Epilogue

Jamison

Imove into the center, looking for my wife. At times I can't believe I've been married to her for five years now. It seems like I just saw her coming out of the bathroom in all her beautiful glory, but now, we have a two and a half year old little man Simon that I love more than anything. Being a dad is the best job ever and I'll be becoming dad all over again in five or so months.

Which is why I'm coming for my wife today. She's been at the daycare center the family operates and she helps oversee for her allotted time this week.

I don't normally have an issue with it because she brings Simon with her, but with the news we got at the doctor's office two weeks ago, she agreed to limit her time here until after the babies are born. Yes…babies. My wife is giving me more than one this time, so she has to take better care of herself than she did when she was carrying Simon.

She never put him at risk, she just kept pushing until she'd nearly drop from exhaustion. I won't begin to let that happen this time.

I find her in the middle of a ring of kids, and I move into the room, pulling a happy ‘daddy' from Simon who is sitting right next to her, his hand on her leg being the possessive little man he is. All the kids love Natalie, so he tends to let them know that she's his mommy not theirs, the same way I let other men know Natalie's my woman when we're out somewhere.

There are times when I almost wish I still had security on her when she was out of the house, so I'd know they stayed far away, but there hasn't been a need for it since Craig was killed. His father ended up in prison for accessory to murder, so we haven't heard from him in years either. It's been an interesting five years for our family—and not just the one Natalie and I have made together.

Thankfully, all my brothers and sisters are happy with their lives now, despite some rough moments during the last few years. That has to be saying something about how our parents raised us though.

Thirteen kids all happy at the same time…doesn't seem possible, but we are. Even Joe although he's still single.

Natalie looks up and I tap on my watch, lifting a brow her way, earning a bit of an eye-roll in return, but she finishes the story and gets up, heading over to me with Simon trailing right behind her. She slips into my hold, and I drop a kiss onto the top of her head as the other workers come in to take over the group.

"Everything okay Natalie?" Linda asks looking between us. She's a little leery of men still but I don't blame her. She's only been out of her ten-year abusive relationship for six months now. She lives in the complex and with her background in teaching preschool, is a perfect fit to help with the daycare center. Her four kids are all school age, but they come here when they're out.

"All good, someone was just reminding me I'm over my time limit for the week," Natalie says, smiling gently when the woman's eyes tighten. "I'm pregnant."

"With triplets," I add resting my hand on her stomach as the woman's jaw dropped. "You weren't here when she was pregnant with Simon, but someone doesn't know that Mommy has to rest so she doesn't overdo it. So I made her promise that she would limit her time here, let the family help with Simon, so she would rest more."

"Congratulations," Linda says giving us a smile, and I take my girl home, making sure her legs aren't swelling.

She's only three months along but with the extra babies, we know she'll go early. Which she does at thirty-five weeks, after four weeks of bedrest, leaving me worried about all of them. Dr. Miller handles the c-section beautifully, and I know Natalie hates that she can't hold our babies, but they let each of them rest against her chest before they need to take them to ensure they're breathing properly.

I feel like I can breathe again once we're all in a room, the babies doing great thanks to the steroids Natalie took to help their lungs develop quicker. They're all little. Our boy the biggest at five pounds, three ounces. Our sweet girls that turned out to not be identical, surprising us all, were four pounds, eight ounces, and four pounds, four ounces each.

They look tiny in Natalie's arms, and I drop a kiss onto the top of her head, thankful they're all doing well as the afternoon arrives along with the rest of the family. Jasmine gushes over all of them, asking if we've finally decided on names, and I laugh at her reaction to them.

"Well, this little guy is Stefan, and these little sweethearts are Sutton and Spencer," Natalie tells her and Mom.

"Spencer for a girl?" Jasmine says and I nod, kissing the top of Natalie's head.

"It's what her mommy wanted and since she just carried three of them, she gets final decision. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."

"Sounds about right," Nick states, coming into the room with us, Greg following right behind him.

"Look at my little nieces, aren't they gorgeous," Greg says, giving Natalie a hug before gushing over the babies.

"I thought that was you," we hear from the doorway, and I'm just as shocked as Nick and Greg are to find a teenage girl there, staring at them in shock.

"Maureen, what are you…" Nick starts to ask but Greg nudges his now husband in the side stopping the stupid question.

"Is your mom here?" Greg asks her and she shakes her head no, tears falling and before any of us can say a word, Mom's next to her, ushering her back to her room.

"Should we be worried?" Nick asks, looking from me to Natalie, well aware that the family's foundation is determined to help girls like Maureen that want to keep their babies. It was Natalie's idea to build the daycare center, so the moms didn't have to fight so hard to get their kids into one. It's been an amazing addition and I'm damn proud that Natalie graduated with her degree, and the tiniest baby bump. Simon was born in December, an early Christmas present we both were ready for, but some of the girls at the apartment complex weren't so lucky.

"I don't think so," Natalie says, giving her brother a smile, and a couple hours later, Mom comes back in with a huge smile, dragging the guys away.

I'm holding Stefan in one arm, my other hand in Natalie's when there's a soft knock on our door, and I see her smile come fully to life when whoever it is enters. It sends my head around, slightly surprised to see Greg carrying a bundle our way.

"Want to meet your niece who will be sharing a birthday with her cousins?" Greg states and I move, letting him take the seat so Natalie doesn't have to try and get up.

"She's gorgeous," Natalie tells them as Nick beams down at the little girl with the darkest blue eyes I've ever seen on a baby.

"She's perfect and we've agreed to do an open adoption with Maureen. She's not ready to be a mom, to have someone dependent on her and just her for their survival, but she didn't want to completely walk away either. She's going to finish high school next year, then go to college, but we'll send her pictures of little Bella, and she can come visit. She'll be another auntie to her, along with the huge family she'll get to be part of now," Nick explains, and Natalie's smile grows even deeper.

"Best family ever," Natalie muses and I kiss the top of her head, smiling fully in agreement. "You know, you never did thank me for making your cabin better you know."

"Oh, when you went behind my back and snuck off there, fell for my friend behind my back and didn't tell me, then changed the design that I paid for, you mean?" Nick says and she nods. "Then thank you, Sis. Pretty sure it was the second best decision you ever made. The first was running away to hide there so Jamison could find you. If something had happened to you…"

"Won't ever happen," I promise them, and I repeat it to Natalie later when everyone's gone home, including Nick and Greg with baby Bella who was perfectly healthy.

"Do you want me to get the snip?" I ask Natalie when she sighs happily after the babies are fed again.

"What?" she hums, looking back to me in surprise.

"If you don't want to risk having extra surprises again, I'd rather get the snip than you go back on the pill, and something happen."

"I'm sure it was a complete fluke and won't happen again. Ask me again in a few years and then we'll see. I think one more baby wouldn't be too bad. Until then, I'll take the pill and if something happens, it happens, and we'll make the best of it. Now, just so you know, if it happens and it's more than one, then we'll probably have that discussion," Natalie says, and I won't say I'm angry with that answer. Whatever my girl wants, I'll make sure to give her, because that's what daddy does best in this family.