Page 96 of A Ryan Recollection

“He speaks the truth,” Conor agrees sleepily.

“Okay,” I whisper, relieved to have them both home safe and not mad at me.

Smiling, I close my eyes and snuggle between the warmth of their hard bodies.

ChapterNine

MIKEY

“Dada. Dada,” Ella chants as she waves her chocolate frosting covered fingers in the air.

“Mo. Mo,”Finn squeals for more before he stuffs another fistful of frosting into his mouth.

“These babies will never sleep tonight,” Jessie laughs as she wipes a blob of goo from Ella’s hair. “They’ve eaten more sugar this afternoon than they have in their entire lives.”

“Well, it was your idea to make Christmas cookies, Red,” I remind her with a wink.

“It’s a Christmas Eve tradition,” she says as her cheeks turn pink.

Fuck, I love how she blushes at the slightest thing. As though she’s not a deviant sex maniac under that sweet exterior.

“And is us wearing more cookies than we make part of our tradition, angel?” Conor asks as he looks down at his t-shirt and jeans which are covered in frosting, flour and cookie dough.

“Well, you do look kind of cute,” she says with a shrug.

“And these babies look goddamn adorable,” Liam adds as he picks Ella up from her chair and she shrieks with laughter as she wipes more chocolate into his beard.

“They sure had fun,” Shane laughs softly as he peels a squashed M&M from his jeans.

“They did,” Jessie beams with pride.

She had a list of things she wanted us all to do on the twin’s first Christmas Eve, including watching Elf, which the babies were less than impressed with. But they had fun rolling around the floor with Shane and me instead while Jessie watched the film with Liam and Conor. Then we went to the roof and made a snowman. After that we had hot chocolate and made Christmas cards, which Ella and Finn enjoyed because they got their hands and feet covered in paint. If that wasn’t exhausting enough, then we made Christmas cookies. The result of which is now stuck to all of us and also scattered around the entire kitchen.

“I think they need a bath now though,” Conor chuckles as he picks Finn up from his high chair, who protests at being parted from the chocolate frosting on his tray that he’s yet to eat.

“Hey, buddy,” Conor says calmly, rubbing his thumb over our son’s cheek. “You can’t eat any more sugar today, okay?”

Finn stops yelling, as though he understands what Conor is saying. He’s not as vocal as Ella yet. She can say more than a dozen words, but all he can say is Ma, Da, no and mo — which means more, but damn that kid is as smart as a whip. He’s gonna be just like his mom. He has her bright blue eyes and our dark hair, while Ella looks just like us Ryan boys, and she’s as mischievous as us too. I can already tell that girl is going to give us a whole world of trouble, and I am so here for it.

I look at my brothers holding our kids - Jessie pulling more frosting out of Ella’s hair while she tells her what a beautiful girl she is as Liam gently bounces her in his arms. Conor passes Finn to Shane while he cleans some frosting from his beard and Finn giggles at the face Shane pulls at him. Of all of my brothers, I never thought I’d see Shane with kids of his own. I mean, he pretty much raised Liam, Conor and me, and I figured that would have been enough to put him off for life. But then we met Jessie and she turned our entire fucking worlds on their axis — in the best possible way. She has given me everything I didn’t even know I wanted and then some.

“You okay?” she asks as she looks up at me and I realize I’m staring.

“Yep. Just wondering who’s going to clean this kitchen up with me, is all.”

“I’ll help you, obviously,” she says with a smile.

“Let’s get these monsters cleaned up and in their Christmas pajamas,” Liam says.

“You all have pajamas too,” Jessie giggles, biting her lip in that adorable way that makes us unable to refuse her anything.

“Jessie!” Shane says with a roll of his eyes. “I’m not wearing pajamas, sweetheart.”

“Me neither,” Conor agrees.

“But they’re Christmas pajamas. We all have to match. Please?” She clasps her hands together and flutters her eyelashes.

“We’ll see,” Shane grunts but we all know he’s wearing the pajamas. And Conor will too. They would do anything to make her happy, just like Liam and I would.

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