Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
The words weren’t even out of my mouth before he was up off the bed and jogging toward the door.
“You’re naked,” I reminded him as he went through it.
I sat up just as he strode back into the room.
“She texted about ten minutes ago,” he said, tossing the phone onto the bed next to me. “Ariel’s fine but they’re getting tired and Mom doesn’t want to overdo it this first time.”
“Okay,” I replied, getting to my feet as he reached for his clothes.
He stopped me as I stepped away from the bed.
“I love you,” he said, grinning softly.
“Love you, too.” I tilted my head back so he could kiss me.
“Get dressed,” he ordered, tapping my butt lightly. “Let’s go get our girls.”
Less than ten minutes later, we were pulling up to his mom’s house in my car.
“You’re gonna need somethin’ bigger than this,” he said as he climbed out, hurrying around the hood to open my door.
“Why? We all fit.”
“For now,” he said with a shrug.
I froze. “What do you mean, for now?”
Heather opened the front door.
“Have another baby and there won’t be enough seats, sugar,” he said easily, leaning in until our noses were just inches apart as he pushed the door shut behind me.
My eyes bulged. “Can we get through having this one first before we start talking about more?” I asked in disbelief.
“Of course,” he murmured; his lips twitched. “Gotta marry you before I start knockin’ ya up.”
He turned toward the house as the girls came running out the front door.
“That wasn’t a proposal,” I muttered under my breath.
I couldn’t even be irritated with him. Not when he dropped into a crouch and opened his arms.
The girls screamed his name as they came galloping forward and as they reached him, he lifted them into the air and spun them around in a circle, making them squeal with delight.
It didn’t matter how long we’d been apart or what we’d gone through during those years. It mattered even less that Ariel, Diana, and the new baby didn’t share his blood.
Because we were here now. Finally. And we were his.
That was the only thing that mattered.
Epilogue
Titus
Noel swayed from side to side as she cooked dinner. I noticed that she’d been doing it for a while—since I’d gotten home from work that afternoon—and I couldn’t figure it out. So, I was watching her.
I’d been watching her for days, since her due date had come and gone.
Her overnight bag was packed. We’d found a car seat for the new baby that was cool as fuck and turned into a goddamn stroller and that was buckled into the car already. My mom had been hanging with the girls more and more, getting them ready in case Noel had to stay overnight at the hospital. If we had to leave in the middle of the night, Bas and Cian were ready to take over Ariel and Diana duty, but any other time, my mom would head straight over to stay with them.
Everything was set, so now we waited.
It was fucking torture.
I was so filled with anxiety every second of every day that I was afraid I was going to have a heart attack or something. I’d actually had to sit down that morning at work because my heart was racing so fast that I got light-headed. Uncle Casper had seen me and laughed his ass off.
“You good, sugar?” I called, pulling a dress off Diana’s doll before handing it back to her.
“I’m good,” she replied.
She didn’t turn to face me and there was something in her voice that I couldn’t pinpoint.
Slowly rising from my chair, I wandered into the kitchen and wrapped my arms around her, resting my chin on her shoulder.
“How you doin’, baby?” I asked softly, automatically falling into the same rhythm as her hips moved from side to side.
“Just tired,” she replied, dropping her head back against my shoulder for a moment before going back to what she was doing.
She was lying.
“Noel,” I growled.
Her stomach shifted beneath my hands and I jolted, my fingers pressing. Every inch I touched was hard as a rock. Then it relaxed again, back to the normal firm I’d grown used to.
“The fuck was that?” I asked in surprise.
“Just a contraction,” she replied lightly. “Easy one.”
“If it’s an easy one, why are you so out of breath?” I asked apprehensively.
She didn’t reply.
“Goddamn it,” I muttered, pulling her away from the counter.
“Titus, I’m not done,” she protested.
“You’re done.” I led her over to my seat at the table and crouched down. “How long you been havin’ ’em?”
She just looked at me.
“How long?”
“Since this morning,” she confessed quickly. “But they haven’t been that strong and they’ve been pretty far apart since the last hour. I’m sure we still have plenty of time. I’ll just finish dinner and then we can put the girls in bed and—”