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We both laughed and pulled apart, turning to see Savannah with her black bed hair and twisted Unicorn t-shirt standing in the doorway, grinning at us.
“I’ll take her,” I said, dropping a quick kiss to Dex’s lips.
“You sure?”
“Yes,” I replied, turning to face the little girl that was already taking a place in my heart. “I’m sure, more than you’ll ever know.”
Dex let me go and as he started to brew fresh coffee, I held out my hand to Savannah, feeling excited about all the joy that was to come. I was excited about the battles we would have raising four kids. I was excited about the joys we would share raising four kids. I was excited about the fun we would have raising four kids. I was even excited about the days that would be spoiled by a single sneeze, because those days would be shared with Dex Michaels – my sexy, silver-haired, tattooed Texan, the man who made me realize that I am amazing, even if my pelvic floor is way past its sell-by date.
3 And a Bit Years Later
Dex
“Daddy, where’s Mumma?”
I looked at my blue-eyed, black-haired eight-year-old and grinned. She was wearing one of Annie’s t-shirts for a dress, a string of Katie’s beads, and on her head her favorite tiara, all topped off with a pair of yellow Chucks. This was her attire for us to go and watch her big brother, Charlie, play soccer.
“She’s in the kitchen, baby. Why?”
Climbing onto my knee, Savannah May Michaels gave me a neck hug and a kiss on my nose and everything seemed perfect in the world.
The last three or so years hadn’t been easy. First settling Savannah with me and then us settling into a family with Katie and the kids, but the last fifteen months had seen a huge turnaround. Savannah had always loved Annie, Isaac, and Charlie, particularly Charlie, although she’d cried like crazy when Isaac moved out and into my old apartment with Scarlett, now his fiancée, deciding it was time to fly the nest when we’d bought a new house. Getting her to open up to Katie though, had taken a little while longer. She liked her, no problem, but Katie wasn’t her momma and at not quite five-years-old, it was hard for her to understand why Katie was there acting like a mom to her, but her grandma wasn’t, seeing as she barely remembered Cherry. Katie being the amazing woman and mother she was, never gave up and loved that little girl so hard, Savannah had no choice but to love her back. Then, just over a year ago, Savannah called Katie, Mumma, a mixture of the English Mum, that she’d heard the kids call her and the Momma that she’d picked up from living back in the US. When she said it at a family dinner one night, we all stopped speaking and held our breath, looking between Savannah and Katie. Savannah looked at us as though it was a normal thing to say and Katie blubbed. I had to admit, I got a little wet-eyed myself. Although when Savannah started to lose her Texan accent and sound less like me and more like an English kid, it came a close second. The day she asked for ‘chip butties for tea’, I almost screamed the house down.
“I need to show her my outfit,” Savannah said, settling on my lap. “I want to be sure I look nice.”
“You always look nice, doesn’t she Annie?” I asked my step-daughter, who was home from University and had just walked into the room.
“She does,” Annie replied, kissing Savannah’s head as she passed. “But today she looks especially nice for a reason, don’t you Munchkin?”
Savannah grinned and nodded. “It’s for Teddy Robertson.”
“What, the kid whose dad owns a hotel?” I asked, feeling my insides knotting as Savannah nodded excitedly. “And you’re eight. Boys are not allowed, no matter if their dad owns fifty damn hotels.”
Savannah grinned. “I’m going to marry him, Daddy. You need to be nice to him.”
“Like hell I do,” I grumbled.
“Aww, poor Dexter,” Annie said, ruffling my hair. “His baby is growing up.”
“It was bad enough when you started getting serious with Marcus. Don’t even wanna think about my baby being interested in boys. And don’t call me Dexter.”
Annie grinned and blew me a kiss and I didn’t have it in me to care about her damn cheek – I loved it.
It was funny how I’d so easily fallen into the role of dad, first with Savannah and then to a lesser extent with Katie’s kids. Not that I’d ever try and take Carl’s place, we’d already traversed that bump in the road, but I liked to think they loved me in their own way and that I’d be there if they needed me. Carl and I had what I’d call a cautious friendship. I was cautious of him around Katie, because I still truly believed he regretted losing her. Well tough luck, she was my wife now and there was no way I was letting her go. She was too damn precious to me – my world, my all, and I’d learned from his damn mistakes. I always gave her the attention she deserved. I showered her with love, telling her all the time how much she meant to me, and I fucked her damn good almost every day. As for Carl, he was cautious with me because of his kids and I respected that. I’d hate to think of some other guy having an influence on Savannah’s life. That was why I was always there as silent support for Katie with the kids, unless I felt the need to step in – they disrespect their momma and they know I’m mad. My relationship with Carl’s kids was purely as the man married to their mom, but a man who loved them like his own. Charlie and I were buddies and we often talked girls. He’d turned into a bit of a ladies’ man and liked to get my advice from time to time, although I wasn’t sure he liked me kissing his mom in front of him, as he usually escaped to his room. Annie and I got along great, she was doing business at University so asked my advice quite a bit, which I loved. She still had attitude sometimes and that was when we had words, if she talked back to Katie, but those times were getting less and less. As for Isaac, well he was the one I was closest to. We still worked together from time to time, if someone specifically requested me, but I no longer had a group of VIP clients. Katie and I wanted to spend as much time together as we could, we had a lot of years to make up on most couples, so I’d pretty much retired and Heaven & Ink 1 was now Isaac’s to run, with Jethro taking the helm at Heaven & Ink 2, in the centre of Manchester. Isaac was far more talented than I’d ever been – an absolute natural from the first time I placed a tattoo gun in his hand and had turned into a fucking brilliant tattooist, quicker than anyone I’d ever known and I’d trained a lot of people over the years. He was getting noticed by Tattoo Expo organizers all over the place, inviting him along to do a demonstration, or have a stand marketing the studio. He was also getting clients from across the UK, only wanting to be inked by Isaac Grainger. To say I was proud of him was short changing my feelings for that kid. He’d been my best man when I’d married his mom, two and half years ago. Yep, I’d asked her the question just three months after Savannah came to live with me, and only four and a half months into our relationship – I told her I would, but still managed to surprise her with a ring while we waited for pizza at the takeout joint where we first met. Maybe not the most romantic of proposals, but it was perfect for me and my Katie Cat. Some may say it was a little too soon, but fuck if I cared. I loved her too much to risk some other fucker coming along and whisking her from under my nose. If I was truly honest, I think I’d known from the moment I picked her shit up from the floor of the pizza place, she was the woman for me. I just wanted to be sure she was okay having Savannah around and that Savannah was good with her too. Katie was beyond amazing from the start, and even though it took my daughter a little longer to realize it, I knew they were madly in love with each other.
“We nearly ready?” Katie asked, coming into the lounge.
And there she was, my Katie Cat, my darlin’ who I loved with every fucking bone in my body – one specific bone in particular. Boy, didn’t she look cute in her cut-off jeans, white chucks, and a white off the shoulder tee, baring beautiful golden skin from our recent family holiday to Greece. She was forty-nine-years-old and she still made my dick hard just looking at her.
“You look nice Mumma, doesn’t she Daddy?” Savannah chirped, her eyes lighting up as she looked at Katie.
“She sure does, baby. Hey, Katie Cat.” I beckoned to my wife. “Gimme those lips.”
With a grin, she leaned in and let me kiss her.
“Hmm that was lovely.” She gave me a wink and then smiled down at Savannah. “And don’t you look gorgeous.”
“I do?”
