Thicker Than Ink

Fifteen

"You look so cozy, Princes... Are you happy?" Daddy asks his question right after delivering a bite of savory tomato-y goodness to my lips, the Chinese food we had ordered hitting all of the right notes for me at the moment... Even if my mate insists on interrupting all of my chewing by asking me question after question... All of which he should already know the answer to though I don't think I'll ever actually get tired of answering him... Even if all I can do is nod my head and bat my eyelashes at him as we stay cuddled up in front of the fire...

  My unwillingness to let Silas climb into bed all sweaty coupling with Silas's unwillingness to go and shower when he knows how much I enjoy seeing him still all shiny and sexy from doing all of that work in the back swinging hammers and stuff around creating the comfy picnic we've gathered in front of the fireplace in our bedroom... Our take-out gathered around us on our shared blanket while I find myself balancing taking swigs of the sweet tea Silas had poured for me between his questions and bites of food while Daddy leans against his recliner with me turned sideways in his lap leaning so thoughtfully against his chest and soaking up every single crackle and snap that the fire gives us as our soundtrack for this evening... Every throw pillow I've convinced Silas to buy in the last couple of months gathered up around us, an extra blanket having been grabbed from the hall closet by my sweet Daddy to be spread out over my lap to make sure that I don't catch wind of a draft sitting on the floor despite the fact that we're in front of such a soothing fire. 

I didn't realize just how much I needed this... The two of us sitting in the quiet together enjoying each other's company... Silas stroking my hair whenever we take a break from eating just long enough to whisper back and forth... My verbal answer to Daddy coming when I finally manage to finish chewing my bite and swallow it, my lips finding his to give him a taste after I slip the words, "Happier than I've ever been in my whole life, Silas." from them for my mate to hear the confirmation out loud... Words that if he needs to hear them I have no problem saying over... And over... Words that he abandons our fork so that he can hold me better for... Words that cause him to kiss me deeper... Our fondness for each other so much more than love... 

And so much deeper than anyone else could ever really understand... 

...

Silas

...

"A-Are you happy, Sigh? Do... Do I make you happy? And about the baby too?" Addy's response after answering my question so sweetly takes me just a bit off guard, the way our eyes meet after he asks me making me lean down to steal a kiss from his lips that I'm hoping conveys some of the emotions that I still struggle finding the right words for... Like how sometimes I think that he's the reason why my heart beats... And my entire universe, him and our child both making me both the luckiest and the happiest man alive... My answer ready when I finally manage to pull away from the soft plushness that is my Princess's lips... 

"Of course I'm happy, Princess... You make me very... very happy... And of course, I'm happy about the baby, Baby... I want you... And I want our little family... I wouldn't change a single detail... Well, other than having to conceive our Nugget at the conference, but that is mostly because we are not people-y people and we couldn't savor it properly..." Just like always it seems like once I open up a little bit to my sweet Princess I just can't stop the flow of words that leaves my mouth, the way he always smiles at me knocking me off my feet faster than a heavyweight champion... 

And just like always I never mind being laid flat by the overwhelming adoration that floods through my being every time my Addy-Baby gets the tiniest bit shy and sensitive... The way that lovely smiles always turns into him bitting that beautiful bottom lip of his before he looks back up at me, this instance ending in a kiss being stolen from my lips softer than the beat of butterfly wings against flower petals... 

I don't know how he manages to do it but he somehow manages to melt down the hardest parts of me and turn them into something so soft that I sometimes don't recognize... Something I like better than the old version of me... I like the way he's buffed out my rough edges... I like the way he's softened me... And how the restlessness that always used to plague me has somehow been wiped away leaving me with so much room for love in my heart that I know that no matter how large this pack gets or how many kids Addy wants to bless us with that the two of us will be okay... I know that standing by each other's sides that the two of us can face up to anything and make it out okay in the end... 

My sweet Bean knows it too... He might need reminding sometimes that there is no one else on this Earth who could make me feel so happy that it's nearly unbearable... But I don't think that there will ever be a time where I don't have the time to stop and make sure that he knows he is loved... And that he'll always be loved... And cherished... And that I am not going anywhere because the only place I want to be is by his side holding his hand and pinching that gorgeous ass of his for the rest of my days... 

Even if the rest of my days includes the white picket fence that I used to swear up and down would never find a place in my yard... The white paint seeming less abrasive in my mind knowing that it's sole purpose will be to shield our little ones from the prying eyes of anyone who might wander onto our property before they've learned how to control their shifting.