Touching the Heart of Ace novel Chapter 71

Little Lia was standing on a rock over a volcano, on her big toe; her white and red wings supporting her without making her fall to the molten lava beneath.

"Careful, sweetie." I called out from the sky as I picked ripe strawberries for dinner. I told my mate several times; strawberries this up high, would take more time to ripe. Look at those coconuts. They were thriving as bushes in our garden.

Where was Robbie anyways? Our other kids might have eaten him for lunch.

Oh well!

"DAVEY, LOOOOOK!!!"

She did a weird somersault on air and I growled. "Careful!"

"Daddy tot me!" She growled back, showing her growing sharp teeth. They would need a trim in few days.

I hoped my kids ate Daddy for lunch. How could he teach our kids such things? It was as dangerous as it could get already without him giving them any new ways!

"Davey..." I heard a whimper next to me and saw Lia's feathers ruffled up, and smoke coming out of her shoulders.

"What did I tell you? Daddy and Hellions never listen to me."

My hands morphed to water and soothed her hurt, slowly whimpers turned to giggles and she flew up the sky to her siblings.

I shook my head.

I heard thunders rolling around and streaks of red lightening angrily flew past me. I called out a deep shrill for my kids, as their father was coming home.

"Angel!"

A deep huff and growl reverberated behind me, before an angry claw hurt my stomach deliciously.

"Demon! Oh! You still alive? I thought kids had you for lunch."

His eyes flashed in anger and annoyance. "You asked them to bite me!"

"You asked them to burn my wings!"

"Hell Fire can't hurt you, but their bites can."

"Not my problem." I shrilled again when my children refused to come home.

"I missed you." His voice lost it bite and our mate marks glowed together.

"Did you, now? Before or after hunting souls?"

"All the times. Kiss me." His long tongue intertwined with mine before I could say anything.

I was still angry at him for teaching our kids to spit fire this early in their lives. My favourite night gown was in ashes before I could even blink.

Wait an eon!

I forcefully broke our kiss, pushing him away.

"You did not ask them to burn my wings. You asked them to burn my night gown!"

His eyes turned black in horror and he jumped away from me. "Haha! I will draw a bath for our Hellions. They might have ashes on them. You are right, they are too young to handle magi..."

"DEMON!!!" I roared and my bright white wings spread in anger.

"That thing was hideous, Love. I will be in our chambers. You look beautiful, have I told you that, mate?" He jumped just in time to our balcony and my feather embedded to the ground he was standing. I heard a dramatic gasp from above. "That would have killed me!"

I narrowed my eyes.

He chuckled sheepishly with his horns bent backwards in submission. "My Mate." He bowed and went inside.

My favourite gown could not resurrect unlike his horny dick!

I shrilled once more. "Where are the Hellions I gave birth to! Come home now, or you can lick ashes for dinner."

I saw Lia being thrown as a ball from one of her brothers to other. I couldn't see that far up high. Why couldn't they stay close to the ground?

"Hellions!"

My body shook as one after one tiny weights landed on my body from all the sides.

"Stop calling us Hellions, Birthgiver. We are your babies."

I snorted as I petted their horns, tails and wings, to check for injuries and magic; also counting if all of them had reached home safely. "You are what I call you. Who do you think gave you names?"

"Wh... what? We came with names. Wait! Where did we come from?"

They started pushing and pulling, tucking themselves under me for comfort and heat.

"Angel..."

I tried to calm them down. Poor babies. I was joking. They were not Hellions. The Demon King was currently drawing their bath. That was enough to know who they were.

"Angel! Wake up, please."

"um... staw... bries... for dinner... Robbie... bath kids... Coconut grow... ground."

"Angel... Ace!"

I tried my best to expand my wings, so they would not get cramped under my stomach. They always hid under me even when they were hatchlings.

"Is... okay... I was joking... Not hellions... babies"

"Angel!"

"Robbie, get your kids, they are whining."

"Ace."

I gently opened my eyes and saw him hovering over me. My hands stretched to his head wanting to feel his horns that only submitted to me... horns?

What horns?

God, that was a weird dream. Dream?

"Angel..."

"Robbie?" I felt his hand under my night shirt, shaking. "What is wrong? What time is it?"

1.24 a.m on the digital clock of Lia's nightstand.

It was a beautiful dream, but to save my life I could not pull it up from the void they disappeared to.

"You were not next to me and I... panicked."

"Aww! It is okay Big Baby. Come here." His hand was rubbing my torso and I saw a light sheen of sweat on his forehead.

Lia had a long nap in the evening and she rolled around her bed at night without letting me go. So, we had decided it would be best if I slept with her. But looked like my Big Baby had trouble sleeping himself.

"I... I could not find you..." He was not over that yet. Where would I go; without him, without Lia?

"Shh..."

He started lowering himself to my chest.

"Dada?" Lia woke up too and asked in adorable sleepy voice.

Robbie froze and sat up straight. "Hey, baby, what are you doing up?"

"Dada."

"I am sorry Princess; I was... uh... Daddy couldn't sleep." His hand slowly dragged out of my body and I knew he needed to hold me.

Lia climbed over me and sat on Robbie's bent thighs. "Daddy okay?"

I caught Robbie's hand at my stomach and kept it there. Whatever he saw in his dream affected him a lot.

"I am fine, baby, go back to sleep."

"Nuuu... Dada sad." She hugged his stomach and laid her tiny head on his chest, patting his back.

I beamed seeing them cute and cuddly.

Robbie leaned down and kissed her head.

"Lub you Dada." She yawned big but she was fighting her sleep, to comfort her father.

"You two sleep. I... uh... I am going to get some sleep too."

He was not. He was still shaken from his dream. So, I sat up, still holding his hand on my stomach and asked if they wanted to have a sleep over.

I picked Little Baby up, held my Big Baby's hand and we went to our living room, taking out our inflatable bed. Robbie fixed it on the floor and I bundled us under the blanket.

We decided to watch an animation movie and to sleep here once it was over.

Lia giggled happily switching our laps to sit ever so often; so none of us felt left out. My Little Baby was considerate like that. She gave Daddy extra kisses and extra pats so he would cheer up.

I sat closer and closer to him until my left butt was situated on his thigh and felt his hand crawling under my nightshirt.

He wanted to touch me; no doubt to calm his erratic mind that I was indeed with him. I occasionally squeezed his thigh and rubbed it.

Lia was out like light half an hour later, so I gently laid her on the couch and covered her in a blanket. I adjusted the side beams so she would not accidently roll off to the floor.

I then lied next to my man who was busy staring at me.

"What happened, Daddy?"

"Just... stupid dreams."

Well that stupid dream scared him because his heart had not calmed down yet. I could feel it smashing to his rib cage. I pulled and pulled on his elbow until he turned to my side and I threw my leg over his hip to cuddle.

"What was the dream about?" I pouted on his face; making him smile and peck my lips.

"I walked around in this house and could not find you. Then when I woke up you were really not there."

I kissed his forehead, cheeks and lips to take away the residual feeling of abandonment. "Is okay. I am here."

"Hmm..."

There was more to his dream because his heart was still thrumming and Robbie kept on taking my palm and put it on his chest for me to rub.

The past days were a nightmare for him.

I had to tell him about Janice's lie about their 'first child'. I had to; my man had the right to know. He was carrying around a huge weight of guilt. It was a figurative punch to his heart. Then of course there was no will from Aunt Marie stating Robbie should let go of Lia.

He did not want to believe it, and told me that he had seen it with his own eyes. I had to take him to her advocate and we went through everything again. The only mention of Lia was when she had left her gold chain which was gifted by her own grandmother to Lia.

The lawyer had not ever seen or heard of such a will from Aunt Marie; if anything, she was happy that Lia had me and Robbie as parents.

Robbie still refused to believe. I knew my man. Deep down he knew it was all a scam but he was not ready to let everything go, yet.

But it was okay. His mental and emotional health was my priority than my being right. I only wanted to clear my Aunt's name. She would never do such a thing. Whatever Janice wanted to do with the 'baby', Aunt Marie would have supported.

Abortion or being a single parent or putting her to adoption whatever it was, Aunt Marie would have left the final decision to Janice. She would never blackmail anyone, much less Robbie to a marriage he did not want. After all, Aunt Marie had suffered a great deal when she got pregnant with Janice and her husband took off.

"I love you, Robbie." His hand was still rubbing up and down my back under my shirt. But then I saw his smile.

I had set my mind to teach Robbie what love is. It was not an easy task; he had very bad experiences with 'love' and a few consoling words would not take away years of those pain.

We took Lia for vaccinations because we needed her, but why did we take blood tests along with her?

Love. Her happiness meant the world to us.

I cooked for Robbie all the times without fail because he needed to eat but why did I focus on his favourite foods?

Love. His happiness meant the world to me.

Robbie could come home without getting me anything but why did he always come with flowers or bouquets or gifts?

Love. My happiness was his priority too.

It was a gradual process but it was getting to him. Nowadays he would smile when I say those words instead of freezing up.

Robbie was a very mysterious man. He was okay with casually adding the word 'love' and called me his love all the times. But when it really mattered and to say that in that sentence he would clam up.

But it was okay. I had all this life and several more to come; so I could always teach him all about need, love and whatnot.

I left small bites and nibbles across his torso giving him some pain to focus on. I was going nowhere and he needed to know that. "Whatever you saw in your dream, it is not real." I tucked his head under my chin, my hand still trapped between us and slowly his heartbeats became normal and he fell asleep.

I kept on kissing him for some more time; finally slipping myself to the dreamland.

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, a tiny ball wiggled its way between us and I groaned. I was comfy under Robbie but now I was getting pushed and pulled.

Ow!

I curved my stomach so it would stop kicking me. I finally had enough and moved a bit aside and the wiggling stopped before something warm and soft settled on my stomach, then a heavy hand trapped me where I was and I fell back asleep again.

When a flash of bright light fell on my eyes I woke up to see Little Baby sleeping with her head on my stomach and her legs on Robbie.

I chuckled.

How could she sleep like that?

I rubbed my eyes and slowly sat up, to see Robbie sleeping peacefully with his hand on his chest. The other was my pillow throughout my sleep. Was that hand numb?

I gently rubbed it, before moving to his chest.

I loved his chest hair.

How many times had I wished if I could touch it like he was mine? But now he was.

I leaned down kissing his chest, up to his neck and cheeks, lips and then on his forehead.

"Good morning, Daddy." He mumbled and turned his face away, making me smile. He loved his morning sleep. I brushed the hair of his forehead and kissed him again.

Then I lifted Little Lia onto my lap and showered her with kisses too, just enough to pull her out of deep sleep and she would be up in an hour.

"Hey, Little Baby. Davey is up. Are you awake now?"

She wiggled, and huffed in annoyance, trying to cuddle up my chest.

"It is time for Davey to wake up."

She whined, pressing her face closer. I sat like that for some time, so she could fall back to sleep. It was early. I rubbed her head while rocking her lightly. "Little Lia will wake up when Davey comes back after a shower, won't she?"

I asked and my baby tightened her hug. "I love you, Baby."

I placed her on Robbie's stomach and I smiled when his hand secured her tight.

How could he think he was not an amazing father? He was.

Robbie was lost in many ways and he needed to learn how to put emotions to words. Especially with Lia growing up, she would soon start noticing his words or lack thereof. But he would anything for her and I would help him.

I kissed Robbie and Lia one more time before getting up.

They would sleep for another hour and a half or so, giving me some 'me time'.

I stretched on my toes as I walked to the stairs but stopped right there when I saw the person sitting on the chair looking through his phone.

"JACE!!!"

He stood up annoyingly. "Took you long enough."

I missed the pain in my nose too much to be sassy. I ran to him hugging him tight. "Today is a good day." I announced to his neck.

"Saw it."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. You are bad for my health. Do you know that, Goose? You stress me out."

"What did I do? It was not my fault."

"I don't want to hear it. You stress me out, so it is your fault, you annoying little shoot."

Whatever. God! I missed him so much. Video calls were not the same as hugging him. "Where is Gabe?"

Did Jason jerk a little?

"Photoshoot. I could not wait any longer. He will come here after."

I nodded. "You must be hungry. I will quickly whip up something."

"Nah. I am tired. I want to sleep."

"Go ahead, then. I will wake you up for food." I picked up his suitcases by the door and followed him. I watched as he called Gabe to tell him that he saw me and I indeed had ten toes and ten fingers.

Jason got our mom's dramatic genes.

"I am not dramatic." He glared after hanging up his phone.

"I did not say anything."

"That is your 'Slave-is-dramatic face'."

I rolled my eyes, pushed him to the shower handing him the towel, before fixing his bed. I plugged his phone to the charger seeing it in the last ten percent.

I went to the greenhouse, touching, loving and caring my plant babies. Did my yoga and dance stretches before taking a long warm bath. My family could be really demanding, I remembered fondly. I could not take a break from their constant need for affection.

Wait until they are up, and they would be literally on my body. I hoped Lia never grow out of it. I loved her monkey hugs so much.

When I came back down, my babies were not on the floor. Robbie might have taken Lia with him to freshen her up. The bed was deflated but that was it. Robbie was so messy.

Big Baby.

Lia knew I would be angry if she did not pick up her toys but Robbie still refused to grow up.

I folded the blankets and put it in the ottoman, before taking the bed and placed it with the trekking equipment.

Robbie's friend, Matthew had been bugging us to go to trekking with him and his girlfriend. Had to check on Daddy's schedule before planning.

He had been so stressed lately, my poor baby; I had seen him smoke three days before. We had cut short on all of our bad habits when Lia came to our lives. Robbie must have gotten a new packet because there was none in our home.

Was getting this divorce worth his stress? Who was I kidding? I could not let that woman torture my family ever again. I had turned blind eyes to my own family for long.

Enough was enough.

I was making gravy for biscuits when cold water was flicked to my neck.

"Hey there, Pretty." The water was from my hot man's wet hair.

"Hey, Daddy." I knocked our heads together. "Did you not exercise?"

"Didn't feel like it. I will do it in the evening." He mumbled, peppering kisses on the back of my neck.

"Shh... stop hurting me." His hands had squeezed my waist hard.

"I love hurting you." He purred. His wet hair should be illegal. I quickly stirred the contents of the pan to take my mind away from dirty thoughts.

"I can't believe you are getting horny the first thing in the morning." I pushed him away with my butt but he simply yanked it to rub his crotch.

"Mmm..." He smiled cutely and I bit back a smile.

"Jason is here."

"Uggh!" He swatted my bum before moving away in annoyance, making me giggle.

"What is with 'uggh'?" I mimicked his whine and he glared at me.

"Why the f... heck is here?" He plopped his yummy muscular ass on the stool and pout... brooded.

"No one asked you to sell your house to him, Robbie."

"Uggh!"

"When are you going to admit that you love him?" I handed him his coffee, business paper and IPad before pecking his lips.

Robbie really loved my brother like that annoying little pet you could not bring up your mind to put down, because they were too cute though they were terror to humanity.

"Have you knocked your pretty head on the cupboard? I could not wait to drive my Ferrari he stole, right on his knees. Huff! Now he is going to rub 'it is my house' on my face... babyyyy..." He whined.

I shook my head. "Where is our kid?"

"Something about waking her own kid up. I don't know. Hell, I did not know she had a kid."

Father of the year.

I gave him a stink eye.

"Joke, Angel. It is a joke. She is too young to have a kid."

"Are you for real, now?"

Really? Lia did not have a kid? Oh my god! For a second I thought it was true. Jesus, Robbie!

The day barely started and the breakfast was still on stove but I was already done with him.

Robbie cleared his throat. "I will go get her."

"Thank you!"

I shook my head.

I gave Lia all the attention she missed before handing her over to 'Dada' to hold while I cooked. She played with her daddy's chin while he went through news.

I made Jason's favourite breakfast dishes and noticed Big Baby getting annoyed minute by minute noticing it.

"Why don't you wake your nemesis up, Robbie?"

"Sure, Baby!" I felt bad for Jason, seeing his sinister smile. Less than a minute I heard a colourful non-English- I thought it was Spanish- curse flew downstairs and Robbie came back alone with a smug smile.

"What did you do?"

"What? Nothing, Angel. What could I possibly do?" He gave me an innocent smile. I must say that smile did not belong to that face.

Jason came down after ten minutes or so, his body as rigid as ice. "Oh, my house came with a pest. A fly swatter must be enough."

That successfully wiped down Robbie's smile.

"I am thinking about changing the wall colour to poop brown. To remind me of the previous owner."

Wow!

Robbie was bristling.

"Jace we are going to have breakfast. Do you have to?"

"JJ!" Lia scrambled off Robbie's lap and ran to him. "JJ JJ JJ JJ JJ JJ... JJ home. JJ home. Whes Unca Gay?"

We all laughed, including Robbie. It was funny how she called him Unca Gay. Gabe being the Sassy King went with it without a beat but it was still funny.

"Uncle Gabe is getting new curtains for my new home. He will be here next week with pest control."

"Nu home? Pes canto?"

"Yup!"

"Jason..." I warned. They could take their petty fights out of the dining table.

Jason did rub 'my house' on Robbie all through the breakfast but Robbie still looked smug enough. So whatever he did to Jason must be goo... I meant bad.

But as the time came for him to leave for office, Big Baby was stalling. I had to button up his shirt, had to put on his suit, had to tie his shoes and even had to comb his hair... it was like getting Lia ready for her playschool and she actively participated more than him.

Thankfully it was Lia's off day.

Should bow down to single parents with more than one kid.

"Daddy." He really did not want to go but he had to. The merging was on full roll and he needed to be there.

"Going." He pou... brooded.

He turned around to me at the door and I kissed his lips on tippy toes. "Go."

"Do I have to?"