EPILOGUE
Smiling, I shift the toddler on my hip higher.
He’s two today. And getting heavy.
My smile grows. I never could have dreamed I’d be here. Living this life. It’s so different than the one planned for me.
Edward chases my nephew across our yard toward the table where Carlla is putting a bowl of fries down. I love this for him too.
When I made the decision to quit Foxworth Industries, it gave my brother the okay he needed to step back. Unbeknownst to me, he’d been working his ass off because he thought the company was what I wanted. I’d been doing the same.
After a lot of talking—together, with Devon and Carlla, with Dad—we decided to sell. Neither of us wanted to continue working there, and with me and Carlla getting pregnant around the same time, it was a relief to be able to focus on more important things.
“Hey, there’s the birthday boy!” Devon swoops in and snatches Lewis from me. “Time to eat so we can have cake.”
“Cake!” Lewis claps his hands and my husband eyes me with censure.
He doesn’t need to say I told you so. I know cake first would have made Lewis happy. But I at least wanted to attempt to get something nutritious in his belly before he was loaded with sugar.
When Devon’s narrowed gaze doesn’t relent, I throw up my hands and roll my eyes. “Fine. I’ll get the cake.”
“Yes!” He grabs Lewis’s arm and pumps his little fist in the air, causing me to roll my eyes again.
With a hand on my barely swollen belly, I head back inside to find Livi and Lexi already putting the number two candle on the cake. With a sigh, I say, “He got to you.”
Livi laughs and Lexi says, “They all did.”
“Plus we knew you’d cave,” Livi adds. “You’ve done it every birthday since you and Devon admitted you loved each other.”
She’s right. What she doesn’t know is why I have. My birthday was only a few weeks after our first anniversary and Devon organized a party with his brothers and my best friends. Except instead of bringing out a meal, he placed a cake on the table and started singing happy birthday.
It was the whispered, “Because surprises should be happy,” in my ear that had me tearing up on my thirty-fifth birthday and turning the small gesture into a tradition. I only argue to keep my husband on his toes. It’s why my best friends were able to find the candle and lighter so easily.
I’d laid it all out before I left the kitchen.
“Did you ever imagine we’d be here?” Lexi asks.
Livi shakes her head with a smile. “No, but I’m forever grateful I found Boyd’s the first night I went looking for a little distraction.”
I laugh at her description. “We should thank you for looking for sex?”
She flicks my shoulder. “Stop it.”
“Well, am I wrong?”
“No. You’re not. Okay, yes, you should both thank me.”
Grinning at Lexi, I lunge for Livi. Lexi throws her arms around the both of us.
“Hey, why are you getting hugs from someone who isn’t me?” Carter asks from the back door.
“What? Who’s hugging Livi?” Garrett pokes his head around his brother. “Hey!”
As one they enter the house and head straight for us. The next thing I know, I’m surrounded by Boyds. Except the one—
“Wife.” Devon’s arms slip around my waist. “Why are we having a hugfest in our kitchen and why are you doing it without me?”
Laughter bursts free. I’m so happy I could cry. “I love you.”
“Who do you love?” Devon growls in my ear.
“You.” I wait a beat. “And them. I love everyone here.”
“Do you love me enough to bring that cake out? Me and our boy have been patiently waiting.”
I smile. Devon is nothing but patient. Lewis on the other hand will be screaming bloody murder soon. “Yes. We’re getting it ready.”
“Doesn’t look like it,” he murmurs before nipping my ear. “Can we tell them now?”
His words have everyone pulling away, our strange embrace broken, leaving me the center of everyone’s attention. With a sigh, I say, “Can’t exactly say no now.”
“Good.” Devon’s arms are still around me, his chin on my shoulder, and he stretches his hands over my stomach. “We’re pregnant!”
Four sets of shocked eyes stare at us. I thought for sure they’d be happy but maybe…
Livi is the first to break the silence. “There’s something in the beer,” she mutters with a shake of her head.
“Or the gin,” Lexi adds with a smile.
My brothers-in-law are grinning, and it takes me less than a second to catch on.
“Oh my God. We’re all pregnant at the same time again!”
“It can’t be the beer or the gin,” Edward says from the back door. With a smug smile he adds, “Carlla is pregnant again too.”
The scream of excitement that pierces the kitchen isn’t just me. Livi and Lexi are as ecstatic as I am about this. The four of us loved having our kids so close together the first time. I doubt this time will be any different.
Devon’s lips brush my ear. “It’s the happiness.”
“What?” I twist my head so I can see his eyes.
“We’re all happy. Like attracts like.”
“We are happy,” I say.
“And we’re going to stay that way.”
I don’t need him to verbalize his thoughts. I know in my heart that he’ll make me happy for the rest of my life just as I’ll make him.