Authors: Pepper Pace
“I picked these for Pawpaw!”
Christopher
swooped
her up into his huge arms as if she was just a little toy. “We can’t pick flowers from other people’s graves, honey. Show me where you got ‘
em
and we’ll put ‘
em
back.”
After returning the flowers to their rightful place, the family drove back to the large house that Edith had built on one of the acres that Ray had left for them in his will. Poor Ray hadn’t lived a year after his Lonnie had passed and Butch Sr. had wanted to end his days the way Ray had, surrounded by family up on the mountain. He’d gotten his wish.
They said their goodbyes and Edith promised to come up as soon as the baby was born to help with Brianna. Ashleigh and Brianna were both sound asleep no sooner had they had gotten on the highway. Christopher smiled proudly as he looked in the backseat at his little girl. She had a peaches and cream complexion with skin that turned ‘toasty’ during the summer months. The thin scar that ran beneath her nose to her perfectly formed upper lip was barely noticeable. She’d been born with a unilateral cleft palate which had been corrected with one surgery 90 days after her birth. Still, when he had looked down at the tiny pink thing in his arms he had thought her to be the most beautiful thing on the face of the earth.
She had grey eyes set in a round face with a pointy chin that his mother had proclaimed ‘The Jameson’ chin. Her auburn hair was long and wavy and not much different than his. She did, however, have her mother’s beauty and small stature.
They drove to their large house at the end of a
cul
de sac. There were four bedrooms besides the master suite and Christopher meant to fill each of them with children. If they thought they were going to have time to relax before the party then no such luck. Lance saw them pull up from his window and was calling five minutes after they’d unloaded the car.
“Help!
The clown cancelled and they want to send a cowboy. I think it’s too violent with the guns, what do you think?!”
Christopher chuckled. “Uh, I guess you’re asking the wrong person. I handle a gun daily.”
“Oh, true. Can you put Ashleigh on the phone?”
“Sure.” He called Ashleigh who had rushed to the bathroom.
“Ash, phone, Lance.”
Those were the only words needed to be spoken.
While the two strategized he got Brianna changed and fed and then he went out back. He checked over the privacy fence. Rick was blowing up balloons. He and Lance had bought the house next to theirs right before adopting their son Chad who was turning five today.
Rick dropped the balloon he was holding and smiled happily. He and Christopher were the best of friends now. “I swear
,
I never want to see another balloon as long as I live.”
Christopher opened the gate and went next door. The backyard was a five year olds fantasy. There were balloons, a play tent with little plastic balls,
a
piñata and…
Christopher
squinted
his eyes. “Is that an obstacle course?”
Rick grinned and smiled sheepishly.
“Yeah just in case any of the kids are interested in football training.”
Christopher nodded and rocked on his heels. “Yeah, but they’re all just four and five, right?”
“You can’t start too soon.”
“True. So I guess we better start with the balloons.” After about the fifth balloon Christopher frowned. “You know they make machines for this.”
“I’ll keep that in mind next year.” Rick was the assistant coach at a local college. He was gay and he loved football. He also loved Lance and this was the only way to keep everything that he valued.
Kendra’s husband, Jackson arrived outback just as the last balloon was finished and the two men guessed that it had been planned. No matter. Payback was a bitch and he had two little girls; two and four and Kendra had a penchant for princess parties with tiaras and makeup and the whole nine yards. Hell if they would be makeup dummies again. He was on his own.
Lance arrived outside carrying an armful of streamers. “Okay, anyone who is over six feet tall and not pregnant will need to hang the streamers.”
Rick scowled as Lance and the ladies smiled. “Why is it always the guys?”
“Well,” Lance conceded, “You can watch the three, four and five year olds if you prefer.”
Christopher and Jackson quickly accepted the streamers.
~***~
That night Christopher placed his palm on his wife’s belly. “Do you ever regret…me going back to Special Ops?”
“No.” She turned on her side to face him. “Not one bit. You love watching me and Brianna.” Their child went to the daycare in the Federal building and now he had not only Ashleigh to watch on the cameras but also Brianna, Lance, Kendra, Chad, Lacey and Amber. Soon there would be little Chris Jr. “But I know you need more than that.”
He had missed the missions. He had gone two years with his team returning each time all hyped up, and enticing him with tales of rescues and captures. Bruce was now a civilian consultant for the Department of Homeland Security and during one of his dinner visits the two had spent the evening longing for the ‘good old days’. That night Ashleigh had told him to place himself back on the roster.
He resisted for a while but it was fruitless. The first mission that he’d taken after his two year hiatus had resulted in the conception of Chris Jr. Ashleigh wondered if they would conceive each time he announced that he was going away. Of course his return was filled with double the joy.
They both knew that
another mission
was due and only hoped that it would be after the baby was born. But even if it wasn’t she had a network of friends and family to help her through.
“No regrets?” He asked.
“I can’t imagine my life any differently.”
“Me either.” His eyes began to drift shut and he yawned. “No,” he muttered. “I remember a different life, a different face, and never dreaming that I’d have a day like today.” He smiled as he felt Ashleigh’s fingers gently tracing the familiar path down his nose and over his lips…
THE END
Awards
~~***~~
Pepper Pace is a popular author on Literotica.com. She is the winner of the 1
1th Annual
Literotica Awards
for 2009 for Best Reluctance story, as well as best Novels/Novella. She is also recipient of Literotica’s August 2009 People's Choice Award, and was awarded second place in the January 2010 People’s Choice Award. In the 12
th
Annual Literotica Awards for 2010, Pepper Pace won number one writer in the category of Novels/Novella as well as best Interracial story.
PEPPER PACE BOOKS
~~***~~
STRANDED!
Love Intertwined Vol. 1
Love Intertwined Vol. 2
Urban Vampire;
The
Turning
Urban Vampire; Creature of the Night
Wheels of Steel Book 1
Wheels of Steel Book 2
Wheels of Steel Book 3
Angel
Over
My Shoulder
CRASH
THEY SAY LOVE IS BLIND
~
SHORT STORIES
~~***~~
Someone to Love
MILF
Blair and the Emoboy
About the Author
Pepper Pace is the pin name used by the author. Born and raised in Cincinnati, she has always enjoyed creativity. At a very young age, Pepper had a gift for art and would spend most of her spare time drawing images that she later began adding stories behind. Soon writing became more important than the illustrations and took a back seat to her real love.
Pepper wrote her first novel when she was 12 years old and had written 2 more by the age of 18. Too shy to share her work with anyone, Pepper stock piled her many stories into notebooks until she came upon Literotica.com and was compelled to share her craft.
Pepper became instantly popular and won several awards each year in which she submitted a story to the site. After receiving popular feedback, she grew in confidence and created a popular blog entitled Writing Feedback where she encourages her readers to interact with her on topics concerning, music, writing, art and pop culture. She can be reached at her blog:
pepperpacefeedback.blogspot.com/