Crushed (Breaking the Rules Series Book 5) by K Webster Page B

Tyler.
    Seeing her accept him has been such a fucking joy. I know that it’s hard for her. The sadness always lingers in her eyes, but happiness shines there too. He makes her happy
    He makes us both happy.
    “Jackson?” Andi suddenly questions with tears in her eyes.
    Reaching over, I stroke her hair. “Yes, gorgeous?”
    “What if . . . What if . . .” she trails off tearfully.
    I frown, worried she’s somehow relapsing.
    “What if we can’t have any more kids?”
    My lips curve into a half-cocked grin. “Don’t you worry about that, baby. This little guy is going to keep us quite busy.”
    Her lip quivers. “But what if he wants to play with someone? And we can’t give that to him?”
    I lean over him to kiss her forehead. “Then we’ll get him a puppy.”
    She rolls her eyes in exaggeration.
    Grinning, I press my lips to hers before speaking. “Andi, don’t stress. He has plenty of cousins to get into trouble with. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
    This time, she seems semi convinced.
    “Besides,” I say softly, “Tyler came into our lives when all hope was lost. In our darkest hour, when our hearts were crushed, he came to us and glued all the broken pieces back together again. As long as we have each other, we can handle anything.”
    Her eyes glisten with happy tears. She likes my answer. And it’s a good thing, because it’s the damn truth.
    “A puppy. And cousins,” she murmurs as if she’s now convincing herself that it will be okay if we never have another child.
    “Yep. And me. The kid is going to have the coolest friend of all—me. Like, seriously . . . have you seen my Harry Potter collection? It’s epic. Tyler is going to have a heyday when he gets older.”
    She giggles and playfully swats at me.
    We’re going to be just fine.
    As we move on to chatting about simpler topics and thus beginning what will become a lifetime routine of family morning pillow talk, I know something without a shadow of a doubt.
    We’re going to be more than just fine—we’re going to be fucking perfect.

Six years later . . .
    Holy shit. My back aches so damn bad. Whose idea was it to come to this godforsaken, huge-ass theme park in the middle of August?
    My husband—that’s who.
    I want to get angry or whine or cuss, but I don’t. I don’t because everything he does is for us—all of us. Like this entire vacation, for instance. He planned it very carefully, down to the matching shirts we’re all wearing. Of course, this vacation centered around the Harry Potter Theme Park in Orlando, but I had to throw him a bone.
    Besides . . . that’s his and Tyler’s thing.
    My sweet boy has all of the books memorized by heart, just like Daddy.
    “My feet hurt,” Tatum whines.
    I swipe a stray bead of sweat from my brow before putting the brakes on the stroller and looking down at my daughter. Shoes are her thing. Just like Mommy.
    “Want to put your tennis shoes on? Good thing I brought them,” I chide as I dig around in the diaper bag for her shoes.
    When I stand back up with them, I can’t help but smile at her. Tatum, with her shoulder-length, dark hair, is a spitting image of Jackson. She resembled Thomas so much when she was born that it was almost too painful to look at her at first, but at the same time, I couldn’t look away.
    Tatum slips her princess shoes off and chucks them at me. Her one-year-old little sister in the stroller, Tegan, throws her juice cup back at her.
    “Mom! Tegan threw her juice at me,” she whines. Her dark brows are furrowed angrily as she points in accusation at her sister.
    I bite my lip to keep from laughing. “Tegan,” I warn. “Be nice.” Then I pull the shade of the stroller back and peer down at her.
    She is tilting her blond, pigtailed self backwards and grinning the goofiest toothy smile I’ve ever seen. God, she’s so damn cute!
    Six years ago, when I was drowning in a sea of despair, I would have laughed in your face if you would have told me that this