Chapter 3
Serra
"Hi, dude!" I called to my son Levi as I walked through the dining room. Sammy held him against his chest as I tried to get my hair up into a bun while I walked. I hadn't had time to blow-dry it this morning before I went to work, so a wet bun would have to do.
Turning to kiss me, Sam bent down and grinned. "Did you see the bruises you gave me last night?" he said, holding the sleeve of his shirt up against his shoulder. I glanced towards him as I poured my coffee; visualizing the epic lovemaking session we had the night before.
"Oh, Jesus," I said, seeing the nail crescent shaped bruises that had blossomed overnight. "That's amazing. Sorry, babe."
"Don't mention it," he said, smiling flirtatiously. "Glad I've still got it."
"Oh, hell yeah," I said taking a sip from my travel mug. "I glanced towards the kitchen window, ducking to see passed the trees. "Are they up yet? I didn't see lights come on earlier."
Sam turned to face the window as well, staring towards my sister's house across the field. "Yeah, the kitchen and the dining room are lit. They're up."
Nodding, I gathered my purse and Levi's bag. "Can you drop him over there this morning before you leave? I have to get to a budget meeting."
"Someone put you on budget?" Sammy said, picking up the plastic measuring cup that Levi had dropped to the floor. "Who would do that?"
I rolled my eyes. "It's part of my stupid promotion," I began, throwing a pack of diapers into Levi's bag. "They think that I should be on the NICU's budget committee, since I keep complaining about what they don't have money for. I think they need to stop worrying about money and start trying to save more babies."
Sammy nodded as Levi reached for me. He held out our son and I took him, nuzzling my face in his. Johnny came running by, licking Levi's toes. I glanced again at Grace's window and furrowed my eyebrows. I hadn't been over in a day or so and it had been about two weeks since we last just sat on the front porch and gossiped. I was itching to have some time with her, just to catch up. I was dying to know if she was pregnant again or not.
I was constantly worried about Grace and Dean. Everett had become a continual battle and he was getting harder and harder to keep calm. Balancing Dean and Ev had become a chore for my sister and I knew it was taking its toll. One Mark of Cain, she could handle, but two? She would crack eventually, and I didn't want to be anywhere close when she finally did. I also had a feeling that Dean's new body shop wasn't doing as well as they thought it would and I wondered if they would be able to pull it off with another baby. Eventually, I was convinced that Grace would have to go back to work.
Once Grace and Dean had their fourth baby, I knew that we would have to put Levi in childcare. My friend Lindsey had her daughter at the daycare in the hospital for employees and said she really liked it, but I wanted to wait as long as I could before pulling Levi. Who better than to care for him (besides his own parents) but his half-angel aunt?
"Okay," I said, kissing Levi on the forehead and handing him back to Sam. "I've gotta go, but the good news is that I'll be back by three today. Early in, early out."
"Awesome," he said, leaning in for a kiss. "Department meeting at two-thirty," Sam continued as I walked towards the door. "I'll be home after five, probably."
I smiled at him and waved at Levi, "Sounds good," I replied. "I'm bringing home ribs from that place over by Polly's today. I've got a hankering for pork products."
Sammy laughed and nodded. "Deal."
…
Our lives were running smoothly lately and I knew something would falter eventually. It always did. About five months ago, werewolves had attacked our family and we had one of the hardest battles of our lives, but we came out on top. Right now, the biggest worry was that Grace hadn't gotten pregnant yet. This miracle baby was supposed to be Everett's missing piece, but we were all worried that she was taking too long to get pregnant and that Ev would already be too affected my his version of the Mark to come back.
I guess we would have to wait and see.