Coming Home

Chapter 22

The first thing I did the morning after the hospital trip was check on Asher. I wanted to make sure he wasn’t sick like his brother. Once I was satisfied that his temperature was perfectly normal, I made my way to Cayden’s room to check on Cain. Cain wasn’t in his room with his brother and I remembered Cayden saying something about keeping him in his room so he’d be away from Asher. A smile spread across my face as soon as my eyes landed on Cayden’s bed. Cayden was lying on his back with Cain lying on his stomach on top of him. Cain’s arms were wrapped loosely around Cayden’s neck while Cayden’s arms were hugging Cain to him. I slipped my phone out of my pocket and took a picture, loving the precious moment.

“Wha-?” Cayden asked groggily, the flash from my phone waking him up.

“Oops, sorry Cay. I forgot to turn the flash off,” I said sheepishly as I slipped my phone in my pocket.

“S’okay. What time is it?” he asked as he carefully unwrapped his arms from around our son to rub his eyes.

“Ten. I just woke up,” I answered.

“Is Asher still asleep?” he asked as he carefully moved Cain to the bed beside him.

“Yeah, I figured he’d be awake by now but I guess I was wrong,” I responded.

“Well Kasper said that he did wake up last night. Kasp said he had a little bit of a freak out when he woke up in an unfamiliar place without us around,” Cayden answered, making my heart clench. I hated the thought of my baby being scared.

“Momma? Daddy?” a little voice said from down the hall, slightly muffled by the door.

In an instant, I was out of Cayden’s room and down the hall, scooping up my baby. Asher had just woken up, that much was obvious. His hair was ruffled and his eyes were still droopy. The smile that spread across his face as soon as he saw me, however, told me he was wide awake and happy to see me.

“Good morning baby,” I chirped, placing a kiss on his cheek as I hugged him to me.

“Where’s Cain?” he asked, looking around for his brother.

“Cain’s sick, baby. He’s in Daddy’s room until he gets better so he doesn’t get you sick,” I explained, walking back into Asher’s room to get him clothes for that day.

“I wanna see him!” Asher exclaimed.

“I know you do, but you can’t yet. He’s sleeping right now and we don’t want you to get sick, too,” I said.

“But-“ he started to protest, but Cayden cut him off.

“No buts, buddy. Your brother is sick and we have to let him get better. We don’t want him getting you sick because then he could get sick again,” Cayden explained, knowing perfectly well that Asher probably didn’t understand him.

“Daddy!” Asher yelled, completely ignoring anything that Cayden said, holding his arms out to him.

A second later, I felt Cayden’s body pressed against my side as he reached over to grab our son. I knew I was supposed to be staying away from Cayden, but feeling him pressed against me, even for just that small moment, was enough to cause a flood of memories rush back into my mind and make me want to lean into him.

“Umm, come on Asher, we have to give you your bath,” I said, slightly flustered as I picked out clothes from his dresser.

“I’ll do it. You go eat breakfast or something,” Cayden offered as he took the clothes out of my hand.

“Okay,” I said as I turned around, hearing Cayden chuckle slightly.

I could hear the water running in the bathroom as I walked to the kitchen to get something to drink. I had just filled my glass with orange juice when there was a knock on the door. I started walking towards the front door, setting my glass down on the side table in the hallway. I opened the door to see Tyson, my date from last night, standing in front of me with a sheepish expression on his face.