My Mountain Man Protector-Bonus Scene

Six years later…

“Why is mommy cooking?” Ben’s worried eyes turn to me as he sees his mom in the kitchen.

I chuckle. “Because she likes to give me a break sometimes.”

“I’ll have cookies for dinner,” he says solemnly.

Which is probably a better food choice then whatever it is my lovely wife is burning on the stovetop.

“Do you need a hand, angel?” I ask tentatively.

I put my hands on her hips and peek over her shoulder into the pan. Kaci attacks the mess of charred eggs and mushrooms with a spatula.

“No. I’m good.”

I turn back to Ben and give him a mock worried look that makes him giggle.

“I might have cookies for dinner too,” I whisper.

“Hey!” Kaci digs me in the ribs playfully. “Get out of the kitchen, you. You’re supposed to be looking after the kids.”

The twins are playing together on the brightly patterned mat that has replaced my sheepskin rug. Duplo is strewn across the rug and they’re giggling at each other, lost in their own world.

Pixie wanders past and Ben bends down to pat her. The old cat winds herself around his legs and purrs happily.

The twins have each other, but all the animals love Ben. Even Big Red who hardly lays anymore, but I can’t bear to get rid of the old bird much to Kaci’s chagrin. She’s been threatening to turn her into a casserole since that first day Big Red took a dislike to her and pecked a hole in her sweatpants.

Ben looks up at me with hopeful grey eyes, just like his uncle’s. “You want to build a marble run, Dad?”

There’s wood to cut and laundry to fold, and I need to order more chicken feed. But all that can wait. My priority in life is my family.

“Let’s do it.”

His eyes light up, and he dances on one foot. The grin on his face makes my heart squeeze “Can it go from the top of the stairs?”

It could chip the paint work and make dents in the walls, but again, priorities.

“Sure.”

He runs to the playroom to get the collection of cereal boxes and paper tubes we’ve collected and decorated over the years.

Kaci smiles at me, and I ignore the burning smell coming from the kitchen.

It doesn’t matter if all my meals are burnt as long as I eat them with my family.

I follow Ben to the playroom. It’s part of the extension I built. There’s a playroom and four bedrooms, which is just about what we need for our growing family after the news that a pregnancy test confirmed this morning. Unless it’s another set of twins, we’ll have just the right amount of bedrooms.

A few hours later, with the kids tucked into bed and my wife asleep on my shoulder in front of the TV, I let out a long slow breath and think about how grateful I am.

How grateful I am that I didn’t die that day on the side of the road. How grateful I am that I survived. I have my beautiful wife, my family, and my loyal chicken.

It’s good to be alive.