Imperfectly Beautiful (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #3)

Barbecues and Blessings

-NATE-

"Babe, have you seen my—"

"On the hook by the kitchen phone."

I turned behind me to see my keys hanging on the rack above the answering machine and I tapped my own forehead, "Thanks, baby, what would I do without you?" I called up the stairs and heard Michelle laugh as I stuffed them in my pocket.

"I have no idea."

"Can we go now?" Nicky asked as he tried to strap on his own sandals while sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor. "I want to go play, Daddy."

I peeked inside the coolers I'd packed one more time to double-check that I wasn't forgetting anything, "You'll get to play, don't worry, buddy. I just have to make sure we've got everything and then we have to wait for Mommy, okay?"

"Okay," he sighed dramatically and I chuckled to myself.

It seemed everyday his personality got a little bigger and he got a little bigger and I wanted desperately to suck it all in and cherish these moments forever. I loved every minute of being Nicky's dad and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

"You need help with your sandals, kiddo?" I asked as I closed back down the coolers.

"No, I got it, I can do it all by myself."

"All by yourself?"

"Yep!" he nodded.

"Okay," I did one more glance around the kitchen—only to realize that I'd forgotten the most important thing of all, my dad's birthday gift sitting on the kitchen table. I grabbed it to add to the stack of things that needed to be taken outside just as Michelle made her way down the stairs with her purse and Nicky's backpack.

She'd just recently started to get a baby bump, but I couldn't help marveling at the fact that she was my wife and carrying my baby—a tiny, handsome James Nathaniel Knight after her beloved grandfather, my name, and my dad's middle name or a precious, little Rosalia Marilyn Knight after her middle name Rosemary, my mom's name Lia, and her mom's name, Marilyn. Either way, I was already in love and my excitement was palpable.

The very first time that Michelle had sat down next to me and stuttered out her name and where she'd transferred from in Mrs. George's English class, I'd already known she was the one. She was the prettiest girl that I'd ever laid eyes on and my imagination had run wild with daydreams of all that we could be, but still, none of those dreams had come anywhere close to the love I felt right now and I considered myself to be more than lucky. I'd been tremendously blessed.

I took my time to allow my eyes to trail from her ked shoes to her pair of dark blue skimmer cargo pants and up to the peach top that brought out her rosy freckles and finally to the glasses that she'd recently started back wearing because the spring pollen made her eyes water. She complained about them, but I'd always liked the way she looked in glasses.

"Nate?"

I blinked and realized that I'd zoned out from staring at her, "What's that babe?"

"I was asking if you got the frozen fruit out the freezer," she said as she adjusted a hat on Nicky's head.

"Oh, yeah, I got them. They're in the cooler."

"Thanks, babe," she smiled. "I've got a craving for them."

Randomly frozen fruits from grapes to pineapples to watermelon seemed like a strange thing to crave to me, but that's what my wife always wanted so I made sure to keep the house stocked.

"I figured you were going to say that," I chuckled. "Anything else you want to bring? I packed your lemon blueberry trifle already."

Michelle grinned and kissed me gently as she stood up, "Then you've got us all covered, Mr.. I think we're set to go."