Everybody familiar belongs to Janet. Mistakes are mine alone.
Harper and Kane were already at the restaurant when we left the men alone for the moment and focused on enjoying our date. I nodded an approval as Kane stood at our approach. He also earned points for making sure to get Harper's chair for her as she stood as well to greet us. The differences between our wives is apparent just in their choice of attire for the evening. Steph went with Rangeman black and a sleek, tank-style look. A dotted striped-pattern throughout the dress made it appear less work-related, as did the short skirt with five inches of asymmetrical see-through fabric teasingly displaying the legs I still have numerous dreams and fantasies about.
Harper's dress was a simple pink sheath with only a single ruffle ringing the top to break up the design of it. The bump housing their baby is barely detectable, but the love she and Kane have for one another is clear to everyone in the place. If someone upsets his wife, Kane would react immediately as I would and have. I'm as relieved that he found someone to feel that way about as much as I am proud of him for making sure he didn't fuck it up or lose it ... and lose Harper in the process.
I was suspicious when Steph went to give Harper a one-armed hug and said something to her that she hoped I wouldn't hear. She jokes about it, but my job is to really know everything. I had a flashback of her suggesting to Olive how to initiate Uncle Bobby, but this comment was an innocent one.
"I'm not dumb enough to say this where a certain hot husband might hear," Steph quietly told her insta-friend, "but your earrings are pretty amazing."
They are. Two teardrop-shaped aquamarines dangled from two equally flawless square-cut aquamarine stones that were separated by a small round diamond. My mind is always working, but it goes into minute-detail mode whenever my wife expresses an interest in something. I already made a mental note to find a Stephanie-version that she wouldn't say are 'too much'.
"Thank you. They're a slightly early birthday present from my own hottie-hubby. Olivia wasn't the only girl Kane was set on spoiling that day," she said, looking down the olive branch necklace he had given to Olive that Steph wore tonight in her honor. "I still don't know if he buys gifts three at a time because he's scared of forgetting an important date. Or if he just gets really excited when he finds something he believes I'll love, and he can't help but buy it and immediately give it to me."
"I don't know him well, but it's obvious that he's completely in love with you, so I want to say it's excitement."
"I do know him," I told them, shaking the hand Kane offered that led to a shoulder-bump-style hug, "and I would agree that it is excitement. He's learned to appreciate everything he has."
Harper smiled briefly at me, but her eyes strayed right back to the man she has for the most part tamed. Kane is hell in a fight, but she is definitely like Steph in one way ... it wouldn't be pretty if anyone came after their husbands.
"How is that little angel of yours?" Kane asked us.
"Careful about asking about our daughter," I advised. "Pictures and stories quickly follow."
The grin my wife gave the table is indescribable, though Santos would correctly call it a warning. "Olive is doing great. It feels like she's growing everyday. As a matter of fact, tonight she took on her first babysitting job."
I pulled out her chair for her, and as soon as she sat down she held out her hand to me. I took it and kissed the back of it before putting my cell into it. She pulled up the suite-feed and showed Harper and Kane the screen. Olivia learned faster than I did how to shut my men up. Currently, Bobby had thwarted her escape plans and while safely holding onto her, my baby's doing her damnedest to share her toy with her Uncle by trying to shove the wet end of her purple and pink teether/rattle into his mouth.
This time Kane nodded in approval. "If I didn't have a baby on the way, I'd attempt to kidnap yours. The last time Brown was that quiet, his mouth had my fist lodged in it."
"Kane, honey," Harper said to him, "what did I say about hitting people?"
"That you don't like when I do it. But he had it coming. He stole my beer and then made sure I was stuck paying for it. So he had to pay for that."
Harper sighed and glanced at Steph, who rolled her eyes in commiseration. It takes a strong stomach and plenty of patience to love men like us. Our wives have both ... and they continue to give us more love and understanding than we deserve.
