Jacob attempted to try and sit on his sister Hope’s shoulders while Grace started laughing.
“Jacob Bennet! You’re going to fall and break your arm!” Grace called out.
“No I won’t, Momma. Hope promised to break my fall if I fell.”
Grace frowned and shook her head. “Don’t count on it, Buddy,” she replied as Noah wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her cheek.
The sight before me was something I found myself longing to see more and more. It warmed my heart when we were able to have everyone over.
“Grandpa!” Anissa yelled running as fast as her little legs would take her. I bent down and scooped her up in my arms. She was the spitting image of Lauren with her blonde hair and the bluest of blue eyes. “Hey, sweetheart. Everything okay?”
Nodding, she rested her head on me, causing that overwhelming sense of love to hit me hard . . . right in the chest.
“Oh, how we have our granddaddy wrapped around our little finger.”
I nodded. “And that’s okay. She is perfectly fine in my arms.”
Ellie winked and looked back over to everyone. “Dear lord, look at Hunter.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched Colt and Lauren’s son running around in circles with a bag over his head. Yep. That’s my grandson.
Shaking her head, Ellie said, “You wouldn’t know Hunter is three years older than Anissa with the way he acts.”
We both laughed harder when we saw Colt mimic his son. Lauren yelled for them to stop, prompting my son drop the bag, pick his wife up, and start running with her, eliciting cheers from all the kids.
Anissa lifted her head to see what was going on. Not seeming to care, she snuggled back onto my chest, which was perfectly fine by me. “She’s going to fall asleep in your arms again.”
“Then I’ll just have to hold her while she sleeps.”
Ellie’s breathtaking smile had me catching my breath.
“Aunt Ellie!” Emma yelled while running up and hugging Ellie’s legs.
Ellie gasped and said, “Why Emma Rose, look at your beautiful dress.”
Emma twirled around and gave us a huge grin. She was missing her front tooth.
I bent over and looked at her mouth as she snapped it shut. “I dare say, did you drop a tooth somewhere, Emma?”
She tried hard not to laugh, but lost her battle and went into a giggling fit. Her precious little blue-green eyes lit up when she finally looked up at me. “It fell out, Uncle Gunner!”
“I’ll say it did. Now where did you get that pretty dress?”
Emma blushed and looked away. Taylor and the girls teased me all the time over Emma’s little crush on me.
“My mommy made it. For our weddin’.”
Ellie covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smile. “Our wedding, huh?”
“Yep!” Emma said . . . doing another twirl in an attempt to win my heart.
“What if you get it dirty before the wedding?” I asked.
She frowned and lifted her eyes. Turning to look at Ellie, who lifted her shoulders, she glanced back at me. “Mommy will clean it.”
“Emma! Emma!”
A look of horror washed over Emma’s face. “Bye!” she yelled out as she took off running before her little brother Mason could find her. Taylor and Jase had their hands full with Emma and Mason, that was for sure.