Page 30 of A Very Miller-Cooper Life

“Very true.” All of this talk of the kids had me itching to see them, so I hopped out of bed. “Do you mind packing while I get ready really quickly? I want to see our little monsters as soon as possible.”

Reagan’s face lit up as she jumped from the bed as well. “There’s nothing I want more.”

Less than an hour later, we pulled into my parents’ driveway, both of us jumping out of the car as soon as it was parked.

“Race you to the front door!” Reagan shouted as she broke into a sprint.

I ran after her, but it was no use since she had gotten a head start. By the time I reached the door, she had already opened it and walked inside. Patch circled around our feet as we shouted for the kids. Just when I had scooped Patch into my arms, all three kids came running around the corner.

“Mommy! Mama!” all three of them shouted in unison.

Ronan almost knocked me over when he ran straight into my legs and wrapped his arms tightly around them. “Mama! Come watch me throw football. Grandpa says I’m good like Uncle Jamie.”

I turned to hand Patch off to Reagan, but Olivia was already in her arms talking at a mile a minute. I looked in front of me at my literal angel, Carter, who was waiting patiently while her siblings fought for our attention. I set Patch back down onthe ground, then picked up Carter while Ronan continued to cling onto my leg.

I gave her a tight hug, then kissed her nose, which she wrinkled before letting out the sweetest little giggle.My favorite noise in the world.“Should we go watch your brother throw this football?” I asked her.

Carter simply shrugged. “Sure.”

“Is he as good as he says he is?” I whispered as I struggled to walk with the extra appendage stuck to my leg.

Carter shrugged again. “Sure.”

This sweet little girl was way too nice. I pressed my nose against hers. “Are you sure about that?”

“No, he’s actually not,” she whispered before breaking into another fit of giggles.

As we made our way through the hallway, I knew Reagan was following behind us because Olivia didn’t even stop to take a breath as she gave us the play-by-play on everything they had done the day before. When we reached the kitchen, Nana was sitting at the table with her hand on her forehead as if she was sick.

“Nana, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She pointed between the kids. “Those three rascals of yours are just going to be the death of me.”

“Please don’t joke about dying,” I said as I wiggled my leg to detach Ronan from it and sat Carter down on the chair next to my Nana’s so I could give Nana a kiss on the cheek.

“Why? Because I’m knocking on death’s door? Don’t worry, dear. You have at least two years left with me. I’m going to make it to one hundred so I can say I lived longer than Betty White. After that, all bets are off though.”

“You’re going to be one hundred in two years?” I asked in disbelief. My family never talked about ages. Even my parents refused to tell us how old they were. With Nana being my dad’sgrandma, I knew she had to be old, but instead of doing the math to figure out how old she might be, I kind of preferred to think of her as being immortal. My grandma and grandpa, her son and daughter-in-law, had already passed, but I didn’t have the type of relationship with them that I had with Nana. Nowhere close.

Nana nodded. “Yep, and if those bitches don’t put me on the cover ofPeoplemagazine or some other shit, I’m going to be pissed.”

Olivia, who was still in Reagan’s arms, put her hand over her mouth and giggled. “Nana said bitches.”

Both Ronan and Carter giggled along with her, but it was Ronan who jumped up and down and raised his hand as if he was answering a question in school. “She also said shit.”

“This is what I mean,” Nana said with a shake of her head. “They’re always snitching on me. I got lectured by your mom multiple times yesterday because she doesn’t think I should speak this way in front of them.”

“You know we don’t care,” Reagan said as she finally dropped Olivia from her arms. “They can say whatever they want as long as theydon’tsay those words at school.” Reagan took on a lecturing tone, most likely to get the kids’ attention and remind them of our number one rule when it comes to swearing.

“We can’t say mean words like stupid, dumb, and hate, though,” Carter reminded her, her voice sounding so similar to Reagan’s lecture voice that it made me laugh.

Reagan put her hand up to give Carter a high five. “That’s exactly right. Good job, babe.”

Carter scrunched up her nose at Reagan. “I’m not your babe. Mama is.”

“That’s right.” Reagan smacked her hand against her forehead as if she had actually made a mistake. “Thanks for the reminder.”

Ronan clawed at my legs as if he was an animal. “Now we throw football?”

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