Chapter 193
Antero looked around the little table and stared at the four other children seated there with
narrowed eyes.
“I know one of you did it.”
Aya at two years old was smiling happily as she pretended her face covered in chocolate was not the reason her big brother was pissed off. Although it was also entirely possible she simply didn’t care. She was known to be selfish about her own wants given she was in the throws of the terrible twos.
Antero however, never ever wanting to blame his sister for anything despite the obvious face full of chocolate, was glaring at the tea party guests which included Susana’s one year old twins and a three–year–old little girl Genevra and Karolos adopted when they’d visited an orphanage eighteen
months ago in Greece. Genevra found herself unable to leave the little girl who looked remarkably
like her behind. Despite being pregnant herself, Genevra wanted the little girl to go home with them
and so she did. She was now living her best life as Genevra’s mini–me with a stoic expression to
match her father’s. It was this stoicism which seemed to be putting Antero in his rotten mood. Her
younger brother was currently being fed his lunch along with Amal’s little boy in the kitchen and so
she was fixated on Antero. She’d been snooping in his room while the younger ones were distracted
with the treats.
“Whose idea was it to break into my bedroom and steal my snacks?” Antero leaned over the table
and grunted angrily.
All the kids blinked at him, but the three–year–old Raquel looked at Antero and gave a crooked
smile.
“I’m going to marry you.”
Antero pulled his head back, “you’re a baby. I’m going to marry a grown up, not a baby.”
“What are you doing?” Six–year–old Dolores came into the room wearing her mother’s shoes. “My dad said to tell you lunch is almost ready.”
“You’re not a grown up,” Antero grimaced at the girl Tito adopted when he married her mother two years ago. “You look stupid in those shoes.”
“You’re just jealous you can’t wear shoes like this.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes you are.”
Raquel got up and pushed Dolores, “he’s my boyfriend! Don’t be mean to him.”
1/4
Chapter 193
“I’m not your boyfriend. You’re a baby!”
“I’m going to marry Antero,” Dolores pushed Raquel away, “my dad is his dad’s best friend, It’s the way it works.”
“I’m telling my daddy!” Raquel ran from the room with tears on her cheeks.
Antero glowered at Dolores, “don’t be mean to her. She’s only a baby, Grown ups take care of babies, not push them. You’re not a grown up.” He drew himself taller, puffing his seven–year–old chest up high.
“They also don’t interrogate children,” Torq called out from the doorway. “What is this I heard from the housekeeper you were threatening to cut off fingers?”
“I didn’t mean it.” Antero looked at his father with a sigh. “They broke into my room and ate all my chocolate. I only wanted them to confess.”
“Well, how about, we take an inventory of what is missing, and we’ll take a trip the candy store later to refill your stash and get Aya her own.”
“Mom said she can’t get her own stash yet because she doesn’t know how to listen to her body about being full. Dad, she’s worse than Avalanche. I think she’d eat a table if it was possible.”
*She’s a big growing girl,” Torq smiled at his hazel–eyed daughter and scooped her up from her chair. “Your face is full of chocolate. Let’s get you cleaned up.” He looked down as Susana’s twin boys tugged his pant legs, “you want up?” They nodded and he scooped them too.
“Torq, tell Antero he can’t marry Raquel and he’s going to marry me.” Dolores dogged his footsteps as they made their way to the dining hall of the estate they now lived on.
“I can’t do that, Dolores. Someday, when Antero is a man, he will decide who he wants to marry on
his own.”
“But I love him, and I don’t want Raquel to steal him.”
Torq met Alcee’s confused gaze as she watched him entering the room with three kids in his arms, an anxious six–year–old tugging at his sleeve and Antero who was rolling his eyes but smirking.
Antero looked at his mother, “they all want to marry me because I’m handsome.”
“Do I even want to know?”
Karolos came into the room with his crying daughter in his arms. “I’m being asked to arrange a wedding.” He was barely able to keep his laugh out of his voice as his daughter, who was usually very reserved, was hanging dramatically backwards in a huge display of heartbreak.
2/4
Chapter 193
Alcee looked at Genevra, “okay, now I see the relationship.”
Genevra threw a pea off her son’s plate at Alcee, “funny,”
“Don’t start a food fight,” Brunella picked the pea up off the floor, “Last time it took us three hours to clean up and all my good cooking went to waste.”
“We still ate most of it.”
“Heathens.” Brunella muttered.
Torq passed Aya to Alcee, “she decided since it was her second birthday, she was entitled to Antero’s
stash. I told him I’d take him for a candy run later.” He watched her dip a napkin into a glass of water carelessly to clean off the kid’s face. His wife had truly run out of fucks to give at this point,
and he laughed with the idea.
“How much did she eat?”
“They,” Antero accused with fingers pointing, “ate three chocolate bars and my M&Ms.”
“The big bag of M&Ms?” Alcee looked at the children in horror and then back to Torq. “That’s way too much sugar, chocolate and frankly caloric energy for four little bodies.”
“We should leave the kids with the men and go out,” Susana said from where she was sitting with her eyes closed at the end of the table. “I feel like the minute the sugar hits their brains they’re going to be insane and I’m not sure I want to be here for that.”
Jesus leaned over the back of her chair and kissed her forehead, “Susana, you can’t be away from a toilet for more than two minutes or your spew hits the floor.”
“Shut up. This is your fault.”
Amal, who would normally laugh at her sister’s misery, was laying a few feet away on the floor near the doorway. “Twins suck. I hold such appreciation for you and Mama now,” she told her sister.
“You look even paler now than when I left,” Torq laughed at Amal as Tito simply stepped over her and put their one–year–old into a booster seat now he was cleaned up again.
They were all growing their families exponentially.
