6 years later

The sound of giggling woke me up but I just borrowed into my pillow some more. I wasn't in the mood to deal with the kids and their dad who was more of a kid than they themselves. They were always finding themselves in one or more mischiefs.

My sons had at least 4 bruises a week because they were always running around and throwing stuff and breaking things with their dad. The day our sons turned two, during their birthday party, when it was time to hit the pinata, Keith purposely moved the bag so that they'd miss and laughed silently but he regretted it the very next second because Logan's stick hit his dick and he doubled over with a groan. Let's just say there was no sex that night but he did have a 3 days relationship with an ice pack.

Another day, he let Lucas wander into the kiddie pool while filling it and water from the hose hit Lucas when he wasn't expecting it. He broke into a run only to end up tripping and falling. They were always tripping or falling into one box or bucket or another. I didn't even know the trashcan can be a hiding place until I found Logan inside it one day. I once came home to them eating milk and cookies. Their hands down to the wrists were in the big glass the three of them were using. Sadly, the long sleeve they were wearing were soaked with milk. Keith just shrugged and said they insisted on doing it by themselves.

So I ignored the giggles and borrowed deeply into my pillows. Then there was rustling as someone got into the beginning and next thing I knew, a wet finger was in my ear and my eyes finally snapped open and met those of the culprit.

Brown eyes like mine stared back at me and her face was covered in chocolate.

Just before she could run off, I reached out and grabbed my 3 year old daughter and she immediately began squealing and laughing hysterically as my fingers reached out to tickle her.

"I'll show you not to wake someone up with a wet Willy you little monster."

"I-I sorry. Mummy! Ah! Daddy say call you an..an Loggy say this will wake you up."

I then let her go and stretched and got out of bed and then really looked at her and my jaw dropped in shock when I saw how much of a disaster she looked like with chocolate all over her face.

"What the? What did you do your your hair?" Her hair was a mess. Because her hair was natural like mine, I sometimes put them in loose braids when it was night time but the night before, I didn't do that and so I woke up to a ridiculously tangled hair with ribbons that were deeply knotted into the hair.

"Make it pretty." she said as she automatically reached up to touch the hair. I said nothing else, just snatched her up and made my way downstairs in search of Keith.

Annalee Rayne James was born 3 years after her brothers and tagged along with them everywhere they went. She picked up every disgusting habit from them starting from picking her nose to giving a wet Willy, and her brothers and dad adored her. We named her Rayne because she was born on a really rainy day. Her brothers fell in love with her at first sight but still looked at her like she was an alien. She was daddy's little angel. Keith was very protective of our kids, but hers was on a different level. The day she was born, he said that she was so pretty she wasn't allowed to have a boyfriend until she was 35 years old, to which I rolled my eyes.

When I got to the kitchen, I met a sight worse than Rayne's hair disaster. Yes, there was so much food on the table but that wasn't what I noticed. My sons had bald patches on their respective heads.

"Morning babe."

"Don't morning babe me now. What's going on? Why did you let them do this to themselves? Shaved hair doesn't grow overnight."

Keith shrugged as he reached into the fridge for a bottle of water. "I woke up and found them this way. I'll get to Rayne's hair once we're done with breakfast. I don't know how the boys found my clipper. But it's goodbye hair once breakfast is over. I will cut their hair."

"Morning Nica!" A cherry voice greeted me and I turned to glare at the happy person. "When are you not ever in my house?"

"When there's money to chase." Avery replied with a grin as he sauntered out of the kitchen and I rolled my eyes before turning to glare at the two monsters I call my sons. "Which one of you taught Rayne how to give a wet willy?" I asked and they both pointed at each other guiltily and I shook my head.

I gave up. I dropped Rayne and watched her make her way over to her brothers and they left the kitchen too. I walked over to where my husband was making pancakes to kiss him. "Oh now you return my good morning." he said as he flipped a pancake and I chuckled lightly.

"you get it when you get it. Your breath stinks." I replied.

"Yours killed me. If you look behind you you'll see my body on the floor. My ghost is doing the cooking right now." he said and I blew it into his face. "Oh my God Maya that's disgusting. Happy Anniversary babe."

"Thank you." I replied before leaning in to kiss him again

"You guys we have a nudist over here." Avery said from the parlor and then Rayne walked in naked, except for her diaper, with Everest in her arms. The cat didn't look happy to be in the giggling toddler's arms. Rayne was always naked. She always found her way out of her clothes every time. My dad calls her Little Miss Diaper.

Her belly was round and her hair was still a disaster but she was so adorable. "Who's daddy's baby girl?" Keith said as he snatched her off the ground, cat and all. "You are. Yes you are!" he continued as he blew raspberries on her belly which earned him more laughter from her. He left with her to do something with her hair while I sat down for breakfast.

Life has been good. There were bad days, but the good days helped us move on, get stronger and value our time with one another. My blog was going well and I finally opened my animal shelter. Keith's relationship with his parents improved after almost a year. It took a while before he could finally have a proper conversation with his father without flipping out. He loved him mum but they had to work on their relationship. She had to learn not to make derogatory statements about anyone, especially in front of the kids. I always made it clear from the first day that I wouldn't teach my kids hate and would prevent it as much as I could.

I made sure I prevented them from having any false sense of entitlement. Keith put a limit to the number of gifts our parents got for them. His words to his parents and my dad who deemed it good to spoil their grandchildren silly were "We know there's a lot of money but no. No more toys. You're spoiling them."

My dad said "But they want it." and Keith replied "They know they have all of you wrapped around their fingers. They know that unlike us that say no a lot, you will be willing to get them anything they want. They know they can manipulate you with their tears and soulful sad eyes to do their bidding. They know it, and they'll do it. They do it all the time. So please, we know you're their grandparents and you love them but we hope and wish you'll respect our decisions as the parents here." And that was the end to bringing a toy to every family dinner which happened every weekend.

I looked up when he walked into the kitchen with Rayne in his arms and the twins holding onto him like little monkeys. The boys were nearly shaven while Rayne's hair was up in a pony tail. This man had turned from a notorious playboy to the family man before me. One day, he said to me Its amazing how love can change a person. I did know I'd have to settle down at one point but never did I imagine being this happy. You, our kids, you guys are the best thing to ever happen to me.

"I decided to give them a bath. No one wants to walk around with hair all over his neck." he said when he handed our daughter to me and I nodded.

He loved being a dad. He loved his kids, he loved playing with them. If he had to play the role of a disciplinarian, he did it well. If he had to be the best playmate ever, he did it really well too. Sometimes, I get jealous. Sometimes I say oh my God they love him more than they love me even though I know that's not true.

Rayne reached for the content of my plate but I shook my head and pushed it out of reach. "No baby. You've had breakfast. I'm sure your daddy gave you lots of food."

"I did."

Rayne had an appetite. She loved food,same with Logan. Lucas was the one with the smaller appetite. But because of my size, I watched what I let them eat. In as much as I'd made peace with the fact that I'm a big woman, I didn't want it for my kids. I'd rather not give them that snack than risk having them add weight. Children are mean, so if they added that amount of weight, their classmates might say shit. They maybe made fun of and I don't want that for any of them. I feared they would have my strange unwanted ability to easy put on weight. I would slay dragons and fight the freaking whitewalkers just to make sure nothing hurt my babies, including words.

She crawled off me and went over to where her brothers were while I washed and rinsed off the plate I used to eat breakfast and just then, Amanda walked in, looking as beautiful and amazingly dressed as usual and they screamed and squealed and ran over to where she was and she showered them with kisses.

"What happened to their hair?" she asked as she made her way to the table.

"They found Keith's hair clipper. Thank God you're here now and thank you for agreeing to take them for the weekend."

Just then, Keith appeared with their overnight. bag. "Hey mum. Good morning. I saw you drive in. Thank you once again for agreeing to take them. We will pick them up tomorrow. It's our anniversary, so we want to spend the day alone."

I already knew why he wanted to spend the day alone. We both bet on something and he won the bet. Loser does what winner wants on Anniversary day. Last night, he gave me a package in preparation for today. When I opened it, I shook my head. A pair of black heels and a very sexy black lacy bra that was obviously a size smaller and a black thong that made me laugh complete with garter belt and stockings. The last items were an apron and a feather duster.

"I'm not going to wear these things."

"Yes you will. You'll wear it around the house tomorrow. Loser does what winner wants."

"We have kids. We are not going to walk naked and have sex anywhere and everywhere possible while they're in the house."

"Of course we're not going to do that. I called my mum. She agreed to pick them up tomorrow morning."

"Keith this bra is a cup smaller. My breasts will practically spend the whole day trying to completely spill out of it."

"I know that." he replied with a lecherous smile.

"And what am I supposed to do with this apron and duster?"

"You put it on. You put on everything in the bag and model it for me. I get to easily bend you over when I want to and you won't wear anything else. Just the apron. I wanted to get the complete maid outfit but then this seemed hotter in my head."

"You are such a freak." I said as I straddled him.

"You love me all the same." he replied as he reached around to squeeze my butt. "So tomorrow will be about us. We will spend the day naked, making love and doing whatever you want to do....What do you want to do?"

"Whatever you plan. Surprise me. I do want to go out for dinner though."

Five minutes later, Amanda left with the kids and I practically pushed Avery out. "Danicaaaaa. Noooo. I don't care if it's your anniversary. I'm not yet done enjoying your house. Your husband made so much tasty food."

"Avery, go and get yourself a boo. Make someone up, go to the movies, hang out with friends, do something. Just go away unless you want to watch us do the do."

"Eww. Girl bye."

I laughed at his expression and waved him off and finally, he left. I went back inside and upstairs. When I opened the door, I busted out laughing when I took in the picture before me. Keith was in bed, stripped down to his ridiculously tight boxer briefs that showed everything, trying to look sexy as hell. He would have pulled it off if not for the comical expression on his face that was supposed to be sexy.

"How dare you laugh at my sexy pose?" he asked but I couldn't stop laughing. It was hilarious. "Well I was planning on strip dancing for you but not anymore."

"I'm so sorry." I replied as I got into bed beside him. "You are a sexy beast. You just have to perfect the seductive look and you'll be good to go." I chuckled again. "I wish I had a camera, honestly."

"Your breath still stinks." he said and I rolled my eyes. Of course it did. I hadn't brushed. I only do that after eating not before. "And for laughing at me, I'll make more requests today while you're still dressed like that.....like take pictures of you. Next time, do not laugh at me."

I chuckled again and rolled out of bed and into the bathroom to shave and shower. I'd never forget the day Keith came back from work looking guilty as hell. He told me he almost cheated on me, that he made it into the hotel parking lot and realized what he was doing and that he couldn't do it because everything about it was wrong. He said he didn't know what came over him, why he didn't discourage her when she started playing her games until he actually went to the hotel to meet up with her. He had a family, a wife who loved him and he loved her too, kids who loved him and waited for him to read bedtime stories to. His wife already made dinner and was waiting for him to get there, so why risk it all for a stupid romp? She wasn't even as beautiful as his wife, so why the fuck was he there?

It hurt. I cried and moved out of our bedroom for a while. It did take a while to get back to normal and I considered the fact that it could have been worse, that he could have actually gone along with it, that he loved and respected me enough to stop. Rayne was conceived the night we made up.

We have had fights. We once fought because I always turned on the lights when he had a headache and wanted to sleep. I once snapped because he didn't cap the toothpaste after usage. He once picked offense because I went into his office to look for our marriage certificate and messed up his documents. He once got mad because I'm too lenient and let people walk all over me and still don't see it even when it's obvious. I said Excuse me for giving people the benefit of the doubt that they're being honest with me the way I am with them. I know people take advantage of the way I am but if I start behaving the way you say I should just because of some bad people, I won't be able to do anything for the good people that did nothing to me because I'd think they're all one and the same. What I said didn't even make any sense to me but I said it.

One day, he let the kids have cookies at night and they were hyperactive and all over the place. I said to him "We don't let them have sugar for a reason. It's like a rule in the house. You broke the rule, you deal with the consequences. Night baby." left him with them and went to my room. He was an amazing dad, so I wasn't worried about anything happening to them. When I went back downstairs to check on them, I saw him sprawled on his back with them, all of them sound asleep. It was a cute picture that made its way to my Instagram account which I finally created after much pestering from Keith and Avery.

I quickly shaved my legs and showered and dressed up the way he wanted me to. I put on a shower robe over it and swallowed before leaving the room. Doing things like that, consciously showing off my body or dressing up in provocative manner still made my heart beat nervously even after all these years. But when I entered the room with a nervous smile and took off the robe before him, the look on his face showed me that it was worth it. I was beautiful to this man and that was all that mattered.