Epilogue 5 Hunter
Five Years Later
I’ve been up for hours when I hear them outside the closed door.
I have two textbooks open on the bed, along with copious amounts of notes fanned out around me as I work. Finals start next week, but it’s Saturday morning, which means the boys and the babies made me breakfast in bed.
On the other side of the door, they shush each other, and I can’t help but grin. Every weekend they make a big show of “surprising me,” and I dutifully play my part, delighted to see them and soak in time with the entire family piled onto one bed.
Notes gathered, I shut down my laptop.
I’m setting my textbooks off to the side when the sharp knock comes.
“Come in,” I call out. As my four guys and our four little ones file into the room, I bite back a smile.
Each of my men has fathered one of the kids—we think. Every now and then I question whether Rowan and her sassy attitude really came from Levi (although the guys insist her spitfire spirit comes from me , not him, and her bright blue eyes are a perfect match to his). Then sometimes when I look at Grace, I swear I see a bit of Levi in her, despite her mossy green irises and the dark curls that favor Greedy.
We’re not done, either. Now that Xander is only nursing once a night, all my guys are chomping at the bit to make baby number five. It’s become a hot topic over the last few months. They can’t stop debating over who gets priority in fathering the next one. They’re so damn competitive, I swear.
Despite feeling my best when I’m pregnant—I’ll take morning sickness and swollen ankles over brain fog and intrusive thoughts any day—I plan to take a year or two off from baby making to finally finish my degree. Hence why I had an IUD implanted at my last OB appointment.
After finals next week, I’ll be one year away from earning my law degree. Joey and Locke’s nonprofit has been expanding faster than they ever expected. They’ll be ready to hire full-time legal counsel in the next year or so, and I want to be that person.
Everything’s falling into place. Divine timing, as Si likes to say. I’m elated that I’m so close to finishing law school. I can’t wait to walk across that stage and earn my degree.
I lie back against the pillows, waiting patiently as the door creaks open.
Jole files in first, his soft smile and toothy grin lighting up my heart just the way his Tamai’s does. He stands off to the side, both hands behind his back.
Rowan charges in next, Sione and Levi sticking close as if they’re trying to hold her back. I snort quietly. Good luck to them. Our oldest daughter is already a force to be reckoned with.
Next comes Greedy, carrying the tray like usual, with Grace tucked into the crook of one arm. She can walk on her own, not that anyone would know that, with the way her daddies and big brother insist on carrying her around all the time.
Finally, Spence and Xander enter the room. My beautiful, chubby-cheeked, gray-eyed baby, who laughs and smiles so hard his little eyelashes disappear into his face each time he sees me.
I swear he came out of the womb smiling. His entire persona is the opposite of Spence. His giddiness and general merriment are much more aligned with Levi’s personality. His darker skin and intense eyes, though, along with the memo Spence sent out that included words like “motility” and “morphology” and his insistence that the others needed to wear condoms the month our youngest was conceived—because he had a business trip the following month and wanted a fair shot—mean Xander is most likely his.
“Oh! Did you make me breakfast?” I ask in mock-surprise once everyone’s in the room.
“We did,” Rowan pipes up, one hand planted on her little hip. Okay. Yeah. Maybe she does get it from me… “But all the food’s still in the kitchen.”
Sighing, Sione crouches low. “Pepe, we talked about this,” he says quietly.
It’s then that I notice the tray Greedy is carrying is empty.
Well, not empty, but devoid of food.
Instead, there’s a blue paper airplane resting on the center.
I look to each of my guys, then home in on the kids. They’re all looking at me with various levels of mischief painted on their faces.
“What’s going on?”
Instead of answering, Greedy steps forward, lifts the paper airplane, and lets Grace “help him” hold it.
“Ready?” he asks.
Jole pulls a purple airplane out from behind his back. Levi offers Rowan a pink one, handing it over while giving her his stern daddy warning scowl I love. Spence is holding a red paper airplane and booping Xander on the nose with the tip as our baby shrieks in delight.
“Here we go. Three, two, one!”
Four planes come flying toward the bed.
Their single flight.
Their one and only chance to get it right.
They land around me, and I grasp at them as memories flood my system. Memories of heartbreak and final goodbyes. Recollections of fresh starts, hard resets, life lessons, and renewed hope.
I scramble to collect them all, my eyes welling with tears.
By the time they’re all gathered in my lap, all eight of my people have climbed into bed.
“Open them, Mommy!” Jole says.
“No, wait!” Rowan reaches over, her little pink fingernail pointing to the number on top of the pink plane. “You have to put them in order first.”
Four paper airplanes, numbered one to four.
I arrange them in front of me, then, holding my breath, open up number one.
Will.
That’s all it says. One single word.
The red plane is next. I find one word inside it as well.
You.
I tear open planes three and four, barely registering the letters on the page until I’ve laid them out side by side.
Pink. Red. Purple. Blue.
Will. You. Marry. Us.
“Yes!” I squeal, scooping the creased papers up and clutching them to my chest. “Of course, of course, of course!”
We’ve talked about it. Dreamed about it. Even if it’s nothing more than a small ceremony more symbolic than legal in nature. But between school and work, travel and pregnancies, we’ve never found the time.
Will I marry them?
I want nothing more in this life than to be forever connected to my cohort in every way possible. Of course I’ll marry them.
Greedy is closest, so I reach for him, kiss him deeply, then nuzzle my head against Grace’s sweet little cheek. Levi finds my lips next; Sione kisses the top of my head.
Spence leans over last, his hand lovingly gripping my throat and then tightening ever so slightly when his lips meet my ear. “Their wife, but still my whore,” he assures me.
A shiver racks through my body at the promise of his words.
“When is the wedding, Mommy?” Rowan asks. “Do we get to be there?”
I smile and nod. “Of course you’ll be there, baby.” But then I look back to each of my guys. “I don’t know when, exactly, but I do have conditions.”
They all watch me, each wearing a different look of amusement. Good to know they didn’t expect anything less from me.
“I’m finishing my degree first,” I declare. “And I will not be knocked up on our wedding day.”
No one says a word.
Though it’s clearly not necessary, I double down. “I want to get drunk on our honeymoon and fully enjoy newlywed life. At least for a few weeks.”
Greedy shakes his head, grinning.
Levi mutters, “I’m in.”
Spence tuts something about drafting a memo.
It’s not until Grace chimes in that I remember we have an audience.
“Dunk,” she slurs in her little toddler babble language. “Dunk, dunk, dunk.” She claps her hands to punctuate each word.
Sione groans—not mad, just disappointed—and Spence rises to call for Mrs. Lansbury.
“Mommy, what’s drunk?” Jole asks as our beloved nanny walks into the room.
“Heavens,” she mutters under her breath, taking Xander out of Spence’s arms and guiding Grace by the hand toward the door.
Seeing her in to cause trouble, Rowan piles on. “Yeah, Mommy. What’s drunk? Why do you want to be drunk ?”
“Okay, you lot. Come along.”
The babies have no choice but to be shuttled out of the room. Jole follows dutifully.
Rowan is slower to join her siblings, clearly annoyed by our lack of answers. “Mrs. Lansbury, what’s drunk?”
With an eye on me, the older woman tsks. Then she focuses on my daughter. “I’ll tell you when you’re older, dear.” She pulls the door closed behind her.
Once the kids are out of the room, my men pounce.
“Yes?” Greedy asks, his voice gravelly and full of emotion as he plants his forearms on either side of my head and holds plank position above me.
“Yes.” I circle my arms around his neck and kiss him fiercely. “A million times yes.” I break away and kiss Levi next. Once I’ve batted Greedy out of the way, I scoot to the other side of the bed and seek out Sione, straddling his lap and peppering his neck and face with kisses as he holds me in a loving embrace.
“We’re going out tonight,” Spence declares.
When I turn and regard him, his eyes have that deep, taunting tell. He wants to go out. He wants to let loose. My man wants to play .
“Dinner. Dancing. Drinks.” Each word is a salacious promise. “Then if you’re a very good girl, we’ll fuck you boneless in a five-star hotel and issue at least six orgasms. Then, tomorrow, we’ll take you ring shopping for seven carats.”
I didn’t think Spence’s dirty talk could get any hotter, but here he is, adding diamonds into the equation and proving me wrong.
I’m giddy at the prospect, though the excitement fades quickly.
“Mahina?” Sione nudges me with his nose.
I offer him a reassuring smile. Nothing’s wrong, but I have to keep my promises to myself, too, and I marked off this weekend months ago and dedicated it to finals.
“I have to study.”
They’ll all understand, but that won’t stop them from being disappointed not to have a night out together.
“Fine. We can compromise,” Spence says casually from the foot of the bed. He’s already unbuttoning his shirt.
My heart catches in my throat, and my pussy clenches at the sight of his deft, ring-clad fingers working open the next button on his Oxford.
“We’ll go out next weekend. After exams have passed. Drinks. Dancing. Hotel sex. Ring shopping. But we’re celebrating today as well. Give us two hours now—enough time to fill all your holes and fully satisfy our future wife —then we’ll leave you alone to study for the rest of the weekend.”
I scoff, but Spence knows damn well I can’t refuse that kind of offer.
“I’m in.” Levi jackknifes off the bed and whips his shirt over his head.
Greedy is on his feet, too. “I’ll lock the door.”
“I love you,” I tell Sione, resting my forehead against his.
With tears brimming in my eyes, I take in each of my men, one by one. “I love all of you, and I can’t wait to marry you.”