Epilogue #3
First Morgan and Clay, with their three kids, Theo, Trinity, and their baby girl, Tinsley, who is seven months old, while the twins are now two-and-a-half years old. Then Cecilia and Silas who arrived with four-and-a-half-year-old Dante, and their fifteen-month-old Esme.
Next, I greet Greyson and Emma, who is currently cursing under her breath about having too many children. She pulls out two double strollers from her trunk while Greyson begins to unclip the children.
“Here, let me help you.” I take the second stroller and pop it open as she works on the first.
“Thank you,” she says through gritted teeth. I know she’s not angry with me, but the glare she directs at her husband tells me she’s still not pleased with him.
“I swear I can’t wait for that vasectomy to happen! I’ll pop a bottle and celebrate as soon as I pop this baby out first.” She rubs her hand over her small belly.
Because yes, Emma is pregnant once more.
She’s only a little over three months along, but it already shows.
They now have Gracie, who just turned four, two months ago.
Their first set of twins, Maddox, and Parker, who turned two in March.
Then there’s their second set of six-month-old twins, Bryson, and Hayden.
We were all positive Emma would be having another boy, but they’ve had an early test done and turns out she’s having a little girl. And there’s only one. They’ve already decided to call her Magnolia.
I wait by their side, helping them secure all the kids in as Gracie stays beside us. We all walk along together toward the bakery, but I stop in my tracks when an SUV pulls up at my side. I quickly pull the door open and help a heavily pregnant Veronica out of the passenger seat.
“Always such a gentleman.” She smiles warmly at me.
“Hey! I was just coming to do that for you.” Gabe narrows his eyes at me.
“I know you were, Pretty Boy.” She pats his cheek lovingly as he comes to her side and places his hand on her very round belly. Ronnie is two weeks away from giving birth to their second child, a little girl that will go by the name of Daphne.
Noah comes around carrying Caleb, who is now one as of May. “Hey, Coach,” he says, nodding his head in form of greeting. “We should hurry, they’re about to start letting people in.”
I nod in agreement and follow behind them as they hug and kiss my girls on the cheeks before heading inside.
“DADDY!”
Aubrey sets Stellina down as she exclaims my name and comes running to me. I crouch down, opening my arms, and letting her jump into them as I stand back up and twirl us around. “There’s the most beautiful girl in the world!”
She giggles and blushes madly at the compliment. See what I meant about the famous blush? “Mommy bootiful, too?”
I grin widely. She always includes her mother in everything I say. “Yes, you and Mommy are the most beautiful in the whole entire universe.” She giggles some more as I rub my nose against hers then pepper her face with kisses.
“Is Daddy pretending to be Brownie again?” Aubrey comes over smiling.
Turns out our big boy Brownie isn’t so independent after all. He was just waiting for his little princess to be born. He’s stuck to her like glue ever since we brought her home, and Stellina gobbles up his love every step of the way.
“Yes, Daddy Bwownie!” She continues to laugh.
“Is that so?” I raise a brow. “Well, then. I suppose I should be licking your face instead of kissing it.” I come in to do just that as she squeals and tries to stop me.
I sigh with joy as I place my baby girl on my hip and wrap my arm around my wife’s waist, pulling her in. “Hi, Angel.” I lean down and capture her lips while our daughter watches us with pure bliss in her eyes.
“Hi, sweetie.” She rests her head on my shoulder.
“I’ll head in and tell everyone to get ready.” Octavia places her hand on Aubrey’s shoulder, smiling at me as she heads inside.
“Are you ready, sweetheart?” I ask my wife as I look up at the sign hanging above the door. ‘Little Sugary Stars’ is written in purple and there’s a cupcake with star-shaped sprinkles above it.
When Aubrey and I visited the place, we saw a few things that needed to be fixed, but after the inspector came by, he found a long list of issues with the building. Then when we had the contractor come in, there were a million more, which is why it took us over ten months to get the place open.
Aubrey started getting discouraged because every time we would make progress, something new would pop up.
Money was never an issue, but our deadline kept being pushed back every week.
So I understood her frustration, and the fact that I was away most of the time didn’t help.
Thankfully, Julian showed his softer side and helped my wife when it came to making decisions when I wasn’t around.
She beams up at me. “So ready.” The joy on her face takes my breath away. “But there’s something I want to tell you before we head inside and let all these people in.”
She turns in my arm as I search her eyes. “What is it, Angel?”
She bites her bottom lip as a beautiful pink hue spreads over her cheekbones.
“I’m pregnant.”