Wildest Deams

Chapter Thirty

Olivia walked into the bedroom after checking on Zara. The excitement of the night had taken a lot out of the little girl, so she crashed early. Both of her parents were excited about it, since they wanted to spend even more alone time together.

“Zara is out and the twins have full bellies. We should be good for at least a few hours.” Olivia spoke, as she shut the door to her bedroom before moving towards the open bathroom door. 

“I’m almost done in here.” Nick replied, as he turned to look at Olivia. He smiled when he saw her eyes examining his face once again, this time without the thick beard and mustache.

“I kinda liked the mountain man look.” Olivia admitted, as she leaned against the door frame.

“Now you tell me? Liv, if you liked it, you should have told me before I shaved it all off!” Nick exclaimed. Olivia quickly stepped in and placed her hand over his mouth and smiled.

“Shh, Nicolas. Don’t speak so loudly… with a beard or not, I’m just glad to see your face again. To see that smile and those beautiful eyes.”

“Don’t you see this smile and these eyes on a daily basis?” Nick asked softly, once he pushed Olivia’s hand from his mouth.

“It’s not the same. However, it did help to know that I had three babies here that always reminded me of you.”

“Let’s make it four.” Nick growled into Olivia’s neck before he started to kiss her.

“Excuse me?” Olivia breathed, as she shoved Nick away.

“Liv-”

“Buddy, we have two three-month old babies. We aren’t adding to that right now… can’t we just focus on us? Before it becomes us and four kids?” Olivia asked, her face growing hot and her body shaking.

“Olivia, I didn’t mean to scare you…”

“You didn’t scare me, but the request is kinda overwhelming… I think we should go to bed. Before Silas and Auggie get up.” Olivia whispered, before she turned on her heel and left the bathroom.

///

It was a little awkward between Olivia and Nick for a few days before Olivia forgot what he said and they went back to being incredibly in love and happy.

Everyone did so much better now that Nick was home. Zara was always smiling and giggling, and the boys joined in whenever she did.

“They are getting so big.” Nick breathed, as he stood beside Olivia and watched as their sons finished their nap. At this point, both Olivia and Nick were back to work so they didn’t get nearly as much time at home with their kids.

“Five months.” Olivia whispered, as she reached out and caressed August’s messy hair.

“It doesn’t seem like it, though. I feel like they are younger than they actually are.”

“It’s because you missed time with them. You missed their first smiles and the photoshoot we did with them and Z.”

“I hate that I missed so much.” Nick grumbled. He moved away from where the babies slept and to the bed. He sank down onto the edge of it and raked his fingers through his short black hair.

“You never talk about that.” Olivia breathed, as she moved to Nick. She sat beside him and went to rub his back, but he shifted away.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Nick finally spoke.

“When I talk about how upset I am about missing everything, I feel weak. I’m supposed to be some strong guy who doesn’t show or feel emotions. I-”

“You aren’t supposed to be anything that you don’t want to be. I have no idea who told you that you gotta be strong all the time, because that isn’t true.” Olivia whispered, as she heard the babies start to stir.

“So it’s fine that I’m upset that I missed out on so much having to do with the kids? That I didn’t get to kiss and hug you every day?”

“Be upset all you want, my love. It won’t change how I feel about you. And our kids are still going to think you are like a superhero. One that wears a badge instead of a cape.”

///

“Can we see the parade this year?” Zara asked the next evening as she and her mother walked through the grocery store to pick up last minute items for Thanksgiving. As usual, Cesaria was planning on going all out, especially since this was the first big holiday that she was celebrating with her two newest grandchildren.

“I don’t think we will go and see it live because of the boys, but we can watch it on TV.” Olivia replied, as she stopped the cart and started to gather a few sweet potatoes.

“Mama, why can’t we go and see the balloons live?”

“Because the boys are too little to be sitting in the cold for hours. Unless you wanna go with just Daddy, I don’t think it will happen. I’m sorry, pumpkin.” Olivia frowned, as she turned to her daughter. Zara sighed and nodded, before moving to stand at the end of the cart.

“Do we get pie at least?”

“I’m making pumpkin pie.”

“I guess that makes up for not going to the parade.” Zara said with a large smile.

They continued around the store before moving to check out. As Zara was begging for some candy, Olivia was too focused on the woman scanning their items.

“Paper or plastic?” She sighed, her eyes never moving from the line of food.

“P-paper.” Olivia breathed.

“Mama, please? Just-”

“Zara?” 

Zara turned quickly and looked at the woman scanning their items. She swallowed hard and fought off tears when she saw her biological mother there.