Page 72 of Marrying My Ex's Boss

“Oh dear, catch him before he falls.” I didn’t have the strength to look behind me at Mom’s words. Thankfully, the doula moved to my side to hold him in place. Marcus had passed out.

‘The dick and the cooch outta commission, I’m out. These damn gremlins is lethal with their shit, and I ain’t fixin’ a change no nasty diapers no damn way.’ I waved a hand because I didn’t have the strength to answer with words.

* * *

MARCUS

* * *

“Hey, little Maverick, Morgan, and Maximilian, remind Aunty Mo-Mo to tell you, guys, about how your big bad daddy fainted when you were born.”

“Go away, Monique, they’re trying to sleep.”

“Then why are you in here?”

Because I can’t stop looking at them, and I won’t be admitting that out loud because everything I do or say these days is used against me.

Apparently, it’s not manly to faint after spending hours watching your woman endure the most hellacious pain I’ve ever seen anyone go through.

I want to say they’re worth it, but I’m not the one who had to go through it. However, their mother and their sisters agree with me. It’s only been a couple of weeks since they were born, but they’ve already taken over my life completely.

I hate having to leave them even for a second and only do it if their mother needs me. She says I’m obsessed and swears that I’ll burn out soon if I keep this up, but she has no idea the strength I get just from their existence.

It's almost as if I myself have been reborn. Everything seems new, and instead of the darkness I’ve lived with for most of my adult life, I now see something more: promise. I thought I’d lucked out with Justine, that life had finally thrown me a bone after fucking me over. But man, I had no idea that this was waiting for me, too.

There’s so much I want to share with them and their mother and sisters, so much I can’t wait to see through their young, innocent eyes as they grow. I can’t imagine snatching their security away from them. Can’t imagine a time when I wouldn’t want to be part of their lives and the life I was building with my wife and daughters.

Their birth had unlocked something deep inside me that I didn’t know was there. I thought I loved her before, but there was nothing to compare to what I feel for her now. And knowing this, feeling this, I feel even more for the mother who had suffered so much because she loved the wrong man.

I guess I was thinking about her more these days because I wish she’d been here to see her grandkids born. I watch my grandparents with the kids, all of them, and see the joy they get from one of the girls climbing into their lap.

The way they coo over my sons with such love and pride makes it seem like they have a new lease on life because of this new generation. I have so much hope and dreams for them, but the one thing I promise them each time I hold one of them in my arms is that I will never hurt their mother; I will never shatter their foundation the way that man did mine.

It's time, now that the babies are here, safe and healthy. I need to finish this and put it behind me so that I can move on to a new start with the family I plan to build with my wife.

MARCUS

“You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, come in, sit down.” I indicated the chair across from me on the other side of my desk.

“Should I close the door?”

“No, that won’t be necessary.”

She took a seat and looked around the room, probably clocking all the changes I’d made since taking over.

“I’m surprised you let me up here, or is it only because your wife is not here?” No sooner had she said those words than my wife walked in.

“Well, this is an awkward moment,” Justine said as she came around the desk and sat in the chair I’d placed there next to mine for the occasion.

I nodded my head for her to go ahead. She placed the folder she’d brought with her down in front of Melanie. “What’s this?” I noticed the bubbly vivaciousness was gone from her tone now that Justine was here and was almost certain that she’d been testing the waters and was none too pleased about the interruption.

She has no clue how lucky she is that my wife did show up when she did because had she come onto me as I was sure she was gearing up to, I’d have done much worse things to her than we had planned.

“Open it,” Justine answered her before sitting back and folding her arms.

I’d given this to her because I wanted her to get some of her own back.

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