Our eleven-year-old twins Liam and Logan don’t have to be told twice. They immediately run for the rock and start climbing it. It’s not really a rock you climb though. It is a huge rock, but more just a slight vertical incline that you can walk up if you bend forward at the waist.
Behind them are Olivia, our nine-year-old, David, our seven-year-old, and Evelyn, our five-year-old.
Somehow all our kids are two years apart. Like a lot of the best things in life it wasn’t planned that way, it just is.
I scoop up Yaretzi with one hand and take my wife’s hand in my other.
“What are you up to this time?” Amanda says, her eyebrow cocked.
“You’ll see.” I give her a kiss on the forehead and up we go.
It’s been one heck of a ride these last dozen years. After the Russian at the port was ID’ed and the mole at the port turned out to be an F.B.I. accountant who was syphoning off taxpayer dollars to the Bratva things changed quickly for us.
Apparently the guy who was on the cruise ship was wanted, and there was a two million dollar reward for his whereabouts, arrest, and capture. And we also received a generous cut of the money they were able to recover from the Cayman Islands account where the F.B.I. accountant had been wiring large sums of money. We gave all that money back though, or technically we couldn’t accept it. That money belonged to improving schools, roads, services, and communities for the hardworking people that got cheated, not us.
Since it was pretty obvious that the Kremlin would have a price on my head we decided to get new passports and leave the country entirely.
And that’s how we ended up here. The Fernández Family. I still get a kick out of that. It’s like we’re the real, modern day version of The Americans.
As we reach the top of the rock I keep my eyes on my woman. I thought I loved her the moment I saw her, and I did, but little did I know then that that intense desire to make her mine couldn’t even compare to how much I love her now. She’s made my life what it is today, and the biggest part of that is the family we’ve made together, as witnessed by all six of our children.
Six children. I’m so proud of everything we’ve accomplished together, yet it seems like this whole journey we’re on just started yesterday.
Time flies so fast when you’re in love with the only woman in the world who’s right for you, and all the children you love together.
And when I see her eyes open wide and the tips of her fingers come to her mouth as she gasps, I know I’ve made her day once again. I love that more than anything.
“How did I never figure that out?” she says as she stares down at what I wrote in the sand with my heels about twenty feet below.
“It’s all our names, dad!” Olivia yells.
LADYLOVE is spelled out in the fine sand below us.
“You never figured it out, because there was nothing to figure out. Ladylove is you. It always was and it always will be,” I say, squeezing her hand tighter without even thinking about it.
She turns to me and plants a big one right on my lips.
“Daddy?” Yaretzi asks.
“One second, honey,” I mumble in-between kisses. When we come up for air I acknowledge her. “Yes, sweetheart.”
“Why did you make mommy cry?”
“Come here, punkin’,” Amanda says, taking her from my grip.
“Sometimes we cry because we’re very, very happy.”
I just watch this mother daughter moment tucking it away in my mind forever. I live for little moments like these.
“So you’re not sad? Daddy didn’t make you sad?”
“Daddy never makes me sad. Daddy made you and all your brothers and sisters and that only ever makes me happy.”
She turns to me and makes an “oops” face. I guess the birds and the bees talk might be coming sooner than expected for our youngest one, but not now. We’ll figure out a way to tell her a stork story this afternoon before her nap.
“Good, because daddy always makes me happy too.”
“All right! Get in here, everybody.”
The kids tip toe across the top of the rock and I pull them all in for a big family hug. We just hold it for long moments until finally a seagull flies overhead making a noise that brings us back to the present.
“Look dad!” Evelyn says. “The water’s coming into the shore, but it’s not erasing our names. It’s not getting us.”
I studied the waves for a few minutes before I began this project, making sure to make my little artwork in the right place where it wouldn’t be harmed. That’s part of what being a man is all about. You guard over what’s yours, always protecting them even when they don’t know…don’t see it…have no idea.
And that’s what I’m teaching our oldest boys everyday. I’m the luckiest father in the world that they grasped the most important concept right away. It’s not our job. It’s a privilege. To be able to be surrounded by so many amazing women in our house is a privilege that I thank my lucky stars for every day.
But most importantly I thank her. The woman at the top that made everything I ever wanted in life a possibility…our family.
I lean in and kiss her on top of her head and our baby girl wraps her arms around my head in return. Then she grabs my ear.
“I got your ear, daddy!”
She laughs and giggles and is so happy that it makes my chest swell with pride, which is kind of counterintuitive from an anatomy perspective…because it’s not just my ear she’s got, it’s what all my kids have and most importantly my woman owns.
My heart.
I love them all. And they’re all…mine.
Forever.
A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS
Book 1: Baby Lust
Book 2: Veteran
Book 3: Built
Book 4: Bambino
Book 5: Rescued
Book 6: Leader
Book 7: Professor
Book 8: Burned
Book 9: Worldly
Book 10: Pistol
Book 11: Policed
Book 12: Driven
Book 13: Lucky 13
Book 14: Lumberjacked
Book 15: Protector
Book 16: Carpenter
Book 17: Italian Stallion
Book 18: Gardener
Book 19: Budapest Billionaire’s Virgin
Book 20: Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 21: Cocky CFO
Book 22: Fireman’s Filthy 4th
Book 23: Mechanic
Book 24: SEAL’s Secret
Book 25: Police, Pooch, and Smooch
Book 26: Fireman’s Fake Fiancée
Book 27: Billionaire’s Virgin Ballerina
Book 28: Bitcoin Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 29: Veterans Day Daddy
Book 30: Cowboy’s Christmas Carol
Book 31: Police Officer’s Princess
Book 32: Statham
Book 33: Bodyguard
Book 34: Greek God
Book 35: Billionaire Single Dad's Babysitter
Book 37: SEAL’s Justice
Book 38: Royal Romance
Book 39: Doctor Mountain Man’s Special Delivery
Book 40: Crocodile Dan D
Book 41: Mountain Man’s Secret Baby
Book 42: Doctor Bad Boy’s Secret Baby
Book 43: Cop’s Babysitter
Book 44: Nanny for the Cop Next Door
Book 45: Small Town SEAL’s Saving Grace
Book 46: Cop’s Fake Fiancée
Book 47: Billionaire’s Nanny
Book 48: Cowboy’s Babysitter
Book 49: Steamy
Book 50: Brother’s Best Friend
Book 51: Possessive Professor
Book 52: Firefighter’s Babysitter
Book 53: Soldier’s Secret Baby
Book 54: Ward’s Independence Day
Book 55: Doctor Next Door
Book 56: Possessive Policeman
Book
57: Coached by the MMA Fighter
Book 58: Boss’s Babysitter
Book 59: Virgin in New York
Book 60: Rock Star’s Baby
Book 61: Possessive Protector
Book 62: Possessive Australian
Book 63: Best Friend’s Brother
Book 64: Possessive Cowboy
Book 65: Summer Romanced
Book 66: Possessive Prince
Book 67: Lovers’s Enemy
Book 68: Cop’s Best Friend
Book 69: Possessive Firefighter
Book 70: Football Next Door
Book 71: Doctor December
Book 72: Possessive Canadian
Book 73: Blue Collar Billionaire
Book 75: Possessive Brazilian
Book 76: Hockey Obsession
Book 77: Possessive Boston Irish American MMA Fighter
Book 78: Halloween Next Door
Book 79: Possessive Russian
Book 80: Baseball Mine
Book 81: Cop’s Caribbean Captive
Book 82: Instalove Island
Book 83: Dad’s Best Friend
Book 84: Thanksgiving with Dad’s Boss
Book 85: Possessive Italian Neighbor
Book 86: Possessive Portuguese
Book 87: Possessive Christmas Cop
Book 88: Russian’s Obsession
Book 89: Possessive Doctor’s Christmas
Book 90: Possessive Parisian Pilot
Book 91: U.K. Boxing Day
Book 92: Jealous Russian Stalker
Book 93: Italian Mountain Man
Book 94: Aggressive Russian
Book 95: Possessive Valentine
Book 96: Possessive Hunter
Book 97: Dad’s Russian Mafia Friend
Book 98: Russian Teacher
Book 99: Australian Obsession
Book 100: Russian Next Door
Book 101: Dad’s Irish Friend
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