Page 79 of Exhale
“I’ll ask Black, he would know,” Jordan said, getting the heavy cream from the fridge.
“Okay.”
“Daddy!” Weston yelled, running down the hallway, followed closely by Elliott.
Both boys bounced over to him and Owen.
“I want pancakes,” Weston announced.
“I want bacon,” Elliott insisted.
Jordan turned and crouched down in front of the twins.
“How about both?” Jordan said, and Owen smiled when his sons whooped together.
Jumping up and down, they both hugged Jordan and demanded he pick them up.
“But you’re getting sooooo big,” Jordan groaned. “How about I sit at the table and you sit with me and we’ll have Daddy cook?”
Owen smiled, carrying the coffee to the table.
“Wait, what?” Owen said as it dawned on him that he’d been volunteered.
“Oh, I suppose I can help.” Jordan gave an exaggerated sigh.
Weston and Elliott giggled.
It was the best sound in the world to Owen.
Two weeks later…
Jordan lifted the tray of cookies and danced as Dylan Kellum hollered that he was a transformer and raced through the living room with Elliott in hot pursuit.
Dylan, Kellum’s brother, was six years old and the closest in age to the twins. After meeting the twins, the three had become almost inseparable. It was a good thing that Kellum and Creed didn’t live all that far from them.
“I’m Optimus Prime!” Weston yelled, racing after the other two little boys.
“Sorry!” Aaron said, jogging after the three whooping boys.
“No problem,” Jordan told Kellum’s other brother with a chuckle. “The cookies were saved.”
“And…” Aaron grinned, snatching two from the plate. “It’s a good thing, too.” Aaron laughed and hurried after the boys, and Jordan shook his head. Fifteen-year-old Aaron sometimes seemed like he was twenty, but Jordan knew it came from having to grow up very fast in some horrifying circumstances. The shadows that had been in Aaron and Dylan’s eyes had all but gone over the past three years. The boys seem thrilled that Kellum had met and married Creed.
Which did verify that time healed all wounds.
He hoped that happened to Micah. His friend was still struggling after the overdose of Lucas. Micah was supposed to stop by today at some point.
Jordan had spoken to Black, who told him that yes, Nix was involved in the assassination attempt on Dave and agreed that it was a small world. The conversation had been brief but nice, and Black promised to keep in touch.
Toeing open the screen to the slider, Jordan walked down the wide back porch and over to one of the six picnic tables.
The tables were filled with people from Pegasus and some family and friends of family.
“Let me help you with that,” Owen said huskily, snaking his arms around him from behind. The man snagged a cookie, and Jordan snorted.
“You just want my cookies,” he teased.
Owen’s lips roamed the side of his neck. “Why yes, yes I do.”
