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Hitched Bonus Chapter - 2

"Yeah, everything is great," Charles lied down the phone as he crept around the living room trying to hunt out where his three children were hiding, "We are playing hide and seek, Presley, babe, don't worry, I have everything under control,"

Now that was the biggest lie he'd ever told his wife. Charles Leclerc did not have anything under control, and every minute that ticked by was a minute closer to his wife returning. How had Presley made being a mother of four looks so easy? Perhaps it was that she loved chaos.

"Charles, you know I can tell when you're panicking?" His wife replied. It was like Charles could see her raising a brow. "Just take a breath, and then when you're ready, Milo always hides in the cupboard in our bathroom, Lewis will somehow crawl under the trophy cabinet, and Jules will be in the laundry basket," Presley chuckled.

"How is it that you still have everything under control even when you're not here?" Charles grinned as he walked into the laundry room and saw the pile of towels had a heartbeat, "I FOUND YOU!" Charles announced, pulling a peach towel and revealing his fair-haired daughter curled in the basket.

Jules pouted, and as she ran off, she shouted, "No fair, daddy, I wanted to win,"

"Did you hear that? She's so competitive...." Charles remarked. He heard his wife laughing at the end. Presley didn't need to say it; Charles knew that Jules got her competitive edge from him.

Each of their children had one similar trait. They were all competitive, but apart from that, Milo, Lewis, Jules and Benjamin were all very different.

Milo, the oldest of the twins by seven minutes, was loud and defiant but incredibly loyal. He would be right in the thick of it if there was trouble. Milo was the leader, but Lewis was the brains.

Lewis was sweet, a thinker, and very empathetic. He inherited his mother's wit but Charles' good nature. If Milo was getting them into trouble, Lewis was sweet talking his way out of it.

If Presley and Charles thought Milo and Lewis were demanding, nothing would have prepared them for the hurricane of chaos that was Jules. With an answer for everything and Charles wrapped around her little finger, there was nothing that Jules couldn't get.

As for Benjamin, so far, so good. He was the only one of the Leclerc children who slept through the night, but anything could change.

"So when are the boys getting there?" Presley asked. In the background, Charles could hear Beau and Scarlet calling his wife away. "Indie mentioned that Lewis would hang out with you, so I assumed...."

Charles laughed. "They should have been here twenty minutes ago, but who is counting...." He was counting. That was who, and before they arrived, he still needed to find Lewis and Milo. At least now he knew where to look.

Presley said goodbye to her husband, who desperately didn't want her to hang up the phone, he wanted her to be back here, but he also knew that Presley needed this day. It had been a long time since she had had an afternoon with the girls.

Just as Charles was about to go and find the twins, Jules entered the kitchen with the two boys trailing her. "If I can't win, they can't either," She confidently remarked.

Charles twitched his lips. He wasn't sure if this was an attitude he wanted to instil in his daughter. It seemed like she spent too much time with her godfather, Max. Nevertheless, he ran over to hug his children.

"When is Uncle Milo coming over?" Jules asked as she hung on to Charles's leg. Then the doorbell rang, "I think that might be him now,"

Charles didn't even get his words out before the three children stormed to the front door and, thankfully, stood in the doorway was Daddy Day Care.