Co-parenting

Chapter 35

~4 years later~

Veronica wakes up to the sound of her two youngest kids fighting. She groans and turns to Archie. She keeps her eyes closed but can feel Archie's lips on her forehead.

"Is it naive of me to think that this will get easier when they're older?"

"Maybe a little" Archie chuckles and kisses her head again.

Veronica sighs. Just as she wanted to get up she can here Valerie. "I got it mom"

"She's a blessing" Veronica smiles and lies back down. She snuggles into Archie's side and enjoys his kisses to her cheek. "She really is. She's all you"

Veronica giggles. She looks up to Archie and gazes into his eyes. She moves her hand to his cheek and strokes it with her thumb. "I love you"

"I love you" he whispers before he places his lips on hers. Before they can deepen their kiss though, the bedroom door open. Freddie runs in with a tear stained face. He crawls into the bed and sits down on Veronica's lap. Valerie follows with her little sister Emme in her arms.

"What happened" Veronica asks and runs her fingers through her son's red hair.

"Emme ate the last cookie!"

"My cookie" the girl says and crosses her arms.

"No. It was not!"

"Freddie" Veronica says and kisses his cheek to calm him down. She takes his little hands into hers and holds them.

"Emme did eat the last cookie" Valerie says and sits down on the bed as well with the three year old girl in her lap.

"Since when do we fight over things like that?" Archie asks. He sits up too and looks from his son to his youngest daughter. "What do we do when there is only one thing left of something?"

"Share" the litte girl mumbles.

"Why didn't you?"

"Sorry daddy" Emme sniffs. A few tears form in her eyes.

"Don't apologize to me sweetheart. Say sorry to your brother"

Emme crawls out of her sister's lap and to her brother. She wraps her arms around his neck and kisses his cheek. "Sorry Freddie"

"It's okay Emme but next time I get the last cookie okay?"

She nods and sits down next to Veronica and her brother. Freddie kisses his sister forehead before he leans into Veronica's chest.

"Oh my babies. You're so cute" Veronica squeals and kisses both of her children's cheeks. She looks up to Valerie and smiles widely. "Come here Val"

Valerie grins. She leans forward, kisses her mom's cheek and then sits down in Archie's lap. He wraps his arms around her and lies his head down on hers. "Stop growing up Val"

"I don't think I can stop dad"

"My little girl" he mumbles and kisses her cheek. "Ronnie can we make more babies?"

"No" she giggles.

"Why?" Freddie asks. He titles his head to look up to his mom.

"Do you want another sibling?"

"I do"

Veronica laughs and twirls the ends of Freddie's hair. "Did daddy tell you to say that?"

Freddie's eyes widen. He looks to Archie and then back to Veronica. "I'm not allowed to say"

"I see" she smiles before she turns to her husband. "Nice try Andrews"

"Who wants breakfast?"Archie says to quickly change the topic.
Freddie jumps up and screams "me". Emme climbs out of the bed and follows her big brother, leaving Valerie alone with her parents. Veronica moves closer to Archie and kisses her daughter's head multiple times. "I love you so much, mija. You're a true blessing"

"I love you too mom"

"What about daddy?" Archie asks.

"I love you too dad. I love both of you so much"

Veronica squeals. She wraps her arms around her daughter and kisses her cheek over and over again. Archie keeps on arm around Valerie but wraps his other around Veronica. He smiles before he kisses Valerie's other cheek.
Unlike most children she doesn't wrinkle her nose or tries to push them away. She enjoys the attention. She's eleven and her siblings are three and five. They need more attention and help than her. She knows that and she's okay with it but she enjoys moments like this, when it's just her, her mom and her dad.

•••

"Val help me?" Emme asks. She sits in the sandpit Archie built a couple of years ago in the backyard next to her sister and across from her brother. While Freddie ruins his little toy car by running it to the sand, Emme tries to build a sandcastle but she can't figure out how to do it yet.

"What's the magic word" Valerie smiles.

"Por favor"

Valerie giggles. She takes a bucket into her hand and explains her little sister how to build a sandcastle the best way.

Valerie and Emme are inseparable. They love their brother too but a lot of times Emme is rather with Valerie than anyone else. While her sister looks like her mom and her brother like her dad, she's the perfect mixture of her parents. Just like Valerie and Freddie, Emme also has Archie's hazel brown eyes. She has raven curls, a skin tone between Archie's and Veronica's and freckles over her nose and cheekbones. She's kind and loving but also confident and a little sassy.

Veronica and Archie watch their kids. Both of them smile widely. Archie has his arms around her waist and rests his chin on her shoulder.
"I can't believe Valerie is 11 years old already. I miss baby Val" he says.

"Me too"

Archie sighs. He kisses Veronica's shoulder and turns his head so he can look at her.

"I never knew why we weren't together, those little days when Val was just a little baby. I only got to see her a few days a week. But I'm happy at what we are now, fate brought us back together. We weren't who we were before, I'm happy at who we are now. This is our chapter, our very own chapter. Thank you for being by my side, Ronnie" (varchiedreams 💕)

"Oh of course Archiekins. Deep down we both always knew that we are meant to be together. I love you"

"I love you too" he smiles. He turns his gaze back to his kids and a little chuckle leaves his mouth. "And I love all of those little trouble makers. We made some really perfect babies"

"Yeah we did" she whispers and pulls Archie's hand from her waist onto her stomach.

~THE END~

___________________________________

Thank you for reading this book ☺️
It's definitely one of my favorites and I appreciate that you took the time to read it.💖

Thanks to varchiedreams for helping me with this and some other chapters 😇