Epilogue
Walkin ’ around my house like who the fuck closed last night?
— Pepper’s secret thoughts
PEPPER
I was fighting for my life.
For one, I had no bra on.
For two, I was doing a whole lot of jumping, lunging, swinging my arms, and dodging.
Three , there was a horse fly in my office, and I couldn’t kill it with the long-sleeved t-shirt of Atlas’s that I’d worn out of the house this morning.
Today was just supposed to be a quick run up to my office, where I would submit the payroll that I’d forgotten to last night.
Except the apartment at the bakery that we’d turned into a huge office space for both Maven and me had an outside entrance that I liked to use over having to run into the bakery, behind the counter, through the kitchen, and upstairs to the office.
The only problem with the back entrance was that when you used it, you had to go up the enclosed stairwell.
And last night, I’d forgotten to turn the light off as I was leaving, and every fucking bug on the planet was in that stairwell.
With nothing to do for it, I’d had to enter into my office, and I’d accidentally let three mosquito hawks and a horse fly into the room with me.
The mosquito hawks didn’t bother me.
It was the horse fly, that hurt really bad when it bit, that bothered me.
Another buzz had me spinning around, terror sliding through me.
I reared back and swung with the shirt.
I felt my left boob go one way, and my right boob go the other.
The short top I was wearing was precariously close to not holding the girls in.
They’d been that way since we’d had our first child four years ago.
When I was finally done with breastfeeding— I’d breastfed my first for nearly a year and a half—there I was delivering another one.
That was also why we’d turned the top apartment into an office. Off the main room where our computers and workspaces were was another enclosed room that we’d set up as a playroom for the kids.
Between Maven’s and my own, we had six kids— Maven with three and me with three.
If we were both working at the same time, we’d either get Garnett , one of our sisters-in-law, or even a very few trusted babysitters, to watch them for us.
That way, if there were any issues with them, we would be close in case they needed us.
And just sayin’, but having half Carter genes, there was always an issue.
Another buzz right past my face and I whirled, eyes scanning the space.
I jumped, dodged, and did everything but roll across the ground.
I knew I was making a lot of noise, but I couldn’t help it.
I did not want to be bitten by the big bastard.
“ I am going to send you straight to hell,” I snarled, trying in vain to get the stupid thing with my next hit.
I didn’t.
ATLAS
“ Hello ?” I answered.
I was tired.
But I’d been tired since our second son, Glades , had been born.
Glades —like the Florida Everglades — was named after Pepper’s mother, Gladys .
Our first born son, Ware , had Emmanuelle’s name as a middle name.
Ware was one and a half, and Glades was just shy of a month old.
“ Hey , pull up your app for the nursery at the bakery.”
Auden’s amused voice had me shifting, even though I’d just gotten Glades back to sleep.
Catching my phone with a foot so I wouldn’t move the colic-prone child too much—his sleep was precious to us both— I swiftly opened the app, knowing instinctively that it had something to do with my girl.
I opened the app, and the camera watching over the nursery was still. Yet , I could hear sounds.
“ Listen here, you little dictator,” I heard my wife’s voice growl. Gosh , she was cute when she was mad. “ I’ll kill you. I’ll kill your brother. Your sister. Your mother. Your other mother. Whoever the fuck I have to kill, they’ll die. All because you’re a fucking fucker.”
My lips quirked at the words.
I wasn’t worried that she was in trouble.
We had that place wired. Plus , if there’d been danger, Auden , who liked to spend his early mornings at the bakery with Maven before he went on shift, would’ve done something.
“ Why won’t you fucking…” I saw her whirl past the doorway, my olive green DPD SWAT shirt in her hand, after something imaginary.
Though , if I had to guess, it was either a horse fly or a spider. She didn’t like either of those.
The horse fly more than most.
She got bitten by one at least four times a year, and she welted up really bad, to the point where she had to be on antibiotics.
That was how we’d gotten Glades , after all.
Grinning like a fucking loon, I picked up the half-empty bottle, a diaper, some wipes, and made the trek over to my nearest neighbor.
I used my code to get into the door, and then disarmed the alarm.
Everyone knew everyone’s codes, and it was hard to keep a Carter out if they wanted to be there—at least in their families’ homes.
I walked toward Garrett’s bedroom, unsurprised to find him still in bed.
What was a surprise was to find him with who he was with.
“ Don’t shoot me,” I teased.
“ I’m not going to shoot you,” the woman grumbled, face buried in the pillow beside Garrett’s .
“ You ever heard of knocking?” Garrett asked, hair wild, as he stared at me.
“ I did,” I said. “ In my head.”
The woman giggled, still not picking her head up from her pillow.
I placed my sleeping baby boy in between the two of them and said, “ I have to go save my girl from a murder hornet.”
“ You mean a fly?” Garrett asked, turning over and cuddling closer to my son.
My boy made a soft cooing noise, and the woman finally picked her head up. “ Is that my baby?”
I snorted. “ Bye .”
I left my kid with my brother and the girl he wasn’t willing to admit was his, and headed out, letting Boss out when I did.
Only when he was finished did I let him back inside and close the door.
The drive to the bakery took less than five minutes.
It was when I was running up the stairs that I realized I was still in sweats only.
I waved at the two bakery workers who were serving about five customers at a time.
There were quite a few eyes on me as I cut through the kitchen and headed for the office.
Generally , I went this way because the back hallway was always filled with bugs.
That had to be the way Pepper had gone for her to let the fly in.
As I slowly crept in, I watched the show.
“ Why . Won’t . You . Die .” Pepper growled, tits swinging underneath the crop top she was wearing.
It was another one of my shirts, though cut off about mid-waist. I’d worn it for football my senior year of high school.
She loved it.
I loved it, too.
On her.
I loved it even more when she was braless wearing it, her tits swinging.
I watched for a while, at least until the horse fly finally landed on her.
Snatching up my shirt, I whipped it at her, catching her right on the left ass cheek.
She screeched, turned, and gasped, “ What the hell, Atlas ?”
I pointed at the ground where the horse fly was still twitching.
She stomped on it.
If you didn’t know better, you would’ve never realized she was hurt so very badly a few years ago.
She was in great shape.
Her body had handled having our babies like a champ.
And speaking of babies… “ How do you feel about another baby?”
She snorted, patting her flat belly. “ I’ll have to give you a rain check. I’m gonna enjoy wearing a crop top for the summer.”
I moved up closer to her, pulling her suggestively into my arms before saying, “ I could probably convince you.”
All I had to do was look at her and she was pregnant.
I would love to put another one of my babies inside of her.
She laughed. “ Not here, though. Maven’s set to head up here to make a conference call in less than an hour.”
“ Perfect ,” I said, then took her home.
We’d just cleaned up and gotten dressed when the doorbell to our house went off.
Usually , Garrett would walk right in, but I’d informed him that I needed him to knock because when you had three kids, you had to get it where you could, when you could.
He only took that to heart when he’d walked in on me banging my very pregnant wife on the coffee table right inside the door.
From that point on, he knocked.
But only barely.
Pepper headed for the door while I headed for the kitchen.
The sound of pattering feet had me glancing up to see Forest running in, looking windblown.
“ Hey ,” I said to him. “ I thought you were spending the day with Papa ?”
“ I was,” he answered. “ But Papa got called into work for an emergency meeting. So I came home with Aunt Shayne .”
“ Gotcha ,” I said. “ Go wash your hands. They’re filthy.”
Forest rolled his eyes.
He may not be of Pepper’s loins, but he acted like her.
Six months after Pepper asked, we received permission to get Forest legally adopted.
It was a pivotal moment in our lives, and the feeling of rightness settled over us ever since.
“ Did you know that Garrett is on Quinn’s shit list?” my wife asked as she came into the kitchen with Garrett and my son.
His girl was nowhere to be seen.
“ No ,” my eyebrows pinched tighter. “ Why ?”
“ Because Catherine asked him why the Little Mermaid wore seashells, and instead of saying something normal, like that was the fashion where she came from, Garrett says…”
She left it hanging for Garrett to fill in.
“ Because she probably grew out of her B shells,” he finished for her.
There was an abrupt laugh that came from the front door where someone apparently waited. “ You did not!”
“ Ohhh ,” Pepper’s eyes lit. “ You brought her with you? What is that, three times this week, Garrett Parrot ?”
“ Garrett Parrot .” I wheezed.
“ Don’t you dare repeat that,” he pointed his finger at me. “ Or I’ll never do early morning anything for your kids again so you can go have sex in your wife’s office.”
I shut my mouth.
He’d do it, too.
“ Boys ,” Pepper said. “ Speaking of kids… let me have mine. We’re going to lunch, would you like to go?”
“ What about your other one? Aren’t you supposed to be picking him up from Mom soon?” Garrett asked.
“ That’s where we’re going,” Pepper answered for me. “ Now , are you coming or what?”
Garrett looked toward his house. “ Or what.”
We left with just Glades and Forest , which was okay with me.
And when we got to the restaurant, it was to see Ware digging into a cup of ice cream.
“ He was too hungry to wait,” my mother lied.
“ Grammy !” Forest cried, running to her for a hug.
My mother produced another cup of ice cream and handed it over.
Forest smiled and dug in.
Meanwhile , the rest of us settled in to order lunch.
It was during the lull between ordering our drinks and the waitress arriving again that Mamasauce started explaining what was new with her program at work.
“ Mr . Billionaire came through again,” Mom said. “ We are reaching and helping so many kids in the area that we’ve decided to expand it into the entire northeastern part of Texas .”
Pepper beamed. “ I’m glad that I set y’all up.”
Mom’s eyes went serious before she said, “ You have no clue how much you changed our lives, sweetie. Without you, none of us would be as happy as we are.”
I threw my arm around my wife. “ You can say that again.”
“ Hey , there. Aren’t you the woman who was hit by that car at the police station a few years ago?” The waitress came back with our drinks.
“ I am,” Pepper confirmed.
“ Wow ,” she shook her head. “ You look so much better than that picture they shared. I’ll bet you’re happy to hear about that woman dying.”
We all stiffened.
“ What woman?” I asked.
“ That woman you’re related to. I can’t remember her name, though,” she said as she took her pen out. “ Y’all ready to order?”
We placed our orders, then immediately went for our phones.
“ Holy shit,” Pepper breathed. “ Sage died!”
I resisted the urge to say ‘good riddance’ but only barely.
“ Bad word, Momma !” Forest teased.
Pepper looked at our son. “ Sometimes bad words are necessary, Forest Carter .”
Forest leveled her with a look. “ I’ll remember that next time you tell me that.”
I threw my arm around Pepper’s shoulders and said, “ You okay?”
She leaned her head on my shoulder and nuzzled her face into my neck.
“ Surprisingly , I’m perfectly okay.”
I placed a kiss onto her forehead. “ How do you feel about a little girl this time, baby?”
She snorted out a laugh. “ I think your swimmers are good, but they’re not that good.”
She was wrong.
Nine months later, we welcomed our fourth child into the world. Garnett Elizabeth Carter .