Page 1 of Lucky's Lucky St. Paddy Day

CHAPTER 1

Lucky had no idea how he’d gotten so lucky. Despite the chaos of the school morning, the clatter of utensils on plates, the chatter of things to do or remember, the hurrying of making sure nothing was forgotten, it was all music to his ears. He’d struggled for so long to justsurvive. Raising two small children, one with special needs, did not give him a lot of time to breathe or simply bask in the moment.

Now, his thirty-three week pregnant wife was hustling around the kitchen with a spot of icing on her nose as she tried to keep their son, Scotty, from making too much of a mess. Perhaps preparing an Irish cream breakfast cake had been a bit much for a Friday breakfast, but Lucky had felt inspired. It was St. Paddy’s Day this coming Monday, after all.

Scotty was all decked out in green in anticipation because, according to him, holidays celebrated on only one day a year were boring. Like Christmas was regularly celebrated all December, Scotty liked to celebrate other holidays over their month too. Therefore, St. Paddy’s Day wasn’t just March 17theach year, but all of March. Lucky was not one to often tell his son “no” to something, but he had had to put his foot down when Scotty asked to dye his hair, teeth, and skin green.

“Like aSmurf!”Scotty had argued.“But green-e-er.”

Scotty had to settle for painting his nails green this year. He wasn’t entirely happy or satisfied with the lack of green on his body, but then his aunts and uncles from the club had delivered a number of St. Paddy themed shirts, green jeans, and green sneakers to Scotty one afternoon.

No one could dispute the fact that Scotty was spoiled by more than just his parents.

Conner was sitting on Lucky’s lap as he spoon fed him baby cereal. There was no comparison or difference in his love for Scotty and Sissy versus his love for Conner and their daughter currently growing in Harper’s womb. Biology did not make Scotty and Sissy any less his children. It was a discussion that Bulldog and Lucky had had, as both had children that weren’t biologically theirs. Bulldog and Abby had chosen not to have additional children beyond the four they already had, even though Bulldog had not fathered any of them and Abby had only birthed two of them. Harper was in a similar position, having adopted Scotty.

While Scotty and Lucky shared the same dirty blonde hair, Conner had inherited Harper’s raven hair. His skin tone was not as dark as Harper’s beautiful olive skin and his eyes seemed to be the perfect mixture of Lucky’s milk chocolate and Harper’s green. He was a little chunky monkey and had the appetite to go with it.

Lucky couldn’t wait for their daughter to finally grace them with her presence. He had no doubt she would be just as beautiful, if not more, than her mother.

Looking across the kitchen table at his gorgeous wife trying to keep Scotty’s green shirt as clean as possible, Lucky was captivated by her smile.

Using one hand to support Conner sitting on his lap, Lucky picked up a dirty napkin that was sitting crumpled on the table.He’d used it a few minutes ago to clean up Conner’s milk splattered face. Gently tossing it across the table, it hit Harper on the side of her head by her ear.

Gasping, she turned wide eyes on Lucky. “What was that?” Though her question was PG, her eyes screamed a four letter word at him that promised retribution.

He smiled widely at her. “A dirty napkin.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Andwhydid you throw a dirty napkin at me?”

Scotty was watching their exchange, his eyes flicking back and forth between his parents like he was watching a tennis match. A large, goofy smile adorned his face. But as much as Lucky absolutely adored seeing such a smile on his oldest son’s face, it was the fire in his wife’s eyes that was his payment.

“So you would look at me while I told you how much I love you,” he answered honestly. Conner started fussing with Lucky’s attention now off of him. Lucky grabbed some cereal kernels and held them in the flat of his large palm for his son to grab.

Though Conner was almost a year old, he still wasn’t talking. He made sounds but not words. Harper wasn’t worried, and Lucky was relying on her expertise in this. He had a lot of doctors and therapists to help him when Scotty was Conner’s age because it was known he was going to have speech and physical challenges. For Conner, there was no need for all that extra assistance. The fact that he wasn’t talking did concern Lucky, but Harper knew more about developmental stages than Lucky did. Sissy had been a kid when he’d received guardianship of her. Conner, despite being his third child, was the first where he had what some would consider a standard parenting experience. Yet he was the one who felt out of his element.

Harper had been working with Conner since he was weeks old to understand baby sign language. Some of the motions reminded Lucky of the hand signs they’d used when he was aMarine. He supposed, in a way, there wasn’t much difference. They were both nonverbal ways to communicate.

Harper raised an eyebrow at Lucky. “And you couldn’t have just said my name to get my attention?”

Lucky shook his head. “Too boring. I like to keep you on your toes.”

The eyebrow lowered as her eyes narrowed. “I am thirty-three weeks pregnant. I don’t even know where my toes are.”

“Scotty, help Mommy find her toes,” Lucky suggested as he grabbed more cereal out of the bowl for Conner. His son eagerly started to stuff his cheeks in an adorable imitation of a chipmunk.

Scotty immediately dropped to his knees under the table and started to go searching for Harper’s toes. She wore a pair of fuzzy slippers around the house most days because they were easy for her to slip on and off without needing to bend over. Also, it allowed her a bit more comfort before she had to squeeze her swollen feet into shoes for her work day.

Harper started giggling as Scotty located her toes and started counting piggies. “This little piggy went to the market, this little piggy stayed home…”

Ticklish as she was, Harper grabbed her pregnant belly. “Stop! Stop! I’m going to pee my pants!”

“But I gotta finish the song!”

Harper steeled her jaw as she said, “Make it quick, Scotty!” While shooting a death glare across the table at Lucky, she mouthed, “You’re dead meat.”

Lucky smiled widely at her.

“…and this little piggy cried ‘wee-wee-wee’ all the way home!” Scotty finished in a sing-song voice from under the table.

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