Living on Love

thirty one

"god damn it stella."

"malcolm james!" ariana snapped.

"you say it all the time!"

"i'm an adult. you're seven. you know better."

"so does she!"

"she's five, leave her alone. what did she do?"

"she dropped a glass."

"god damn it," she muttered, walking into the kitchen. "stella! what has mommy said about you touching the glass stuff?"

"to not to," stella said.

"then why did you?"

"i was thirsty and bubba wouldn't get me a water bottle."

"seriously, james?" she asked looking at junior. "she's too short to reach them in the fridge, you can't just grab one for her? this whole 'i'm gonna do what i wanna do' shit is gonna stop. go get the damn broom," she said as she carefully walked over to stella and picked her up, sitting her on the counter. "do not move. you'll fall."

"fuck!"

"hey! marjorie! watch that mouth!" she called out.

"no bubba say it," mars said.

"mikey said it but with your voice?"

"yeah."

"liar. watch your mouth or i'm gonna smack it. im sick and tired of you kids saying bad words. mommy and daddy are allowed to use those words because we're adults."

"yeah watch your mouth," stella said.

"shut up, joan."

"that's mean."

"i'm gonna get really mean when i bust your ass, malcolm where's that broom!"

"right here," junior said as he ran into the kitchen with the broom. "miley's awake, he wants you."

"go get him and put him in the playpen. wilder, shelby and makayla! go pick up your toys from that living room like i asked you to a thousand times this morning and don't make me ask again or i'll bust everyone's ass."

"that's not fair, no one else made that mess," junior said.

"go help them clean it up since you wanna be a smart ass."

"i don't want to."

"i didn't ask you to, i told you to now go."

a few minutes later ariana had the glass cleaned up and she looked at stella. "what are we not gonna do anymore?"

"use glasses," stella said.

"that's right. go play," she said as she took stella off of the counter.

just as she walked into the living room she saw chelsea holding up a middle finger to joan, so she made her way over to her and swatted her bottom. "if i ever see that finger in the air again i'm gonna chop it off."

"i've been telling her the same thing," joan said.

"start disciplining her, mom. it's bullshit to let her get away with it. don't hug me, you're in trouble," she said, pulling chelsea away from her. "go sit somewhere. aaron, you can't climb on that buddy," she said as she picked aaron up away from the coffee table. "all these kids are driving sissy nuts," she said as she kissed his cheek.

"i've been there for thirty seven years."

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"ugh," ariana groaned as she laid down next to mac. "these kids... i'm going nuts."

"i'm sorry. heard you had a rough day."

"junior was cussing, stella broke a glass, the triplets refused to clean up, mars was cussing because junior was, chelsea gave mom the finger, aaron was climbing on shit all day, and mikey... mikey was the good one. oh, shit mikey. i forgot," she said standing back up.

"forgot what?"

"i was gonna bring him in here, he doesn't feel good."

"babe..."

"what? he doesn't feel good. he wants mommy."

"i want mommy."

"you always want mommy."

"and i hardly ever get her because there's always a child in our bed and we can't have sex with children in the room."

"we did when junior was first born."

"we can't have sex with children in our bed."

"yeah that would be a little weird. okay, i promise..." she said, crawling into the bed and hovering over him. "that when mikey feels better... we'll have the best sex of our lives. if they're not sick, they don't sleep with us anymore. how bout that?"

"the best sex?"

"the absolute best."

mac sighed. "go get him. make him feel better."

ariana grinned and kissed his lips. "love you."