Epilogue
Pierce
“Quill, come in quick!” we called into the kitchen.
Rafe and I were in the living room with our three little ones—Hayley, Hadley, and Harlow—doing their best attempt at pulling themselves up to a standing position. It was hard to believe. It felt like almost only yesterday when I was holding them in my arms for the first time. And the next thing I knew, they were rolling over and smiling and crawling.
And now—now, they were trying to stand.
Hayley kept pushing up with her legs but lost her balance halfway and plopped right back on her diapered bottom with a frustrated squeal. Harlow had managed to get one knee up and was gripping the side of the ottoman like it held the secrets of the universe, his eyes wide and locked on his goal. And Hadley—Hadley was gritting her gums like a tiny warrior, managing to get both feet planted underneath her before toppling sideways into a pile of soft blocks.
It was a common task, and yet all three of them came at it from a different angle.
It felt like only yesterday that I was holding the little plastic stick that announced I was going to be a father. I was afraid that if I blinked, they were going to be walking. Then running. Then in kindergarten. Then at high school graduation. Then finding mates of their own.
Rafe’s hand settled on my shoulder. “Where’d you go?”
“Apparently, blinking…and our kids are all grown up.”
“I do that too,” he said with a laugh. “But how about we live in this moment? Take out your phone. It’s a race to see if it’s gonna be Hayley, Hadley, or Harlow who succeeds first.”
It was all kinds of adorable how they were all trying to achieve the same milestone at the same time. They’d pretty much done that for all of them, so far. I wasn’t sure if that was “normal” or not in triplets, but I’d never had multiples in my life before, so maybe it was. They didn’t run in my family, or at least they didn’t until now.
Quill came into the living room, his kitchen towel over slung over his shoulder. “What’s going on?”
“I think today’s the day,” I said, indicating the children in their determined glory.
He came around to the other side of them near us to get a better view. “Oh, look at you three go!”
We stood there and watched, cheering them on—being the best hype dads we could be as our little ones worked so hard at pulling themselves up. And they were successful. One at a time, they managed to get themselves upright and then let go and flopped back down to the floor, only to begin again, their determination never wavering.
Once upon a time, I didn’t think the best moments of my life would be standing in the living room, staring, waiting for something to possibly happen. I thought it would be moving up in a carrier or going on an adventure. But nope. I’d been wrong.
This was where tummy time turned into roll-over time. Where lying on a blanket turned into sitting. Where babbling turned into first words. And I was thrilled to be there for every one of those moments.
Deciding to stay home with the kids was the best decision I’d ever made. Would I have gone to work if we needed it? Absolutely. In a heartbeat. In fact, that had been one of my original plans. I thought that I needed to contribute in that way. It was nothing my mates had ever pushed. That had been all me.
This worked for us, for our family.
“I think we’re gonna be near nap time pretty soon,” Quill said, now sitting down on the edge of the couch. “They worked hard, and now they will want to sleep hard.
Harlow had already given up. He’d done enough standing for the day. Hayley too. But Hadley? Hadley was still going strong. Determined. Like their papa, Rafe.
It was fun to watch how similar they were, and at the same time, how very different.
Hadley was very much a mini version of Rafe in so many ways.
Hayley took after Quill, right down to the smile.
And my mates said Harlow took after me. I didn’t see it yet—but that was probably just because it was me they were comparing this wonderful baby too. We never see ourselves the way others do.
When they’d all had their share of standing fun and were just sitting like little slugs, we knew it was time to get them ready for their naps. And with three dads, three diaper changes and settling down to sleep was a much simpler task than when it was just one of us on solo dad duty.
“I’m guessing we’ve got about an hour,” I said. “Could be longer, given how much they’ve been doing. But usually, we get a solid hour.”
“I wonder what we should do with that hour,” Quill mused, tapping his chin.
“I suppose we could go finish the dishes,” Rafe offered.
Dishes were not on my list; that was for sure. One hour of uninterrupted time had my mind wandering in the same direction Quill’s was.
“And I could straighten up in here,” Quill added with a little smirk. He so did not want to clean.
“Or”—I placed my hand on each of their chests. “We could go take a nap too.”
Rafe went full-on protective mode. “Are you tired? I mean—”
“Oh, did I say nap?” I smirked and raised my fingers in air quotes. “I meant ‘nap.’”
Rafe and Quill both fake yawned.
“I could use a ‘nap.’” Quill winked.
“Me too.” Rafe gave my ass a playful smack.
“I’ll race you there,” I said, and took off running. Quill caught me before I reached the door and scooped me up into his arms. “Don’t want you too worn out before your nap.” He kissed my cheek and crossed over to the bed, laying me down gently.
“Tell us, omega mine, what would you like to do today? Are you in the mood to watch, to be watched, or possibly be the center of an alpha sandwich?” Quill was hotter than dragon’s flames when he talked dirty like this.
I looked between the two of them, as if I was making a life-altering decision. “It feels like a sandwich sort of day.”
And before anyone could say another word, Rafe had his lips on mine as Quill’s were making a path down my neck.