“Fine. I’ll grill,” he mutters, kissing the look off my face.

“Yum.” I smile, and he shakes his head.

“You owe me a cake,” he whispers.

I feel myself squirm at the word cake. Since having the house to ourselves, Kai has a lot of cake, and—lucky me—normally, I’m the plate he prefers.

“Daddy, come play with me!” our son Maxim shouts as he squats down in the sand in front of a castle he’s working on.

“Yeah, Daddy! Come help us!” Melanie shouts, and I notice that she is, once again, naked.

“Go on, Daddy,” I tell him, pressing into his side.

He turns towards me, where I’m sitting on the ground, and gets on his knees. Then he wraps his hand around the back of my head as he lays me back in the sand, taking my mouth in a kiss that steals my breath the same way he stole my heart.

“Love you,” he whispers then jumps up, walking over to the kids before I can reply.

I look at my husband and my babies and thank my mom and dad, wherever they are. I know that it’s because of them I have all of this.

The End