Future Valentine's Day

BPOV~February, 2018

“Happy birthday to you…happy birthday to you…happy birthday dear Cooper…happy birthday to you!”

My oldest child inhaled as deeply as he could and in doing so, he made his best puffer fish impression as he blew out all six of the candles on his Spiderman birthday cake.  It all seemed surreal to me, looking at Cooper who, now as a kindergartener didn’t have a trace of baby boy left in his face, while I held his tiny, but not so lightweight doppelganger, facing forward in my arms.

Edward had gotten his wish, once again, and sometime around his birthday I became pregnant with our last baby boy, Carter Garrett Cullen.  He was my rolly-polliest baby by far and was due to turn one next month on March fifteenth.  I was certain he was the real reason that we should ‘beware the Ides of March’.  None of my kids were angels to be certain; they had too much Cullen in them for that, but Carter was a completely different child from all of my others and a total Mama’s boy to boot.  Cooper was so stinkin’ rotten when he was born that he would pretty much always just go with whoever stuck their hands out to take him.  He was held so much I didn’t think he would ever walk.  The girls obviously had to be split between us, although Masey-as our tough as nails tomboy-took more to Edward and Melody our sensitive little princess- took more to me.  When Carter came out and we gazed at each other for the first time that was all she wrote.  His daddy never stood a chance, poor thing, but neither did I where our boys were concerned because they looked just like Edward, with the exception of having brown hair.

Carter was squirming in my already tired arms, trying his best to get down.  I knew he was dying to toddle over to the cake and get himself a handful if his brother would let him.  There were times that I swore he should have been Emmett’s child for as much as he ate, but he was a piglet even at birth weighing in at nearly nine pounds and his appetite hadn’t let up since.  Losing the baby weight after him hadn’t been that hard because he was always such a busy baby.  He had three older siblings to keep up with after all, and even though my last pregnancy and labor was a good bit harder on me, even a little more so than the twins, I would never regret giving Edward and Cooper their Christmas wish.  Who could ever regret someone else to love?

Carter adored Cooper and vice versa.  Cooper had always loved babies and ever since Carter was mobile, he made sure to give a little one-on-one time to his little bubba which was another reason he was dying to get out of my arms and over to his big brother.

“Would you like me to take that off of your hands for a little bit, lovin’?”  Mmmm…that voice in my ear still did so many wicked things to me.  It didn’t help that he had those sinful lips fastened to my neck either.

“That would be awesome, sugar,” I said, heaving my hefty, squirmy baby into his daddy’s arms.  Carter started to whine a little bit, realizing that he was being given away, but when he got the inner thigh tickle-belly raspberry combo from his daddy, he rewarded him with his husky little giggle and all was right in the world.  The only thing better than watching Edward be a dad to our children was getting to spend time alone with him, and let’s face it; having had four kids in six years didn’t exactly leave us a lot of that. 

We did make an agreement with Angela, Ben, Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rose to keep each other’s kids overnight so that each couple could have at least one guaranteed date night per month and it just so happened that ours was tonight after Cooper’s party.  This was also going to serve as our Valentine’s Day…activity…I’ll say.  I had heard through the grapevine that Edward had a surprise for me and I had been a Cullen long enough that I couldn’t let him outdo me. 

“What’s that evil little grin for?”

“Nothin’.”

“Mmhmm…you know I have my evil ways of findin’ out, don’t you?”

“I do and while I’m usually highly in favor of your evil ways, devil, this one is too good to give up,” I said, wrapping my arms around his waist and inhaling his scent.  Ugh, not what I was expecting.  “And you will definitely need to shower before tonight’s surprise.  You smell like plastic and sweat,” I said, stepping away and popping him on the butt.

“Hey!  That bouncy slide was awesome!  You’re just jealous because you were too chicken to go down it!”

And there it was…the Cullen challenge.  When will he ever learn?  I spun on my heel and marched my tail right over to that slide and went down it not once, but twice.  Then I proceeded to jump with the girls in the smaller bouncy house.

We had thirty minutes left until the rental place came to pick the bouncy houses up and we meant that we were going to get every jump and slide in that we could.  Once the kids from Cooper’s church and school classes had left and only family was left, Sassy, Rose Angela and I were sprawled out on the floor of the smaller bouncy house while the other kids, and of course our men, took turns going down the slide.

“So tell me about tonight.  You have been very secretive and you know we just don’t do secrets in this family,” Alice said.

“Yes, Sassy, that’s exactly why I haven’t said anything.  But I may as well tell y’all now; surely you can keep your mouths shut for that long,” I said, giving them the eye, especially Alice and Rosalie.

“You got it.  Now get on with it.  I may need to take notes.”

“Rosalie, if you need to take notes on spicing up your love life, then mine is surely doomed.”

“Look, you’re the one poppin’ out babies every two years.  You must be doin’ somethin’ right.”

“True.  Okay, so here’s the deal.  While things aren’t exactly boring in the bedroom, we have just hit that phase lately that y’all told me about…you know…the maintenance sex.  And don’t get me wrong, maintenance sex is still great, but tonight…”

“You need some tenderness.  You need some love makin’,” Alice guessed.

“Not even close, Sass.  No, what Mama needs is…”

“To get fucked,” Rose finished.

“Lord, yes!  Thoroughly and I mean not just once.”

“Preach on, sister!” Angela agreed.

“Mmhmm, you got that right,” Alice nodded.

“So, quit holdin’ out and tell us already.  I need to live vicariously through you until it’s our turn in a few weeks,” Angela said.  Poor thing.  She was in the throes of new mommy-hood and since little Lila was now six months old, she was finally ready to leave her for the first time and have some husband and wife time instead of mommy and daddy time.

“Well, thanks to Sass, I know that Edward is taking care of supper and is plannin’ on something sweet afterwards.  I’m guessing a sweet gift, a sexy song and probably a delicious dessert.  But what he doesn’t know is that I’ll be taking care of dessert for him.  For starters, I am now the proud owner of a naughty nurse costume, and I plan on being very naughty.”

“Hell yeah!” Rosalie fist pumped.

“I also went to Newton’s Rent-All and rented a massage table.  You see, since I quit working on a regular basis after having the girls, I thought it was time that I brushed up on my health assessment skills, so my very gorgeous husband is going to get a very sexy and very hands-on physical from his naughty nurse wife.”

“God, I want to be you when I grow up,” Rose lamented, sending the rest of us into a fit of giggles.

“What are you girls up to?  From the sounds of it, it can’t be anything good,” Edward smirked.

I gasped.  “How long have you been standing there?”

“Tell me what you were laughin’ about first.”

Alice sat up and began to crawl over to the opening where Jasper was waiting to help her out of the bouncy house.  “He didn’t hear nothin’.  If he had that smirk would be a hell of a lot bigger.”

“What does she know that I don’t?” Edward asked as he crawled into the house.   Aww…Lippy McPouterson is out in full force.

I pulled on his bottom lip as he hovered over me and began to nuzzle my neck.

“Good Lord.  Ain’t nothin’ maintenance about y’all.”  Rose tugged on my hair and rolled towards the entrance, reminding me to call her in the morning.  “Emmett!  Come help me out of this thing so we can round up some kids.  These two may not keep things G-rated for very long and our date isn’t until next week.”

“What in the hell is Rose goin’ on about?” he mumbled, giving me the shivers.

“You’ll find out later.  Patience, sugar.”

“Jezebel.”

“You have no idea.”

xXx

EPOV

I gave Bella strict instructions to stay away from the house for at least two hours when she left earlier to take the kids to spend the night with our relatives.  The girls were going to Alice’s with Mary Beth and Ally and the boys went over to Emmett’s house with Riley, Brandon and Brady.  I didn’t know which would be worse; a house full of estrogen or a house full of testosterone.  I could only guess that the last house left standing would be the winner…you know…survival of the fittest and all that.  Either way, it was going to be a good night at this house for me and my woman.

It had only been a month since our last date; our Friday nights spent catching up the DVR not exactly counting.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved that our house was slam full of kids and that they kept us busier than a three-legged ninja, but I still craved alone time with my baby girl, even after all these years. 

That being said, I was going to try my best to bring back the romance, seeing as how what little alone time we had these days turned out to be more rushed and unfortunately routine than languid and loving.  Our date night was also tying in with Valentine’s Day so I thought why not go back to one of our first meals?  She would surely appreciate the sentimentality of it and I would surely appreciate the sensuality of it.   What?  I liked watching my woman’s mouth and feeding her was seriously just a bonus! 

While she was out, I set out the things I had been working on for the past two weeks and then I began putting the finishing touches on supper, knowing that the timing of making fondue was paramount.  I was going to start us off with a tossed green salad with some fresh sourdough bread that Mama slipped to me at the party, then we’d move on to sliced steak and shrimp with a teriyaki sauce for dipping and follow it up with a basic chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows and cake cubes to dip in it.  I was already having a difficult time keeping focused just thinking about her lips wrapping around…

“Sweet fancy Moses!” I yelled as my cell phone blared from the countertop right beside me, pulling me from my very naughty daydream.  “You just seriously scared the shit out of me,” is how I answered the phone.

Her sweet giggle was her first reply.  “Sorry, sugar,” she said, not sounding sorry at all.  “I’m home.  Can I come in yet or not?”

“Anxious?” I teased.

“Aren’t you?”  Damn it!  Was it necessary to already be using the sexy voice?

“Always, baby girl.  Meet me at the front door.”

I immediately hung up the phone and sprinted towards the front of the house, doing my best to be careful not to knock anything over in the process.  Taking one last look around, I opened the door and stepped out onto the porch to greet her properly.

Lord help me, a good, slow kiss could seriously crank my motor.

We were both breathless with our arms wrapped around each other, swaying and leaning our foreheads together.  “Well that was certainly unexpected, but I’ll dang sure take it.”

“Mmm, there’s more where that came from, lovin’.  You ready for your surprise?”

“Hell yes.  It’s that or freeze to death.”

“Good point.  Alright,” I said, spinning her around to face the front door and covering her eyes.  “Prepare to be wowed.”

“Awfully sure of yourself there, sugar.”

That little comment earned her a pop on the tail.  “Shut it.”

I opened the front door and led her into the living room where the trail began, and finally revealed the first part of her surprise.

“Are you shittin’ me?”

“Now that is exactly the kind of romantic reaction I was hopin’ for.”

“How did you do all of this?”

She stepped into the living room that I had completely littered with pink, red and purple construction paper hearts.

“I had help.  You’d be surprised what five bucks can buy your son, nieces and nephews.”

She wandered around looking at the ones that were written on, collecting them and clutching them to her chest as she read each one aloud.

I love you because you give the best hugs.  Love Riley.

I love you because you make the best sugar cookies.  Love Ally.

I love you because you come to all of my soccer games.  Love Brandon.

I love you because I can tell you anything and you won’t tell my mama.  Love Mary Beth.

I love you because you’re my best friend’s mom and you’re pretty.  Love Brady.

She turned to look at me from the middle of the room with a huge grin.  “That child may seriously be my favorite.  You reckon Sassy would let us trade Carter for Brady?”

“Doubtful,” I chuckled.  “Keep goin’.  There’s more.”  I knew that the next ones that she came across would bring tears to her eyes since anything that involved the tender hearts of our kids often did

.

I love you because you do everything right when Daddy does everything wrong.  Love Carter.

She raised her eyebrow at me.

I shrugged my shoulder.  “I may have helped him a little bit with that one.”  She shook her head and continued around the room.

I love you because you buy me clothes that aren’t pink.  Love Masey

I love you because you sing with me every night.  Love Melody

I love you because you hug and kiss me even when I’m not so huggable and kissable.  Love Cooper

She was a beautiful sniffling mess as I made my way across the room to wrap my arms around her.

“How long did you work on this?”

“A couple of weeks,” I mumbled against her shoulder after I brushed her hair to the other side.  There were so many more to read, but I was ready for her to read mine.  We had limited time tonight and I wanted to spend it worshiping her myself.

“My heart is just…full.  This is absolutely wonderful!”

“I’m glad.  How about a few more and then we’ll have our supper before the sauce starts to burn.”

“What are we having?” she asked, turning her head to face me.  I pecked her on the lips.

“Fondue.”  Her grin was wide and all the thanks I needed.

I walked her towards the kitchen where I had left a few of my handwritten hearts scattered on the bar where I had our supper set up. 

Picking up the first one I read softly into her ear, “I love you because you are gorgeous and sassy and smart and because I was lucky enough to convince you to say yes.”  I sealed it with a kiss below that ear and then reached around her to the other side.  “I love you because you gave me four of the greatest and most beautiful gifts any man could ever want.”  I turned her around in my arms to face me and saw that she was biting her lip in effort to keep silent as tears made a silvery trail down her flushed cheeks.

I wiped the tears away with my thumbs and told her, “I love you because it’s not just your voice that sings to me, but your heart sings to mine as well and no music has ever been so sweet.”

Bella shook her head as a sob escaped from her chest.  I twirled a strand of her hair around my finger before pushing it over her shoulder to rest.

“I love you because after all of these years you’re not just my more; you are my everything.”  She gripped my shirt by the sides and pulled me to her, burying her face in my chest.  

“You are too much,” she mumbled into my shirt.  I squeezed her tight and told her that nothing was too much for her because that was the absolute truth.  I’d give her the world because it was nothing short of what she had already given me.

“I love you.”

“Good thing because I have plans for you, baby girl.”

“Well how about we eat this yummy lookin’ supper you made for us and we’ll discuss those plans later.”

“You got it.”

xXx

BPOV

“Gimme twenty minutes and then you can come up to our bedroom for your surprise,” I said around the kisses that he was peppering all around my face and neck.

“No.  I’m good right here.”

“Edward,” I whined.  I really didn’t want to get up because he was already giving me some much needed friction in some mighty good places from where he was situated between my legs on the couch.

He had gotten out his guitar after we fed each other supper and serenaded me like he used to with the sweet words of Lionel Richie’s Truly.  Most of our singing these days involved the kids in some way so getting something especially for me was completely heartwarming.

“I really need you to move.  I promise it will be worth your while.”

He growled into my neck.

“Fine.  But this little surprise of yours better end with you naked or I’m gonna be spankin’ that cute little ass.”

“You’ll just have to wait and see.  Now move,” I giggled, pushing on his shoulders.

As I walked up the stairs my stomach started to churn with butterflies.  I couldn’t believe I had talked myself into doing this.  I was somebody’s mother…FOUR somebody’s mother to be exact.  What was I thinking?  You were thinking that you didn’t want to be anybody’s mama for a night and that you wanted to seduce your husband into bangin’ you like his girlfriend and not lovin’ you like his wife.

His reaction alone would be so worth it.

I hurriedly got the table out of the closet and placed the sheets over it so that he would think that he was only getting a massage.  I lit vanilla scented candles and scurried into the bathroom to put on my naughty nurse outfit, only to cover it up with a robe.  He wasn’t getting any previews before the main event.

The man was knocking on the door two minutes early.  “Can I come in now?”

“Yes, come on in, Mr. Impatient.”

He opened the door and stopped short when he saw the massage table set up at the foot of the bed.

“Well, well, what do we have here?”

I stepped forward from the doorway of the bathroom.  “For starters, you are going to strip down, completely naked,” I said smirking, “and then get onto that table.  It’s up to you if you want to cover up or not.”

There was my favorite crooked smile, looking all kinds of mischievous.  He was already beginning to unbutton his fly.  Damn him and his…cockiness!  Time for me to retreat and get my wits about me because if I see that man in all of his naked glory right now, this charade is off and all the sexy time shenanigans are on!

I cleared my throat.  “While you undress, I’m just going to get the lotion that I warmed up.”

Lord have mercy!  I felt like I did seven years ago, all nervous and twitterpated, which to be honest is really good and something that we had been needing lately.

I walked back into the bedroom with a bottle of warm lotion in my hands and noticed that he was sitting up on the massage table with the white sheet draped loosely in his lap.

“Um, sugar…you’re supposed to be lying down.”

“C’mere,” he said, reaching his hand and pulling me to stand between his legs.  “I can’t lay down.  You see…I kind of have a…problem,” he said, giving me a peep show of his lap.

Holy Mary, this ain’t gonna take long.

“No problem.  I can definitely work with that.  A massage was really just going to be for warm up purposes anyway.”

He nuzzled my ear and growled, “I was hopin’ you’d say that, baby girl.”  And cue the whimper. 

I stepped away from him so that I could remove my robe, since it seemed that we were going to fast forward this night a little bit.  I pulled on the waist tie and let the robe fall to the floor.

“What in the mothercuss are you wearin’?”

“Well, Mr. Cullen, tonight you are my patient and you’ll be getting a full-on, hard-core  physical.  I’ll be your naughty nurse, Bella.  Do you mind if I touch you now?”

He shook his head, “Hunh-unh.”

“Alright, how ‘bout I start at the top and work my way down?”

Edward swallowed thickly and nodded.  Bless his heart.  Four babies had brought with them plenty of cleavage and he couldn’t get enough of an eyeful, especially in this tight white get-up that had the girls jacked up to Jesus.

I started by scratching his scalp and running my fingers through his hair, causing his eyes to immediately close.

“Hair…shiny, healthy, soft, thick, and thoroughly fingered,” I purred, giving it a tug.

I moved my hands lower and ran my thumbs along his forehead, over his brow bone, across his cheekbones and down his perfectly stubbled jaw.  I looked into his sea green eyes that were notably wider and darker due to the combination of lust and low lighting.

“Pupils are dilated and equally reactive.  Facial bones are masculine, angular, strong…lickable,” I said, leaning in and doing just that. 

“You’re the devil, you know that?”

“Nuh-uh-uh…I’m a jezebel.  You are the devil.”

“Are we done yet?” he asked, trying to hook his feet behind my legs to bring me closer to him.

“Not even close.”  And then the pout.  Still precious.

“Okay, now where was I?  Oh yes.”  I ran my hands along his trapezius muscles, made strong and more defined since he and Jasper had taken up boxing in the last couple of years.  I kneaded them gently, causing his head to dip back between those luscious muscles and expose his corded neck.

I traced the lines of his deltoid muscles, kissing the tattoo of the cross and staff on his right arm and ghosting my lips across the one of my name on the inside of his left bicep.  He added that one on our first anniversary and said its placement kept me close to his heart.  There was also a tribal sun with our kid’s names in the middle of it that was only six months old on his left shoulder blade because they were the light of his life.  It was seriously no wonder I married that man.

I slid my fingers down his defined forearms to his warm hands.  I wrapped them around me and placed one hand on each ass cheek and smirked at him.  “Squeeze.”  And holy mother did he. 

“Arms…musculature is well developed and there are beautiful, identifiable markings noted on both.  Fingers are long, tapered and talented, and grip strength is currently rockin’ my world,” I groaned.  He chuckled, knowing that in addition to the awesome gropes he was giving me, he was beginning to unravel me by teasing me under the hem of my outfit which barely covered my ass. 

I peppered kisses from the end of one collarbone to the other and then made a trail of open mouthed kisses around one pectoral muscle and then the other, licking each nipple and making him flinch.  He was losing control and I hadn’t even gotten to the good stuff yet.  I splayed my hands across his broad chest, losing myself in the contrast between the softness of his skin and fine chest hair and the hardness of his chiseled muscles.  He moved his hands up my hips and around my sides until he reached the zipper at the front of my costume and began to lower it.

“Breathing is deep, if not a little accelerated, like someone trying to stay in control but failing,” I smirked.  “Heartbeat is regular and strong,” I teased, letting my fingertips begin to stray down his abdomen towards the straining sheet in his lap, “but beginning to race.  A unique characteristic, however, is that this heart only beats this fast for me.”  He grinned and nodded so I rewarded him with a sweet kiss. 

Never losing eye contact, I slowly removed the sheet from his lap and dropped it on the floor beside me.  I tickled a teasing trail from his knee caps, over his distinct quad muscles and up to his groin.  Finally, the promised land.  I bit my lip when he hissed as I wrapped my hand around his shaft, giving it a tentative squeeze and stroke.  Bless him.  I took one long and languid lick from base to tip, ending with a swirl.  He was beginning to groan in the back of his throat, so I knew I didn’t have long.

Looking him in the eye and tracing the defined muscles along his hips I whispered into his ear, “Legs and hips are strong and powerful for…thrusting.  Your cock is long and hard and thick; silk over steel that fills every…single…inch of me.  That’s all it took.

The table fell backwards, Edward jumped off of it so fast.  His arms were a vice around me; his lips everywhere as he pulled us around to the side of the bed.  When my knees hit the mattress he lowered me down, never allowing his tongue to untangle from mine.  His mouth was warm and wet and demanding and I knew for a fact that I wouldn’t last long when he lowered it to my other…lips.

He stood up and began to undress me, devouring me with his eyes along the way.  First to go were the heels, then the white, sheer thigh highs.  When he finished lowering the zipper that he had started on earlier he shook his head in disbelief, realizing that there had been nothing else worn under my nurse outfit.

“Naughty nurse indeed.  Tell me, baby girl,” he said, trailing a finger up my slit, “do you give all of your patients the same kind of physical…attention?”

Oh how the tables have turned.  Now I’m the panting writhing mess.

“No, sugar.  Only you.”

“Damn straight.”

He began kissing torturously up my thighs to where I was wet and needy and ready for him.  Husband wasn’t playing games and I was right; it didn’t take long to finish the first time under his masterful licks and nips, sucks and strokes.

Edward hovered over me and I pressed my heels into his backside, urging him to come on already.  He was staring at me, teasing me with his tip.

“What?”  I was about to be whiney.

I should have known.  He was taking his rightful turn to smirk as he pushed inside of me, causing me to moan.

“Oh Lord yes…”

“You started this, lovin’,” he said, thrusting deeply, but slowly.  “Tell me how you want it.”

“Mmm,” I whimpered, opening my eyes.  “Gimme all ya got, sugar.”

“Yes ma’am.”

I rocked my hips up into his as he pushed harder, deeper, faster.  He felt so good.  We felt so good.  Forever was not going to be long enough to get to love on this man.

“I can feel you holdin’ off.  Come on.  I want it,” he growled.

“No.  Not yet…feels…too good,” I panted.

He sat back on his heels and pulled my thighs over his and locked my ankles behind him.  Oh shit…I know this move.

“Not fair!”

“You know I always get what I want,” he said, thumbing my nipple.

“Then make me,” I grinned in challenge.

“Oh, baby girl…you shouldn’t have said that.”  He wrapped his hands around my hips and, Lord have mercy, showed me who was boss.  It wasn’t me, that was for sure.

“Oh, fuck…”  Rocking meets thrusting.

“Come on…”  Head thrashing side-to-side.

“Right there…”  Brows furrowed and lips bitten.

“Give it…”  Lips parted and a scream of ecstasy.

“Edward!”  My release triggered his, our hips rocking in an uneven rhythm until he collapsed and joined me in my boneless satiety.

“I can die now.”

“Hmm,” I giggled, threading my fingers through his hair.  We continued to lie there in the dark and quiet, the only sounds being our regulating breaths.

“I love you,” I whispered.  I felt his scruffy cheek rise in grin against my bare belly.

“I love you, too.  We need more times like this.”

“What?  Dressing up?” I teased.

“No, smart ass, although, that was pretty awesome.  Keep that outfit, by the way.”  I giggled.

“I know what you mean.  It can be hard to turn off the Mama and Daddy switch and turn on the husband and wife switch at the end of the day.”

“Well, you know you can flip my switch any time you want.”

“Shut it.”  He rolled to his side and pulled my back to his chest, nuzzling his nose into my neck.

I wiggled my ass against him, partly to get settled and partly to tease him.

“Woman,” he groaned.  I laughed.  He kissed my shoulder.

“Night, sugar.”

“Night, baby girl.  We’ll pick that up in the mornin’.”

Epilogue Part 2 (They Made a Life)

Epilogue Part Two (They Made a Life)
EPOV
 Six Weeks Later


It was two in the morning and as much as I was completely in love with my son, I kind of wanted to sit him outside on the porch right about then.  I swore I had just laid my head down on the pillow, but when I looked at the clock on the bedside table I realized that I had already been asleep for nearly four hours, Bella having taken the last feeding at eleven.  She rolled over and sat up on what I was sure was pure instinct at this point.  We were wearing our proud new parent stripes in the form of under-eye bags that size of Texas.


I guided her back down to the bed, knowing that she wasn’t fully awake.  “Go back to sleep, baby girl.  I’ve got him.  It’s my turn.”


“Mmkay,” she mumbled.  She rolled onto her side to face me.  I didn’t think she ever completely slept when I did a feeding.  She liked to curl around us and snuggle up too much and I wasn’t gonna lie…I loved it.  I had my best girl cuddled up next to me while I held my best boy in my arms; what could be better than that?


I reached over into the cradle to pick up my little bud, who’s desire to be fed had escalated from the sounds of soft snorts and squeaks to what sounded like a mad kitten at that point.  I still couldn’t get over that sound; it was sweet and crazy and music to my ears…just not at two a.m. 
With sleepy eyes I dumped the premeasured powdered formula into the premeasured water in the bottle and started shaking it up while my little bud started smacking his little lips.


“Coop, what were we thinking when we chose the bottle over the breast, huh?”  His wide eyes looked dark in our room that was only lit by the night light that we kept by his cradle, but I knew better.  His hair was starting to rub out a little bit in the back, but the top fuzz was still there and chocolate brown, just like his mama’s.  His eyes were still blue, not at all murky looking.  I was betting they would turn green and Bella was praying that was a bet that I won.  Other than her hair color, he had her little up-turned nose and that was it.  Everything else was pure Edward Cullen.  Bless his heart.  I could only pray that he got his mama’s attitude and personality otherwise we were going to be butting heads like two rams.


“I’m just surprised your son took to a bottle over the breast,” Bella giggled. 


I reached over and patted her hip, “Trust me babe.  I would never choose anything over your boobs.  Well…”


“Hush.  I get my clearance today and it’s not like you’ve been neglected.”  She was right.  She had taken care of me for sure. 


Once my man gulped down his bottle and let out a Cullen sized belch, we were all back to sleep before too long.  I loved these quiet times in the middle of the night, as sweet as they were, but I was ready for the rascal to sleep through the night and move into his room so that I could get back to lovin’ on my wife, dang it!


Six Months later…


“Say Da-Da.  Da-Da.  Daaaaa Daaaaaa.”  My child looked at me like I was stupid.  The little turkey was supposed to like me better, but what does he say first?  Mama.  Of course.


“Say Cooper Scooper!  That’s one’s funnier,” my idiot brother said to Cooper.
I shook my head at him.  Bella had gone into work for a few hours and while I was still out of school for summer vacation, I had taken Cooper out for some fresh air to the park with Emmett, Riley and Ally.  It was Daddy’s Day Out with the kids and oddly enough, we didn’t look out of place.


“Don’t do it Em.  You know she warned you about that and you also know that she’ll do it.”  His response was a scowl, I’m sure remembering what Bella said the first day he started trying to call our son Cooper Scooper.


“Look, Pops calls him Trip, and that’s fine…I get it…triple ‘c’…but his favorite Uncle needs to give him his own nickname, too.  It’s for bonding purposes.”  I swear I didn’t understand my brother.


“You are not calling my child Cooper Scooper!  You know what it sounds like!” my gorgeous mama bear of a wife hollered at her brother-in-law…that she was about to castrate.


“Come oooonnnn, it’s funny!”


Bella walked over to him and bent down close to his ear, talking lowly but clearly so as not to disturb the little sleeping man in question, and said, “Just so we’re clear, I know all about your little snip and clip procedure after Rose had Ally.  I also know that you had the one where they place little clamps in your boys that you have to check to be sure that they are still in place.  I also know that the first time after your little procedure when you were checking those clips, you realized that one of your boys was numb and it stayed that way for a month afterwards.  So you go ahead and call my son Cooper Scooper.  But know this…he’ll be calling you Uncle Numbnut.” 
She leaned back and gave him the ‘I dare you’ raised eyebrow.


“How ‘bout Coop de ville?  That’s funny, right?”


Needless to say, Cooper Scooper was dropped for good.  I had mercy on him and let it slide just that once.


April 2014
BPOV


“Well hello again you two!  I was thinkin’ it was about time for y’all to be comin’ in to see me!” Dr. Brady said.


“What can I say?  I finally wore her down plus we had a good Valentine’s Day,” my husband smirked.  He had gotten entirely too chummy with the good doctor during our last pregnancy.  “Oomph!”  He deserved that sucker punch to the gut!  Gah!  I was already sitting on a table covered only from the waist down with paper.  I didn’t exactly need anything else to embarrass me.  Clearly the good doctor knew what we had been up to without Edward announcing it.


“Sorry.”


“Well, you know the drill.  We’ll take a look see in here and then we’ll take a peek with the ultrasound.”
………


Rachel had been looking around for so long that it seemed like the gel was starting to spread thin.
“Would you like to see your babies?” she asked us as she rotated the monitor towards us.
Silence all around the room.  Not even crickets.


“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” Edward managed to choke out.  Good thing because I was apparently shocked mute.


“This is Baby A and this is Baby B.  You’re having twins!”  My cocky, cool, calm and collected husband was stunned speechless.  I’m just thankful that he didn’t pass the hell out.  I would have had to tell the boys about that.  I’m the one who had to drive us home this time, as it was, while he stared at the ultrasound of our babies…plural.


July 2014


“Hopefully they will cooperate for us today.  You did say you wanted to know the sex of the babies, right?” Rachel asked us.


“Lord yes!  This time the bet is double or nothin’…since it’s two of ‘em and all.”  I rolled my eyes.  I had given up on trying to guess the sex of the babies because I would probably be wrong again and be out a hundred bucks to Angela.  She was trying to bless me with two more boys.  The one I had was just like his daddy and rowdy enough; I couldn’t imagine having three!


“Just ignore him.  His family bets on everything.”


“Okay, well, let’s see who is right, then, shall we?”  Edward squeezed my hand and kissed my temple as she squirted the gel on my belly and started with Baby A.  After doing a few measurements and looking at internal organs, stopping to capture pictures of certain things here and there, she clicked a still of the current screen and typed out “It’s a Girl!” across the monitor.  My eyes instantly filled with tears while Edward let out a big ‘whoop’!  I could only guess it was because he was one for one in the bet.


After repeating the same sequence on Baby B, she typed out “I’m a girl, too!” beside the arrow pointing to her girly parts, which in reality just looked like three white lines.


“Aw, hell!”


“Yes!” I squealed.  Edward had guessed boy and girl.  I was smart and went with Pops this time and guessed both girls.  That man had some sort of baby sixth sense because he had guessed every grandchild right so far.  Lesson learned…don’t bet against Pops.  We knew that the babies both had their own placenta and their own amniotic sac, so now that we knew that they were both girls, we wouldn’t know until they were born if they were identical or fraternal twins.


“Looks like I’ll need a new nickname,” I murmured after getting dressed and waiting on the doctor.
Edward stepped between my legs as I sat on the table and held my face between his hands and kissed me so tender and so good I certainly had no problem remembering how I got in this position.


“Never.  You are my baby girl.  They’ll have to earn their own nicknames, just like the rest of us.”


October 2014


It was a cool, clear night the week before Halloween and I was sitting out on the porch, enjoying the swing as much as a woman carrying forty extra pounds could.  I had never been more thankful that when we built this house, Edward had demanded on making the new porch swing himself.  Swing…that was a laugh.  It was more like a floating bed, or couch in the very least. 
The girls weren’t due for another two weeks, but I had made it this far and they were ready, not to mention that I had no room left for them to grow.  Baby A’s fluid had started to look a little low at my appointment the day before, so they were inducing labor the next morning.  Dr. Brady felt like I would be a good candidate for induction since I had already begun to thin out and had dilated two centimeters  since the previous visit.


I’d never forget Edward’s face the moment Cooper was born, which seemed like forever ago now.  He was so elated that it was heartbreaking.  I didn’t know if he was going to kiss or pet me to death before I sent him over to watch and take pictures while the nurses got our little man cleaned up.  Talk about a daddy bear!  He was a champ when it came to feeding and a whiz at diaper changing even though he said he felt like he was pulling Coop’s little boys off, trying to get rid of all ‘that weird tarry shit’.


Just like he talked to my belly while I was pregnant with Cooper, he had done the same with the girls; only this time he used it as an excuse to let his lips roam all around my belly, claiming that he wanted to be sure that all four little ears heard him.  And just like Cooper, they loved to hear their daddy sing.  Speaking of the devil…


I saw the flash of lights as he turned into the long drive before I ever heard the crunch of the gravel under his tires.  I knew that he felt guilty about having to work late the night before the girls were born, but I had kept my promises to him by resting all day and only leaving the house to get my pedicure.  The man was driving me a little crazy by texting me every hour on the hour, but I indulged him and went with it.  It was only out of love that he had become such a protective worry wart.


I heard the spring on screen door stretch just seconds before he called out, “Baby girl?”  Roscoe’s head popped up, though not as quickly as it used to.  He was an old man in dog years after all.  LuLu was upstairs asleep at the foot of Cooper’s bed, keeping watch over her best bud.


“Over here, sugar.”  The door slapped closed behind him, followed by the slap of his bare feet against the concrete of the porch as he made his way over to me.  Figures.  That man starts stripping the minute he walks through the door…not that I minded.  I mean, I still wanted to lick him every bit as much as the first day I saw him it was just that I wasn’t exactly in the position to appreciate even the thought of the awesomeness that was his ass dimples right then.


“Whatcha doin’ out here all by your lonesome?  And why do I feel like I ask you that a lot?”


He sat in the corner of the swing and propped his back against the pillow and pulled me to rest between his very long, very muscular legs.  Crap…must stop.  Twice the hormones folks!


“I was just sittin’ out here listenin’ to you.”  He hugged me tighter.  He loved the fact that after a couple of years, my accent had finally given in to the unspoken southern rule that the ‘g’ is silent on all words ending in ‘ing’.  He thought it was sexy.  At this point, I just thought it was…normal.


“What do you mean, listenin’ to me?”  He had gathered my hair and moved it to one shoulder and was nuzzling my neck and ear, and basically being very unfair to a woman who was about to pop.


“Well, I noticed a couple of weeks ago that if I sit out here, I can hear the band practicin’.  Not everything clearly, but the really low pitches, the really high pitches, and of course the drums,” I said, leaning back to wink at him.


“Well, now I’ll have to be sure to show out every week until you can come back to watch.  I missed you and Coop bein’ there tonight.”


“We missed you too,” I sighed.  He pushed the swing a little with his foot, gliding us slowly as we enjoyed the calmness of the night with only a few crickets out to play for us. 


“How was he today?”


“We owe Rose and Emmett in a big way.  She showed up this mornin’ at a quarter ‘til eight and demanded my child.  She grabbed an extra pair of clothes and underwear, a light jacket and a sippy cup and strapped him in her truck and took off.  Apparently after school let out, Sassy picked all of the kids up and dropped the boys off at the practice field with Emmett.   He was allowed to bark orders through the bull horn and help fill up the Gatorade bottles, which in his mind, made him way cooler than Uncle Em.”


Edward was chuckling and shaking his head at the mental image of our son as he twirled the ends of my hair around his fingers.


“Emmett then ‘allowed’ the little boys to run laps with the big boys at the end of practice, which Cooper thought was the best thing ever, until Grandme came and picked him up and brought him home.  She fed him and gave him a bath before proceeding to stock our deep freeze with enough food to feed us for at least a month once everyone from church, school and work stop bringin’ food over.  So if it’s anything like last time, I won’t have to cook for at least two months.”


“Well, we will definitely give them some alone time after the holidays then.”


“Sounds good.  Ally is already claimin’ the girls as her sisters and is itchin’ to get her little hands on them.”


“Cute.  You ready for tomorrow?”


“Do I have a choice?”


“Guess not.  I just can’t wait to see who they look like.  I hope they look just like you, lovin’.”


“Not long until we find out I guess.”


“Nope.  C’mon.  Let me give you a back rub before bed.  We have a very important appointment at the crack of dawn in the mornin’ and you need a good night’s sleep.”


He led me up the stairs and once we checked in on Coop and settled in the bed, he gave me the best foot and back rub known to man.  I knew I married him for a reason.


“You know,” he murmured into my ear all sexy and suggestive-like, “I could pay your girls a little attention and you might not even need that induction in the mornin’.” 


Pregnant or not, how was I supposed to say no to that?
……..


“Push, baby girl!  C’mon!  She’s almost here!”  


Lord, I was tired and still had another baby to go after this one!  I was insanely thankful that this labor had lasted only half the amount of time that Cooper’s had.  And can I get an ‘amen!’ on the inventor of the epidural?


“Okay Bella, just a short push and then I’m going to tell you to stop.  She’s right here, ok?”


All I could do at this point was nod.  I had given Edward strict orders not to pet me this time because last time all he had managed to do was make my hair stick up on end and drive me crazy with it.  Instead, he was holding my leg and kissing my knee as he watched and showered me with praise.


I tucked my chin and did as I was told and seconds later a beautiful gurgly cry ripped through the room just as sobs ripped through both her mama and her daddy.  They sucked her nose and mouth out and allowed Edward to cut her cord before wiping her down and setting her on my chest while I rested and waited for Baby B to join us.  All I knew for sure was that I was in a fog of new mommy love.


“Oh, Bella.  She’s gorgeous!  She looks just like you.”  He was rubbing her cheek and her little nose and while I could definitely see me, I had nothing to do with that hair!


“I believe you contributed,” I giggled, peeking at her bronze curls.


The nurses took her over to the isolette so that they could get her cleaned up and keep her warm while we waited for her sister, who was blessedly taking her time, or at least it seemed like that.


“What’s her name?” one of the nurses asked.


“Masey Marie,” Edward answered while clicking picture after picture.


“Let’s finish this up Bella.  I can see the baby’s head, so let’s have a few good pushes and get her here, alright?”


Edward darted back across the room to resume his place as my leg holder and cheerleader.  Four pushes later and our second daughter had joined us, every bit as loud as her sister, and appeared to be every bit as healthy.


“I’m gonna need a really big gun with really big bullets,” Edward said as he looked at our newest daughter, who looked identical to her sister.  Then his brow furrowed, “I think I also need a marker to write their names on their little feet.  How in the hell are we gonna tell ‘em apart?”


That’s right.  Edward and I didn’t have fraternal twins; his super sperm had split my dang egg and given us a set of identical twins! 


“We’ll figure out their differences the more we stare at them.  For now, they have hospital bracelets,” I sighed.  He kissed us both and then followed the nurse over to the other isolette while the doctor put my cha-cha back together.  Giving birth is so glamorous.


“And what is Baby B’s name?”


“Melody Rae.”


All of our kids had at least one family name, which was my baby naming rule and Edward’s rule was that their first name had to be the name that we wanted to call them.  Cooper got Charles from my dad, Melody got Rae from Pops, who’s middle name was Ray, and Masey really got two family names; obviously Marie from me and Masey we adapted from Edward’s middle name of Masen. 


As far as I could tell, the girls were going to be the exact opposite of Cooper.  They looked like me, except for their mouths and hair.  I felt bad for them because Pops had already said that he was going to call them the ‘Copper-Headed Snakes” if they had Edward’s hair.  Their eyes were darker, more slate looking, so I had a feeling that they would turn brown before all was said and done, and their daddy couldn’t have been happier.


I didn’t have words, only tears when he walked back over to me, carrying two identical pink bundles.  He gently sat beside me and handed one of them over.  I checked her little bracelet just to be sure of who I had in my arms.  Edward was right…they were gorgeous and healthy and here.
“Masey weighed six pounds, two ounces and was eighteen inches and Melody was six pounds, four ounces and eighteen and a half inches.”


Dr. Brady scribbled on the chart and told us we had beautiful, healthy baby girls before leaving us alone for some private time.  We had an hour in this room before they would move us upstairs to the postpartum floor and after about twenty minutes of stares, unwrapping little legs and counting fingers and toes and giving too many kisses to count, we were ready to introduce them to the rest of their family, especially to big brother Cooper.


Christmas Eve…Two Years Later


“You’re puttin’ it in the wrong hole.”


“No I’m not.”


“You don’t think that’s something I’d know?”


“I’m the one lookin’ at the hole and tryin’ my damnedest to shove the thing in,” he grunted.  “Give me a little credit.”


“It’ll never fit if you do it that way.  It requires some finesse, sugar.”


“Well if you’re so honkin’ smart, you put it in.”


“Fine.  Move over.  I am the one actually readin’ the instruction manual, after all.”


It was Christmas Eve and the kids were sacked out upstairs thanks to their older cousins who had run them ragged for most of the day.  I purposely let the girls skip their naps so that we could put them all to bed early.  Santa had a Barbie Jeep and a Spider Man bike to put together before the next morning and it was starting to look like Mrs. Claus was going to be doing all of the work.


I joined Edward beside the tree in hopes that I wouldn’t tear the girls’ Jeep up before they ever got the chance to see it.  I couldn’t do any worse than Edward had been, that was for sure.


“You know if you’d just read the instructions, this wouldn’t be so hard,” I said, putting the door on the correct side.


He crawled over to me and growled in my ear as he pushed my shoulder, and thereby me, to the floor.  “Maybe I like it hard.  If memory serves me correctly you definitely do,” he said grinding into me and kissing down my neck.  Barbie who?


“I think you just like it when I’m the one in control,” I countered, rolling him over to his back and straddling him.  Oh yes sir!


“I like it any way you wanna give it baby girl.”  He pushed his hands beneath the hem of my t-shirt and ghosted his insanely gifted fingers up my stomach until he reached the girls, giving them a teasing tweak that made my eyes roll back in my head.


“Mmm…speakin’ of givin’…I noticed that you and Cooper had an item in common on your Christmas wish list this year.  Did you put him up to it?”  I was rocking my hips over his very obvious arousal, just trying to get some kind of friction going.  He lifted my t-shirt over my head and threw it over my shoulder, causing it to hang off of the handle bars of the already assembled Spider Man bike.  Lord, surely we were the parents of the year.


“I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about.”  He lifted up, sucking a nipple into his mouth before letting it go with a pop as I tore his t-shirt off of him.


“Right.  You want me to believe…mmm shit…that Coop said he wanted a little brother because there was too much estrogen in the house?”  I lifted my hips so that he could push my pajama bottoms down and then I took my turn relieving him of his.  Lord have mercy…to be so blessed.


“Absolutely…oh, fuck yeah…he’s a smart kid.  Shit, has it really been almost two weeks since we’ve done this?” he asked as I sank down on him.


“Oh, yeah…mmhmm…it couldn’t be helped.  First Mother Nature was calling and then we’ve just been… aahh…busy since then.”  Feeling him like this still nearly took my breath away; he was so deep and oh so good.  I leaned down, placing my hands on either side of his face, making it easier for me to kiss the fire out of him.  His lips were warm and wet and his tongue was sweet from the hot chocolate we had just finished drinking after putting the kids to bed.  I wanted to devour him and by all practical purposes, I suppose I was.  As our tongues tangled and twisted, I rocked faster and he thrust his sinewy hips harder until we both fell over the edge with quiet moans.  Little ears and all.


Once we had regained control of our breathing, Edward rolled us over to the side so that we could look up at the tree.  I grabbed the edge of the blanket that was hanging off of the armchair with my toes and brought it up over us.


“Christmas tree sex suits you, Mrs. Claus.”  I smacked him.  We watched the colored lights blink between pink and yellow, blue and green until Edward began kissing my bare shoulder towards my ear.  “So…what do you say about our Christmas wish?” he whispered, giving me chill bumps and making me giggle.


We hadn’t really talked about having more kids after the girls, but I wasn’t against the idea.  I loved being their mom and getting to be home with them while they were little.  Cooper would be starting kindergarten in the fall and I had just turned thirty, so if we were going to do this, it seemed to be a good time.


I turned over in his arms and traced the line of his jaw over to his lips where he placed a kiss on the tips of my fingers. 


“I think that can be arranged, but what if we have another girl?  What then?”


“Then I will concede and you will remain the house majority leader.”


“Givin’ up and givin’ in, huh?  Do I sense some submissive tendencies in you, sugar?”  Quicker than I could think, he growled and pinned me to the ground again, kissing me into submission.


“Never.”


We tickled and teased and kissed and cuddled, finally finishing the jeep in the wee hours of the morning.  We were exhausted and bleary eyed when we heard the sound of six little feet running down the hall towards our room way too early, but it was one of the most beautiful cadences I had ever heard.  It sounded like life, love and laughter and as the owners of those six little feet pulled and climbed until they were in the bed with us, I thought about how I had never been so glad that for once in my life I took a chance and stayed in one place.  Lucky for me, it was the place that I had always belonged.

THE END