Page 2 of All Foxed Up

“Oh my goddess…” I hissed as the kids turned tail and bolted upstairs, making a beeline for the bathroom. “We always said we’d never pull that shit with any kids we had.”

“Yeah, well, I’m starting to understand why our parents did a lot of the things they did,” Nat said, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. “It’s hot as balls. The kids are like meth-addled squirrels from the moment they wake up, to the moment they go to sleep. Like I love them…” Her eyes strayed upwards where the unmistakable sound of kids having a water fight was going on. “But they do not stop.” Her focus shifted to me. “And then my best friend gives them enough sugar to send them into a rage spiral just before bedtime.”

“Um… soz not soz?” I shot her a sheepish grin. “I’m not like the other aunties. I’m a cool aunty, so—”

“Awesome.” When Nat slapped her hand on my arm and dragged me inside, I should’ve known I wouldn’t like what was to come. “You can be the cool aunty tomorrow and keep the kids from drowning in the sea or throwing sand in each other’s eyes or eating sand, or shells, or rubbish.”

“Kids do that?” I asked in hushed tones.

“Pulling hermit crabs from their shells, then crying when they get bitten. Putting on sunscreen. Avoiding jellyfish. Making sure they don’t poke any poor unsuspecting sea life they find in the rock pools. Oh and keep them away from other kids. They’re going through this biting phase.”

“Biting…” I barely whispered that.

“Help.” Her eyes went wide as she said that word. “Please? The guys are awesome with the boys. Better than anyone really. They seem to know what they’re going to do before they do it but… Tomorrow is Christmas and all of the families are coming and I just want it to be perfect and the guys will be hanging out with their parents and… help?”

“Bitch, I got you,” I said, walking in the door.

Chapter2

I didn’t have her, it, or anything. If this was child rearing, I was getting my tubes tied at the hospital’s earliest possible convenience, because after a long day’s drive and a slap up meal in Nat’s amazing kitchen, Thorn put it best.

“Welcome to Thunderdome,” he said as he hoisted a squirming Sven over one shoulder once dinner was done. His brother, Koda, grabbed the other unruly child. “Four men entered and I’m not sure how many are gonna make it out.”

“Story!” Sven demanded. “Story, Daddy!”

“We can hear the story about the two naughty bear cubs who wouldn’t go to sleep before Santa comes,” Koda said. “The ones who won’t get their presents if they wake us up before 6AM again.”

But despite how frazzled Nat looked, when the guys brought their sons over, her expression changed. Her hair was still sticking up all over her head. I hadn’t had the heart to tell her and honestly, it was kinda funny to see her such a mess. She’d survived the stupidity of her ex without missing a beat, but two small children were her downfall. But as they drew close, I saw it, the love in her eyes. Every mother loves her children, feels bound to them by some mysterious force I’d never understand, but for Nat it was more than that.

These were the children she never expected to have.

My bestie had spent far too much of her life married to the wrong guy and during that time she thought she couldn’t have kids. Turns out her body knew what her brain was yet to accept, that Paul was never going to be the one. Nat had gone into heat, something that had caught my attention and resulted in a whole lot of intrusive questions, until she told me to shut the fuck up about it otherwise she’d never tell me another thing again, but then the boys happened.

She’d given birth to the twins and everything seemed right in the world. Because the way she stroked her hands down each of the boys’ cheeks, the love in her eyes, it’d have been a damn crime not to give that love somewhere to go. The boys instantly quietened, staring into their mother’s eyes, those crazy grins softening into something much sweeter.

“Night, Mummy,” each one of them said, pressing a kiss to her cheek and she did the same, until they were whisked upstairs.

“So, parenting, huh?” I said when silence fell over the house.

“It’s amazing.” Alaric stepped forward and tugged Nat into his arms. “Incredible.”

“Tiring, exhausting,” Lars added with a slight scowl. “We haven’t slept in since the moment they were born and while I thought things would get better when they were a bit older, walking and talking, somehow it’s worse.”

“They get into everything,” Alaric explained. “And if you’re not there with them, the results aren’t good.”

“Remember when we found them in a pile of sugar?” Lars said with a chuckle. “They upended the sugar jar all over the floor and we found them giggling as they played in it.”

“And ate enough to make them sick,” Nat said with a sigh. “Then there was the washing powder incident.”

“They love a bubble bath,” Alaric said, “and noticed that the washing powder creates bubbles when doing some hand washing and…”

“Everything has locks on it,” Nat said, with the slightly unhinged look of an involuntary prison guard. “All of it. Then we needed to get new locks because the old locks weren’t strong enough. They’re devils, both of them. I don’t know how they do it but—”

“Nat.” I stepped forward and placed a hand on her arm. She just stared at it. “Nat, it’s OK. You love them.”

“I do.” She seemed to collapse in on herself as soon as she admitted that, but it was OK, Alaric had her. All of her guys did. “So, so much and that’s why tomorrow has to be perfect. It’s their first real Christmas. They weren’t old enough to understand what it really meant last year and now…”

I surveyed the kitchen, seeing all of the supplies and bowls and meal prep half started all around her.

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