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“She’s adorable,” Ally comments, smoothing her hand over the baby’s hair. “You’re very lucky.”
“Do you two have any kids?”
The pain is back in my chest when some of the happiness on Ally’s face fades.
“No,” she answers quietly with a sad smile. “I can’t have children.”
Mia lays her hand on Ally’s arm, a contrite look on her face. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t—”
“It’s okay,” Ally interrupts. “Having a baby of our own may not be in our future, but we’ll hopefully love some other child when the time is right.” Ally aims a smile my way. “Maybe we’ll be lucky and adopt more than one.”
Leaning down, I lay a soft kiss against her lips. Apparently, the little girl in my arms isn’t too kosher with it, because I feel a slobbery smack on my cheek. Ally laughs and leans back. The little girl pats both of my cheeks with her hands and giggles.
“Guess she’s not willing to share,” Ally comments, laughter in her voice.
“Sorry,” Mia says sheepishly. “She does that with Talon all the time when we kiss and she’s within reach. She thinks all of her daddy’s kisses are hers. Guess she feels the same way about all men.” She finishes with a laugh.
“She’s going to be a heartbreaker,” Ally gushes.
As if to prove Mia’s point, she squishes my cheeks together and before I know it, she gives me a slobbery kiss right on the lips. I hear Ally laugh beside me, but I can’t look because the little girl still has a hold of my cheeks. For a tiny thing, she’s got a strong grip.
“All right, Eleanor, that’s enough kisses for you for one day.” She scoops the baby from my arms, settling her on her own hip. Her bottom lips sticks out and begins to wobble, like she’s going to start crying any second. Mia laughs. “Oh, you poor thing. Let’s go find your daddy. You can give him all the kisses you want.”
This must satisfy Eleanor because she screams “Da da!” loud enough to draw the attention of nearby people.
After we watch the pair walk off, Ally turns back to me, placing her hands on my chest, getting to her toes, and presses a kiss against my lips.
“That was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” she murmurs.
I wrap my arms around her waist. “I have to say, I much prefer your kisses.”
She giggles and falls back to her heels.
“Having fun?” I ask, draping my arm over her shoulders when we both face the crowded back yard.
“Yeah. I was a little intimidated when we first got here, but everyone has been so nice.”
“Can you imagine having a family this big?”
She laughs when one of the kids launches a water balloon at one of the adults and it splatters against their back. The kid falls to the ground laughing, kicking his legs in the air. When he realizes the man has his own water balloon and is walking his way, he jumps up with a loud screech and darts off, the man running after him.
“Our family isn’t much smaller than this. Well, technically it is, but we’ve got a lot of friends who we consider family.”
She’s right. Half of our family may not be blood related, but we all love each other as if we were. We’ve both been lucky to have so many people who care about us. Many people don’t have that.
Out the corner of my eye, I see something bright yellow fly toward us. Before I have a chance to react, it hits my chest and explodes, soaking my shirt. Ally bursts out laughing, wiping away water droplets that have hit her face. I look down at my shirt, noticing the pieces of yellow balloon at my feet, before I lift my eyes and zero in on the culprit. A little girl about five years old is standing several feet away, her hand barely covering her mouth as she giggles behind it.
I look over at Ally and grin. “Be right back.”
I quickly move to one of the totes randomly placed all over the yard and grab a blue water balloon. The little girl is full-on laughing now as I turn to run after her. She spins and sprints away. Before I get two steps, I’m hit with another balloon from the side. Glancing over, I spot Destiny. She, too, is laughing. I go back to the tote and grab a few more balloons.
“Seems like they’re ganging up on you,” one of the guys I met earlier says, laughing. “Need any help?”
I toss one of the balloons to who I’m pretty sure is Jax, Ashlyn’s brother. “You go after her.” I jut my chin in the direction the first girl went. “I’ve got this one.” I look back at a laughing Destiny.
With a grin, we both scoop up more balloons and chase after our targets.
