Epilogue II
Three years later
“Have I told you how happy I am that you’re joining Wren’s practice, Kenz?” I ask as I shove the heel of my palm into the foot my son is currently kicking me with. Deacon likes to joke that when our son is born, he’s going to be a hockey player, but I don’t know. The way this kid is kicking me, I’m thinking I may have a future MMA champion on my hands.
She leans her head back against her beach chair and looks at me through giant sunglasses. “It feels so good to be done with my residency. I just want to feel like I’m finally starting my life instead of watching it pass me by.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re taking a month down here before you start working. You deserve a break, Kenz.” Lindy pushes her sunglasses up on top of her head and smiles out at Griffin, who’s jumping waves in the ocean, while Easton holds their baby girl curled up like a ball against his chest, her giant white sun hat shading her sleeping face. “I swear I’m not saying this on purpose, but seriously I can’t look at my husband holding our daughter without getting all sorts of turned-on.”
“Oh. My. God. Madeline. What is wrong with you?” Kenzie practically shouts at Lindy, and all the guys in the ocean turn to stare at us.
“Once we get you properly dicked, you’ll understand, Kenz,” Lindy assures her, and I want to die on Kenzie’s behalf.
Gracie walks our way with Molly holding her hand. “What the heck are you guys yelling about?” she asks as she adjusts Molly’s long-sleeved rash guard.
“Cover your ears, Molly, honey,” Lindy tells her, then smiles at Gracie, who shakes her head before Lindy even speaks.
“Lindy, don’t?—”
“We were talking about getting Kenzie some good dick, now that she’s got some time on her hands.”
“Oh lord. You went there.” Grace squats down in front of her daughter. “What did I tell you about repeating things you hear?”
“Not to,” Molly’s sweet voice repeats, proud of herself and her answer. She high-fives her mom.
“Good job, baby. Never repeat anything you hear your aunts say.” She swats Molly’s butt. “Now go play on the blanket. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Gracie watches Molly run to the blanket where Kennedy is reading Little Women for the hundredth time, and Everly and Tennyson are napping, then she sits in the empty chair next to me and leans forward to look down the line at Kenzie. “Are we talking about one dick in particular, or will any dick do? Because there’s this single dad who brings his daughter to Molly’s baby ballerina class, and he’s hot. And his hands are huge.”
I push my sunglasses up on top of my head and watch my husband body surf with Jace’s twins. “I bet his hands aren’t as big as Deacon’s.”
“Dude, Deacon’s hands are huge. But we’re not talking about your husband’s porn-star dick,” Lindy laughs.
“Umm, I’d rather hear about how hung he is. At least he’s not my brother.” Kenzie grabs Lindy’s sunglasses off her head and tosses them in the waves as they pull back into the ocean.
“You did not,” Lindy gasps, and the rest of us laugh.
“Fuck his brains out, Lindy. But for God’s sake, stop telling me,” Kenzie half laughs, half pleads while the rest of us practically roll out of our seats, dying from laughter. Finally, when we can all breathe again, Kenzie sticks her feet in the water and lays her seat all the way back. “I missed you bitches like I’d miss a limb, you know that, right?”
“It’s good to have you home, Mackenzie,” Lindy tells her as she squeezes her hand.
“Love you, ladies,” I add to our little lovefest. A sniffle comes from Gracie’s chair. “Are you crying?”
“Ignore me,” she cries, and Kenzie kicks her feet in the water in front of her.
“You’re pregnant?” Kenzie cries out, and all the men in the ocean turn again, this time to see which of their wives just got called out.
Only Ares is smiling from ear to ear.
Gracie nods her head super dramatically.
Oh no . . .
“I saw Wren last week.”
“And,” Kenzie pushes.
Grace sips from her water bottle as the color drains from her face. “And it’s triplets.”
Deacon crawls into bed that night and presses a kiss to my huge belly.
Of course, this kid is going to be a ten pounder. Because it doesn’t worry me at all that they’re already talking about his size, and I still have three months to go.
“How are you feeling, red?” He rolls over and drags me against his chest, just where I like to be.
“Tired but happy.” I trace my finger over his pecs. “I’m not sure how I’m going to have the energy to travel to Killian’s fight next month.”
“Don’t go,” he tells me, like it’s that simple.
“It’s my job, Deacon. I have to go. Besides. I want to be there to watch him defend his title.” Working for Crucible is everything I always hoped it would be. And with Deacon coaching the Revolution, I’m still as much a part of the team I love as I ever was. Just in a different capacity.
“What if I asked you not to go?” He presses, and I sit up very slowly because nothing I do at this point happens fast. Well almost nothing. Apparently, orgasms happen much faster when I’m pregnant. If I thought the sex was earth-shattering before, I have a whole new definition for that now. Damn. Seriously, I might be willing to have a whole hockey team of kids if this is how good it can be.
I force myself back to the current conversation and away from my husband’s ability to screw me senseless.
“You wouldn’t ask me not to go because you know how much my job means to me,” I remind him with a hint of warning in my voice.
“I wouldn’t. We agreed you’d stop at eight months. I’m not trying to renegotiate now. I just worry about you, baby. You’re tired already, and you’re talking about flying to Vegas. I don’t love it.” He holds his arm up, and I slide back into place.
“I know. But the season won’t have started yet, so you’ll be with me, and Kennedy will be with Isla. The timing works, and it’s the last one for a while. I already told Dad I’m taking off a few months, then coming back part-time after the little man is born. And it’s not like I can’t bring the baby with me to Crucible.” I think my dad actually wants me to bring him with me. I’m not sure who’s more excited about this little guy, Mom or Dad.
They’ve been amazing with Kennedy.
So patient with her, and it paid off in spades. It may have taken her a while to warm up to them, but now they might just be her favorite people in Kroydon Hills. Well, behind Killian, that is. I like to think he’s her favorite because he’s got the sense of humor of a twelve-year-old boy, making him basically the same age as her. But in all reality, Kennedy is an old soul. She may be more mature than Killian.
It’s a topic we’ve all debated before.
He takes her on ice cream and movie dates whenever she wants.
He bought her love with rocky road.
Not that I didn’t buy it with Winnie.
But that’s beside the point.
“I guess I just want to keep you safe for as long as I can, Brynn. I’d lock you in the house and bubble-wrap it if I could,” he admits, and I know it’s those old fears rearing their ugly heads, like they do every now and then. It happens to me too. Every time I feel sick or my body aches in a new or unusual way, I always wonder somewhere deep in the recesses of my soul if maybe the first test was wrong, even though I know it wasn’t.
“It’s our newest adventure, Deacon. You can’t wrap us all in bubble wrap. That’s not how our life works,” I tell him mid-yawn and snuggle deeper into the blankets.
“Not even just for a few more years?” he asks, and I shake my head no.
“Have you thought anymore about names for the baby?” he asks, and I yawn again,
“I still like Knight,” I tell him as my eyes close.
“Knight Kane... It does have a nice ring to it.”
“Knight Kane sounds like he loves adventures,” I whisper as I drift off, faintly aware of my husband’s lips against my head. Safe in his arms. Loved. And so happy. I dream about the day I’ll meet our son. Our biggest adventure is yet to come.
The End