Second Chance at Love(68)

One night Kyle asked his sister, “Do you think they’ll have a baby?”



Ashley shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. Maybe? Why?”



Mimicking his sister, he too shrugged his shoulders. “I guess it would be fun to have a baby brother or sister.” What he wouldn’t come out and tell his sister is that having his triplet cousins around, along with NJ and Autumn made him feel like a big boy. He especially didn’t feel like a baby when his aunties asked him to play with the little ones.



“Yeah, that would be really cool. Wouldn’t it?” Playfully nudging him with her shoulder she teased, “Then you won’t be the baby anymore.” Ashley covered her face with a pillow to muffle the sounds of her laughter.



Bouncing on the bed in a premature celebration of giving up his “baby” rights he chanted, “Yes, yes, yes! No more baby, no more baby! Yes, yes, yes!”



Dom glanced in his rearview mirror as he parked in front of Karen’s place. His smiling eyes landed on the siblings. Every time he looked at the children of his heart, he felt mixed emotions of love, devotion, protection, and anger. How could a father not want beautiful, smart, intelligent and loving children? And how could grandparents want nothing more than to use them for financial gain? Even though he felt a little betrayed by Karen’s initial lack of trust in him, when it came to protecting her children, he understood her. With her mother living in another state and a sister with her own family, he assumed she felt she didn’t want to be a burden to them. Thank God she did have the independent and protective nature of a lioness. He had no doubt if he wasn’t in the picture she would and could handle her business. Taking another glance in the rearview mirror, she would never have to depend on herself again for their care and protection.



Turning off the ignition, Dom unsnapped his seatbelt and turned in his seat to look at them. “Don’t forget, where we went this afternoon is our little secret. Okay?”



The siblings vigorously nodded their heads in understanding. “We won’t tell. Right, Kyle?”



“Right. We won’t tell Mommy.”



Dom smiled at the children. “Good. Because mommy has a lot to do before the wedding so we don’t want to bother her. Right?”



Again they nodded their heads.



“Good. Let’s go.”



Dom got out the car, quickly going to the back door to help them out. He followed as the kids ran to the front door, ringing the doorbell. They heard their mom on the other side yelling she was coming.



Opening the door, Karen stepped back, shielding her body behind the door from the cold night air. “Hey babies. Did you have a good time?”



“Yes!” They each answered, giving her a quick hug before shooting past her to the closet to hang up their coats.



“Did you have a good time?” She asked Dom as he closed and locked the door.



He didn’t answer. Instead he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Karen let out a moan that only caused him to deepen the kiss. She felt all warm and tingling inside despite the leather jacket he wore giving her outer body chill bumps.



“Mmm, that was good,” she whispered against his lips when he broke the kiss.



Shrugging out of his jacket, she followed as he went to the closet. Looking over his shoulder he winked at her. “I always have a good time with my boy and my princess.”



“Aw, how cute.” He was turning out to be the perfect daddy. After he hung up his coat, she took his hand, leading him into the kitchen where she had been rolling out a crust for homemade pizza. Pointing to a chair, she told him to sit as she washed her hands and went back to working on the crust.



“I hope this comes out right. Your dad gave me the recipe for his world famous pizza.” Her mouth began to water as she recalled the yummy pizza pie he whipped up after meeting with the wedding planner. She was a bit confused when he ushered everyone out of the kitchen, but told her to stay.



At the puzzled look on her face, he said, “Since you’re about to officially become my daughter you have to be properly initiated into the family.”



The twinkling excitement in his eyes put her at ease. Smiling up at him, she played along. “Okaaay…so what’s this initiation?”



“You see, every Peretti, whether by birth or marriage, must master the art of making an authentic pizza pie.” Waving his hand as he went to the cupboard to pull out flour, dry yeast, shortening, olive oil and other ingredients, he grumbled, “Not that junk these big chains mass produce.”



“I see,” Karen said, although she really didn’t see. As far as she was concerned, Pizza Hut had the best pizza.