Tied in Knots: A Tied Together Novella Read Online Free Page B

wine.”
    “No.” Ryan shook his head. “This is Daddy’s nighttime juice.”
    “Oh my God,” I said, rolling my eyes.
    “Brandon, how can we have another when you obviously don’t understand the child terminology that happens in this house?” Ryan knew how important having more than one child was to me, even though I couldn’t be with both of them as much as I truly wanted to be. I also understood the sacrifice I asked of Ryan since he was the primary stay-at-home parent.
    “Maybe I’m being too selfish about all this. I just want to give Ethan what I didn’t have, and one of those things is a sibling. A brother or sister to confide in, tell secrets to, wake up together on Christmas morning—”
    “Beat each other senseless and make fun of each other at every turn.”
    I laughed because as much as Ryan loved his sister, they were always at each other’s throats growing up. That could very well be the case here, as well, but I wanted to take that chance, and I wanted Ryan to agree to continue our family journey together.
    He looked at me for several long seconds. I got up from my chair and slowly walked to where he was sitting. He put his tablet down on the table and patted his knee. I smiled and lowered myself to sit on his knees as he let out an oof sound.
    “Putting on a few pounds there, big guy,” he said, pretending I was squishing him.
    “All muscle, baby.” I flexed my arm to show off. Then I bent down and snuggled my way into the crook of Ryan’s neck. I took a deep breath in, savoring the smell that was uniquely his. It wasn’t a specific scent, but I just called it perfection. He wrapped his arms around my waist and turned his head to kiss my check.
    He hummed words onto my skin. “I love you. You know that, right?”
    I pulled back and looked him in the eye. “And I love you and that little dude.” I twisted around to point to Ethan. “With every fiber of my being.”
    Ryan nodded slowly. “Then let’s do this.”
    I turned back to look at my husband and crashed my lips onto his. In that moment it felt like we kissed forever until we heard, “Daddy, I pooped in box!” We both looked over at Ethan, who had dropped trou right there in the sandbox and pooped.
    Ryan snickered. “Well, the good news is he’s grasping the concept of not shitting in his Pull-Ups. The bad news is that he said he saw his friend Cassey’s cat pooping in the litter box and he wanted to try it out. I guess I should have seen that one coming.”
    I went to the sandbox and picked Ethan up, keeping him at arm’s length. I playfully shook my head while scrunching my nose. Ethan giggled.
    “I got this. Relax here and we’ll be back. How about we call for some Chinese takeout tonight?”
    “Great, but I’ll skip the Pu Pu platter.” He laughed, and I rolled my eyes at his sad attempt at a joke.
    I knelt by the bathtub and scrubbed out the sand Ethan had managed to embed in this hair. I seriously considered trashing that entire sand pit and telling Ethan an evil Power Ranger had come in the middle of the night and stolen it away. I was counting on the fact that he was still young enough that I could get away with it.
    “Ethan?”
    “Papa?”
    “Do you want a baby sister or baby brother?” I had been so excited about expanding our family that I hadn’t worried about how Ethan would feel with a new baby. He might be young, but it was still important to me for him to have a voice. I never had a voice growing up. I was always told to “shut my trap” and “I don’t care want you think.” Even though Ryan and I were the parents, my child’s voice would always be heard.
    “I want a puppy.” He popped the bubbles in the water as they floated by.
    “Maybe one day we’ll have a dog.” I thought how I could rephrase it better. “I mean someone like you—that you can love and play with. A new baby.”
    He considered it for a minute. “Where’s the baby going to sleep?”
    “The baby would have their