“Yeah Lana, that’s mommy, look,” Lana smiled at me when Benlyam moved his hand. “See? She has those eyes, so fricking precious,” he kissed her cheek, “my little honey drop.”
She laughed when he kissed her again, bringing her hand up to his face, almost falling completely over on her back but Benlyam lightly grabbed her. Layton turned to look at his daddy, interested in the noise.
He dropped his toy again and reached to him, crying out for attention.
“You want daddy, Lay? Yeah?” Layton waved his arms at him and I kissed him as I gave him over to Benlyam.
We played with them till they got hungry, we were slowly weaning them. They both enjoyed soft carrots the most, it was so precious to watch.
Benlyams brothers were coming over tomorrow, staying in the house. The day after that my parents were coming, they were staying in the pack house. I respected that, and somewhere in me, appreciated the fact that they weren’t staying in his house with us.
That day came quickly.
I wasn’t ready. I panicked about what to wear and decided with a grey sweater and some black jeans with Benlyam’s help. I was so unbelievably nervous. What if they didn’t like me?
They left for a reason…
I kept repeating Benlyam’s words in my head, ‘it’ll be okay, don’t overthink it’. Easier said than done. I was currently holding both my babies to calm myself, even if they were kinda heavy. I was lightly bouncing, they both enjoyed it.
“Okay, Flower, come on. They’ll be fine, Scott has them, honey.” Benlyam tried to grab Layton but I stepped back, turning away.
First, I wasn’t going to leave my kids alone with Zachary and Scott yet, I didn’t know them that well. Hannah and Garret were on their way. Second, I was procrastinating because of how anxious I was.
“No, no. Hannah isn’t here yet, or- or Garret,” I told him and he nodded.
“Okay, Flower, okay. We’ll wait, you know they’ll never hurt our pups, honey.” He kissed my forehead, wrapping an arm around me for support.
Zachary walked into the living room area, nodding towards Scott that was sitting on the sofa, watching some movie he was engrossed in.
“Hey, Lee, Violet,” I looked at him in acknowledgment. He sat on the sofa, looking at the twins then back at me. “Violet, I’ve been thinking, Scott and I need to give you a nickname.”
He still has yet to hold either one of the twins. Scott has, Zachary hasn’t. We haven’t warmed up yet. This is their third time visiting us.
I looked at him, confused for a second. “Benlyam is Lee, we call the twins whatever, but Scott and I were saying how we don’t have a nickname for you.”
“It’s true,” Scott nodded. “We haven’t thought of one yet, it’ll come.”
I gave a forced, polite smile. “You can call her by her name.” Benlyam ignored.
“Chill, man. No need to get your panties in a twist, so fuc-” he looked at the twins for a second who were eyeing his lips, trying to copy sounds, “so tense,” he reworded.
“Don’t cuss in front of my kids,” Benlyam growled out at Zachary who put his hands up in surrender.
“They’ll be fine with us, Violet. You have nothing to worry about,” Scott added lightly, turning back to his movie. I was worried, we never left them alone, we were always with them. Besides with Garret and Hannah, they were like second parents with us.
I trusted them both immensely, I was warming up to Garret, Hannah told me he was happy about it.
In his office, doing work, the twins would be there as well. In the kitchen, living room, walks, anywhere. Except when we went on runs, I kindly asked Hannah to watch over them, because as I said, I trusted them.
Almost on cue, there was a knock at the door before I heard it open.
“We’re here!” I heard Garret’s voice announce and a way of dread washed over me.
I didn’t want to leave yet, I wanted to cry, actually. Hannah and Garret came into the living room and greeted everyone, and I was always happy to see Hannah.
“Alright, Violet, you can let go of them, they’ll be fine, honey,” Benlyam rubbed my shoulders and gave a kiss to both of the twins. “See you guys soon.”
I bit my lips, hesitating to let them go, Benlyam had to take them from me. I gave them kisses before Benlyam dragged me away and out of the house. I was walking slowly down the porch steps as I held my hands together. Benlyam tilted his head at me with a small smile.