Caught in the Middle

Chapter 24

Isobel chuckles when Lara splashes water on Mrs. Devous before throwing Molly with a handful of pretzels when they don't stop teasing her. I furrow my brow when Molly keeps quiet about her and Beckett trying to have another baby, especially when the teasing turns to her. I won't pretend that I understand the relationship between the mother and daughter, but from what I've witnessed since we arrived, they seem really close. Which makes me confused as to why she's not confiding in her mother.

I would have loved nothing more than to go to my own mama for advice when I was trying to get pregnant. What I wouldn't give to have had the love and support from the woman I've thrived to be my whole life. Molly flinches as her mom makes a fuss over her struggle in trying to get all her biological children to give her more grandbabies, which makes me think I have more in common with her than I first believed. At least Maya and I stopped trying and I didn't have to deal with all that added stress on top of our new beginning.

I try to change the subject in case I'm right about the Becketts' struggle to fall pregnant, by putting the spotlight back on Lara and Langley, which Mrs. Devous eats up. The surgeon tries to wiggle herself out of the confrontation by stating that she's not even family, which leads to an even bigger argument. Molly gives me a grateful nod before Lara leans over my legs to gain Isobel's attention. "Be careful, Isobel. Mama D's cocktails led to my first pregnancy, so you might want to be watch what you drunkenly wish for around the witch." 

I squeal when the older woman jumps off her chair so quickly that I can't even comprehend what's happening until my head is under water. Lara, Isobel and I all gasp for air and splutter the water out of our mouths when we stand up in the pool. When I wipe the wet strands of hair from my face, it's to see Molly high fiving her mom, bent over from laughing as hard as they are. "Don't mess with the matriarch of the family, noted." I snort on my own laugh at Isobel's dry remark, nodding my agreement when she meets my eyes.

"What are you laughing at, amica? Maya and Jack have been adopted into this family now, which means you're on Mama D's radar for grandbabies too." My mouth falls open when the older woman snaps her fingers at Lara, loving the idea she just planted in her head. I growl at Lara before lunging at her, pushing her head back under the water until she taps my hand to be let back up. She only gets to take one deep breath before Isobel tackles her too, which starts a childish battle between the three of us.

"Should we be worried?" Langley and I shoot our gazes up to see everyone who had been playing football earlier, standing on the edge of the pool with grins on their faces. "Are you going to help me?" Lara desperately looks at her husband while Isobel still has a strong grip on her ankle above her head. I lift my eyebrow to see what he's going to do before helping my coworker dunk her again, which happens a lot sooner when her husband barks out a soft laugh and shakes his head. He steals a chip from his mom, blowing his wife a kiss when we finally leave her be.

I swim over to where my own gloriously sweaty wife is standing with a towel for me. "Do you care to explain yourself, my love?" She waggles her brows in my direction when I curl my wet hands around her bare ankles, drooling over the tanned legs that stretches up to the most angelic scene above. The scorching sun being blocked by her smiling face, the rays casting a halo around her which makes me eternally grateful for her love. I say a little prayer to all the deities for their intervention to bring this angel back in my life.

Maya flexes her calves, which immediately brings my attention back to what we were talking about before I started swooning over her beauty. "Mrs. Devous started it, but Lara undoubtedly deserved swallowing some water." I shrug at Maya as Isobel talks while she swims up behind me to mirror our position with Jack. Lara splashes us with water as she makes her way over too. "Sei solo scontroso perché non fai sesso. (You're just grumpy because you're not getting any sex.)" Maya nods her head at me, giving me permission to pull the other Italian in her life's head under water again.