Epilogue
EPILOGUE
10 years later…
“I don’t understand why we both have to be here. Isn’t this shi-stuff usually for girls?” Bishop grumbles when we open the front door to Cami and Vaughan’s house.
“Will you quit being a grumpy old man? I didn’t even care if we had one or not, but you know the girls. They insisted on it. Then Vaughan started whining which made Nix pout and before we knew it, the entire crew and all of their minis were coming, too,” I explain, and smooth my hands over his chest and rise up on my toes to place a chaste kiss on his lips.
But of course, nothing with Bishop is chaste and soon our small kiss turns passionate.
“Eeeewww,” little voices call out and we break.
“You ew,” Bishop jokes, crouching down to pick up a kid in each arm.
“My mommy,” Alfie pouts and points to me.
“No. My mommy.” Farrah whines and reaches over to smack Alfie.
“Hey. No ma’am. You do not hit your little brother, Farrah. Not okay.” Bishop looks at her with the most serious face he can make which is actually quite laughable.
The moment Bishop Michaels held hi s baby girl in his arms, he turned from teddy bear to complete mush. That little thing just bats an eyelash and he says “anything for you, my little beauty” and gives in to whatever she’s asking for. I can’t even begin to tell you how large her doll collection is because every time she sees a new one, all she has to say is “daddy” and he jumps. No, not jumps. He leaps.
Then there’s Alfie. Alford Darius Michaels. The name sake of his grandfather and great-grandfather. The little boy his daddy and uncle call a future hall of famer. The kid is two and a half and he can already swing a bat like nobody’s business.
“Daddy,” Farrah cries and buries her head in his shoulder.
“C’mere, Alfie. Let’s go see your cousins.” I pull him into my arms so that Bishop can comfort his princess. Probably with promises of a new pony.
We finally make it to the living room where adults are congregating and they cheer.
“There she is,” Vivian sings. “The woman of the hour.”
“What about me?” Bishop says as he walks up behind me with Farrah hanging tightly to his neck.
“Well, when you’re eight months pregnant with yet another kid, we’ll cheer and dance for you. Until then, shut it.” Viv sasses, and rolls her eyes.
“There’s my man. Come here, Alfie.” Uncle Nix comes walking in from outside and holds out his arms.
“Nix. Nix,” Alfie shouts and wiggles out of my arms.
His little legs carry him as fast as they can and straight into Uncle Nix’s arms. If there is anyone whose love for Alfie can rival Bishop’s, it’s Phoenix West.
“I missed you buddy.” Nix spins him around and his chubby legs float behind him. “Wanna go see your cousins?” Nix asks, and Alfie nods his head so hard I’m afraid it may topple off his little neck.
Nix bursts through the back door and I hear a chorus of voices shout Alfie’s name. All the kids are here and that is a hell of a lot.
Vaughan and Cami have Sloane and Autumn Jade —who everyone calls AJ— , and of course Dagen who is a woman now. CeCe and Luca have just one, Naveen, but the boy is never short of family. He and Sloane are only a few months apart and they’re as tight as brothers.
Then you have Nix and Viv’s girls. There’s Cassiopeia, —known lovingly as Cassie— Genevieve, —little Genie— and Sutton. Her daddy calls her Tink because she is the tiniest of the bunch, just like her mom.
Cat and Hayes have the twins, Burton and Maverick, and our two round out the group. Well, almost three.
Our newest little man, Jackson Bishop Michaels, will be here in a few short weeks. Jackie, as Bishop calls him, is named after is favorite baseball player. That was the deal. We both agreed on Farrah, decided to name Alfie after his grandfathers, and any that came after had to be named after Jackie Robinson. Girl or boy, the name was going to be Jackie.
“Do you want to go play with Genie and Tink and AJ?” Bishop asks Farrah and she nods emphatically.
He puts her down and gives her a little pat on the bum as she runs off.
“Let’s go sit,” he tells me, grabbing my hand and leading me to the couch.
I’m seated in the big leather sofa with a pillow for my lower back, and Cami rushes over with a glass of water for me.
“Hi Ana.” She leans in and kisses my cheek.
Like Bishop, Cami has become more like a sister over the last decade. She’s helped me get through a lot, especially when Farrah came along.
Just like Bishop said, he knocked me up the second I finished my masters. We got married shortly after I graduated with my Bachelor’s and got pregnant almost immediately after grad school. Thankfully for me, my wonderful husband works hard to allow me to write from home and be there for the kids.
I say hard, but the guy sneaks away every chance he gets to see his littles.
“Hi. Where’s Day?” I ask, not seeing her around.
“They had to drop off a custom b ike, but they should be here soon,” Vaughan answers as he approaches us. “Hi darlin’.”
I get another kiss and then another and another as everyone makes their way over to greet me.
We all start talking when the chatter is broken by a wail. We turn to see Naveen walking through the back door carrying a sobbing Cassie in his arms.
“Zio,” she wails. “Naveen tripped me.”
“It was an accident, papá. I turned around when I heard my name and we bumped right into each other,” Naveen explains.
“My knee, Zio Luca.” She continues to cry and points to the very small cut on her knee.
“Oh Piccolo Fiore. Let me see.” Luca walks over to where they stand and pulls Cassie from Naveen’s arms.
“Papá, I swear it was an accident. Mi dispiace.” Naveen’s face is crestfallen.
“Non preoccuparti, figlio mio.” Luca reassures him with a kiss on his head, and carries Cassie off to bandage her cut.
“She’s a drama queen, Luca. Tell her to suck it up,” Viv shouts.
“Hm. I wonder where she gets that from?” Nix muses as he walks back in.
Viv takes a quick look around then flips him off when she sees no little eyes around.
“Okay okay. Enough. Are we going to open gifts or what?” Cat bounces in her seat, as anxious as a kid.
“Yeah. Let’s do this. My stomach has been bothering me for the last day and I may need to lay down if it gets worse.” Bishop sits next to me and takes my hand in his, kissing the back then holding it tight between his.
“Are you okay? Was it something you ate, or are you coming down with a cold?” Nix rushes over to me and begins feeling my forehead.
“Will you stop? I’m not a child. You don’t need to check my temperature,” I say and bat his hand away. “It’s probably just some indigestion. I’ll be fine.”
We all settle in and I begin opening far too many gifts than one child could possibly need. Every now and then I feel a cramp in my side and rub it out.
“Babe, are you sure you’re okay?” Bishop whispers in my ear.
I nod with a plastic smile because I really am not okay.
I open another couple of gifts when the pain has me bending over in agony.
“That’s it. I’m taking you to the hospital,” Bishop says as he jumps up from the couch.
“I’m fine. It’ll pass in a bit,” I tell him.
“Uh, Ana. I hate to tell you this but you’ve been having ‘indigestion’ every five minutes for the last hour.” Vaughan looks at his watch.
“Oh shit. You’re in labor. Go! We got the kids,” Viv jumps up from her seat and moves this way and that way like a chicken with their head cut off.
“You guys. I am not in—oh my god,” I groan when I stand up only to fall back down.
“Let’s go.” Without another word, Bishop scoops me up and carries me to the car.
He places me gently inside and buckles me up, before running to the drivers side and jumping in.
Nix knocks on the window and I roll it down.
“We’ll be right behind you. The girls will stay here with everyone else and I’ll call your mom.” I sigh, relieved that he remembered about mom. “Love you, Peanut.” He leans and kiss my forehead before we squeal off in the direction of the hospital.
My body is weak and tired from working so hard to bring Jackson Bishop into the world. But he’s here, happy and healthy. And ridiculously large.
The kid is three and a half weeks early and came out nine pounds, seven ounces. Any longer and he would’ve just walked right out.
Francine and Darius sit close, holding Jackie in their arms. Mom and gramma are on their way and will be here soon. The rest of the crew is all parked in the lobby, waiting impatiently to come in.
Bishop told them to give us some family time before they came barging in. The only one not here is Dagen as she volunteered to watch all the kids. Bless her. But we texted and agreed we wanted alone time without the buzz of everyone else around.
Even though she’s their cousin, my kids call her Auntie Day.
Bishop sits next to me on the bed with his arm resting on my shoulders.
“He’s perfect, Anais.” Bishop has tears in his eyes as he watches his parents hold our new son. “Look at all of that hair,” he muses and he’s right.
The kid has full coif right out of the gate. I smile then find myself quickly pulled into a kiss.
“Thank you,” he says when we separate.
“For what, big guy?” I stroke his beard that now has a sparse speckling of grays in it.
“For making all of my dreams come true.” Now it’s me with tears clouding my eyes.
“Same, cari?o.”
He smiles at me and says, “Is it too early to ask for another one?”
“Let the poor girl catch her breath before you start adding a new bedroom to that house,” Darius says, making me laugh.
“Let’s get this one out of diapers first, then we’ll talk,” I quip.
He leans in, whispering in my ear, “Who’s got the breeding kink now?”
And he’s right. I’d have ten little ones running around if Bishop asked. As long as we do it together, it’s the only thing that matters.