Glitter, Paint, & Inspirational Art

Chapter 22

Sam

I stretch my body lazily and roll over before pulling the beautiful woman in my arms. I peek my eye open and the flashing red light blink 8:00 am, I shut my eyes for another second before placing soft kisses on Miranda's shoulder. She wiggles and turns so her lips are facing mine. I smile widely and lean forward to kiss her lips softly. Her dark hair is tossed wildly everywhere but she still looks beautiful. She kisses me back in a sleepy manner. "Hmm." She whispers. "How are you feeling, Ms. Graduate?"

My body tingles with excitement. It's been two weeks since Nathalie got married and yesterday was another important day. We all graduated. It wasn't as exciting as Nathalie ceremony party but it was mind-blowing to be able to throw your creative caps to the ceiling and scream and shout.

"I'm happy." I kiss her again my hands boldly disappearing between the sheets. With all the planning, parties, and family events of late. Miranda and I didn't really have time for each other because either someone needed her attention or someone was asking for mine. Miranda gasp and finally I get her beautiful mocha brown eyes open. She chews on her bottom lip and I lean forward to place kisses on her neck. She moans and my hands trail down her stomach and beneath her silk panties. She moves her hips forward but the door is pushed open and I move so quickly that I almost fall off the bed.

Piper rushes forward as quick as her legs can take her and climbs into the bed. "Mom." She calls. Miranda blink her eyes rapidly and finally, she lifts up. She runs her fingers through her wild hair and clears her throat before finally speaking again. "Piper. What did we say about knocking?"

Piper turns red for a second. "I'm sorry mom. I forgot." She pauses. "But, it's a special day remember. Could I please get a pass?"

Miranda scowls for a few more seconds before her face breaks out into a beautiful smile. She pulls Piper up into her arms and snuggles her closer. "Of course." She gives Piper kisses all over her face and Piper wiggles in her arms. I lean away and watch them as Piper tries to dodge all her mom kisses. "Happy Birthday Piper."

"Mom." Piper screams. "Too many kisses."

Miranda pulls back and looks offended. I laugh when she turns and looks at me with a shocking gasp. "She hates my kiss attacks already. She's not even a teenager yet."

Piper wiggles from underneath Miranda and then bounces on top of her before attacking Miranda face with kisses. I laugh at the two. Finally, Piper exhaust herself out and collapse on the end of the bed. There is silence for three seconds before Piper is lifting up again. I'm envious of her energy. She's rebooted in three seconds. Three seconds! Miranda is moving out the bed and heading to the bathroom. I lay in bed and listen to their conversation.

"I only want one present for my birthday, today." Piper says.

I can hear Miranda brushing her teeth in the distance. I can picture Piper jumping up and down in excitement. "Do you want to hear what it is?" She questions.

"Of course, sweetheart." Miranda replies even though we both know what Piper wants. She's been begging for it for months.

"I want a puppy." Piper screams.

The both of them come out the bathroom and Miranda moves around the room with Piper attach to her hip. Wherever Miranda moves, Piper is not far from behind her. "We talked about this sweetheart. No pets until you're older."

"But, I am older." Piper replies dramatically. "You never said how much older."

I snort as Miranda look down at Piper amused. "You're right." Miranda replies. "But, no pets until you're older and until we're in a bigger place. Taking care of a puppy is not easy, baby. We're not home enough to be good parents. We need to be able to give the puppy as much attention as it deserves."

Piper looks sad for a moment before she nods her head in agreement. "Okay." She then gets distracted by the sounds coming from the TV in the living room. Her eyes widen. "My cereal." And runs out the room.

"No running." Miranda screams after her.

I laugh and she walks over to me and pulls me into a deep and passionate kiss. I pull back in a gaze my body tingling again. "Let's shower." Miranda demand before disappearing into the bathroom again. I hurry and get out of bed before almost tripping on my feet.

[][]

I walk into the living room with Miranda behind me to see Piper in front of the TV watching cartoons and eating another bowl of cereal including Nathalie and Rose sitting on the couch. "Took you two long enough." Rose says.

Miranda either doesn't hear her or ignores her as she cleans the spilled milk and fruit loops off the counter. "Shut-up." I smile while taking a seat on the couch next to Nathalie. There is no way I'm going to let Rose ruin my mood. "It could have been the couch." I joke.

Nathalie shifts uncomfortable on the couch but Rose smirks and replies, "Those days are over." She eyes Piper. "I bet it's really difficult to fuc.."

Rose immediately shut up when Nathalie smacks her upper thigh. "Piper could hear you."

Rose looks confused. "She's watching TV." She points.

"Yes." Nathalie agrees. "But, her ears are everywhere else."

Rose roll her eyes and fold her arm.

Miranda comes from the kitchen and I smirk to myself because she's glowing. "Piper." She calls. "Go get ready. You're going with Rose and Nathalie to your favorite restaurant."

Piper's eyes widen and she forgets about her cereal and cartoons. She sprints down the hall to her room and Miranda just shake her head. "We should sign her up for the track team or soccer." I shrug while watching the weird colorful show that had all of Piper attention.

"We." Rose snorts.

I immediately turn red and correct myself, "I mean, Miranda should." I clear my throat. "Sports will give her a chance to run off all that energy before she comes home."

Miranda moves across the room and lean over and kisses me on the lips. "That's a good idea, love." She then disappears into the room to help Piper get ready.

It doesn't take long before Piper is running out the room and down the hall. Nathalie, Rose, and Piper head to the front door and Miranda kisses Piper on the forehead and then tells Nathalie, "Don't let her eat more than two ice-cream cones. She will get sick."

Piper looks up sadly, "But, it's unlimited ice-cream for a reason."

Miranda ignores her but gives her another kiss before they are disappearing out the door. We head to Joy house and when we pull up the twins are sprinting out the house. The idea to throw Piper a surprise sleepover was Delilah idea.

"Miranda." The twins scream while running towards the SUV.

I'm not even jealous of how their eyes only glow for Miranda love and attention. I'm literally the same, I understand the devotion. Lily opens the door and slide in before saying, "Hey Sam." Before I can say anything back she's climbing forward and showing Miranda a box. "Look, Mira." She shows off the color pencil collection. "This is for Piper, from me."

Delilah is sliding in second and she doesn't waste time to speak to me. I chuckle, amused as she copies her sister and pulls out her gift. "Mine is better because it comes with glitter, paint, and a coloring pad thingy."

"What did we say about the word thingy?" Miranda chimes in.

Delilah rolls her eyes and looks at the box again, "Ugh. It's called a sketchbook with inspirational art pieces." She struggles with inspirational but she's understood. She moves her wild hair from her face. "The point is that it comes with glitter and paint. Isn't it cool?"

"Yes, Delilah." Lily smiles. "Piper is going to be so happy with our presents."

Miranda nod her head and she speaks with Joy shortly before we are heading to the store to pick up snacks, food, and games for the sleepover.

The twins get tired quickly from walking around the grocery store but they enjoy the toys aisle. They tell us what Piper would like and what she wouldn't like. It's amusing because Miranda knows Piper as well as they do, if not more.

"Where are we going now?" Delilah questions in the back seat. "This is not the way to your house."

"We have to pick up the other girls." Miranda replies.

"Other girls?" Delilah questions. "What other girls?"

"Piper friends." I choose to pipe in. "From school."

"What?" Delilah looks shocked. "Piper never speaks about other friends..."

Lily smiles widely, "It'll be fun to play Marco Polo with more people."

Delilah grunts and folds her arms, "It's supposed to be a private sleepover. We don't need other people to have fun."

"Delilah." Miranda calls. "You will behave and you will be nice to the other kids."

"Whatever." Delilah replies.

"I'm serious." Miranda reminds her. "It will suck to be in timeout for the entire party."

"I said whatever." Delilah says again. "I'll be good."

We only have to pick up three small girls including a little boy. His parents don't seem to mind that he's going to a sleepover, that's mostly girls. It shouldn't matter and I'm glad they don't mind. They all squeal and squeeze into the SUV. If I wasn't excited for Piper I would be massaging my forehead to get rid of a pounding headache. The girls, including Jayden, make conversation over who has the better present.

Frankie, she is tall for her age but she's very sweet and intelligent. She has pale skin with adorable freckles all over her face. She has bought Piper a Barbie doll collection. I can see Delilah gagging in her mouth to her sister. Lily is trying her best to cover her giggle. I give the two of them a stern look through the rearview mirror.

June, her parents basically pushed her out the door almost forgetting her sleeping bag. Apparently, she doesn't get out much. Her parents were excited that she is finally branching out and finding new friends. She only seems to relax when she visits her grandmother in Japan. She sits quietly mostly but when it's her turn to speak she only opens an elegant box and it's expensive drawing pencils. "Her drawings should be more efficient with these. Coloring pencils and crayons are holding her back. So, much potential." She shakes her head and shut the box when the other's eyes get too close. "Only for her."

Delilah frown and roll her eyes. Lily only smiles and nod her head agreeing.

Jayden, the only boy in the car pass his present forward that seems to be thrown in a bag. His parents have recently divorced so we picked him up from his father house. It looked as if the present was thrown together at the last minute. It's a deck of cards. It's Uno. "Everyone loves Uno. We could play tonight." He forces a smile and sigh.

Lily rapidly nod her head, "I love Uno!"

Jayden smiles and relaxes into the seat.

Zoey, who has beautiful mocha brown skin and coffee brown eyes shows off her present next. Her kinky hair is pulled back into a slick ponytail that shows off her small ears that are studded with fake dangling earrings. "It's a Graphics Drawing Board. I wanted to get her the Surface Board Pro 4 which is ten times better because of the storage and the HD graphics that will give her art more of a pop. But, mom and dad said that it was too expensive so maybe next time." She shrugs.

All the kids ooh and ahh and even Delilah eyes go big at the touch screen tablet. Zoey turns it on and shows off the apps where you can color or draw. "I wish the battery was longer. Hopefully, she likes it." Zoey finishes off with a big smile.

We finally make it back to the condo. The girls and Jayden rush inside while Miranda and I carry all the bags in. They storm to the living room floor, Delilah turns on the console, and pull up Fortnite. Miranda watches the Tv. Trap between turning it off or leaving it on. She's accepted Fortnite because Joy lets the twins play at home but she's not so sure about the violence and how the other parents would feel.

"I don't know a kid that's not playing Fortnite." I reassure her, kissing her softly on the lips, and just as I stated all of them knew the controls in some way. Zoey, Lily, and June seem to be the best.

"See." I point. "Relax, babe." I sneak and squeeze her butt that's being protected by tight skinny jeans and damn its fits in the right place. She has on a simple button-up that dips teasingly. She chews on her bottom lip in a sexy manner. "Wear jeans more often." I whisper against her lips.

Delilah comes into the kitchen and gives us a nasty look. "Ew. You're worse than mom and Diane." She gives a fake gag sound while pointing her finger toward her mouth.

"Stop it." Miranda chastise her.

Delilah begins to help Miranda with putting out the colorful abstract plastic cups and snacks. "Why are you not playing with the other kids?" Miranda ask as Delilah help pour apple juice into some of the cups.

"I want everything to be perfect for when Piper comes." Delilah replies. "It's her first birthday. She told me and Lily that she's never really had a birthday party before. This is a special day because it's like her first ever birthday celebration." She explains.

Miranda nods her head because she has taken notice of this also. She wanted something big but also she didn't want to overwhelm Piper. So, when Lily and Delilah brought up the surprise sleepover, it seems perfect. "That's really nice of you but Sam and I got everything under control. Go have fun with the other kids."

Delilah moves her wild hair out her face, "Okay."

Soon, Nathalie is calling and we are telling everyone to hide. They really suck at surprise parties because they can't stop giggling. When the door opens Piper is the first one to walk in and everyone jump up and scream surprise at the top of their lungs. They all run her way and pull her in a hug. Piper smile is so big and bright and I make sure to get as many pictures as possible as everyone crowd around her.

Jayden and all the girls get dressed into their swimwear separately and then they are heading down to the indoor pool. They play a game of shark, who can hold their breath the longest, and Marco Polo. Miranda and I watch them closely. Afterward, they eat pizza, chips, drink juice, and once the food digest they are jumping back into the pool.

Just from observing everything it seems Zoey, June, and Piper are best friends. The three seem to stick to each other like glue the entire time. They're always on teams during games and never against each other. Jayden and Frankie don't mind that there is no attention to them because they enjoy mostly everyone. Lily is Lily, she becomes best friends with everyone immediately. Especially, June who seems to ignore her most times when Lily asks her to teach her how to float on her back. June finally gives in and give Lily a one on one lesson.

"You will never learn if you don't take it seriously." June will say as Lily continues to giggle and smile. Delilah just sits in the corner and finally when it seems she can get Piper to herself. Jayden is swimming over and splashing everyone with water, which starts a splashing war. Delilah squeezes her fist and before she can explode, Miranda is pulling her out the water. "Come help me with presents, Delilah."

Delilah looks up at Miranda with fire in her eyes. It would be funny if she wasn't shooting off anger and jealousy. Her eyes are red and her hair is sticking to her face. She doesn't question Miranda and hurries out the water following behind her. Nathalie and Rose choose to stay and watch the kids and I follow behind Miranda and Delilah.

I find them in the living room talking, "Why did you have to invite all of them?" Delilah scowls wiping the hair out her face. She's shivering but she's so angry that she doesn't want to take the time to dry off. Miranda doesn't say much back. She just listens. "This was my idea. It wasn't in the plan to invite other people, Mira. She's not even talking to me. I thought I was her best friend."

Delilah inhales and then exhales. "You replace me with Piper and now Piper replaces me and form the nerdy-angels." I snort. "What kid knows how to code besides Lily and that's weird." Delilah shouts. "I wanna go home!"

Miranda place the final box onto the table and say, "Piper will be upset if you leave."

"She won't notice, I'm sure." Delilah spats.

Miranda squats and gets eye level with Delilah. "Today is a special day for Piper. She's never had a birthday party before and because of you, she's very happy. Is that not what matters the most?"

Delilah takes a moment to think. "But, she's mine." Delilah stomps her foot annoyed. "I wanna go home. All of this is stupid. This party is stupid."

She definitely gets her possessiveness from the Grayson's.

Miranda sigh and run her fingers through her hair. "Okay. I'll take you home after everyone gives their presents."

"Whatever." Delilah rolls her eyes. "I'm gonna sit up here with you."

Miranda gives a sad smile. "That's fine."

Miranda begins to clean up the mess around the spacious condo. She busies herself with dishes, I don't understand why she wouldn't let the kids just eat the pizza out the box, and tidy up the main room. Delilah busies herself with the game before watching cartoons on the TV. She then follows Miranda to her bedroom and they play around with some makeup. Delilah seems to be enjoying herself more without the other children and she's loving all the attention Miranda is giving her.

I give them space and I warm up the leftover pizza and prepare juice and chips because I knew the kids would be hungry again. Finally, the door burst open and the kids come rushing in with wet hair and damp clothes. They hurry into the kitchen and grab pizza right off the plate. I sigh. There is literally no point in putting pizza on plates. They sit at the kitchen table and chat about whatever.

"Can we open presents now?" Lily asks her eyes big and excited.

The other quickly agree but Piper looks around sadly, "We can't yet. Where is Delilah?" She questions.

Delilah comes down the hall with Miranda trailing behind her. Piper's eyes light up but Jayden steals her attention by showing the birthday bag in his hands. "It's just cards." He shrugs. "But, we could play later."

Piper smiles and gives Jayden a hug. Delilah rolls her eyes and sits next to Miranda while they both watch Piper open all her presents. Lily is next and she explains that it's literally one-hundred different colors in the box. Piper gives her a hug and a big smile. Frankie shows off her Barbie collection and Piper gives a nice smile and hugs again.

June gives a speech on how her gift is crucial for Piper future and that she expects daily practice and hopefully her cartoons will turn into real art. I can't help but snort at this little girl. Piper examines the pencils and pulls June in a hug who seems really uncomfortable. When Piper pulls away June tries to move and find her own space but Lily is yanking on her hand and pulling her down onto the floor beside her. June rolls her eyes, annoyed.

Zoey is next and she hands off the drawing tablet that she set up for her. "All the apps are already programmed. Some free and some you have to pay for but just sign up for the free trial. All you need is a email..."

"And adult permission." Miranda finishes.

Zoey looks up and gives a cheeky smile. "Yeah sure." She pauses when Miranda arches her perfect sculpture eyebrow. "Of course. You have to be 18 years or older to create an email address. Your mom is right."

Nathalie and Rose laugh. Miranda even have a smirk on her face. "Kids are too smart these days." She mutters.

Piper puts the tablet down and looks around.

Lily speaks up, "Delilah it's your turn." She turns to Piper. "It's pretty awesome."

Delilah just sits on the couch and point, "It's the sparkling box in the corner."

Rose lean up and give Delilah a stern look, "Go get it." She whispers lowly. "And give it to her, brat."

"Ugh." Delilah groans and all the kids look confused at her sudden anger. She stomps over to the neatly wrapped box and shoves the present in Piper's hand. Piper chews on her bottom lip, confused and almost hurt. Damn. It's wild how much children can portray emotions the same as any teenager or adult. My heart sinks. Thinking of my future kids, my future child, coming to me with tears in their eyes because someone broke their heart. I look at the twins and Piper. I didn't know anything about what the future holds for all of us in this room but I know Piper and the twins is forever. So, there will be several boys...maybe even girls I'll have to threaten. I squeeze my forehead. Suddenly, I have a headache.

Piper begins to rip open the box and her eyes light up in excitement. The drawing pad cover has a funky colorful style and there is metallic paint in several colors that are washable. "So, we can give each other tattoos and not get fussed at." Delilah rolls her eyes and explain. Piper literally squeals loudly that Miranda even cringes.

"Glitter too!" She smiles brightly before dropping all the materials and pulling Delilah in a tight hug. Longer than the others.

Lily laughs and says, "I told you. It's awesome!" She throws her hand up.

Delilah smiles and she can't even pretend to be upset anymore. Everyone continues to eat and all the children break up in groups. However, Piper and Delilah stay attached to each other hip the rest of the night. Miranda places them on the kitchen floor and sternly tells them to stay put with the paint and glitter.

Finally, Delilah gets alone time with Piper as the girl paint figures all over her arms and legs. So, she could be like Rose. Delilah enjoys all the attention and honestly this is not healthy I think to myself.

Rose walks upon me as I watch them and she snorts, "She was the same with Lily when they started daycare. She's never been good at sharing toys unless it was with Lily and she's definitely not good at sharing attention. Crazy right." Rose smacks on a bag of chips she probably stole from Delilah and sips on the box juice. "These kiddy snacks banging. Nathalie." She screams leaving me to myself. "Let's go buy some fruit roll-ups and juice boxes. Mama bear and Sam got this."

I snort and roll my eyes.

A few hours later, everyone is on the floor and out like a light. The Tv is playing the latest Disney movie. I follow Miranda to her room and we squeeze into the bed. I yawn in my hand and she kisses me lightly on the lip. "You think you're up for this."

"Mhmm." I kiss her back. "I'm up for anything if it means being with you, forever. I love you."

Miranda chuckles and I can tell she's exhausted. It's one thing taking care of one child but seven kids. That's a job. Almost a nightmare. We continue to kiss each other softly until Miranda is falling asleep in my arms. She buries her face in my neck and I run my fingers through her hair and listen to her breathing.

I wake up the next morning to Delilah in Miranda's arms on the opposite side of the bed. Piper is literally on my back and Lily next to my side. I shift slightly and Piper slides between Miranda and I. Thank God Miranda had a spacious bed, not that it mattered because the girls didn't believe in space. Lily grabs the bottom of my shirt into her tiny fingers and wiggles close and Piper tiny hand fall on my face as she sleeps with her mouth open.

I'm super uncomfortable.

But, I'm happy.

This is family.

This is forever.