Dirty Air

Fourteen Years Later

“Looks like Stella might beat Marko this year.” Maya clutches onto her homemade sign. Glitter scatters as the wind blows in our faces, the cold weather making me wish the kart race was on another weekend. 

I don’t do well in the cold. Especially when I don’t have Liam to cuddle up to, seeing as he’s busy with Noah discussing strategies near the racetrack. They watch the other competitors, writing down their weaknesses while watching our kids race. 

“She’s spent too many hours practicing with her father. There were times I went to bed and they were still out in the kart park.” We’re one of those groups of friends, with houses next door to each other and a customized kart park for our kids. 

Money can buy a lot of things, but endless memories in a shared backyard? Priceless. 

“I heard. Noah goes down there sometimes to see her progress. Do you ever get scared Stella or Leo might want to keep going, like more than a hobby?” Maya grabs her loose dark hair and throws it in a ponytail. 

“You mean, as a career? Is it weird we think about our kids’ careers? Stella and Leo are only 13.” 

I think back to earlier this week, with Stella focusing on racing while Leo watched a movie with me. When I asked if he wanted to practice in the backyard, he told me he’d rather be watching Star Wars with me. I raised a winner. 

“Probably, but it’s their reality. The sports world has been waiting to see what they end up doing. Some scouts are checking out Marko and asking if he’s interested in driving for F3.”

“But he’s only 14!” 

Maya shoots me a small smile. “What can I say? He’s got his dad’s skills. But I don’t know if I’m prepared for him to be gone with all that traveling.”

“I can’t imagine Stella and Leo going off into the world. They’re my babies.”

“They’re growing up so fast. How do we stop it?”

I brush my index finger against my chin. “I don’t know. What if we lock them up in their rooms until the end of time?”

“Might work, but I think Marko would enjoy it. He hangs out in his room a lot lately. Just last week, I caught him watching Stella practice with Liam and Noah through his bedroom window.”

I laugh at the image of Marko pressed up against the glass, watching my daughter race. “What did you tell him when you found him?”

“If he wants to impress Stella, he’s better off going down to the park and giving her some pointers.”

“Oh my God. You did not. You’re such an embarrassing mom.” I let out a loud laugh, causing other parents to stare at me. 

“You know it’s true. Just last month, when I was doing the laundry, I found a handwritten letter crumpled up in his jean’s pocket. I knew it was for Stella because he drew a bunch of stars on it.”

“Stop! And what did it say?” My heart races. I always thought Marko had a crush, but hand-drawn letters? I’d call him a young romantic if it weren’t for how distant he’s been with Stella lately. Enough so that my daughter notices. 

“I can’t tell you.” Maya twirls a piece of her hair. Typical. 

I cling onto her arm. “You’re not allowed to say your son wrote a letter to my daughter and then cut off right there! You’re such a tease! How does Noah put up with you? Better yet, how did you get pregnant again?” 

“My lips are sealed.” Maya zips her lips before patting her swollen belly. Somehow, Maya and Noah had a miracle baby this late in the game. They tried for years after Marko was born, to no avail. Once they were about to call it quits, boom, positive pregnancy test. 

Care to imagine how protective Noah is about her late pregnancy? 

I’ll give you a hint: if there were a scale, Noah would’ve broken it about five months ago. 

I clutch onto the sleeve of her vintage Bandini sweater. “You’re the worst kart mom ever. At least give me a little gossip to get me going through the day.” 

“Oh, look!” Maya lifts out of her chair shockingly fast for a pregnant woman. 

Stella’s white kart rushes down the road with Marko’s black kart right at her rear bumper. I’d pay attention to the last lap, but my brain can’t catch up to Maya’s admission. “Now that you’ve got me thinking up conspiracies, isn’t it weird they have opposite kart colors?” 

“Hmm, kind of like stars in the dark, right? Interesting how he chose that color when he had the whole rainbow to pick from.” 

My mouth drops open. “Shut up. How did I not see this before? I’m flabbergasted to say the least.” 

“You weren’t looking close enough.” Maya smiles at me. 

“Oh my God! She’s actually going to beat him. Get out!” I cup my hands over my mouth. “That’s my baby girl, you show these boys how it’s done!” 

Maya and I scream as Stella rushes past the finish line. Marko passes the checkered line a few seconds later, with Leo securing third place. We run down to the road barriers, rushing into Liam and Noah with their clipboards. Well, I rush while Maya waddles, but semantics. 

“Our baby did it!” I jump onto Liam’s back, my legs wrapping around his waist. 

“Yes she did. All by herself.” Liam spins me around in a circle as I cling onto his neck.

My voice hits all new levels of high. “And Leo got third. We’re sweeping podiums left and right. Go Zanders!” 

“Who knew having twins would mean double the wins?” Liam laughs as he puts me back on my feet. 

“I still hate you for those stretch marks. They’re hideous.” 

Liam leans into my side, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear as his voice drops. “I think they’re sexy as fuck. One look at them gets my cock hard, reminding me how you looked pregnant with our kids. Plus, we both know how much you love when I kiss them.” Liam’s eyes sparkle with mischief and love. He pulls me in for a kiss, teasing my lips open for him as he shows me exactly why I love him, excessive stretch marks and all. 

Some kisses are knee-buckling while others are panty-melting. Lucky me, I get all of them rolled into one, day after day, from the best husband in the whole world. 

“Ew! Can you both save this for after my podium party? You’re ruining my appetite!” Stella whines. My daughter, with her sweaty blonde braids and a neon pink race suit, stares at us with a huge frown. She places her hands on her hips. 

I push Liam off me with little effort.

He lets out a loud laugh as he reaches for Stella. “Come give Daddy a hug. I’m so proud of you.” 

“You both are so embarrassing!” Stella runs in the opposite direction without looking, barreling straight into Marko. He steadies her before stepping a foot away as if Stella’s contagious. 

Stella looks back at us with flushed cheeks that weren’t pink a few seconds ago. 

Interesting. Damn, Maya. I really have been living under a rock. 

Marko runs a hand through his wavy onyx hair as he glances at Stella again, eerily reminding me of his father with calculating eyes. 

Leo, Stella’s protector (because two minutes makes all the difference for twins), slings his arm around our daughter’s shoulder. “What’s up, kleine schwester. Nice job out there.” He rubs his sweaty blonde head against hers, messing up her braids even more. 

“Gross! Mom, tell him to stop.” Stella tries to shove him off her. 

“But I’m only showing my affection. Do you love me?” Leo looks at Liam and me, asking for backup.

“Of course I love you, you big doofus. You’re too needy, just like Dad.”

“Hey! Take that back.” Liam lunges for our two kids, tugging them both into him. They wrap their arms around his waist. He whispers something into their ears, and I can’t tear my eyes away. 

I sigh, loving my husband more and more each day. He gave me two kids named after the stars, because love is endless, like the dark sky we kiss under every night before bed. 

“Marko, why can’t you give me hugs like that? Liam’s making me jealous.” Noah smiles at his son as he inches toward him, rather creepily if I do say so myself. 

My eyes gravitate toward Marko, finding him staring at my family, his face neutral except for the smallest twitch of his upper lip. I’m onto you, buddy. 

Secret letters? Check.

Staring for a second too long at my daughter before looking away? Hard to miss. 

Avoiding her like the plague, just like your dad did with your mom for months? You got it. 

Looks like we have a childhood crush on our hands. 

This can only go two ways, and based on the way my daughter remains oblivious, it might not turn out to be in Marko Slade’s favor.

A German rendition of a Christmas song plays from the speakers hidden within the walls of Liam and Sophie’s house. Each of our families sit at our individual round table with our gingerbread house supplies strewn across the surface. It looks like someone set off a bomb in Santa’s village.

The only two successful houses out of the bunch are Marko’s and Stella’s. It’s the same thing every year, with both of them competing in all the Christmas games the Zanders plan. I’m half convinced Liam and Sophie keep coming up with outrageous ideas just to see what the two kids come up with. It borders on ridiculous, but we let Marko and Stella get away with it because it entertains everyone too much.

All the families are dressed in ridiculous matching Christmas pajamas that Sophie picked out. This has been a tradition ever since we all got married and decided we would rather spend the holidays together than apart.

Jax, Elena, and Lennox, their son, sit together, trying to keep the walls of their house up. Sol, their younger daughter, steals a candy cane off the roof while no one is looking. While both of their kids are adopted, no one could tell based on all their matching dark locks and range of golden skin tones.

Maya takes a photo of Noah balancing my little niece on his lap. It took them plenty of years of healing and enjoying life before they wanted to try again, but with the help of a doctor and in vitro fertilization, my sister got her wish of another child. She’s already inching toward three years old and getting bigger by the day. Marko, now old enough to have a little stubble on his chin and a shirt to fill out with muscles, sits next to them in his matching PJs. With all his F2 traveling, I feel like I’ve missed out on the last year of his life. He’s a lot grumpier than I remember. I thought it would make him happy to finally achieve what he has worked so hard for over the years, but his scowl the entire weekend has told a different story.

Marko’s eyes remain glued on Stella, who argues with Leo, her twin brother. Their PJs are covered in candy and icing of all different colors. Based on the gumdrops stuck in Stella’s blonde hair and the crumbles of gingerbread in her brother’s, they got into a food war.

Nothing changes.

“Teddy, do you mind taking a photo of us? Since you’re not part of the family and all.” Liam beams at Stella’s first boyfriend ever, Theodore.

“Dad! His name is Theodore .” Stella shakes her head.

Oh, Stella, what did you expect? We’re a bunch of protective assholes.

Theodore rocks a normal pair of clothes because he wasn’t offered a pair of the Zanders’ matching PJs. He attempts to hide his scowl at his new nickname, but I don’t miss it. To be honest, Theodore hasn’t been having the best night after Liam dubbed him Teddy in front of everyone.

“Like the damn chipmunk. How cute.” Marko huffs at the table next to mine.

Now that I look at Theodore, he does kind of look like one with his full cheeks, brown hair, and almond-colored eyes.

“Good eye.” I wink at him.

Stella’s electric blue eyes slide from her boyfriend to Marko’s. “Or Theodore Roosevelt.”

“Who also goes by Teddy.” Marko’s grin widens as Stella focuses all her attention on my nephew.

Teddy stands there with his mouth gaping, a bystander to Stella and Marko’s battle. I half expected the newbie to run out the door after Liam grilled him earlier with Noah and Jax’s help, but he stuck it out.

“Don’t worry about it, babe. Nicknames are always welcome.” Teddy throws his arm around Stella’s shoulder.

Marko’s jaw twitches. Maybe it’s time for me to have a talk with my nephew about his little crush on Stella. It’s been years, and he has yet to make a move. It’s not right for him to get annoyed when he has barely spoken a word to her except when handing over a Christmas gift from the Slades. But now that I think about it, maybe it was from him based on the half-assed wrapping paper job. My sister would never wrap something like that.

Interesting. Very interesting.

“No one calls my daughter ‘babe’ in front of me. Try again when you’re both not teenagers.” Liam matches Marko’s death stares as he plucks Teddy’s arm off his daughter’s shoulders. He shoves his phone into Teddy’s waiting hands and tugs Stella into his body.

“Dad, we are sixteen.” Stella rolls her eyes.

Liam rubs Stella’s head. “Did I say teenager? I meant try again when you’re a senior citizen. At least I’ll be gone from this planet by then.”

Jax cackles in a corner with Elena while Noah smiles. Even after all these years, we are still a bunch of clowns who pick on the next generation instead of each other.

Chloe steals my attention as she leans over my shoulder and whispers in my ear, “I finally finished wrapping the last present. Operation North Pole is a go.” She places her cup of eggnog on the table before sliding onto my lap.

I wrap my arms around her. “Why didn’t you accept my offer to help?”

“Because you can’t wrap a present to save your life.”

Ah, like nephew, like uncle.

She wiggles her hands in front of my face. “There’s enough presents in the attic to rival a toy store, and my fingers are shredded to bits. I feel like I deserved a disclaimer about this. I didn’t expect you to want to create your own army of children.”

“Well, you do love having sex.” I wink.

“I can’t be held accountable for my hormones. I should’ve married someone less attractive. My vagina would have thanked me in the long run.”

“I’m slightly insulted, yet also amused.”

“Mommy, my tummy hurts.” A small voice whines next to us.

“Speaking of our army.” I chuckle.

We both look over at Olivia, the youngest out of our three children. She looks up at us with big brown eyes framed by dark lashes. She somehow managed to get green icing all over her PJs. The real crime scene is her mouth, which is tinted green like the Grinch.

“Oh, God. That’s going to be a pain to clean before the pictures.” Chloe groans.

“Maybe we can sit her next to the tree and pretend she’s a decoration?”

Chloe snorts. She passes Olivia a cup of water to drink.

“Daddy! I think we saw Santa Claus!” Serena, our middle child, throws herself onto my lap, replacing Chloe’s spot.

I give her a squeeze. “Oh, did you? Were you nice enough to offer him cookies?”

“No! We got nervous,” Camilo, our eldest, yells out.

“Ho, ho, ho.” James Mitchell calls out from behind us. I turn, assessing his premium Santa Claus suit. Every damn year he puts the suit on with a smile. I’m surprised the younger ones don’t guess who he is. Even though Marko, Stella, Leo, and Lennox are older and seem unfazed by the arrival, the little ones go wild.

The living room becomes a mosh pit of screaming kids waving their icing-coated hands in the air.

“Look who it is!” Liam claps his hands together after throwing on his elf hat. Damn, he really enjoys hosting the holiday festivities. He rolls out a list in a dramatic fashion. “So, who has been naughty this year?”

“Not me!” My little niece smiles.

“Nope!” Olivia and Serena speak up.

“I only stole an extra cookie one time,” Camilo chimes in.

Liam’s eyes meet mine. He fails to hide his massive smile.

I shrug. Well, at least my kid is honest. I better soak up one of his last Christmases actually thinking Santa still exists.

“Who’s ready for presents?” Sophie calls out, wrapping her arm around Liam’s waist.

“Me!” Our Alatorre army jumps up and down, screaming in unison.

Chloe presses a soft kiss against the crook of my neck. “Now’s our chance to run for it while the kids are distracted. I honestly doubt they’ll miss us. What do you think?”

“Why would I run? I have everything I could possibly ever want.”

“Including kids who eat every pack of icing instead of making a gingerbread house?”

“Especially that. It’s practically tradition by now.” I grab her cup and take a sip. Despite my disgust, I swallow the contents. “Why the hell would you drink eggnog without alcohol? That’s sacrilegious here.”

She lifts her shoulders in faux innocence and looks up at me from under her thick lashes. “Alcohol isn’t going to be on the menu for a while.”

My heart stops. No fucking way. “What?”

“When you say you have everything you could possibly want, do you have a little more room for one more Alatorre?” Her smile widens as she finishes speaking.

I ditch the eggnog. The cup clatters against the table, spilling all over the Christmas themed tablecloth. “You’re joking.”

She shakes her head and giggles. “I asked the doctor the same thing. Turns out your little swimmers are quite the overachievers.”

Holy shit. I smack a bunch of kisses on her face, not leaving an inch of skin untouched. “Oh my God. We’re having another kid.”

“Suit up, Iron Man. It’s going to be a wild one. I thought three was a lot, but four? That’s minivan material.”

We both look over at our three kids. My arms tighten around Chloe as I place a kiss on her neck. “Thank you for the best presents ever, including this one.” I place my palm against her flat stomach.

“And thank you for showing me how life is a gift in the first place,” she whispers back.

I kiss the love of my life with every ounce of affection I feel. Somehow, the worst accident of my life led to the best surprise. A life full of love, happiness, and laughter.

A life I plan on making the most of, up until my very last breath.