Page 117 of One Night with Number Nineteen

The softest creak at night and they’re wide awake for hours.

All sorts of ruckus during the day and they don’t so much move a muscle.

“You do indeed,” Luna says, breathing a little heavy as she sinks down beside me then glances over, her mouth curving. “Kid’s got speed, baby!” she calls and I turn to see Aiden coming around the corner of the house where he was installing a motion-sensing light.

Aiden grins. “Oh, yeah? Who says?”

“Me!” Ollie cries. “I’ve got speed.”

“Nah.” Aiden shakes his head. “I’m faster.”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Prove it,” Aiden says.

Ten seconds later, they’re running across the grass. Ten seconds after that—mostly because these men are physically unable to resist a challenge, even from a four-year-old—races are happening. And only ten more seconds after that—Luna, Faye, and Kailey have joined in on the races.

And though the guys don’t let Ollie win all of them, they do let him win enough that he’s grinning, pride shining in his eyes.

Plus, the breaks between races give the guys plenty of chances to steal kisses from their wives.

“Ew, Uncle Smitty!” Ollie groans. “Stop kissing Auntie Kailey so much.”

I laugh and I’m not alone. Veronica is doing the same as she sits down next to me, Sophie in her lap, snoring softly.

These kids make my soul ache in the best possible way.

Sighing softly, knowing that even though everything feels so off-kilter, my boy is smiling and so that means, for the moment, everything’s okay, I turn to Veronica. “Did you get in to see Leo and Harper and Reed today?”

She nods. “They’ll be going home this evening.”

“Good,” I say. “I remember being both so anxious to sleep in my own bed and not be interrupted by nurses or beeping machines for a few hours, and terrified that they were even considering sending the tiny human home with me.”

Veronica laughs. “Exactly. Such a big responsibility, and not even an owner’s manual.” Twinkling brown eyes on mine. “It’s an outrage.”

“Exactly,” I say on a chuckle.

Then sigh.

“Am I crazy, Ronnie?”

Her mouth curves.

“What?”

“No one’s called me that…” A sigh, her gaze telling me she’s drifted somewhere very far away. “Not for a long, long time.”

“You want to talk about it?”

Her eyes flash back to the present. “No.” A beat. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“About the fact that I may be going insane or that I might have a stalker or that I’m taking a chance on a man when I promised I would never put my heart on the line again?”

I…shit.

I hadn’t meant to say that.

Hadn’t meant for any of this to happen—hadn’t meant for me asking him to stay for just one night to turn into so much more, hadn’t meant for my heart to get involved, hadn’t meant to feel so…