The New Ever After (The New Ever After Series) (3 page)

Peter stood near the back of the bookstore rocking the stroller back and forth, hoping to lull at least one of the twins back to sleep. Their publisher thought it helped attendance and book sales to have Peter and the twins present at Heather's readings. It seemed they were right as almost every woman wanted Peter's signature right after they got Heather's. Most people came with a stack of the books Peter had written as well as a copy of Heather's book. Some were even forward enough to skip right over Heather and go to Peter. They all oohed and ahhed over the twins and everyone left with something to talk about. Ten-month-old twins at a book reading were an adventure each and every time. After every reading, people would make comments on Heather or Peter's public Facebook pages like:
Thanks for buying me a new book after George ripped mine
or
I have never seen a Maclaren stroller flip over like that
.

In a way, Heather and Peter became some sort of literary freak show
. And so many of the women just wanted to watch the very handsome Peter's reaction to Heather reading about the first love of her life, Hank. The fact that he was able to stand there time and time again was a true testament to his love for Heather, his slightly frantic wife.

This particular morning, they had driven up to
Washington, D.C. before the three older kids had gone to school. Heather's mom was charged with getting them on the bus, and Peter and Heather had picked up Jenny. Jenny was truly Heather's right hand. Jenny had Heather's back. After Heather had gotten pregnant, Jenny had defended her honor to all the people who thought she was a gold digger instead of an accidental gold tripper. Jenny had been on the beach with Heather as she had waddled down the aisle to marry Peter pregnant with their twins. She brought Heather a milkshake spiked with Bailey's the morning after the twins were born. And lately, she had been walking through the aisles of Kroger and Target with one twin in her cart as Heather had the other in her cart. As far as Heather was concerned, one of the best things Peter had done was put Jenny on the payroll when his old assistant had outed Heather's pregnancy on Twitter. He knew they needed someone they could trust managing their lives. Jenny had been Heather’s trusted neighbor for years as they raised their kids together. And Jenny was a huge support to Heather when Hank died.

The excerpt that Heather settled on today was a doozy
. One that really pulled at her heartstrings and was hard to read without tearing up. It turned out that marrying Peter and having his children did not erase the pain Heather felt. She tried hard to develop amnesia about all they had endured. She wanted loving Peter to be enough for all of them but some days it wasn't. The piece she read this morning was about the days right after Hank died.

The first time Hank and I kissed we were playing the game This or That in Kathy's basement. It was a quick kiss in the dark. No tongue but plenty of slobber. The next time we kissed was in front of our middle school. There was tongue and still plenty of slobber. I ran home and got out my Seventeen magazine and read about kisses with tongue. I didn't have a big sister to guide me in matters of the lips. I learned that we had French kissed and that good kisses didn't involve that much drool. But I knew I wanted more wet kisses because they also gave me butterflies.

The night after Hank died, I dreamt that he was kissing me
. I felt the tenderness of his lips, the heat of his breath and the smell of his slightly sweaty body. I woke up to my mom's arms around me telling me everything was going to be ok. She came running in when I started screaming Hank's name.

I started throwing up every time I woke up
. Sleep let me forget that Hank was dead. As soon as I remembered, I ran for the toilet. Hayes, Gracie and Henry littered our, now my, king sized bed. No one could sleep alone. Hell, no one could really sleep. My mom was in Hayes' room keeping her distance but ready to help when needed. The kids didn't want to go to school. They wanted to stay with me, and I let them. We cuddled on the couch and closed all the blinds. I tried to pretend that if I tuned out the world, time would stop and Hank would come back. But it didn't, and life and the kids forced me to keep going.

Heather saw Peter’s face when she was done with the reading. He had the same kind of pained look in his eyes that he did when she woke up with one of her nightmares. She knew he wanted to pick all of them up and whisk them away from the heartache. And for the most part he did, but their hearts still had holes in them. All the looking back that Heather did on her book tours wasn't good for her psyche. But it was part of the publicity she had agreed to, and he knew it might be responsible for some of the malaise that was lingering in her head. But Heather knew all the reminiscing reminded Peter he wasn't her first love.

After the signing, Jenny packed up the twins and handed Peter a bag.

"What's that for?" asked Heather.

"We're staying here tonight. You need a night away
. Jenny's taking the twins and a car will drive us home tomorrow after you get a chance to take a breath."

"We can't stay here tonight!
Gracie has riding lessons, Hayes has a game and Henry has practice."

"I know. I've taken care of all of it. Victoria has agreed to take Hayes, your mom's taking Gracie, and Matt is driving Henry while I stay with the twins," said Jenny as she jumped into the car, popped her Tibetan chants into the CD player and pulled away from the curb giving Heather no time to argue.

Peter put his arm across Heather's back and led her across the street into the Four Seasons. He didn't give her time to say good-bye to George and Emily or time to think about what they were doing. He forced her to go with his flow.

A bellman met them at the door.

"Hello, Mr. Adamson. Your room is ready. I'll take your bags and show you the way.”

One of the perks of being a famous and recognizable author was the eager-to-please service that came with it
.

They took the elevator up, and in true Peter style, they stopped at the top floor, the penthouse or the Royal Suite as the bellman called it
. He opened the door and Peter took the bags, tipped him and sent him away. Peter's lips were on top of Heather's before the door closed. She started to think about French kissing Hank but was quickly reminded that she was with Peter. She had never kissed anyone quite like Peter before. He had a force and confidence that were uniquely his and even after knowing him for a year and a half and having twins, Peter's passion and Heather's butterflies were still there. But she was annoyed and pushed him away.

“You cannot make decisions for me like this. You have to tell me. We have five kids and I cannot just disappear at the drop of a hat.”

“I’m sorry. I just wanted a little time alone with you and away from the 2-3-1-1-3. I thought it would help you.”

“It is incredibly sweet. Thank you but three of my kids lost their dad and I need to be sensitive to the fact that it might freak them out if I am not at home.”

“I’m sorry. I never thought about that.”

He planted his lips on top of hers in apology and
ran his fingers up her side while deftly lifting her shirt over her head. Her hair fell to her shoulders as he unclasped the clip that was holding it up. Heather's bra fell to the floor, and he moved to the zipper on her pencil skirt. His lips never left hers while he undressed her. As soon as every piece of clothing was on the floor of the suite, Peter lifted her legs around him and carried her to bed kissing her the whole way. Heather knew what he was doing, and it made her a little more aggravated. She couldn't think with his tongue in her mouth, and he knew she really couldn't think with the rest of him inside of her. She was fully aware that his plan was to get her to relax and to stop thinking.

He had no choice but to stop kissing her for a second while he took off his pants and shirt, but his blue eyes forced her to stay in the moment as he stared into hers
. Lovemaking with Peter was not a quick activity, and she knew she was in for a treat. His fingers tickled and teased every inch of her body. He knew just where to put them to make her legs twitch and today he went right for the money spot.

"I can hear your stomach growling
. Lunch will be served shortly on the terrace...as soon as we’re finished with for the moment. We'll have massages after lunch, and I don't intend for either of us to leave this room until we check-out tomorrow," said Peter before he continued kissing Heather.

Peter moved his hands away from
her as she arched her back trying to get more. He entered her, and she smiled. It had been a long time since they had been alone. He took his time moving in and out of her and lulled her into a state of bliss. Heather was thrilled to not be worrying about little eyes or baby cries. So thrilled, she let out a scream as she came. Peter laughed and came only a second behind her, but without a high pitched scream.

"Are you glad Jenny took the twins now?"

"Yes. But next time you need to give me time to prepare the kids. No more surprises!"

“Ok,” he agreed easily.

Peter walked over to the bathroom and grabbed two terry cloth robes. Just as they finished putting them on, there was a knock on the door.

"Lunch, I believe," said Peter.

"That's spooky. It's like they were watching us and knew when we were decent."

"Or they just waited an appropriate amount of time after you screamed," said Peter
. Heather blushed, and Peter let the servers carry the lunch to the terrace.

It was a gorgeous, warm May day
. The sky was that sharp blue that forced you to squint when you looked at it even when you weren’t looking directly at the sun. Peter and Heather sat at the table covered by a huge umbrella. The servers lifted the lids and presented them with two green salads. Without a word, they poured them each a glass of white wine and left. Peter lifted his glass and toasted Heather.

"To you and all that you have accomplished in the last year and a half. And to us and all that we have to look forward to."

Heather smiled and took a gulp of her wine. Being at the hotel on a school day, having sex and drinking wine felt pretty taboo. On one hand, taboo might be just the thing she needed to get out of her rut, but then reality began racing through her head. She remembered she was supposed to go to a meeting to plan a Social Studies review day for Gracie's class.

"Shit! I have to get
back."

"Why?" asked Peter knowing there was no way he was letting her go back.

"I have a planning meeting tonight for Gracie's class. I'm supposed to plan a review session for them for their state tests. I can't miss it."

"Hon, you have to miss it
. You are driving yourself crazy. You have to give something up. You have five kids, two of them are not even one yet. You are a published author with a full-time schedule. And most importantly, my sex slave."

"I'm going to hear about it if I'm not there."

"Blame it on me. And if you were there, you'd end up hearing about something anyway." Some of the women who were involved in these committees were too high strung for Peter. He had told her on a number of occasions that he was convinced that planning the craft for the kindergarten winter party should not be the life or death decision that some made it out to be. Since Peter worked at home, he was privy to a lot of the daily things Heather was involved in, and it gave him a unique view of this little subculture.

"So, have I been that unbearable that you had to take me away?"

"No, well, you've just been stressed, and I wanted you to have a break. I couldn't stand to see your smile without the sparkle yesterday. I just decided we would change things up a little. I have more plans for you, but they'll have to wait. And remember, I'm going camping this weekend with Gracie's Indian Princess tribe, and you’re going to be home alone with the other four."

"I might need this again afterwards!"

Heather was so happy she had fallen into a man who loved her kids so much. She knew camping was probably not Peter's favorite activity. Actually, she did know what his favorite was, and camping definitely wasn't it.

"I can arrange it, young lady
. Eat. We have a busy afternoon."

Peter had a knack for being able to control every situation they were in, always in a nice way and in a way that relaxed Heather
. It seemed to her, there wasn't anything he couldn't figure out or control. Today she forced herself to do as he said and relax. She let him stay in control.

After massages and a trifecta of orgasms (one before lunch, one in the shower washing off all the massage oil from the massages and one after dinner), Heather was thoroughly exhausted. Peter started the bath water and urged her to get in.

"It's a bath with no chance of interruption. No one can knock on the door and no crying babies
. Just us."

It sounded delightful to Heather
. Baths were the only place she could seek refuge. On more than one occasion, Peter had stood outside the bathroom door with a screaming twin to not so discreetly coax Heather out of the tub to help. Tonight, she got in and Peter sat at the edge.

"So, I think we should go up to Maine for a few weeks this summer," said Peter.

"Your parents’ house?"

"No, I looked at renting some houses on the beach right by them
. It would give us more space."

"I don't know if the kids would want to be away for that long."

"I think we all need it. We need to get out of Dodge and relax and reconnect with each other."

Heather's mind started churning all kinds of thoughts
.
Is Peter unhappy and feeling disconnected from us? Is suburbia getting to him so much that he needs to leave?
When Heather had first found out she was pregnant, she and Peter had had a misunderstanding about his ability to join her in this life. She had overheard Peter talking to his sister Janie. She thought he was telling Janie he couldn’t marry Heather, but in reality he was telling her he didn’t know if he could live in Heather’s neighborhood. After they cleared up the misunderstanding, they found the perfect house for all seven of them within their school district.

Peter could see the wheels turning in her head.

"Stop thinking. I just want to hang out with you and the kids in my favorite place,” Peter said, reading Heather's mind. They had always intended to get up to Maine, but once the twins were born it seemed so hard. This summer would be the first time they could contemplate the trip.

"I would love to go," said Heather acquiescing easily. Maybe Maine would drag her out of her awkward spot
. She'd be away from many of her responsibilities and that may do the trick.

"Good
. I'll make the arrangements, and we'll drive up after the twins' first birthday."

"
I don’t mind if you make the arrangements and take care of details but remember we need to discuss the big things like taking me away from the kids. While we're planning, let's have an end of the school year pool party for the kids."

"Perfect.”

Heather leaned her head back and put her feet up next to him. He started rubbing them and her eyes started to close.

"Let's get you out of here, sleepyhead."
She stood up, and he wrapped her up in a robe and helped her out. Heather was used to having Peter help her. He had been forced to carry her right away with her broken ankle. And then while she was pregnant with the twins, she had needed constant help. George kicked her so hard in utero that he broke two of her ribs. She hated needing help, but life had a habit of making her need it over and over again.

Heather curled up under the down comforter and was fast asleep before Peter even climbed into bed
. She awoke the next morning to the smell of coffee and the sight of Peter sitting on the terrace reading. She got up, grabbed her robe and walked quietly towards him. Heather could see a few more gray hairs mixed into the black. His face had a little more than a five o'clock shadow, and she was suddenly anxious to have it rub up against her cheek. As she got closer, she could see his tattoos. She loved that they had matching tattoos on the inside of their wrists even if his was camouflaged amongst his other tattoos. She had wanted a white tattoo, but Peter had talked her into a heart filled with flowers. Hayes had been horrified when she had gotten it. But much of what she had done in the last year and a half horrified her teenaged son. And she figured that would be the case regardless of what she did. She rubbed the tattoo as she walked towards him. He turned around just as she arrived and motioned for her to sit on his lap. His lips met hers quickly, and he slipped his hands inside her robe.

"This is nice
. Thank you," said Heather.

"Kind of like the honeymoon we never had," said Peter.

They had had one night on their own after their wedding in Hawaii. With the impending arrival of the twins and the release of Heather's book, they hadn’t had much free time for a longer vacation. She knew it was back to reality after check out time, but they still had time to enjoy each other. Peter's hands were wandering around under her robe.

"Want to move inside?" asked Heather noticing how many buildings surrounded their balcony.

Peter picked her up as he stood and carried her into the bed. His strength always amazed Heather. The way he was able to move her body so effortlessly was surprising. Her robe was off within a second of lying her down, and she got to feel the stubble she had been admiring on more places than just her cheek. He kissed her breasts that had finally returned to their normal size after a brief stint breastfeeding the twins. She had felt like a Baywatch babe while her milk dried up. She pulled his head back up to her mouth and kissed him.

“Thank you for this little night away, my knight in shining armor.”

Peter smiled and entered her and they enjoyed each other completely before heading back to Midlothian and the five kids who were anxiously awaiting their arrival.

A car was waiting for them outside the hotel at noon. Peter grabbed each of their iPads out of the bag for the
100-mile trip down I-95.

"You mind if I answer some emails while we drive?"

"Not at all. You have a deadline coming up, don't you?"

"Yes, but I'm fine."
He had a new intern from VCU working with him. The intern gathered information and did research for him. It freed him up to have more writing time even though his books seemed to have a formula at this point. He knew what his audience wanted and somehow he was able to provide it each time while adding something new that made him look brilliant. Heather checked Facebook while Peter worked, always something she regretted in hindsight.

"Ha. Look at what Victoria wrote on my wall."

From Victoria: Hayes had a great game last night
. He only struck out once. He has to wear black socks and ochre jersey to the game on Sunday. I will remind you on Saturday evening in case you are too busy to remember.

"You need to start egging her on and get her to write ridiculous stuff on there. That's the passive aggressive, condescending crap I hate."

Heather was well aware of how Peter felt about all of the social media and the
one-upping that took place with the moms in the 2-3-1-1-3. She knew she had to play the game. She wanted to for her kids, and she had so many great friends that it made it easy to put up with the ones that were a little too loud, competitive and obnoxious.

A text from Jenny floated in a minute later.

12:17 Jenny: Take your time
. All is fine here. Your mom and I just fed the twins and I'm going to do some work. Sending your mom home.

Heather showed it to Peter.

"She's a rock star. How does she always know what to do without you even asking her?"
he asked.

"She knows me
. She has seen me at my absolute worst and once you have that kind of bond, you just know a person."

Jenny had actually been with her when Heather had gone to identify Hank’s body at the hospital
. Theirs was a friendship that was sealed in heartbreak. Hank's death had taken a toll on Jenny and Matt too. The four of them had been partners in crime with the women sitting having a drink on the deck while the guys played pool or cards. Jenny and Matt suffered quietly in order to support Heather and the kids. She knew she would never be able to repay the debt of gratitude she had for Jenny. But when friends were that close, you didn't really have to.

"Did this trip relax you at all?" asked Peter.

"It was amazing. Thank you. And I can't wait to get to Maine with you. We just need to survive the next few weeks, and we'll be in good shape."

Sometimes motherhood felt more like it was about surviving and getting through than enjoying, and Heather felt entirely too guilty about that
. She did her best to have quality time with each of the kids and to make their time at home pleasant, but five kids sometimes felt like an army, an out of control army, ready to rebel at any moment. Keeping her cool and her sanity seemed like a daily battle, and in her little corner of the world, looking like you were in control and did everything with ease was the name of the game. As opposed to the way she always felt, which was like a hot mess. Her goal for the summer was to become slightly less than a hot mess, maybe just a mild one.