KAT
I felt reborn after my nap. My worries about the boys faded away as I saw them wrapped up in their cribs. Rowdy hadn’t run away or gotten angry with my lies. My sister was still at my side. I could even see my feet again!
Though Paxton also seemed pleased by them, he was mostly interested in middle names.
“I like strong names. Magnum, Winchester, Ruger, Wesson.”
“So you want their middle names to honor guns?” I asked while Rowdy handed Cavan to Bebe, who sat in the nearby chair.
Pax crossed his arms. “More like, I want to honor killing.”
“Um, but you named your only son Roy.”
“Roy Reed is a solid name.”
“And I’m totally going to embrace it again when I’m forty,” Rowdy said as Bebe cooed over the baby. “But why not name me Ruger?”
“Your mom didn’t want names about killing.”
“Look at his little nose,” Bebe murmured, pretending to ignore the conversation happening around her. “You have your mama’s nose.”
Her words made me tear up. Maria squeezed my hand, knowing immediately what I was thinking. Our real mother would never meet her grandsons.
Over the last few months, I’d dreamed Rowdy would want me despite how our relationship revolved around hooking up in my SUV. My boys could have a dad, grandparents, aunts, and cousins.
Now, everything was coming together. So why was a little part of me sad? Admiring my tired sister at my side, I considered how Maria and I shared little habits and traditions. We worked in the same place, ate meals together, and spent most of our free time together.
After I got pregnant, she joined me at every doctor appointment. We went to Lamaze class together. She gave up curry since the smell made me nauseous.
Now, we were part of something bigger, and I feared losing my special bond with Maria.
“We’ll be alone tonight,” Maria whispered in Estonian.
The way Maria knew exactly what I needed to hear only inspired more tears.
“Don’t cry,” Rowdy said softly as he sat on the edge of my bed while Maria cradled me.
“I’m just overwhelmed.”
“Because you don’t like the middle name Attila the Hun?”
Grinning, I shrugged. “Does anyone care about a middle name?”
“What would you have named the boys if I hadn’t shown up?”
“I was going to name them Roy.”
“Both of them?” Pax asked. “Not very creative.”
“They’re twins. Growing up, I liked matching with my sister.”
Pax looked at Maria and me for a long time. “I bet you two could cause a lot of trouble with those identical faces.”
“I did gym class for her,” I said, smiling at Maria.
She nodded. “I took her science class. But those were the only naughty things we ever did.”
“Well, you hooked up with an outlaw biker. That’s pretty naughty.”
“She did that,” Maria said and glanced at Rowdy. “I don’t plan to follow in her footsteps.”
“Bull,” Rowdy said instantly. “I’m going to find you a nice biker with a big dick. He’ll give you a sexy nickname like “sweet tits,” and you’ll be married by the end of the year.”
Despite Maria’s horrified look, I laughed and hugged her. “That sounds nice as long as you can convince the big-dicked biker to call you something else.”
“Who are you thinking?” Pax asked Rowdy. “Not Rock. Tell me you aren’t planning to set up this fine, young nurse with that humorless hunk of meat.”
“Rock is handsome,” Bebe murmured. “Will the twins have our last name?”
Nodding, I explained, “I had planned on naming them Reed since our last name isn’t a family one.”
Bebe smiled warmly and cuddled Cavan. I glanced at Colson and wondered if I could hold him.
“You baked this baby for almost a year,” Rowdy said and gently scooped up our sleeping son. “You shouldn’t deprive yourself of snuggles.”
Maria smiled at how he handed me the baby. “Are any of these bikers sweet like you?”
Pax snorted. “Sweet.”
“I happen to be very sweet to certain people,” Rowdy said full of swagger.
“Only the very best people get to enjoy it. And to answer your question, Maria, I’ve got plenty of sweet club brothers.
And to answer my father’s question, no, I wasn’t thinking about Rock.
He’s got no heart for love, unless it involves his mommy. ”
Cuddling Cavan, Bebe said quietly, “Let’s stop trashing Rock and return to the babies’ middle names. I like that they’ll be named after Rowdy.”
“I’ve already forgotten their names,” Pax said and shrugged. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”
“Neither did I,” I said, making Maria snicker.
Pax gave me a wink. “Tell me their names again, and I’ll record everything on my phone. That way, I won’t keep asking.”
“Cavan Roy Reed and Colson Roy Reed.”
Rowdy exhaled in a dreamy way, and I felt him thinking about the future. I held his gaze, wanting to say a million things that I couldn’t share with an audience.