Epilogue
EPILOGUE
Delia
Six Months Later
“A magician named Clever almost made Mommy disappear off of a cruise ship right around the time you were conceived,” I say to my swollen belly.
“What in the ever loving fuck are you talking about?” Callum laughs. “I thought food poisoning was the worst thing you dealt with on that trip. Now, you’re saying you were almost kidnapped by someone named Clever? Is that right? Clever? What the hell kind of name is that?”
“Not a great one.” Donovan strolls into the main living room with a tray of drinks in his hands. “I’ve got beer, and wine. Bianca brought a pitcher of that stellar punch she makes and there’s chilled water here, too.”
“Punch for me, please!” Georgie’s hand darts into the air.
“Me too!” Dora follows that up by grabbing a glass filled with the colorful liquid from the tray.
I smile when I realize Donovan added small pink umbrellas to the glasses for the girls. He thinks of everything.
“You’re going to pop soon.” Nikita approaches where I’m sitting on my couch. “I brought some extra chocolate to tide you over until our sweetheart arrives.”
Our sweetheart. Our beautiful daughter, Grace Marion Hunt, will be in my arms not long from now.
Donovan and I agreed without question that we’d name her after the woman who influenced my life so deeply. Marion is in honor of his mom who has proven time and time again why she’s a hero to both of her sons.
She’s on her way here from the airport now with Victor. Unfortunately, Barry couldn’t make it because he injured his ankle on a hike, but he’ll visit soon. He promised Donovan as much during a phone call last night.
I suggested that Donovan go meet Victor and Marion’s flight, but he told me that his brother wanted more time alone with their mom.
This is the fourth time he’s seen her since they reconnected shortly after Donovan saw him at his office in Boston.
We’ve traveled there together once, and hosted Victor here in our penthouse twice before he purchased Donovan’s townhouse as a base for whenever he visits Manhattan, or their mom makes the trek from Montana to see us.
Mr. Winters laughed when he spotted the twins together in the lobby of our building. Victor recognized him immediately and they shared memories over the course of a few hours and a cup of coffee.
The following day, I let Victor have the honor of giving Mr. Winters a personalized copies of Nicholas Wolf’s entire collection because I knew it would hold even more meaning if Victor handed the books to him.
A knock at the door lures everyone’s gaze in that direction. Roman is closest so he sprints toward it.
“It’s not them,” he announces less than a minute later from the foyer. “It’s Matt and his beautiful fiancée.”
They enter the room together hand-in-hand.
Faith’s locks are back to a light shade of pink. The day she did that, Dora asked for pink hair, too. Bianca compromised by dying the ends pink with a temporary rinse that was gone the next time Dora took a shower.
It was exactly what my niece needed because now she swears she’ll stick with her brown hair forever.
“You thought we were the Hunts?” Matthew shakes his head. “I guess it’s safe to say Victor is the slow twin.”
Donovan laughs. “Is that a thing?”
“It’s a thing.” Georgie nods. “Dora is the slow twin.”
“Um, what?” Dora glances at her sister.
“Add Roman to that list,” Matt quips.
Nikita laughs. “Remind me not to fall in love with an identical twin.”
“You can’t control love like that.” Bianca winks. “I had no intention of falling for a twin, and I did.”
“Same,” Faith says with a light laugh.
“Add me to that list.” I glance at Donovan to find him smiling.
“No way.” Nikita taps her index finger on her palm. “I’m going to fall in love with a man without any siblings because between all of this and my three brothers, the women they love, and their kids, I have all of the family I’ll ever need.”
“You can never have enough family.” Roman moves to touch her shoulder. “Isn’t that right, Delia?”
I rub my growing belly. I’m wearing one of the maternity dresses that Bianca and Faith purchased for me as soon as I started to show. They invited me on a maternity clothes scavenger hunt at a consignment store that Bianca goes to all the time. I picked out a few outfits and when it came time to pay, they split the amount owing right down the middle.
Grace’s generosity has blessed me financially so it’s still hard to accept gifts, but I’m learning to see the value in being grateful for everything sent my way.
Another knock sounds through the room and this time it’s louder.
“It’s Uncle Donovan’s twin!” Dora jumps up and down. “I’ll get it.”
Before anyone can stop her, she disappears around a corner headed in the direction of the door.
“I’m Dora,” she practically yells mere seconds later. “I’m very pleased to meet you, sir and Ma’am.”
Georgie’s arms cross her chest. “She’s nothing but a big show-off.”
“Talk about a big show-off.” Matthew laughs, luring everyone’s gaze to where he’s still standing near the entrance to the living room. “How the hell are you even better looking than Donovan?”
Victor steps into view alongside Marion. Since I’ve only spoken to her via video chat I push myself to my feet.
“We’re identical,” Donovan says as he heads toward his mom and brother. “He looks just like me.”
“You need a new mirror.” Matthew taps his shoulder as he brushes past him. “Or a beard because your brother is a solid ten out of ten.”
Faith laughs. “He is pretty cute.”
“Hey, now.” Matt taps her nose. “I’m cuter.”
I watch Donovan take his mom in his arms before he tugs his brother into the embrace, too.
“Not really,” Dora adds her two cents as she wanders back into the room. “Uncle Donovan and Uncle Victor are cuter.”
“Uncle Victor wears nicer suits than Daddy does,” Georgie points out. “Like way nicer.”
Victor glances at both girls. “I’m liking this Uncle Victor thing.”
“We like you!” Dora and Georgie yell in unison.
I make my way over to my future in-laws. Victor hugs me gently before he makes the introduction. “Delia, this is our mom. She’s the best of the best.”
“My boy.” Marion’s voice quivers before she reaches to pat his cheek. “It’s easy to be the best when you have sons like this.”
I wait until her gaze lands on my face. I drop my hands to circle my belly. “This is Grace Marion Hunt. She’ll be here before we know it.”
She wraps her arms around my neck. “I can’t wait for that day.”
“Me either,” I whisper.
“That doesn’t mean today won’t be memorable,” Donovan says from behind me.
I spin to face him but he’s not where I expect him to be.
The man I love is on one knee in front of me. “Delia, your mom wanted to be here, too, but she couldn’t quite make it.”
Nikita rushes over with her phone in her hand. My mom’s face lights up the screen. “I’m stuck in Bora Bora.”
The room erupts in laughter because if there’s a place to be stranded, Bora Bora is it.
“You look beautiful, Delia,” she whispers. “I can’t wait to hug you all.”
“Get on with it, Hunt,” Matthew says. “We all want to hear her answer.”
This must be it. This has to be the moment I’ve waited months for. I asked Donovan to surprise propose to me, and I think it’s about to happen.
Something else is about to happen, too, because just as he opens his mouth to talk, a burst of something warm and wet floods my panties, seeping down my legs.
“Yes!” I scream at him with nothing but joy edging my tone. “I’ll marry you.”
“Way to ruin the proposal,” Callum says calmly before he follows that with a frantic, “Holy, shit, Delia!”
I glance his way and nod as Faith rushes toward me.
Donovan looks as stunned as I feel. “Did your water just break, Delia?”
Tears blur my vision. “It’s time. Grace is coming now.”
He snaps the lid of the ring box open to give me a preview of the beautiful diamond ring in a platinum setting. “I’m sliding this on your finger as soon as she’s here, unless you want it now.”
“I want to have our baby.” I lean forward to kiss him as my family scrambles to get ready to leave. “Then the ring, and then we make it official.”
“Deal.” He stands. “I’ll carry you to the car.”
“We don’t have a car,” I point out.
“She can walk.” Faith laughs. “I’ve called for a few rideshares. It looks like we’re all headed to the hospital to welcome your little one into our world.”
I cling to Donovan as we take one final moment to stare into each other’s eyes.
“I love you, Delia Hawthorne,” he whispers. “You’re my forever.”
“You will always be mine,” I say as a contraction takes hold of me. “Let’s go meet our daughter.”
Despite what Faith said, he scoops me into his arms and marches past his mom and brother on his way out of our home. I catch the broad smiles on both of their faces.
We step out of the penthouse to find Donovan’s cousin Reid exiting the elevator. “What the fuck is happening right now?”
“She’s coming!” I call out to him as he holds the elevator doors open so we can enter. “Grace is coming!”
“Life can’t get much better than this, can it?” Donovan asks me as we rush toward the elevator with a very excited Dora and Georgie right behind us.
“I think it will,” I say with all the confidence I feel in my heart. “I think this is just our beginning and the best is yet to come.”