Love Will Keep Us - Book 5

Game Night

"Come, babies!!! Let's see who's butt I can kick in Scrabble!" Stef yells down the hall as Frankie and Corey come out of their bedrooms with confused looks their faces. "Come, my loves! Chop! Chop!"

"Scrabble? That's a bore!" Corey complains as he walks down the hallway as does Frankie.

"Come, you have nothing else to do! Franks, come babygirl! Plus I need you on my team." Wrapping her arm around the girl and kissing the side of her face she can feel how stiff her body is. That made the blonde sad but she would do her best to ease the kids' minds. After talking to her dad and Lena she knew she had to show the kids more that she did love them, and that she didn't always have to be a hard ass. But it was true she was feeling rather down about Callie and failed in their last talk.

"I thought we were banned to our rooms!"Corey says as the kids walk into the living room seeing the game setup along with snacks. This was not something they had seen since moving to California. "Wait this is a trap right??? To see if we take the bait???"

"No, love." The blonde laughs as Frankie looks skeptical.

"Mama and I think it would be fun. Yes, you are still grounded but, we really wanted to spend time with you both and chat. It's been a long time and we thought it was important."

"We aren't hiding anything, Mama Dukes. Nothing." Frankie blurts out as Stef turns to her smiling.

"No one said you were, babygirl. But let's relax and have fun. I can't always be Mama Hard-ass." The blonde teases throwing Frankie off as Corey laughs. "Sometimes Aunt Stef is still there, babies"

"I didn't say it! Don't look at me!" Corey blurts out as Frankie nudges him, frowning.

"Corey, hush," Frankie growls as Lena laughs.

"Sit, please, my loves," she pats the pillows she and Stef had placed around the coffee table. "It's not a trap. I even have soda for us."

"Root beer!!!!!???" Corey raves.

"Yes, I got root beer. Now come help me, Corey, so we can start playing."

"Definitely!!" He says bolting to the kitchen behind Lena to get the cold root beers as Frankie stands there awkwardly.

" Um, I'll go help them." She whispers as she fidgets with her fingers nervously.

"Come sit, love. Please ,sweetheart." Stef smiles at the girl as Frankie had not heard her utter these affectionate terms to her in weeks. She had missed it and was so uneasy as the blonde noticed.  "Baby, please. Come sit next to me."

Nodding her head the girl takes a seat beside the blonde helping her set the game up.

"How's Renee?" Stef whispers as Frankie looks at her blushing. "I mean you do like her, right?" She smiles as Frankie blushes again making the blonde smile. "I think she likes you too, love."

"Really? You think?"

"I do. What's not to like?" She winks as Frankie smiles widely at the blonde blushing once again.

"Mama?"

"MM?"

"We hold hands. When no one's looking, I mean. You know, like you and Mama hold hands under the table every night." She whispers behind her hand.

"Yeah?" Stef can't help but smile at the girl as she leans in and kisses her temple. "You, I am sure, make her very happy. Tell me more later, yes? I wanna know all about this girl that has my baby smitten."

"Ok." Frankie smiles and giggles once again as the two hear Corey and Lena rush back.

"Are you sure this isn't a trap?!?! I'm still skeptical!!" Corey blurts out plopping on the pillow across from Frankie.