Page 49 of Stolen Kisses

Theo works to set up the fire, showing the kids what to do: the best way to set up the kindling, and how to safely start the fire; as well as making sure the kids understand how dangerous fire can be.

“Lachlan, pass me the larger kindling, please.”

“Okay.” Lachlan gathers up the larger pieces and carries them over to the fire.

“Thanks, Buddy.”Theo’s a natural teacher, ensuring all three kids are involved in the process. He demonstrates how to make a s’more safely and then helps the kids to make one each. We work together to help them slide the sticky marshmallow onto the biscuit without burning their fingers. In between, Theo and I manage to make some s’mores for ourselves.

Kenny licks the stickiness from her fingers, leaving chocolate around the outside of her lips. “These are so yummy!” She smacks her lips together. “Iwannahave them every day!”

Austin and Lachlan nod in agreement with the littlefirecracker.

I giggle. “You’d get tired of eating s’mores if you had them every day.”

Kenny, Austin, and Lachlan each shake their head in the negative. “Nuh-uh. No, I wouldn’t,” Kenny states adamantly. It surprises me that Lachlan actually liked it, but maybe the crunchiness of the cracker appealed to him. We play a few games of snap before sleep starts to weave its magic.

Getting comfortable in the tent doesn’t take long with all of the cushions and light cotton blankets,making it feelcozy. Lachlan and I brought his weighted blanket to make sure he felt comfortable enough to get some sleep.

I read one of my favorite stories to the kids by torchlight,The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobeby C.S. Lewis. I love the make-believe world he created, full of magical creatures, and I’m so happy to be sharing it with my boys and now, Kenny. I keep reading, using different voices for the characters, until they’re all asleep; Theo laying on the other side of me and Kenny between her two best friends. Tucking the book out of the way, I roll over so I can snuggle into Theo’s hard body. He kisses my forehead and I can’t hold in my contented sigh.

He feels like home. It didn’t take long to feel deeply for this man and the speed at which my feelings grew is downright scary.

“Thank you for a great day and for helping my boys deal with missing their dad.” I lift my head to plant a chaste kiss against his lips in appreciation.

“You’re welcome, Peaches. Kenny and I enjoy spending time with you and the boys. It’s certainly no hardship for us.” He punctuates his words with a kiss on my forehead, melting my heart.

“We’d better get some sleep while we can. Lachlan will inevitably wake during the night. I’ll try to keep him quiet so he doesn’t disturb you guys.”

“Is that a regular thing?”

I sigh, whispering, “Yeah. There aren’t too many nights that he’ll sleep all the way through. It’s part of life.” I look up to Theo’s eyes, not that I can see them clearly in the dark, but I can tell his brows are furrowed.

“How do you manage with such limited sleep? I turn into a grumpy bastard when I don’t get enough sleep.” He huffs out a quiet laugh.

Shrugging, I whisper,“I’mused to it, I guess.”

He nods, kissing my forehead again. “Alright then. Roll over. I’ve got you.”

I do as he says. Feeling secure in his arms, my butt tucked into his groin, his arms wrapped around me, cupping each breast, and I fall asleep.

* * *

I startle awake as the early dawn streams across my face. The first thing I realize is that I slept through the night. My eyes snap across to where Lachlan’s sleeping and panic immediately fills me when I find his bed empty. My heart rate increases exponentially and the sweat under my armpits is out of control. Kenny and Austin are still sound asleep. As I move to get up, I realize Theo is also missing.

Oh, God!

What if something happened and I slept right through it. I’ve been feeling tired lately, but I never sleep through Lachlan waking up. I get up as quietly as I can without disturbing the two sleeping beauties, trying to suck in deep breaths to ward off my panic—wincing as I push up from the ground. The side of my breast has been getting more and more annoying these past few weeks.

The zipper to the tent sounds deafening in the quiet morning and I wonder how I didn’t hear it when Lachlan and Theo left the tent. I don’t bother zipping the tent door closed, so I don’t make any more noise than I have to.

Using the gate Theo installed in our common fence, I quickly head home to check if Lachlan decided to sleep in his own bed. I left the back door unlocked last night, in case we needed to go home in a hurry. I slip inside quietly, so as not to wake him if he’s still sleeping, heading straight for his bedroom.

He’s not there.

My heart rate kicks up another notch and I have to remind myself to keep breathing. I quickly move from room to room looking for him, but he’s nowhere to be found!

Okay, calm down, think! Maybe he’s next door with Theo.

Quickly stepping back through the gate, I move onto Theo’s back deck, my heart hammering in my chest. It’s taking all of my cohesive thought to put one foot in front of the other at this point. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to one of my boys. My precious boys! I’m so trucking mad at myself that I slept through. Moving from room to room, I come up empty again. This is crazy.

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