sure that we can find donors for that,” Alex said. “I'll put up some capital. You're going to get a huge amount of business with them coming through, so I'm sure you'll be making that and more back.”
“I'm sure that we will, too,” Mark said, talking a little too fast in his excitement. “Erica made sure that we got it. Pulled some strings with some friends of hers so that my name came up. She's honestly amazing.”
Alex didn't get a chance to reply. Jamie had snatched the phone out of his hand while he wasn't expecting it and was demanding that Mark tell her what the news was. When he did, her eyes widened.
“Holy crappers! That's fantastic, Mark! I'm so happy for you.”
Alex could hear his brother dying laughing. “Crappers?” he asked loudly.
“Have to be careful these days, as the kids repeat everything.”
Alex heard his brother saying thank you over the line as he took another bite of his toast, moving over to the highchairs where the twins were busy making a mess of everything. Lilliana was using her fist to mash her fruit as she chanted, “Cappers, cappers, ollie cappers.”
“Hey, peanuts,” he said, taking the chair that Jamie had vacated.
“Dada,” Lilliana said. “Dada.” She smacked her chubby little hands excitedly against the tray of her chair. “Ollie cappers.”
Alex laughed. “Ollie cappers to you, too, sweetie.”
Not to be outdone, Benton called his name, too, and Alex felt for a moment like his heart might burst it was so full of love for the two little humans sitting in front of him. He still couldn't quite believe that he and Jamie had made them, except that, of course, Jamie had been the mother to two such amazing children. A wide smile spread across his face, and he reached out to brush a little chunk of melon off Benton's cheek.
“You two are making a mess,” he informed them. In the background, he could hear Jamie still talking to Mark. “That's next on your skill list, I think. How not to spread food over every possible surface in the vicinity while eating.”
The twins, obviously not as interested in learning that as he was in teaching it, just giggled at him, and Alex shook his head, laughing as Lilliana smashed a chunk of melon against the tray. “Ollie cappers!”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Okay. I guess I'm expecting just a little too much, aren't I?”
Benton shook his head, lips pressed together.
“No?” Alex laughed. “Well, if you really think so...”
“What are you talking to them about?” Jamie asked suddenly from over his shoulder, handing him his phone as she wrapped a hand around the back of the chair and leaned her weight into it.
“I'm telling them that we're going to teach them how to eat without making such a huge mess.”
Jamie laughed. “Good luck with that one. I'm pretty sure they're hardwired to be as messy as possible until the age of six.”
“What else did Mark say?”
“Well, he told me about the tournament. And that he's going to be doing some renovations on the country club, which I'm sure he told you. I don't really see why he needs to do any so soon after he built it, but I guess I don't really understand golf that well.”
“It's more a matter of professional pride than golf,” Alex said, taking the cloth that Jamie handed him to clean the sticky hands and faces of the twins. “He wants to make sure that his course will be as good as the rest on the tour. And he's probably going to want to put in some features specifically for the increased flow of pros. A few more difficult holes, things like that.”
“That makes sense, then. I told him that we’d be happy to help him any way that we can. I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“Not at all.” Alex stood up to lift Benton out of his highchair and into his arms. “I already told him that I would help him—financially if he needs it.”
“You know,” Jamie said, switching the subject as she perched Lilliana on her hip, “it’s going to be the twins’