All familiar characters belong to Janet. Everyone else and any mistakes are mine.
I'm happy to be able to bring some good news to my wife after the shit she's had to deal with from her so-called parents. I know the radio silence from that end has to bother her on some level, but she's not letting it interfere with her - or our - life. Edna has been reporting to me the palpable tension within the Plum home, but no real changes have been made obvious yet. I continue to hope for Steph's sake that Frank mans up, while believing there isn't a chance in hell of that happening.
As I often do, I paused in the doorway - this time the one for Steph's office - and just took in the sight of two of my three favorite people. I had given Steph Black&Blue Mulroon's file this morning before I'd left for a system's walk-through, and she's going hard trying to hunt him down via phone and Facebook posts while also keeping her eye on Olivia, Gunny, and Mo, having a tea party in the middle of her office's floor.
Knowing Olive is her daughter, the tea set makes all the appropriate sounds, but doesn't require any liquid that would just end up going from teapot straight to carpet. Our poor dogs know what cups of all kinds are used for, and each would stop and look at the other with a raised brow and a 'Where the hell's the water?' stare whenever they'd stick a nose in the cup Olivia would hold out to one or both of them.
"Are you joining the party or are you just going to provide security for it? Though I think Mo and Gunny have that one handled," Steph said, flicking her eyes from the three on the floor, to her screen as she turned it off, and then she hit me with the full force of her blue eyes.
"I was just enjoying the view, Babe. It's hard to find a better one."
I walked in and hooked an arm around my daughter, doing a baby girl-curl to give her a 'I missed you' kiss. I put her back on her feet so she could get back to her 'guests' … and so I can also kiss my wife for the same reason.
"Mmmm, that was nice," she said against my mouth before going in for seconds. "I like bringing home halfish of our bacon, but if I had to look at another shirtless picture of Mulroon, I was going to quit."
I smiled, pressed a quick, hard kiss to her lips and then smiled. "No, you weren't."
"Okay, I wasn't. But seriously? If a guy has enough back hair for his drunk friends to try to braid ... why would he proudly post a pic of that eye-crime?"
"I have no answer for that one."
She shrugged. "Maybe it's to distract people from linking his nickname to the two obviously different eye colors he has."
"Doubtful, since the black eye is a glass one he chose purposely after he lost his matching blue one in a fight with his brother. If you look close enough, the pupil is an actual skull shape."
She shuddered. "No thanks. I'm going to hit pause on narrowing down where he'll be tomorrow between the hours you have to grab him, and spend the time you're in front of me to look at you instead. You're a freak of nature, but in a very good way."
"You're going to have more than a few minutes to look at me. We've got company coming. ETA is twelve minutes now."
"Well, I don't sense seething anger running below your surface. And you said 'we' instead of 'me' expecting someone, so I know that leaves my parents and Mary Lou out. Who's coming?"
"Angel and her parents. We're apparently a concession. Harper wanted to get out of the house, and Kane thinks something will happen to either her or their daughter if they leave the house, so the next best thing is a secure building with people Harper likes inside it."
"I remember those days well," she said, glancing and then smiling at our daughter. "They were just over a year ago."
"I wanted you to be safe, Steph. I never tried to keep you hostage."
"No, you didn't. You were - and still are - the best. And you know Kane isn't exactly doing that. First Harp falls down ..."
"She was pushed down," I corrected.
Those assholes aren't getting a clean slate for hurting Harper and potentially harming Angelique.
"Yeah, pushed. So Kane was starting off worried about his family. Add in Angel coming early and then requiring an all-you-can-eat diet until her doc declared her a good fighting weight, he's going to be acting extra careful. Harper, being the steady-headed one in that relationship, gets that once your baby comes out, you can no longer protect them from the entire world ... as much as you'd like to," she rushed to say so she could stop Olive from trying to climb to the top of her desk using the small paper recycling bucket beside it.
"Have you been talking to Uncle Ram about climbing mountains?" She asked Olivia, standing our baby on the desk she'd been temporarily fascinated with so they can talk almost eye-to-eye.
"Mimb mabawan," Olivia repeated, staring hard at her Mama's mouth, knowing that concentration will help her eventually replicate the same words.
"Yep ... climb mountains. Or close enough to it. We're going to get to see Angelique, Angel to those of us who love her. Okay, so here's the plan, Olive-Pie. Your job is to be even more adorable than usual to distract Uncle Kane so Aunt Harper can get a breather. Are you up for this mission?"
"Babe."
"I was expecting Olive to answer, but I'll take that as an agreement from her commanding officer."
I hugged them both to me and escorted them, along with the hounds, out of the office and towards the Coles. The health of my men comes first and foremost, so this workplace is a healthier environment than most, but I still suggested to Kane that we spend the majority of this visit on seven so Angelique won't be subjected to more than her tiny body can handle.
I did, however, request a brief stop on five just because Kane deserves this 'Look at my beautiful family' moment. And the men could use another example of what they can have themselves one day if they continue to remind themselves that they're worthy of it. Steph and I become less of a matrimonial-oddity when they also see Kane and Harper together, and now Raphael and Aubrey, plus Kenzie and Cal going strong in the same direction.
Kane had Harper tucked under one arm and was carrying Angel's car seat with his free hand when they stepped off the elevator. Our history hit me in that moment, how we met, everything we've survived, and how we both managed to find happiness in similar ways ... with daughters and women we know we couldn't live without.
"Hi. I hope you don't mind a visit," Harper said as a greeting. "Since Angel sleeps about as well as we do, I've had a lot of three A.M. online shopping opportunities. Olivia seemed to like mine, I found these for her. Despite being a little sleep deprived, I was smart enough to find a little girl-version so there are no laces to tie or for Olivia to trip over."
"That's so nice of you. Thank you, Harper," Steph said. "Look, Olive, you now have Panda sneakers just like Aunt Harp's."
Our daughter struggled to get down to get a close-up of her newest closet addition. Kane smiled at my daughter, but I know a comment likely better left unsaid is coming.
"My wife is nice, but she's also sneaky. She won't admit it, but I know she bought those shoes just so she'd have a legitimate reason to come all the way out here."
Harper kissed his cheek. "It worked, because here we are. And I would have bought Olivia a pair regardless. They aren't as elaborate a gift as Angelique's angel bracelet, but I thought Olive would like them."
"She does," I noted.
I put one knee to the ground in front of where my baby had plopped herself down to help Olivia see that she has to take off her denim bow sneakers before the Panda ones can go on her feet. I don't know where the time goes, but it goes by too fucking fast. Not that long ago, we spent considerable time trying to put and keep shoes on our daughter. Now she's trying to slide on two different pairs all by herself.
"Speaking of angels, get a look at mine. I'll swear on a stack of Bibles, right in the middle of a church, that she's more beautiful than anything with wings."
To prove it, he unburied his Angel from the pink plaid blanket keeping any possible draft off of her. And with almost slow motion care, he lifted up and into his chest the squirming little bundle wearing white coverall pjs with bright pink ruffled-trim.
"Everyone, this is Angelique. The most beautiful, best-tempered, and kickass, newborn you'll ever meet."
"Nice try, but they knew Olive before she was born," my wife said. "The RangeUncles are very familiar with kickass babies."
After she and I were standing again, Olivia demonstrated that by testing out her new footwear with a few foot stomps that could be her interpretation of dance moves or attempts at some baby-butt-kicking.
"I stand corrected. Olive and Angel are tied as baby-badasses," Kane conceded, having appreciated her moves regardless of what they were.
Angel's dark eyes stayed open and her noises, sorta-smiles, and grasp reflexes, packed a punch. Likely to turn all of my men into extra-gentle giants, Kane purposely outed Harper as the one who had slid a tiny white headband over Angelique's fly-away strands of near-black hair. It has a small gold halo embroidered front and center on the widest part of the band, so Angel's size and innocence was made even more apparent.
Both Steph and I spent time with our smallest guest as Olive got both Kane and Harper caught up on her and her dogs' day, and the adults were invariably invited to attend the tea party I'd walked into earlier. It didn't take long for the members of Team Uncle who're in the building at the time to want to meet and hold Angel while indulgently accepting the tea Olivia poured for them.
"The Boss and Steph don't appear to be in any hurry to give Olive a baby brother or sister, so we'll take this one," Bobby commented when he got to hold baby Cole.
Except for Steph and I, those who were lucky to have met Angel at the Cole home when she had been released from the hospital, were pushed to the back of the proverbial greeting line. If Olivia hadn't been busy trying to keep everyone hydrated ... Bobby, Lester, Tank, Cal, and Raphael, may have lodged a complaint about their treatment.
"You can say hi for a sec, but you'd better hold her the right way or I'll break your face," Kane warned Brown.
"That's how a father is supposed to feel about his daughter," I said quietly to my wife. "And that's what you deserved to have felt from yours from day one."
She shrugged. "I feel something very similar coming from you every minute of every day. That's all I need now."
From her current seat on Kane's forearm, I watched Olivia lean over in order to kiss Angel's forehead right below her halo, and I had a hard time arguing that anyone needs more than what we've created here.
