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They each had big, happy smiles on their faces. Those smiles meant the world to me. I wanted to dive into them and live there. Another knock on the door told me that I couldn’t hide from the rest of the world with them. Not yet.
53
***Jake***
Floating high from hearing Fiona say that she loved me, I opened the door and nodded at Lucy. She gave me a thumbs up and ran down the stairs to join the rest of the kids. With my heart in my throat, I turned back to Fiona and smiled. “You know how Carl talked about divine intervention or whatever? That first night we were here?”
Fiona’s eyes were on the open door behind me and everything beyond. When she looked back at me, those eyes were wide and watery. “Yes.”
“I think he was right, angel. Just not about his involvement. This, us, was meant to be.” I stepped out of the way and let her see the full picture behind me, just outside of the cabin. “One big, strange, happy family.”
With her hand covering her mouth, Fiona walked out onto the porch and saw what we’d put together. Our teams had thrown together a small version of a carnival and our kids were all playing around together, having what looked like the time of their lives. Sam was helping Avery and Racey shoot basketballs into a goal. SJ and Roman were both whacking away at moles, their faces red as they laughed at each other. Lucy was standing behind a makeshift DJ booth, a pair of headphones over her head. She started the music as soon as we stepped out of the cabin and rushed over to Fiona.
“Dad’s going to let me play the drums! He’s going to teach me and Avery together.” Lucy cut her eyes at me. “Which is only slightly humiliating.”
Fiona didn’t hesitate. She stepped right into the chaos, hugging Lucy and congratulating her. “Don’t worry. If Avery takes after me, you’ll always be the best student in class.”
“He doesn’t.” I laughed at the crestfallen look on Lucy’s face. “You’ll catch up to his skill level eventually.”
SJ noticed us and jogged over. “Did you forgive these idiots?”
Sebastian locked his arm around his son’s neck and rubbed his head. “Idiots? Is that any way to speak about your father?”
SJ laughed and shoved himself free. “Why do you smell like a candle?”
Fiona giggled and I watched as she cupped her tiny belly. “I did forgive them and it’s because they smell like candles that I did.”
Lucy elbowed me. “God, Dad, you’re drooling.”
The only thing more embarrassing than having your daughter call out your staring is blushing once she does. I tried to rub my face to hide the red stain but judging by the laughing, everyone noticed. I grumbled and then pulled Fiona close. “This is your fault.”
She licked her lips and nodded. “Uh huh. Sure.”
I could see she had more to say but I could also see that it wasn’t appropriate. Instead of thinking about it for too long and hurting myself, I pointed to the dunking booth. “Each of us are going to get in and give you a chance to dunk us.”
Her eyes lit up for an entirely different reason then and she shot down the stairs and towards the dunking booth. “Come on! Sebastian first!”
He scoffed as the rest of us laughed at him. “What the hell did I do?”
Mallory and Jane stepped out from the side of the cabin, heads together, giggling. Mallory looked up at Sebastian and wagged her finger at him. “Your ex-wife is a blast. I don’t know how you let her get away.”
Jane jammed her thumb back towards the woman behind them. “He was missing key parts that I was looking for.”
Sebastian snorted. “I should’ve known she wasn’t straight when she kept fondling my chest and complaining that it wasn’t bigger.”
Jane hurried over to hug Fiona. Pulling back, she looked her over and raised her eyebrows. “Who did your makeup?”
Her wife, Brianna, groaned. “Jane!”
Mallory moved closer and then turned a scowl on us men. “No, really. Who did this to my sister’s face?”
Fiona just sighed. “I had a feeling it wasn’t going all that well.”
Jane and Mallory each tried to take one of her arms. “No way am I letting you stay like this, Fifi. We’ll fix you right up.”
Ryder, Sebastian, and I watched in awe as Fiona gently pulled away and waved them off. She was all smiles as she looked up at us. “It’s okay. I like that they tried.”
Brianna shifted closer to us and whistled. “She’s sweet. Horribly disfigured in y’all makeup skills, but sweet.”
