Page 64 of Moonlit Kisses

“I don’t know where you learned to talk like that.” Mom shakes her head, pretending to be more upset than she actually is.

I sort of like that I’m the inappropriate uncle; it solidifies my place in the family. Molly leans in close and presses a kiss to my shoulder. Turning my head, I’m able to return the kiss on her cheek. When I glance back at the table, everyone’s eyes are on us. Sarah and Emma have matching smirks, and I don’t even care that they’re going to give me shit later. I’m finally happy.

We all finish eating and Molly’s the first to stand to collect everyone’s dishes. Once again, my family is stunned into silence. I’ll have to explain their reactions to her later. I get up to help, but Emma and Sarah tell me to sit back down. Mom jumps up too, and the three of them collect the dishes and silverware from the table and follow Molly inside. My gut tells me she’s safe with them, but I don’t trust them not to inadvertently drop me in the shit.

I prepare to stand, but Dad puts his hand on my shoulder, pushing me back into my seat. “Let them have their girl time. I’m sure Molly can handle it.”

“I know she can handle it and I trust Mom and the girls implicitly to be kind to her. I don’t trust that they won’t tell Molly about stupid shit I did as a kid, though.”

The guys laugh. “May as well find out if she’ll stick around sooner rather than later.” Theo offers with a shrug.

I huff. “I wanted to ask if you’d be interested in helping me redo the timber for the flatbed of the truck I picked up.”

He scratches his fingers through his short beard. “Yeah. That’d be a great little project.” He leans forward, resting his elbows on the table. “What sort of timber are you planning to use?”

“What would you recommend?”

He thinks for a moment. “Perhaps Asian Keruing or Apitong. It’s commercially harvested and has the best strength-to-weight ratio.” I nod. “It’s reasonably dent and scratch resistant too, which would be an important feature. And it doesn’t bend and flex easily, which helps to support heavier loads.”

I’m impressed by his knowledge as he shares the pros for the timber. “Sounds good. I’ll let you know when I get to that point.”

He nods as the girls step onto the deck with fresh plates and Lachlan’s birthday cake. Molly catches my eye and winks at me with a cheeky smile and a raised eyebrow. At least she didn’t run away. That’s got to be a positive sign. Right?

The kids follow behind the girls and everyone takes their seat, with Lachlan at the head of the table. Sarah places the Spider Man cake she made on the table directly in front of the birthday boy and he looks up at her with a smile. “Thank you, Aunty Sarah.”

She ruffles his hair and leans down to press a kiss to his cheek. “You’re welcome, Lachlan. I hope you like it.”

“I love it. I don’t want to cut into it and ruin it.”

“That’s okay. That’s what cake is for, and I took heaps of photos.” She winks at him.

Austin climbs into my lap as Emma lights the ten candles on the cake and we all sing happy birthday to my eldest nephew. I’m not sure where the time’s gone. It seemed like yesterday I was holding him as a newborn. I miss those days.

I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to feel my biological clock ticking, but I do. I want to be a dad. Like my dad, I want to be a great father. I study Molly and wonder if she’d think I was a psycho if I wanted to get her pregnant this soon into our relationship. I mean, I only referred to her as my girlfriend when I introduced her to Mom, otherwise we haven’t talked about our relationship or where we’re heading.

We have amazing sex. Fuck me. The sex. She blows my fucking mind. But it’s not only the sex. She blows my mind out of the bedroom, too. She’s been through so much in her life, and nothing drags her down. I have an incredible amount of respect for the woman sitting beside me, something I’ve not felt for the women I’ve dated in the past. Our connection is deep on a fundamental level. I know she said her birth control shot was due, but I can’t remember when that was. Maybe I could convince her to skip it.

The cake is cut and handed out and we all go silent except for the occasional moan. I hate that I notice Emma putting on a show for Theo as she moans around her fork and then slides the cake off in a long stroke. She glances up, noticing me watching her. I raise one eyebrow in a ‘what the fuck are you doing?’ look. My fucking sister smirks at me and shrugs. Typical.

As soon as Molly swallows her last bite of cake, Kenny cheers. “Yay! I can do your hair now.” She hops down from her seat. “C’mon. Let’s go inside. I have everything already set up.”

“Ah, Munchkin. I think you’d better wash your hands first. I don’t think Molly would like chocolate cake smeared through her hair.” Theo rises ready to clean up his daughter. Well, niece, but that’s neither here nor there since he adopted her.

Molly stands as Theo takes Kenny inside. “You don’t have to let her braid your hair. You know.” Emma clarifies.

“Oh no. I’m looking forward to it. Honestly.” She gives my sisters the full dimple experience and I can tell my sisters think she’s pretty great.

The girls move inside while I help Dad and Cristo clean up from dessert. Kenny runs into the living room excitedly. “I needFrozenon while I do Aunty Molly’s hair.”

Of course she does because the million times she’s already watched it will never be enough. Lachlan and Austin groan. “Noooo. Not again.” Austin drops his head back on his shoulders, looking up at the ceiling, adding to his dramatic response.

Molly chuckles. “She needs to make sure she’s doing the braid correctly. Which means Kenny needs the movie on as a reference.”

Lachlan latches onto Molly’s explanation. “Yes. It’s like when I build my Legos. I need the picture as a reference to know I’m building it correctly.”

Molly smiles at my nephew. “That’s right. We won’t mind if she has the movie playing, right?”

“No. I guess that will be okay. But I’m gonna go play outside with Poppa and Pappoús,” he responds.

---