This man is infuriating. After waking William up this morning, Wilder got him dressed while I took a quick shower, and now we are on our way to his brother's house to have breakfast with his family. His whole family.
Not only did I get barely any sleep last night only to be woken up by his stupid sexy self forcing my body to submit to him, but now I have to meet a group of people that I know I'm not ready to meet.
It's not even seven in the morning yet!
"You said you wouldn't be by to pick us up until eight a.m, Wilder. You got to my place just after five." I grumble. I'm sitting in the passenger seat of his truck with my arms crossed petulantly over my chest, doing my best to ignore the warmth of his hand that he has resting on my thigh.
"You're cranky in the mornings, Goldie." He looks at me with a smirk on his face before averting his eyes to watch the road again. "I figured making you come would have softened you up a bit." Jesus, this man.
"Wilder! You can't say things like that in front of William. Little ears are listening." I scold him. I look in the back seat and see William looking as content as can be while playing with a monster truck toy Wilder surprised him with this morning.
"Fuck- I mean fudge." He lets out a deep breath before clearing his throat and tightening his hand on my thigh momentarily. "You're right. I'm not really used to being around children. It's going to take me some time to get used to it and remember to put a filter on my mouth. I'm sorry." I soften at the uncertainty in his tone. I can't fault him, he basically became a father overnight, whereas I've had years to get used to parenting.
I place my hand over the one he has on my thigh and give him a reassuring squeeze. "Hey, it's okay. Part of being a parent is messing up and learning from your mistakes. The fact that you try and correct yourself means that you care." I shrug nonchalantly with a smile on my face. "It's a learning process."
I see him swallow thickly before looking at me with an unreadable expression in his eyes. "You and him are the best thing to ever happen to me, Goldie." I smile before looking away, not wanting him to see just how much those words affect me.
No one has ever made me feel truly wanted before. Until William, of course. Wilder did the summer we met, but those memories are tainted by what I now know are incorrect assumptions.
"As for me getting to the apartment earlier than I said, I couldn't stand to be away from you guys any longer. I didn't get much sleep last night either because I had to fight with myself to stop from going there in the middle of the night to see you guys again. It was torture being away from the two of you when I just got you back." His words are soft but the impact they make to my heart is deafening.
I look out my window as I secretly swipe away the tear that managed to slip free. Barely twenty four hours of this man being back in my life and he's already made me feel more wanted and cherished than I ever have been before.
A few minutes later we come to a stop in front of a large ranch house. I didn't even realize we were here because I was so lost in my head. There are quite a few vehicles parked outside and my anxiety instantly amps up at the thought of meeting these people.
"Come on, Goldie. Let's go meet your new family." He says excitedly, an emotion I can't even pretend to feel right now as my stomach twists into knots.
He expertly unbuckles William from his seat and carries him in one arm while the other hand grabs mine so he can tow me with him.
I take in the surroundings as we get closer to the front door, the Jaws soundtrack playing in my head the closer we get.
It's a large single story ranch style house surrounded by wide open land until it stops at the tree line where it looks almost like a forest. It's beautiful out here.
"They're going to love you, Goldie." Wilder must read the trepidation on my face because I know he's trying to comfort me.
"Won't they hate me? You have an almost four year old son you never knew about." That's my biggest concern and the one that has me worried I'm about to march into a firing squad.
"Baby, my family isn't like that. You'll understand once you meet them, I promise, but I already explained things to them last night so they understand what happened. I would never spring this on you and make you walk into an uncomfortable situation, I also wouldn't do that to my family." He kisses my lips in a chaste kiss. "Besides, you didn't purposely keep William from me. I fu– messed up by not telling you my last name so you had no way of finding me anyway." I smile at the way he remembered to correct himself and we share a meaningful look before we're interrupted by the front door being pulled open.
A large older man with a cowboy hat sitting on top of light brown hair is standing at the door with a smile on his face as his gaze instantly goes towards William. This man has kindness in his eyes and something about him instantly sets me at ease.
"Baby, this is my oldest brother, Nash. Brother, this is my woman, Alex." He looks at William lovingly. "And this little guy right here is our son, William Wilder. William, this is your uncle, Nash." William's uncle. God, I never even thought about that.
A sob rips itself from my lungs before I can swallow it down. Both sets of eyes shoot to me in concern and it just makes me cry harder. "I–I'm sorry." I breathe in, trying to get my emotions under control. I feel like an idiot but my emotions are just all over the place right now and I can't hold it in.
"What's wrong, sweetheart. I promise I'm not mean." Nash speaks to me softly like you would a scared and wounded animal, which just makes me feel even dumber.
"No, I'm sorry. It's just... well, until this moment I never really thought about William having uncles, or more family, really." It was a pipe dream, one I never envisioned coming true. Now it has and my son has a whole host of family members that will love and cherish him. It's all I ever wanted for my baby.
"Baby. Goldie, look at me." Wilder wraps me in his arms and rubs soothing circles on my back until I calm down enough to stop crying. I look up at him and he has a soft, understanding look on his face. "You and him both have a big family now. A family that will love and care for you. A family that will never abandon you." I guess I wasn't that great at hiding my trauma and abandonment issues like I thought. I nod my head and wipe the tear tracks off of my cheeks.
"Come inside you three and meet everyone else." Nash says. "It's lovely to meet you by the way, Alex. We're very happy you're here, and welcome to the family."
"Thank you. It's nice to meet you too. Sorry about all of...that." I try to laugh it off but it comes out sounding strained even to my ears. He just looks at me with understanding.
"None of that. No reason to be embarrassed, sweetheart. You'll find you have a lot in common with my wife Alice and our sister in-law Mia. You're right where you belong."
His words set me at ease and I don't feel that underlying trepidation anymore as we walk inside.
The smell of breakfast food cooking is the first thing I notice, quickly followed by several sets of eyes looking directly at me. The room is a wide open concept, allowing me to see the large modern kitchen and several doors that lead to what I'm assuming are bedrooms and bathrooms. I subtly look around as I try not to squirm in place from all the attention being on me.
"Goldie, meet everyone." Wilder says as he sets William down on his feet. William, like a typical child, just makes himself right at home as he walks over to remote control and starts inspecting it.
"Guys, this is Alex and William Wilder. My woman and son." I smile in amusement at the way he keeps introducing William with his middle name. I've never been more thankful that I decided to give our son his name than right now after seeing the pride and happiness on his face. "Alex, this is Alice, Nash's wife." He points to a tiny blonde haired woman who reminds me of a pixie. She has the kindest smile I've ever seen and I can't help but to smile back at her. "These are my other brothers; Colt, Levi, and River should be here soon." Both of his brothers are just as muscular as him, though not quite as big as Nash. You can definitely see the family resemblance and it makes me curious for how William will look when he's older. "And this is Mia, Levi's wife." Mia has brown hair and is absolutely stunning. She reminds me a lot of my friend Jessa from college and that comparison helps set me even more at ease.
I wave shyly at everyone, feeling awkward with so many people's attention on me at once. "Nice to beat you–Meet! Nice to meet you!" I feel my cheeks get hot in embarrassment so I look down at my feet. "Nice to meet you all." I finish lamely.
I see Wilder shaking from the corner of my eye and when I look at him I see him trying to hold in his laughter. I narrow my eyes and playfully swat him with the back of my hand on his bicep. "It's not funny." I whisper, even as I smile. A moment later everyone else breaks out into raucous laughter. I see William look at everyone before giggling too, even though he has no idea what we're laughing about.
We're all laughing now, the atmosphere feeling light, and something that feels a lot like home swells up in my chest.