Page 107 of The Chosen One Universe: Volume One

Family Dinner

Plan A had ended in disaster. He clearly couldn’t get he and Sam out of the house alone. He’d not been thinking.

Plan B had been even worse. Getting the kids out of the house wasn’t the answer either. And that was exactly what made Plan C perfect.

Vaughn didn’t know what he’d been thinking. He was trying to ask Sam to marry him alone, and the universe had made it clear that was the wrong move. He needed to propose when the kids were with them, to show them how much he loved their Papa.

Vaughn patted himself on the back while sending a quick thank you to the goddess for not letting him mess it all up. He and Sam had built their lives around the kids. Their family was everything to both of them. It only made sense. And he’d come so close to going about his proposal the completely wrong way.

This time, nothing would go wrong. He slipped out of bed the moment he heard his Nana enter the house. He needed an accomplice to get Sam out of the house for a few hours so he and the kids could make an awesome dinner for Sam. And then bam! Proposal.

Nana agreed, which made him even more convinced that everything was finally going according to plan. She helped him with a menu and promised to get someone in the pack to the grocery store for him. They still needed to pick up a few things for the next night’s big Valentine/birthday celebration for Nat, so she’d take Sam to the store later in the afternoon.

Their morning routine went off without a hitch, and Vaughn made plans to get back to the house a few hours early to get dinner going. He called in not one, but three extra staff members for the clinic. His back-up plan had a back-up plan.

He shouldn’t have been surprised when he got home to find everything not going according to plan. He sighed when Sam’s face looked pinched. It was Sam’s I’ve had enough look. It took a lot to get Sam to that point so Vaughn knew it wasn’t going to be the happy night he’d hoped for.

“What’s wrong?” Vaughn asked gently.

“They’re cranky.”

“Cranky?” The kids were a lot of things, but cranky was rarely one of them. “All of them?”

“Yep. Everybody’s in a mood. I know you came home early so I could sneak out to the store with Nana, but I think we should postpone it until tomorrow. I can ask your Mom to—”

“No, it’s fine. I can handle it.”

Sam didn’t seem convinced.

“Daddy,” Ollie whined. “I want Daddy.”

“He looks exhausted,” Vaughn said as he picked Ollie up and snuggled him close.

“I know. And he slept for almost two hours this afternoon. Jack’s in his room pouting because Emily yelled at him. She’s in time out at the moment. Ben’s on the couch watching a documentary. He said no to a snack of blueberries.”

“What?”

Ben never turned down blueberries. Ever.

“I know. Henry and Natasha are fighting over … honestly, I have no idea why they’re fighting.”

Vaughn brushed his lips to Ollie’s forehead. He felt a little warm, but not enough to cause alarm.

“You go on with Nana. I’ll see if I can get the kids settled.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, love. You need a break.”

Sam sighed. “I really do. Okay, we’ll be back in an hour or so. Call me if you need us home.”

“We’ll be fine. Mercury is in retrograde or something.”

With a grin, Sam leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. He nuzzled Ollie, too, before going to say goodbye to the rest of the kids. Vaughn went to check on Emily, who had her nose in the corner. She turned to him with tear-filled eyes.

“I’m sorry I was mean to Jack.”

“I know you are, baby girl. So go get Jack and give him a hug, okay? Tell him you’re sorry, and then you guys come on back downstairs and we’ll do a couch cuddle.”