Hearing that, Jake made his mind up to fake exhaustion all day long… or at least until Zeke showed up to relieve him.
“So, you’re here,” he heard Honor note in a distracted voice. “Am I going to trip over Abel’s mangled corpse if I step outside?”
“No,” Patience muttered unhappily. “He dropped me off to wait here since I obviously can’t function without some kind of supervision,” she added with no small amount of bitterness. “He had some kind of briefs to file this morning at his office. Apparently, I’m supposed to ride into the café with Cain and Faith this morning. We need to work up last night’s deposits and do a quick inventory so we can place a produce order next week.” Looking around the kitchen, she frowned. “Where’s our oldest sister? Isn’t Harmony usually up as early as you are?”
Jacob smirked to himself as he heard that question. He knew exactly where Harmony was - unconscious and exhausted in her bed from a night where they’d made love into the wee hours of the morning. The sun had been rising in the East when he’d finally relented and allowed her to fall asleep.
“Still asleep,” he heard Honor murmured. “I’m a little worried. She’s seemed so tired this past week.”
Jake grimaced. Okay, maybe his sexual appetite needed to go on a diet. Especially if Harmony was being negatively affected by it.
“But, she’s been in a great mood considering everything that’s going on,” Honor went on to say. “So, it’s probably just stress.”
The tightness in Jake’s chest eased hearing that statement. Okay, maybe a diet was a radical idea. Maybe he’d just limit the number of times he visited the buffet during the night, he reasoned.
“Yeah, well, if you were gettin’ nine inches worth of lovin’ at night, you’d be wearin’ a smile, too. There ain’t no way that man is spending every night on the couch with the grin I’ve seen our eldest sister sportin’ lately. Let me tell you, sister…”
Jake felt his ears get hot at that remark and purposefully recited the Pledge of Allegiance in his mind as Patience continued to extol on the magical, restorative powers of the penis. Specifically, his penis. This ‘having a bunch of women in his new family’ thing was going to take some adjustment on his part. It seemed they shared everything with each other. Every-damn-thing.
“Alright, enough, Patience,” he finally heard Honor interrupt and he relaxed slightly. If there was one McKinnon that he knew had no interest in his sex life, it was Honor. Grateful when she turned the conversation in a more mundane direction, he closed his eyes and settled back against his pillow.
He’d almost drifted off to sleep when he felt a thirty-pound weight landing directly on top of his sternum. Wheezing for breath, he opened his eyes and groaned as the smallest McKinnon went nose to nose with him.
“You in my spot. I need my spot, Jake. Dis where I watch da ‘toons,” Heaven McKinnon announced imperiously, her light blue eyes flashing warningly. Bouncing on his chest, she wriggled until she was comfortable, then said, “You can watch wif me or you go back to bed wif Momma, but you gotta sit up. Dis my spot.”
Scooting up the couch, Jacob shifted Heaven to his lap as he yawned. “What’re you doing up so early, Princess?”
“Why you on da couch when you s’eep with Momma?” the child asked, volleying the ball back in his court as she twirled her ponytail in one hand.
Jake’s eyes widened on the little girl in front of me. “W-What do you mean, munchkin? I was sleeping right here. You just woke me up,” he reasoned carefully, patting the couch cushion for emphasis.
“Not now, silly willy. Dis morning. I sawed you. I had to go potty and I sawed you comin’ out Momma’s room and you didn’t have no shirt,” she argued, pursing her lips in a way that was so reminiscent of Harmony that Jake did a double-take.
“I…uhmmm…well, baby girl, it’s like this,” Jake stuttered, helplessly looking toward the stairs and mentally willing Harmony to appear to handle these questions before he gave the wrong answer. “I couldn’t find my shirt and I was cold. I must have lost it. I went to ask Momma if she knew where I’d left it.”
“Huh.” Heaven grunted, tilting her head as she met his nervous gaze. Her dark eyes never left his as she demanded, “Well, were you and Momma pwaying Farmer in the Dell, too?”
Blinking in confusion, Jake shook his head. “Noooo, sweet pea….”
“You sure? ‘Cause when I waked up, I hearded my Momma squealing like the piggy does in the song, and it sounded like you was.”