around her face with the motion.
“Right dare,” Brooklynn, our four-year-old, says and points at her sister. Her sweet little lips turn into a sassy grin before she sticks her tongue out at her big sister.
“Brookie!” Quinnly shouts and finally turns so I can see what she was trying her hardest to hide.
My mouth falls open as I look at the mess she’s created.
“I made a princess.”
Kaylee, our two-year-old, gives a little clap and looks back and forth between her two sisters and me with the happiest of expressions on her face.
I have no idea how Quinnly managed to cover so much of her baby sister, but I’m fairly confident some splattering of various colors covers every bit of her. My makeup bag is wide open in front of her with just about every item that was inside of it spread in Kaylee’s lap.
“I see, Quinnie.”
She beams, looking quite proud of herself.
“Kaykay,” I coo, bending to pick up my messy daughter. “Want to take a bubble bath before Daddy gets home? He’s going to want his princess all clean so he can give you tons of kisses.”
She lets out a loud squeal of joy at the mention of her father. The blond curls bounce around her. We still don’t know how she ended up with those beautiful locks, but they make her already angelic face look like she has a halo on when the sun hits her head. Of course, that wouldn’t be the case right now since different shades of red and pink currently streak through it.
“Quinnie, honey?”
She smiles up at me.
“Did you put lipstick in your sister’s hair?”
She nods and that smile grows huge and wonky. One little dimple coming out in her left cheek.
“And why did you think you should put it there?” I laugh because really, what else can I do?
“Because Uncle Sway taught me how to do highs lights.”
Ah. And that will teach me to let my sister bring her niece to work with her. I thought it would be fun since Quinnly loves to play in my makeup, something that started during one of the many tea parties her daddy and little Molly Beckett had with her.
“Okay, sweet girl. You did a wonderful job, but let’s get this all cleaned up before Daddy gets home from work, okay?”
She nods, her smile still huge, and with the help of Brooklynn, they start cleaning up my makeup.
It takes me almost thirty minutes to get everything off Kaylee, and she loved every second of it. Her laughter never stopping. By the time I finish with her bath, I’m just as wet as she is.
Just when I’m pulling a new shirt over her head, I hear Nate arrive home. His thunder of a greeting to the girls is something that never fails to bring a smile to my face.
“Where is your mom and sister, my beautiful, enchanted fair maidens?”
“Right here, honey.”
“Goldilocks!” he booms and holds his hands out to Kaylee, who of course gives a loud scream before diving from my arms to his when he steps in front of us. She curls into his chest and sticks her thumb in her mouth, looking up at him as if he hung the moon.
I understand how she feels. There is no greater feeling than being in his arms. Which is probably how I ended up with three children in five years. I wouldn’t change a thing, even though I give him a hard time about it.
He pulls me into his side and places a kiss on my head. “I missed you.”
I snort, looking up. “You’ve only been gone a few hours.”
“Yeah, but the last thing I want to do on a Saturday is spend a few hours doing payroll at Dirty when all my girls are at home having fun without me.”
“Yeah, you could have been here almost an hour ago to see your daughter turn this one into a makeup experiment.”
He looks down at Kaylee and gives her a wet kiss on her cheek, making her little Tinker Bell giggles erupt. “I bet she looked beautiful.”
“She looked something, that’s for sure.” I yawn, and he brings his attention back to me.
“You look tired.” I narrow my eyes, and he holds up his hands. “I just meant; shit, never mind.”
“I am tired, but only because I had the paintings Annabelle commissioned two months ago to finish. I’m lucky she’s so understanding. I just hope she continues to be that way.”
He frowns in confusion. “I thought you didn’t have anything else due after you finished this last painting? We have the Disney trip coming up this summer.”
I turn when Brooklynn screams at her sister, telling them to stop running around the living room. Chuck, our one-year-old Lab, is chasing them and making just as much noise. It’s at times like this that I find myself missing Bam more and more. His age caught up with him just after Brooklynn was born, and after watching him struggle for months, we made the painful decision to put him to sleep.
Chuck was Nate’s idea, and even though I love having his crazy butt around, I still miss my beautiful beast.
“Ember?”
I look back up at Nate, forgetting what we had been talking about, and give him a raised brow and secretive smirk.