Page 22 of Trouble Comes in Threes

Neely Kate gave me a pointed stare. “You told him?”

“I had to,” I said apologetically. “He’s my husband.”

She rolled her eyes, then looked over to see if Maeve had noticed. Thankfully, Daisy was just as excited to see Maeve as Hope had been, so she was preoccupied.

Joe started to lead Neely Kate over to his chair, as though she’d just had a hip replacement that morning.

“I’m perfectly capable of putting one foot in front of the other, Joe Simmons,” she complained, pulling her arm from his grasp. She plopped down next to me and scanned the field. “Where’s Mikey?”

“Out there,” I said, pointing to the field. “They’re warming up.”

Jed gave Neely Kate an exasperated look, but Joe leaned in and said something. Then the two of them headed over toward the coaches.

Neely Kate reached for Liam, and he went to her, playing with the strands of her hair. He’d always been fascinated with her hair, and one night after we’d gone to bed, I’d teased Joe that Liam was going to have a thing for blonds.

“I only have a thing for one brunette,” he’d said before proceeding to prove it.

“Have you told Jed about the box?” I asked. “Maeve let it slip to Joe.”

“No.” She cast me a sideways look. “How’d he take it?”

“I assured him that we’d back off if it got dangerous. He didn’t seem too concerned.”

She nodded. “Jed won’t have a problem with it.”

I suspected she was right. Jed liked to baby her, but he wouldn’t interfere with this. Especially since she obviously needed it.

“Did you tell him you made the doctor’s appointment?”

“Yeah,” she said, watching Mikey kick a ball to another player. “He says he wants to come with me.”

“That’s good,” I said insistently. When she didn’t answer, I said, “I know his reaction this morning was disappointing, but you need to give him some grace with this.”

“I know,” she said with a sigh. “And I will, but I’m gonna make him sweat a little bit first.”

The referee blew his whistle to start the game, but Joe and Jed stayed down by the coaches. The two little girls were busy playing with some Barbies that Daisy had brought, and Ashley moved closer to me and Neely Kate. I snagged her hand and tugged her to me. Relief flooded me when she sat sideways on my lap, resting the side of her head on my shoulder.

Maeve gave her a worried look. “Is Ashley getting Daisy’s cold?”

“No, she’s just feeling out of sorts,” I said, rubbing Ashley’s back. She stayed for a good five minutes on my lap, longer than I would have expected. She was ten going on thirty-five, and according to her, sitting on laps was for babies.

Neely Kate shot me a worried look, but there was nothing to say, so she rubbed Ashley’s back too and kissed the back of her head. She might be facing trouble at school, but I vowed she’d never question whether she was loved. Thankfully, there were plenty of people in her life to prove it.

The teams were coed, and the kids tended to huddle up as they moved up and down the field. We all cheered when Mikey made a goal. We weren’t supposed to keep score, but Mikey’s team was the obvious winner.

After the game, Joe scooped Mikey up and put him on his shoulders, then brought him over to us.

The girls and Liam cheered as they approached, congratulating him on his goal, and Mikey grinned from ear to ear. Joe let him pick what he wanted for dinner, and he asked to go to Pizza Palace, a new place that had games and a play area for kids.

Since we didn’t get to the restaurant until around seven, we didn’t leave until nearly eight, which was the littles’ bedtime. Once we had the kids clean and in pajamas, Joe told me to go take a moment for myself while he helped get their teeth brushed and read bedtime stories.

I kissed everyone good night and left him to it while I went down and made a cup of tea. After I put on a thick sweater, I took my tea and a blanket out to sit on the porch swing Joe had installed a couple of years ago. I needed a few minutes to decompress.

Joe found me about twenty minutes later. He was carrying his own mug. He lifted the edge of the blanket and sat next to me, tucking the blanket under his leg.

“How’d you know where to find me?” I asked, resting my head on his shoulder.

“This seems to be your favorite place lately.”

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