Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (68 page)

Loreley

Included with the letter was legal
documentation giving Aidan and I custody of Cole. Loreley’s death meant that we
were legally Cole’s parents. I sat open mouthed, words a thing of the past.

"It’s what she wanted." I felt
Beth’s hand lightly touch mine.

I looked up at her. "What about
you? Won’t you miss him?"

She nodded and sniffed.

"Of course, but he belongs
here." She half smiled. "Look…" she motioned her head and we
looked over to where Cole was sitting on Viola’s lap and grabbing Liam’s
fingers, "this is his family and he needs it. I’m honored that you will be
a part of his life and clearly Loreley believes that you should be his
mother."

We immediately set up a playpen in the
twin’s room for Cole. Once he was fast asleep, we placed him in there with
them. We made Beth comfortable in a guest room after we convinced her to stay
the night. I had intentions of convincing her to stay with us, but one step at
a time.

Aidan and I stood in the doorway of the
twin’s room, which now also held our newest son, Cole. Aidan’s arms were around
me and his hands were resting on my round bump. My hands were on his.

"Are you sure you are okay with all
of this?" He sounded worried.

I nodded. "The only thing that
could make this better is if Loreley were still alive."

He kissed me between my neck and
shoulder. "I love you, Lillian Iverson."

Beth wouldn’t accept my offer to stay
with us, insisting that she had a house she need to get back to and take care
of. I was able to convince her to stay for a week, however, to help Cole get adjusted
to living in our home.

The twins were fascinated with Cole. He
would sit on the floor in their large room playing and they would watch him
carefully. Cole was only crawling, so when he would crawl around the twins
would follow behind him and hand him things that he was reaching for. With a
large smile he would accept the toy from them.

Livy was already very mothering to him.
If he would cry she was right there to hug him or hand him his pacifier. If
neither of those worked, she would yell for ‘Imbly’, the twin’s version of Kimberly’s
name, or for me.

Just as he had for Livy, Walsh became Cole’s
protector. He guarded both of them like he was in charge of keeping them safe. When
Cole would reach for something that wasn’t allowed, he would look at him sharply
but kindly and say ‘no, no’.

The three of them were quite a little
trio to watch. Now, I had to start thinking about the fourth child that would
be arriving in a couple of months. I struggled on deciding whether or not we
should keep Cole in the same room with the twins, separate him with the new
baby, or put him in a room by himself. I wasn’t sure which option would be
best.

The new baby would be waking up during
the night and the other children no longer did. Since Cole was already familiar
with his new crib, room, and the twins being there, perhaps the best option
would be to separate the new baby into its own room and leave the three in the
nursery together.

Then there was the discussion that I
needed to have with Kimberly. I wanted to hire a second person to help her with
the children, even if it were just a part time position. I knew she would try
to argue that she could handle it, but we had not planned on four children
under the age of five in the house at one time.

"Kimberly, you have been our savior
with the twins and Cole. I just…I don’t want you to become overwhelmed. That
being said, I feel that we should hire another person to assist you with the
children." I looked at her nervously.

"Lilli, I can handle those babies.
Don’t worry about me." She waved off my concern.

"I have to worry about it, you will
have four young children to deal with." I sighed. "I can’t expect you
to take care of them all daily without any assistance. I’ve already placed a
call to the agency and would like for you to meet the applicants with me.
Please?"

She nodded and smiled. "I would
gladly meet with them, but I still think that…"

I cut her off. "You have your own
child to worry about, as well. I really think that some help is
necessary." I patted her knee.

We concluded our conversation and headed
to check on the children, who should have been waking from their naps.

Hours later, I was resting in bed. Being
almost eight months pregnant had me exhausted by three o’clock each day. I lay
in bed thinking about Aidan, the twins, Loreley, Gideon, Cole, and the new
little one that had yet to make his or her appearance into our world.

Rubbing my stomach, I thought back on
the day that I found out that I was pregnant. I knew that I had felt tired and
nauseated, but my birth control shot was only a month passed its renewal
appointment. I was sure that it would take a couple of months to conceive like
the doctor had said it would. We had expected months of ‘practicing’, my body
decided differently.

I was about two months late when I
realized all of my symptoms. Since my doctor had told me that my periods would
become slightly erratic until it found a natural rhythm, I didn’t think
anything of it, at first. Once I started putting two and two together, I called
the office and made an appointment for blood work.

Of course I had kept Aidan in the loop
about it all, but that didn’t mean I was any less surprised when he showed up
in late afternoon from work with a plastic white bag.

"Hey." I smiled as I put my
book down.

Aidan walked to me quickly and kissed me
passionately. When he pulled back there was a large smile on his face.

"I missed you, too." I
giggled.

"Here." He handed me a large
bottle of water.

"Um…thanks?" I said, confused.

Then he shoved the white plastic bag
into my lap. "What in the world is in..?" I opened the bag and
couldn’t finish my sentence.

"I couldn’t wait." I looked up
to his bright white teeth gleaming from behind his lips as he opened the bottle
of water.

"Aidan, my appointment is in two
days. You couldn’t wait—?"

He was already shaking his head.
"No, so get to the bathroom." He reached into the bag and pulled out
one pregnancy test box.

"How many did you buy?" I
laughed.

"There were so many." He
chuckled. "I just grabbed the five most expensive." He shrugged.

"Okay, well this one." I held
up the box, "is an ovulation test kit, so we don’t need that one." I
laughed.

"You have four tests now, get to
it." He pulled me to stand up off the lounge chair.

"These are all double packs" I
looked at him like he was insane. "I am not taking eight tests." I
headed toward the bathroom.

"You’ll take as many as you can pee
on!" He laughed out as he caught up to me.

"Are you going to watch?" I
asked sarcastically.

"If you’d let me—"

"Ewww! No!" I shut bathroom
door in his face and heard him laugh.

"Hurry up!"

"Quit pressuring me or I won’t be
able to!" I shouted back as I began the first test.

After opening the door, he shoved in
three more opened tests and the bottle of water. I laughed at him. "You’re
such a loser."

"But you love this loser!" He
shouted back as I finished the other three tests. "And…"

I opened the bathroom door and looked at
him, waiting for him to finish. "And, what?"

"And, you are having my baby!"
He practically shouted and jumped with his fist in the air.

"Seriously, did you just fist pump
the air?" I laughed and leaned against the doorframe for support.

He grabbed me around my waist and lifted
me up off my feet, spinning us in a circle.

"I love you, Lillian Iverson, so
fucking much!"

"Aidan, I’m going to puke if you
don’t stop spinning." I covered my mouth.

"Oh, shit! Sorry!" He sat me
down on the lounge chair.

Once he had grabbed all four tests, he
settled on the floor, his back against the lounge chair, between my knees, with
my legs over his shoulder. As his head rested on my right thigh I ran my
fingers through his hair and he sighed.

"All four are positive." He
practically sang the words.

"I think the one that says pregnant
across it would have sufficed without the other ones." I giggled.

He quickly turned around to face me
while his knees were on the carpet. "I like to be thorough." He
grinned as he leaned in and grabbed my t-shirt.

Pulling me toward him, his lips crashed
to mine and my fingers immediately found his soft locks. He moaned into my
mouth and pulled me to the edge of the chair.

I could feel his arousal right at my
center as he pressed his hips into me. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he
pulled my shirt over my head.

He growled. "I absolutely love when
you aren’t wearing a bra."

His right hand cupped my breast, teasing
my hardening nipple. I gasped as he took my nipple into his mouth. Fisting his
hair, he moved to the other breast.

"Oh God." I moaned as he
sucked at me and pressed between my legs.

Fingernails grazed the skin on my hips
as he looped his fingers into the elastic waist of my shorts and started to
pull them from my body.

"Fuck…I love it even more when you
aren’t wearing underwear!" He growled before tossing my shorts to the
floor and burying his face between my thighs.

"Oh…Uh…Hah…" I moaned and
panted out as his tongue circled my throbbing nub. One slide down and back up
had me bucking my hips and pressing into his face for more.

"Mmmmm…you taste so good." He
groaned against me and I shivered at the vibrations. "I want to taste you
cum, Lilli." He groaned out before delving back into his ministrations on
me.

It felt like an undercurrent that was
pulling me out to sea before crashing onto me in a large wave. When the wave
burst through me, my thighs locked around Aidan’s head. There was no moving
away for him as I rode out my orgasm against his face.

Panting heavily, I collapsed back onto
the lounge. Aidan climbed up my body, licking his lips and nipping at my
nipples before he attacked my collarbone and moved up my neck. Immediately I
fisted his hair.

"You are so good at that…too good."
I breathed out. I felt him chuckle silently against my neck.

"I want you." He whispered
against my jaw that he was now lavishing attention on.

"You have me." I breathed
back. He smiled his crooked grin and slid into me quick and hard.
"Fuck..." I cried out as he pushed into me.

His hands snaked around to my back and
pulled me to sit up on the edge of the chair again. I felt him cup my face as
he kissed me deeply and thrust himself in and out of me.

I had to grab his shoulders for
stability and he grabbed onto my hips. He moved in and out with a small
circular motion that had my internal undercurrent pulling me back out to sea.
Soon, all that I was aware of was his hard, thick shaft pulsating in and out of
me in the most perfect rhythm as his mouth moved over the skin of my neck and
shoulder. One bite on my shoulder and the wave crashed once again, sending me
into oblivion.

"Oh…yes, baby…cum…that…uh…ahhhh…fuck!"
He moaned with a few final, hard thrusts as he released into me and rode out
his orgasmic high.

We collapsed there together in a
sweating mess on the lounge chair, rearranging to get comfortable. Aidan was
lying on his back with me pressed on top of him, my right thigh cover his hips
and little Aidan. About fifteen minutes later, Jay knocked and stepped in too
quickly for us to stop him.

"Oh shit!" Jay yelled and covered
his eyes. Aidan grabbed for a throw blanket and covered us up. "I am so
sorry…so sorry, sir!" He backed out of the room quickly, smacking his shoulder
against the door as he left.

I was in hysterics. I had never heard
Jay curse like that. It was absolutely hysterical.

"I don’t think he found that as
funny as you did." Aidan chuckled out. I could feel my body shaking with
his laughter as well as my own.

I shook my head, still unable to speak
as I buried my face into Aidan’s chest, tears streaming down my face.

Pregnancy exhaustion had finally won out
while reminiscing and pulled me into a restful slumber. I stretched when I felt
kisses pressed against my face. Opening my eyes, I was met by two beautiful
green orbs.

"How late is it?" I asked and
sat up.

"I’m home early." He smiled
and sat up with me. "It’s only just going on six."

"I’ve been asleep for almost three
hours?" I looked at Aidan surprised at myself. "I should go check
on…"

"Kimberly has them and they are all
fine. Rest." He moved next to me, lying down.

"Kimberly shouldn’t have to take
care of everything when I am home."