“I tripped!”

“Uh-huh. Well, anyway, Heather had a bit of news to share.”

Her smile grew, and this time, she began hopping up and down. I couldn’t help but laugh at how giddy she was acting.

“Are you going to tell me? Or do I have to kiss it out of you?”

“Oh! I kind of like that idea…but I can’t wait another second. They’re having twins!”

Wait. What? “Ellie…did you just say they’re having twins?”

She shook her head and started to clap her hands together.

“Oh my god, Gunner! We’re going to have five kids all around the same age. Five! I can’t wait to tell Grace and Emma. I would give anything to see Elizabeth’s face when they tell her they’re having twins.”

“Shit, I’d have given anything to see Josh’s face when he found out they’re having twins!”

She threw her head back and laughed. “Heather told me the nurse had to hold up Josh, so he wouldn’t fall over, and the whole way home, he just kept repeating the word twins.”

“How is Heather taking it?”

Ellie walked over to the refrigerator, took out a few bottles, and started packing them into the diaper bag. “She’s over-the-moon happy.”

The way she was moving around and humming was turning me on. I looked at the clock to see how much longer Alex would be napping for. I slowly made my way over to Ellie and put my hands on her hips. As I pulled her closer to me, she leaned her head back, resting it on my chest. I started inching my hand up her shirt to her chest. When I slipped my fingers into her bra, she let out the sweetest sounds ever.

I moved my lips to her ear. “I want you, Ells.”

She lifted her head and looked over toward the clock. As she turned around, she gave me that smile I would lay down my life for. When she started to lift up her shirt over her head, I took off my shirt and unbuttoned my pants. She pushed my hands out of the way, and then she started to slide my pants down my legs.

The moment I felt her lips on me, I let out a gasp. “No, Ells…I want to be inside you…now,” I said as I pulled her back up. After I slipped off her panties, I placed my hand on her and slowly slid two fingers inside her. Oh Jesus H. Christ, she’s so wet.

“Gunner, please…I want you now.”

I picked her up and walked her over to the other side of the kitchen. Leaning her up against the wall, I kissed each nipple as I listened to the sweet little noises she was making. Then, I adjusted her some before I entered her warm body.

She threw her head back against the wall and moaned.

“Ells…you feel so damn good, baby.”

“Oh god, yes…Drew.”

I began moving faster and harder as she held on. She started to say how close she was, and just as I was about to come, the doorbell rang.

I instantly stopped moving.

“No! No, no, no, no! Fuck! Gunner, no, please don’t stop.”

“Ells, someone’s at the door.”

She grabbed my hair and pulled my lips to hers as she tried to move herself against me. “Move, Gunner. Fuck! I was so damn close!” she said against my mouth.

Then, I heard the one thing I would never want to hear while my dick was inside my wife.

Gramps came walking into the house as he called out for us, “Drew? Ellie?”

Ellie’s eyes widened as she whispered, “You didn’t lock the door?”

“Fuck! I forgot!” I whispered back.

“Oh my god, Gunner! Put me down!”

I damn near dropped Ellie to the floor. We both hit the ground and started crawling over to the other side of the kitchen. I heard Gramps’s footsteps getting closer, and by the time, we made it to where our clothes were on the other side of the island, he called out our names again.

“Drew? Ellie? You around?”

We stopped and didn’t move an inch. I put my finger up to my mouth for Ellie to be quiet. Gramps turned, headed back down the hall, and started to go upstairs. I’d never in my life seen Ellie get dressed so fucking fast. After we both began giggling, we couldn’t stop.

Gramps must have heard us because he called out again, “Drew? Ellie? Where are y’all?”

I jumped up and quickly opened the back door as Ellie looked around while she continued to laugh. She grabbed a basket and ran over to me just before Gramps got into the kitchen. I shut the door, acting like we had just walked in.

“Hey! There you two are. Where in the hell were you? And is Alex napping?”

With Ellie still in a giggling fit, I nodded. I knew if I were to open my mouth, I would start laughing.

“Drew, what in the hell is Ellie laughing about? Girl’s got damn tears running down her face.”

Ellie held up her hand for Gramps to stop talking. I just shrugged my shoulders as I did everything I could not to look him in the eye.

“Your dad said y’all were going out boot-stompin’ in Luckenbach again tonight.”

Then, it happened. I went to talk, and instead, I lost it, which caused Ellie to laugh even more.

Gramps just stood there, looking between Ellie and me. He looked confused as hell as to why we were both laughing.

When we heard Alex crying through the baby monitor, Gramps’s face lit up. “I’ll go get her since you two can’t get seem to stop laughing about whatever in the hell it is you’re laughing about.”

Once I heard him walk up the steps, I grabbed Ellie and pushed her against the wall. “I’m going to finish what I started later tonight.”

She instantly stopped laughing as she grabbed behind my neck and pulled me to her mouth. I wasn’t even sure how long we were standing there, kissing, before I heard Gramps clear his throat.

I slowly pulled away from her lips. “I love you so much.”

“I love you more.”

When Alex let out a little cry, Ellie smiled and headed toward Gramps.

“I’ve already changed her, so she is fresh and ready to go!” Gramps smiled at Ellie.

The look on Ellie’s face was pure love.

God, just from watching her move around the kitchen, my heart swells up with so much love for her.

“Do you want to feed her?” Ellie asked.

Gramps laughed and started toward the living room to go sit down. “Hell yes, I want to feed my girl.”

I leaned up against the doorjamb, watching my grandfather feeding my daughter in his arms. When Ellie came up and stood in front of me, I wrapped my arms around her.

Leaning down, I whispered in her ear, “Another one?”

She turned her head and smiled at me. “I thought you’d never ask!”

Just then, the doorbell rang.

“Today is the day for company, I guess,” I said.

Gramps smiled and went back to humming to Alex.

I headed over to answer the door, and when I opened it, I almost fell over as I recognized the person standing there.

Oh holy motherfucking shit.

Ellie’s mom was smiling at me, holding a basket filled with…gifts.

I took a few steps back, turned to Ellie, and tried to smile. “Wait in the living room, okay, sweetheart?”

Her smile faded. “Why? Who is it, Gunner?”

“Ellie, please just stay inside.”

I walked outside and shut the front door behind me. “What in the hell are you doing here? And how did you get on our property?”

Her smile faded for a quick second before she tried to smile again. “Um…your main gate was open, and the young man working on it brought me up here. I hope I didn’t get him into any trouble.”

I looked around her and saw Dewey’s truck driving off. Fuck! I can’t be mad at him. I never told him about Ellie’s mother. “Why didn’t you call first?”

She shook her head. “I’ve been calling Ellie’s cell phone for months, but she hasn’t returned my calls. I’ve been sober for over a year now. I just wanted to talk to Ellie. I know I could never apologize for the pain I caused her…” Her voice broke off as a tear rolled down her cheek.

I almost felt sorry for her—almost. “Mrs. Johnson, I’m sorry you made such a long trip out here, but I really think it would be best if you let Ellie decide if she wants to speak with you.”

She nodded. “I spoke with Sue yesterday. She let me know that both Jeff and Ellie now have kids and…” She started crying and then quickly composed herself. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to cry like that. It’s my own fault. I don’t deserve their forgiveness. I have no right to even ask this, but…Gunner, will you please do me a favor?”

“Of course I will.”

She reached into the basket and pulled out a letter. As I went to take it, I noticed her hand was shaking.

“I also bought some things for the babies. Sue told me their names were Luke and Alexandra.”

I smiled and nodded before I looked down at all the gifts in the basket.

“I’m not trying to buy their love. I just…I don’t know. I just wanted to do something. I’ve been working for a doctor’s office for nine months now. I’m actually going to nursing school. I was in nursing school before the kids’ father left and my world fell apart. I should be done this summer.”

“That’s wonderful…Mrs. Johnson. I’m sorry. I don’t even know your first name.”

She let out a small laugh. “My name is Sharon.”

I held out my hand and shook hers.

She smiled as she handed me the basket. “Well, please let Ellie know that I’m here if she needs…um…well, I know she doesn’t need me. Please have her call me if she’s willing to give me a second chance. I understand that your mother is very kind to Ellie. I’m so very…um…so very happy that she, um…”

“It’s okay, Sharon. I understand what you’re trying to say. Is your phone number in the letter?”

“Yes. I wrote each of them a letter. I do love both Ellie and Jeff. I don’t know that person who treated her daughter with such hate. My husband was my life. I gave everything up for him, and he just walked away from me, like I was nothing. When he told me that he’d only stayed because of Ellie…well, I guess I used that against her even though the poor soul had nothing to do with any of it. I see that now, but I didn’t see it when I was drunk. All I looked for was a way to drink away the pain. Ellie is so much stronger than I ever was.” She shook her head as if she were clearing her thoughts. “Anyway, I’m so glad she found you, and you took her away from me. It was a blessing in disguise. It took losing everything to see what I had.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just stood there, staring at her.

“Well, good-bye, Gunner. Thank you for your time.”

As she turned and started to walk toward her car, I noticed it had new plates on it.

A few months back, Jeff had told me that his mother had contacted him through his lawyer. She’d wanted to sell their house and buy a condo to get away from all the bad memories. Ellie had wanted so badly to ask where their mom had gone, but she’d avoided the subject, and Jeff had never given Ellie a reason for selling the house. Later, Jeff had mentioned to me that he’d let his mother keep all the equity in the house since it was really her house, but for the last nine months, she had been sending money to his lawyer to pay the equity back to Jeff.