Speak Now

XIV

I woke up to Sera and Joseph having a jump-off on the bed, their childish giggling making me smile before I'd even opened my eyes. Reaching out, I manage to grab a hold of one of the kiddos and pull them down so I could snuggle them, only knowing which of my siblings it is when I smell their hair. Sera's hair always smelled like strawberries while Joseph's didn't have any scent. He had a penchant for anything and everything bland. 

"Bindi, let me go," Joseph whined through his laughter. I stop tickling his side and let him wriggle free until he's sitting on top of me and messing up my hair. "You're very pretty, Bindi."

I crack one of my eyes open. "I have yesterday's hair and it looks like a bird nested in it," I comment, despite the fact that most of the words go over Joseph's head. I inch up to kiss my brother's cheek. "You're so cute, Joss. Do you want breakfast?"

As it turns out, Joseph's definition of sleepover was simply to sleep. He insisted I ring Charlotte and tell her that he was ready to go home which upset Sera a little because she wanted to stay and play with James today but when James pinky promised her that he'd go over and visit them tonight- maybe catch a movie- my sister grinned and practically bounced into Charlotte's car, waving goodbye as soon as they were picked up. Last night had been fun and it made me realise just how much I missed my siblings, drilling home to me the fact that I was missing out on a lot of their lives. When I was last home, Sera's favourite colour was pink, now it is purple. At Christmas, Joseph's favourite comic character was Thor. He's a Loki fan these days. 

"For mini humans, they're damned cute," James commented as he waved after the car. Grabbing my shoulders, he pulls me into his chest, so that my back can feel every one of his six-pack muscles and wraps his arms around my neck. "So, I was thinking, we haven't hung out much and-"

His words were cut off by the panicked screams of Keira Delaney, shouting my name. "Martha!" James and I spin in time to see her frantically running into the hallway, her hair frayed and a piece of torn paper in her hand. "Oh, thank God. I thought you'd run away or something. I need you. I'm having a Bridezilla kind of day already and I've just been reminded that I need to write my fucking vows and... Martha, you're my soul sister and I really, really, really need you. Actually, I need James, as well. Both of you, get your arses in second gear, we have loads of work to do."

Despite the fact that Keira wanted us right now, James and I managed to persuade her to at least let us shower and eat first. We were given thirty minutes to go about our morning routine, something that would have taken me at least an hour on any other day. Thankfully, when James was away filming the third Spymaster movie, Vengeance, in the middle of nowhere, I quickly got used to Navy showers. Learning to shower in less than two minutes was the only perk of living with military men for three weeks straight, something that was coming in very handy today.

With only a few minutes to spare after I finish blow drying my hair, I pull on a pair of plain black trousers and a basic white t-shirt before grabbing a pair of white sneakers and picking up my crossbody bag and white jacket. Rushing down the stairs, I meet Keira at the door, only to find that James was taking his sweet time in joining us. The longer Keira had to wait for James, the angrier she became, tapping her foot against the tiled floors impatiently. After five minutes, I could see that she was about to lose her cool, so I hushed her and said that I would go and kick James up the arse so he'd hurry up. I got halfway up the stairs when James came bundling down, unapologetic for being late and insisted on leaving immediately.