Chapter One Hundred Twelve: That Night (Parent Edition)
The mansion was finally quiet.
Everyone had drifted to their rooms—Akshi and Chethan still giggling about the plane, Shreya and Mithun walking close, Aries and Ella whispering about the baby.
Keiran was asleep, Rex and Ganesha on guard duty.
Keigan was in his room, earbuds in, lost in his own world.
Jay and Keifer finally had silence.
---
Jay collapsed onto the bed. "I'm exhausted."
Keifer lay beside her. "Me too."
"Best kind of exhausted."
"The best."
They lay there for a moment, just breathing.
Then Jay turned to him. "So. About that hickey situation."
He grinned. "What about it?"
"Percy saw it. Yuri filmed it. C.N. calculated it."
"Statistically significant."
"It's going in the family album."
"The most important album."
---
She reached for him.
He reached for her.
Their lips met.
Soft. Warm. Familiar.
Then—
Thump.
They froze.
---
"What was that?" Jay whispered.
"I don't know."
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"It's coming from the hallway."
They crept to the door. Opened it.
Keiran stood there.
Eyes wide. Rex in one hand. Ganesha in the other.
"I had a nightmare."
Jay's heart melted. "Oh, baby."
"There were monsters. Big ones. With teeth."
Keifer knelt. "Rex and Ganesha didn't protect you?"
"Rex tried. But the monsters were TOO MANY."
---
Jay scooped him up. "Come on, baby. You can sleep with us."
"REX TOO?"
"Rex too."
"GANESHA TOO?"
"Ganesha too."
Keiran climbed into the middle of the bed.
Rex on one side. Ganesha on the other.
Jay and Keifer exchanged looks over his head.
So much for romance.
---
They settled in.
Keiran between them.
Safe. Warm. Loved.
"Mamma?"
"Yes, baby?"
"Pappa?"
"Yeah, buddy?"
"I love you."
"We love you too."
"Rex loves you."
"Rex is very kind."
"Ganesha too."
"Ganesha is also kind."
---
Keiran fell asleep within minutes.
Snoring softly.
Rex and Ganesha on guard.
Jay looked at Keifer across their son.
"Tonight didn't go as planned."
He smiled. "It never does."
"I love you."
"I love you too."
"Even when our romance is interrupted by a three-year-old?"
"Especially then."
---
They held hands over Keiran's sleeping form.
The night was quiet.
The chaos would return tomorrow.
But tonight—
Tonight was perfect.
---
End of Chapter One Hundred Twelve