They kissed briefly.
“We’ve done this before.” Jack turned them to face the green fields that extended right to the school in the far distance. “Stood here in the morning, before anyone got up, drinking coffee.”
“The morning we went to pick up Max.”
“The one when we decided on the twins’ names.”
“The morning after the night before,” Riley teased.
“Which night?”
Riley waggled his eyebrows. “All of them.”
“You remember the barn fire?” Jack glanced at Riley. “The morning after you came home.”
“I remember.”
“You put yourself in there for the horses, and you were hurt. That moment, when I saw through the shell and into the heart of you.”
“Jack?” Riley sounded concerned. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve loved you for so long now. I’m the luckiest man alive.”
Riley huffed a laugh and knocked shoulders with Jack. “Shouldn’t you be saving this for our vows?”
“Nah, I have embarrassing shit for those.”
“Does it help that I think I’m the lucky one?”
Jack sighed and rested his chin on his hands on the top rail. “I’m pretty sure 2010 was a pretty good year for us both, at the end of it all.”
A car turned into the yard, and they checked out who had arrived. Eden.
“It’s way too early,” Riley muttered. “She said seven I’m sure.”
They watched her climb out of the car, a little awkward and with a definite start to the rounded belly that held their niece or nephew.
“Gotta love her dedication,” Jack laughed.
She waved at them and walked toward the fence. “Thought I’d get an early start,” she announced.
“Everyone is asleep,” Riley protested as he hugged her good morning.
She hugged Jack, then stepped back to examine them critically. “Jack is rocking the stubble, but Riley, we’re gonna need ten hours to sort out your hair.”
Slowly but steadily the early morning became a noisy, messy family breakfast, the kind that Jack loved. With more food on the floor than in their tummies, the twins were on their best form for food throwing, Max was verbal and a little hyper, and Hayley was chatting back to him about Thomas and fences. Jack was kind of relieved that Max had somehow formed an attachment for the long straight fences on the D. That meant he had lots to check, although some of those were close to the road and Max didn’t have an awareness of danger. He and Riley had fretted about it, then the solution became evident. Last week they had fitted a stable-style door to their kitchen. Now the top could be open, the bottom locked, and there was no chance Max could go wandering.
However, the door was an open invitation for people to lean over and say hi. Robbie first, followed swiftly by Vaughn and Darren, who were off on some kind of mission for Eden to do with flowers.
As for Eden, she was in the good room one minute, then grabbing toast and heading out to check on the huge marquees on the back field. Steve had arrived, sorting out parking signs, and he too had leaned over to ask for a coffee.
“What did we let ourselves in for?” Riley asked as he got a face full of egg from a particularly accurate Connor.
“Not sure, but Eden has it under control.”
Riley encouraged some of the egg into Connor’s mouth, only to have it smeared back at him. “You got something against eggs, buddy?” he asked as finally Connor swallowed the spoonful and grinned at him with his gap-toothed smile.
“Dad, is it true we could start mining asteroids?” Hayley asked around a mouthful of bacon.
“If we use all our natural resources here, yes. I know some companies are already looking at feasibility studies for the next fifty years.”
“Wow. So I could see that one day.”
“Maybe. You’ll probably see all kinds of cool things as you get older.”
“Dad, could I come to the office one day?” She closed the book, and Jack saw the cover, The Beginner’s Guide to Geology.
“Hmm,” Riley said, distracted by his epic battle with egg and toast and a reluctant Connor.
“As soon as we’re back from honeymoon,” Jack answered. “Your dad will take you in. Won’t you, Riley?”
Riley glanced up and over. “Sorry? What?”
“Hayley wants to visit CH, and she’s reading a book about geology.” Jack wasn’t sure how much more obvious he could make it.
Riley wiped Connor’s face, then the high chair. He pulled out another wipe to clean himself up. “Can I see?” He held out his hand for the book.
Hayley passed it to him, sat up in her chair, and sprawled across the table. “The oldest rocks in Texas are from the Meso-pro-prot—”
“Mesoproterozoic,” Riley offered.
Hayley smiled. “They’re, like, one thousand six hundred million years old, and they could be right under our feet.”
Riley flicked through the book. “You enjoy this kind of thing?”
“I do, and Mrs. Stimpson said I should ask you to come in and do a talk about geology on our next careers day.”
“She did?” Riley said a little weakly.
“I showed her the homework you helped me with. The one about oil.”
Jack couldn’t help his smirk. His and Riley’s worst fear was to be called into Hayley’s school to give a talk.
“Laugh it up,” Riley said under his breath. To Hayley, he said, “Of course I can, sweetheart. Tell her I’ll come in.” Then he appeared to have a flash of inspiration. “I know. Why don’t you suggest a school trip to the CH offices?”
Jack’s mouth fell open. Did Riley know what he was offering? Eighteen teenagers with cell phones at the place where people were trying to work?
“Really? I’m gonna go text Megan.” She left, sporting a huge grin, and Riley shrugged.
“Eighteen kids,” Jack warned.
“Eighteen children, cell phones, chaos, and questions I can’t answer—some of them yawning. I know I’ll regret suggesting it. But Hayley so excited? Priceless.”
Jack rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward to steal a kiss. “You may well have a budding geology major on your hands.”
Riley smiled. He looked very proud and ever so slightly smug.
Until, that was, Connor threw his juice and his sippy cup separated right on the side of Riley’s head.
All Riley did was smile ruefully after telling Connor no. “That’s gonna help my hair big time.”
Jack put the sippy cup back together and made sure it clicked into place before patting Riley on the head. “Not sure anything could help it at the moment.”
Jack held out his hand. They weren’t supposed to be doing the whole “walking up an aisle” thing, but Hayley insisted they walk up together after her. So the two of them were waiting in the house, and Jack couldn’t help staring at Riley. A dark blue suit and crisp white shirt, the sapphire-colored tie knotted perfectly. Eden had come in, given them their boutonnières and stood them next to each other for a selfie with her in front. She’d had to stand on tiptoes, and they’d crouched a little, but Jack had to admit they looked good together. He wore a pale gray suit, his tie a whole different shade of darker blue that complimented the theme, the flowers in his buttonhole were ivory, and he was wearing a waistcoat. That, in his opinion, had been a step too far, but Eden had insisted. At least he’d been able to wear his boots, whereas Riley was in shoes so shiny you could see your face in them.
“You ready to do this?” Riley asked.
Jack patted his head in reflex, checking for a hat that wasn’t there. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Riley smiled at him and took his outstretched hand. “Right. Mr. Campbell-Hayes, this is one for the albums, right? This time we’re doing more of that smiling and in love stuff, and we can make these photos work.”
Jack stole the quickest of kisses, but Riley gripped his arm and wouldn’t let him go. The kiss deepened, and they moved into each other’s space, the heat between them instant. When they parted, Riley still had his eyes closed.
“Now we can go,” he said as he opened them.