“Shall I finish reading the will now?” Len asked.
No one answered, but he seemed to take that as a yes. Wes and I found out Ben and Lauren’s home was paid off and they’d both had sizeable life insurance policies and savings, all of which was left to us for the kids.
The kids. I had kids now. I’d walked into this room an hour ago without children, and now I had two. I’d never be their mother, but I was now responsible for taking care of them in every way. For raising them.
It was every bit as much of a shock as finding out they were gone. Grief was going to have to wait, because I was going to be busy for the next eighteen years or so.
Chapter Three
Wes
Some things are common sense. Making sure you hold on to a baby so he doesn’t roll off a bed, not arguing when a three-year-old wants to dip her hot dog in apple juice, and putting kids in car seats. That stuff, you can figure out no matter how inexperienced you are. On the other hand, no one warns you about projectile vomiting, how many wipes it actually takes to clean a baby’s ass after a shit explosion, or what temperature you use when defrosting breast milk.
I was now covered in puke, piss, and breast milk, Benny was naked, and Annalise didn’t seem impressed with my first solo effort at parenting.
“You’re stinky,” she told me, wrinkling her little nose.
“Well, me and the big guy are gonna get in the shower,” I told her, scooping Benny up.
“Can I come?”
I froze. Having her in the shower with me wouldn’t be appropriate, but I also realized I couldn’t leave her out here by herself either. She was generally well behaved, but still only three, so she needed supervision.
Well, so much for a shower.
Christ, I was fucking exhausted and today’s shit explosion had been epic. As an honorary family member, I’d changed Benny’s and Annalise’s diapers on occasion, but usually just pee, and certainly nothing of this magnitude. But this had been something else entirely. I’d made the mistake of opening the diaper while he was still shitting and then he pissed and—I was so not prepared for this.
“Uncle Wes, I’m hungry. Is it lunchtime yet?”
Today’s game day morning skate had been optional, so I’d stayed home with the kids hoping to nap when they did, but that hadn’t happened. It was almost one in the afternoon and I’d barely fed them breakfast, much less lunch, and I was starting to get overwhelmed. There was no way I’d be able to nap before I left for the game, either. I was just treading water.
There was a brisk knock on the door and someone called out to me.
“Wes?” I recognized Nash’s voice.
“In here!” I called back.
Thank fuck someone was here. Now Nash could keep an eye on Annalise while I showered with Benny.
“Hey.” I looked up gratefully.
“Uncle Nash!” Annalise gave him a bright smile just before her eyes rounded.
Coming up behind him was our team’s enforcer, a huge Swede named Lars Jansson. Six feet six inches, with long blond hair, he was a shy, quiet guy who tended to keep to himself off the ice. I didn’t think he’d ever been to any of the team’s family parties, and Annalise had probably never seen him in person before.
“It’s Thor,” she whispered, her eyes wide as saucers.
Lars stared right back. “My name is Lars,” he responded in his stiff, accented English. “What is your name?”
“I’m Annalise.” She walked over to him, stared up into his face, and then held out her arms, indicating she wanted him to pick her up.
There was a brief, awkward pause as Lars frowned and then turned to me questioningly. I had my arms full of baby poopsicle, so I glanced at Nash, who quickly scooped up Annalise. “Lars is one of the Mavericks’ D-men,” he told her. “He has a boo-boo on his arm, so he can’t pick you up. But now you can say hi face to face.”
Annalise frowned. “Does your boo-boo hurt?” she asked Lars.
“I do not have—” Lars began.
“A lot of experience with kids,” Nash finished for him, giving him a look. Lars looked confused for a minute but then nodded.
“Yes, this is true.” He turned back to Annalise. “I am happy to meet you.”
“Do you want to paint my nails? Uncle Wes said he doesn’t know how.”
“Er…” Lars hesitated, seemed to give it some thought, and then nodded. “Yes, I can do this.”
“Yay!” Annalise wiggled to get down and ran from the room.
“You guys are lifesavers!” I told them. “I’m going to get in the shower with Sir Shits-A-Lot while you’re here so you can watch Annalise. Okay?”
“Totally.” Nash quirked a brow. “And I’ll explain to Lars that when a little kid lifts their arms up, that means they want you to pick them up.”
I chuckled as I left the room. Lars had a lot of quirks due to some mental health issues he dealt with, so while we were used to him, it would be difficult to explain to Annalise that he didn’t like to be touched and was sometimes too literal. But he’d agreed to paint her nails, which would score him big points because I’d made excuses when she asked me. I’d make a mess if I tried that, and frankly, who had time? I’d been on the go since Benny woke me up just before six. Feeding, changing, making breakfast for myself and Annalise, and getting us all dressed had taken me three hours. I’d been so frazzled I’d forgotten to take her to preschool.
Benny had his head on my chest as I stepped under the warm spray of the shower. I let the water run over us and he seemed to relax under it, so we stood there for a while, letting the water do most of the work of cleaning us. He was so small and innocent, I didn’t know what the hell Ben had been thinking leaving his kids in my care. How was I going to do this? Even with Hadley helping out, I had serious doubts about our ability to raise these kids. Maybe we should have let Patrick and Susan take them. Ben’s parents were good people. I’d known them for years and until the reading of the will, we’d had a good relationship.
I squirted some shower gel into my hand and lathered us both up as best I could since I only had one arm free, and finally got out. Benny was falling asleep so I wiped him down with a towel, pulled on clean sweats and headed to his room to put a diaper on him before putting him down for a nap.
“How are you doing?” Nash had come into the nursery behind me and I glanced over my shoulder at him.
“You want the truth?”
“Duh.”
“This is the hardest fucking thing I’ve ever done.”
“When does Hadley get back?”
“Three days,” I responded.
“How long does it take to pack?” he asked.
“Well, it’s not like she’s just packing a suitcase. She has to pack up her entire apartment, all her belongings, call movers, and take care of essentially everything before moving to a new state. I’m surprised she’s doing it as fast as she is, but she needed to get back before we leave on the road trip.”
“I still can’t believe Ben’s parents wouldn’t stick around to help for a week,” Nash muttered. “I mean, we’ve hung out with them more than once and they were always so cool.”