Imperfectly Beautiful (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #3)

Gazebos and Grandkids

-LIA-

My heart swelled with love and pride as I waved and waved at the back of the limo that carried away the "Just Married December Loves" until I couldn't see the red tail lights reflecting off the snow any longer.

Conflicting emotions of joy for the future and nostalgia for the past flickered through my mind as I momentarily flashed back through all the big "firsts" in my son's life, starting with the very first time I'd held him in my arms. He'd been teeny-tiny, born just a little too early, but perfect in every way and he'd held my heart in the palm of his hands ever since. No matter how grown up he might now be—married with a son of his own, in my eyes he was still my sweet baby boy.

"Grammy?" A tiny, almost timid voice asked hesitantly and I turned around to see Nicky looking up at me curiously with Grace standing just off behind him.

I blinked away tears and smiled as I placed my hands on my knees and bent down to meet his eye level, "Yes, sweetheart?"

"Can I play with your puppy, pwease?" he lisped as he held tightly to his candy cane and gave me a shy, dimpled smile. He looked so much like his father at that age that it was almost unbelievable.

"We wanna go home and play with Scout, Grammy," Gracie explained as she took a lick from her own candy cane.

"Okay, we can do that," I nodded and smiled. "Nicky, you want to come home to my house with Grace?"

He nodded as he looked over at his cousin and then back at me.

"Alright, I'll talk to your other grandma and then we'll leave in just a bit, okay?"

"Okay," he agreed and I gave both of my precious grandchildren a hug before I took their little hands and led them back up further into the parking lot where our friends and family were gradually starting to leave.

As I approached, Jordan turned in my direction from talking with a mixture of our siblings and friends and he gave me a smile that was enough to warm me in spite of the cold of winter nights in Boston.

"Do you kiddos want hot chocolate?" Logan asked as he waved to us and Grace grasped onto Nicky before leading him over to their uncle who held his hands out towards them.

I watched them go for a moment before I stole away over to Jordan.

"Hey, beautiful," he greeted and extended his arm in my direction.

"Hey," I breathed and leaned into him as he kissed the top of my head and I offered a smile to all the grinning, comforting faces recounting old stories.

"We were just asking Jordan how it feels to have a married son. I swear, the twins were five yesterday and I was telling you they were irresistible kids," Donnie grinned and I giggled. "You remember that, Dart?"

"I remember. But I think the exact thing you told me was to stay away from Jordan because we made irresistible kids," I teased and he nodded.

"That's right, I did say that, didn't I?"

"Wait what? When was this?" Jordan asked.

"It was when you were living in L.A. forever ago and I was getting sick of doing the New Kids dance every time the twins came out there to visit," Donnie chuckled and lifted his cup of coffee up to his lips.

"Ah, so you were trying to run my girl off?" Jordan joked. "Why didn't I know about this?"

"Actually, in my defense, I told you to win her back. In fact, I'm pretty sure if we ever wanted to open up a counseling business, we'd just use you two as the success story and start rolling in the dough," Donnie nudged Jon and he laughed. "You guys kept us on our toes."