Epilogue Two
Four Years Later
Carefully balancing the tray in my hand, I pull the door open to Parlour Tricks.
“Morning, Lee.”
I tuck my sunglasses into the neck of my T-shirt and smile at Maeghen.
She’s been working at Parlour Tricks since the start and has helped run the place whenever Claire needed time off. Like when I whisked her away to Europe for our honeymoon and then nine months later when our daughter was born. Soon, she’ll be stepping up once again when Claire takes maternity leave.
“Hey, Maeghen. Is my wife around?” I set the tray on the counter, pulling an iced mocha out for her, which she greedily accepts with a smile.
“Thank you. I love it when you visit.”
“Why don’t you make your own husband visit more?” I laugh.
“He gets too tempted by Liv’s beignets. Says he’s gotta keep himself pretty for me.”
I know that feeling. Just like I know both Claire and Maeghen wouldn’t care how their husbands looked. They know our hearts are pure. Maeghan has firsthand proof of just how much her husband would do for her. And I take any opportunity to remind my wife that she is the fire that makes my life burn brighter.
“Yep, we’re both punching above our weight. Gotta remind you ladies why you keep us around.”
“Is that why you keep knocking Claire up?” She laughs. I hold a finger to my lips, as if she figured out my secret.
“Daddy!” At the sound of the sweetest little voice, my head turns to see my princess running towards me.
Covered head to toe in pink, bright blonde pigtails fly behind her as she gets ready to launch into my open arms.
I scoop her up, holding her tight against my chest and lay kisses all over her soft, rosy cheeks.
“Hi, Sadie girl.” She giggles when I let my beard tickle against her. “Look what Daddy brought you.”
I turn to the counter and pull out the small strawberry smoothie. Just like her mum, my princess loves pink. I hold it up for her so she can take a sip from the straw.
“Thank you, Daddy.” My heart pounds every time that word falls from her lips.
Before long, that word will become threefold. I guarantee my heart will melt into a puddle even further.
“Where’s Mummy?”
Sadie points her little finger to the back of the salon toward the kitchen and, on cue, my beautiful wife appears.
Her once-short hair now hangs past her shoulders, the bright blonde tresses taking on a darker caramel tone, and her stomach is heavy and round as she carries our twins.
To be honest, I was half expecting Sadie to be twins since they run in my family, but I’m glad we had a practice round of parenting with just the one for our first time.
Sadie was such an easy baby. I’m one hundred percent certain she lulled us into a false sense of security that we actually knew what the fuck we were doing.
I have a feeling Claire’s going to be insisting I have the snip in a few months’ time. I’ll coax one more out of her, though. I love seeing my wife pregnant. I didn’t think I could love her more, and then she became my wife. My world spun entirely on her axis, and then she did one better and became the mother of my children.
The love I have for her is unlike anything I prepared myself for. I thought I was looking for an easy love, someone that folded into my life as if they were always meant to be there. But Claire charged in, made room for herself, and shook me up in ways that brought me to life.
“Hey, Bombshell.” She’s so sexy, even as she waddles over to me instead of strutting in her usual fashion.
That smile still decimates me.
She wraps an arm around my back, the other covering Sadie.
“Hello, husband.”
Maeghan jokes I keep knocking Claire up to keep myself around her. Truth be told, it’s every time Claire calls me that.
She used it with a little too much enthusiasm on our honeymoon, which resulted in Sadie being born exactly nine months later.
We flew to Port Yarra last year for our wedding anniversary, tying in a visit to my sister, Thyra. Not long after she came back from her Europe trip, she decided to take a job on the other side of the country.
Three days child-free, one slip of a breathy husband, and my wife was knocked up with twins.
“How are you feeling today?”
She just hit thirty-five weeks. Doctors have told us we’ll deliver at thirty-seven weeks if labour doesn’t occur on its own.
Twins often come early, and with the amount Claire is on her feet in the salon, it makes me nervous every time she goes to work.
She mainly does Saturdays and the beauty classes now, since the weight on her back started giving her grief.
I’ve been taking my husband duties very seriously with nightly back rubs since she started to show. Claire also told me since I got her into the mess, the least I could do was make it better. A back rub and two orgasms later, and I was miraculously forgiven.
“I’m good. They’re active today.” She smiles.
I move my hand around to rub over her belly, pausing when I feel a little kick against my hand.
“I want to feel,” Sadie says, squirming in my arms. I put her down so she can hold her hand against Claire, pushing her face right up against her belly.
“Elloooooo,” she yells, lips pressed tight against the stretched fabric.
My hand runs through her soft hair as I stare down at her, my heart achingly full.
When I look back up, Claire’s eyes are already on me. A soft smile graces her face, and after four years, I still can’t believe I get to call her mine.
Her eyes suddenly widen, making me look over my shoulder, thinking she’s seen something, until Sadie speaks up.
“Oh, Mummy. You hads a accident.”
My eyes rip down to the floor, and sure enough, Claire is standing in a puddle.
“Baby, did your water just break?” She stays calm and just nods her head.
“Can you bring the car around? Lex was driving up today. She might be able to swing by our place and get my bags.” Her voice is steady as I watch her take in calculated breaths.
“Okay. Otherwise, Tristan or Astrid should be able to.” I scoop up Sadie, propping her on my hip. “Come with Daddy, princess.”
“Is Mummy coming?”
“Yeah, darling. We gotta get Mummy to the hospital. It’s time for your brother and sister to come,” I say.
She gasps, clapping her little hands to my cheeks as I rush around the corner to the parking lot.
“Already?”
“Yep. Looks like they’re coming a little early.”
“I’m so happy.” I pop a kiss to her forehead. “She totally peed on my shoe, though.”
***
Twelve hours and nineteen minutes later, Atley Tristan and Alexis Margot came into the world.
My wife told me with absolute finality she was not doing that again.
Since it was well after visiting hours when the twins were born, we decided to wait until morning to tell our families the news. Especially since they had to spend the first night in NICU.
Lex met us at the hospital forty minutes after we were admitted, dropping off Claire’s bag and taking Sadie for a sleepover.
There was no shortage of cousins where she was going, particularly girls, so it didn’t take much convincing for Sadie to leave us with a kiss and a promise to call her when her siblings arrived.
Just after ten the next morning, the first stampede hurtled through the doors.
My mum and Claire’s mum, Margot, trample through, arms linked, and eyes set only on the babies as tears and gasps start. Dad rounds the bed and heads straight for Claire, a coffee tray and pastry box in hand.
“Congratulations, sweetheart.” He kisses her head, then pops the food on the table beside her. “We stopped at Sweet Escape on the way. Thought you might need some sustenance.”
“You’re a lifesaver.” Claire groans as Dad passes her one cup and then reaches over to pass me another.
He swivels the tray table over Claire before opening the box, overflowing with an assortment of fresh pastries.
“Liv says congratulations and she’ll text you later to see when they can visit.”
“Has Sadie met them yet?” Margot asks, as she stands, rocking Atley in her arms.
“No, Lex and Caleb will bring her after breakfast, though. So, they should be here soon,” I say.
“Have you heard from Tristan and the girls?” asks Mum.
“We called Thyra just before. Think she was going to try to get a flight out today or tomorrow,” Claire says before looking at my dad with a gleam in her eye. “You know how her boss can be, though.” She giggles.
“We’re here.” Tristan runs through the door, panting, before dropping his hands to his knees and breathing hard.
“What’s wrong with you?” Dad asks.
“Lucifer said the elevators would be quicker.” He rubs at his chest once he can stand up straight. “So I ran up the stairs to prove her wrong.”
He may have beaten his wife, but she’ll manage to find a way to have him admit he was wrong.
A brunette spitfire strolls through the door, arms crossed, eyebrow arched as she stares at my cousin.
“It’s not quicker if you run. Anything’s quicker when you run. You barely beat me, and you’re sweating and panting all over the place.” She marches right to him, barely reaching his shoulders, but what she lacks in height she makes up for in attitude. “Tell me, honey. Do you feel like a winner?”
Tristan smiles like a bumbling fool. “I got to see your pretty face when you walked in.”
“Yes. But if you had let me lead, you would have been staring at my pretty arse.”
With that, Tristan’s smile falls. “Damn.”
See, told you she’d find a way to prove him wrong. She smiles, then puckers her lips up for him to kiss before pivoting and taking in the babies.
“Congrats, you guys.” She makes her way over to Claire before coming to hug me.
“You make em’ real pretty, you two,” Tristan says as he leans over Mum’s shoulder, rubbing a tentative hand over Alexis’s soft hair.
“I’m sure yours will be beautiful, too,” says Mum with a smirk.
I catch Tristan looking up at his wife with a knowing smile.
They’ve been married for a year now. Tristan’s wife is very career-driven. It’s how they met, where their chemistry exploded. But I have noticed whenever the family gathers, she loves to surround herself with all the nieces and nephews.
It could just be because she’s still a kid at heart. I think that’s why they got along so well.
After Aunt Georgia’s accident, Tristan had to grow up quickly, taking on a level of responsibility that he insisted he should shoulder. His wife gives him every opportunity to have fun and let go.
“Yes, let someone else make some pretty babies,” Claire says through a bite of her croissant. “I’m done.”
I walk over to her, perching myself on the edge of her bed.
“Are you sure, Bombshell?” I lean in close, that plum and vanilla scent still dizzying my senses.
“Three babies have destroyed my vagina, Leif. That shit doesn’t go back,” she whispers.
“One more,” I say, grazing my nose up along her jaw, leaving a kiss behind her ear. “Come on. Give me one more, baby. You can do it. Trust me.”