Epilogue

Lucy

I sneak into the house without Liam and Jayden seeing me, setting up the surprise I've been dying to spill for the last three days. I hate it when Jayden isn't home. It's only happened three times in the past three years that he wasn't home with us, twice in the last five months although all three times was because he was on a business trip with Kenneth.

I'm still a bit in shock that my husband is now working with Kenneth, learning his business to take over one day since Patrick, Bryant, and Tiffany have absolutely no interest in it. Jayden graduated this past May, a year early thanks to adding in classes during the summer as well as taking some online during the winter break. I miss him not being on campus, but I love that he's found something he's passionate about—well, beyond me and Liam.

Come this May, he'll have more to be passionate about while our house is going to be a bit more crowded. More so than what Jayden's expecting right now even.

I had my doctor's appointment three days ago and wanted to tell him immediately what the ultrasound showed, but I wanted him here in person to learn it more, so I've been dying for him to get home. It shouldn't have surprised me to get the message from my mom that the boys were home, and Jayden picked Liam up from kindergarten, so I didn't need to stop by their place before coming home. They've been gone a week, originally weren't supposed to be back until late this week, so I'm so happy they're home early.

Thankfully my boys are in our tiny little backyard letting me sneak in and up here to get the surprise ready. I love the brownstone that we found last year. We weren't looking but one day, I was out with Mom, saw it with the for sale sign in the front as we were driving past, and I loved it. I was certain we couldn't afford it, not even with my job at the university. Kenneth stepped in, offering us the cash to buy it, and when we refused, offered to make it a loan that we could repay once Jayden started working for him. We couldn't argue with that, and now, we're in an amazing house that we love, and in seven months, we'll have two little babies to add to it.

I know Jayden hurried them to get home today because tomorrow's our anniversary and he didn't want to spend it apart, so this will be a welcome home and early anniversary present all in one.

I finish setting up the surprise before heading back downstairs to meet my boys. Not that Jayden's much of a boy anymore. He may only be twenty-two, but he's all man and I love him more and more every day.

Liam's getting so big that a new baby is absolutely the perfect addition to our family, let alone two. Our moms are going to be so thrilled. They've been itching for another grandbaby and honestly this has to be the perfect way to do it because now they won't argue over who gets to hold the baby first.

"And what do we have here?" I ask, sneaking up on them, pulling a giggle from Liam that is unmatched with its sweetness.

"You're home early," Jayden says, pulling me onto his lap, his hand going immediately onto my belly as his eyes brighten. "How are you and baby two doing?"

"Good, no morning sickness today even," I add because it was bad there for a bit.

"Then I'd say that earns you the choice of what we do for dinner," he states making me laugh because he always gives into what Liam, or I, want.

"I've been craving a grilled chicken oriental salad. We could do just grilled chicken for you all if you don't want the salad," I add because my cravings shouldn't dictate what they have to eat.

"Could Dad and I do noodles with it?" Liam asks, perking up entirely. He knows I'd make noodles even though I'm not a fan of peppers on a normal day, add in being pregnant and already dealing with some heartburn, I definitely can't do it, but he and his daddy love chicken stir fry with all of the veggies and peppers and onions.

"Of course you can," I tell him, dropping a kiss onto the top of his head. "I think we have everything to make them, but I can check the fridge."

"If you want homemade I'll grill up the chicken, or I can call over and get both from Cheng's," Jayden offers and the grins on our faces tell him everything. He drops a quick kiss on my lips before getting up, gently putting me down on my feet as his eyes tell me precisely what we're going to do tonight. "Let me go change and then I'll call in the order."

"I love you," I tell him, enjoying the way he always kisses me when I say it. After taking so long to be able to get them out the first time, we know how special the words are.

"Love you too, baby," he states heading towards our bedroom and I wait at the foot of the stairs for him to notice the surprise on the bed. A couple minutes later, his loud ‘Lucy!' told me he had long before his quick footsteps sounded on the steps headed towards us.

He turns the corner, the onesies in his hands and he holds them up when he spots me and my grin, his eyes questioning it entirely. "Baby…is this…you're sure?"

"Very sure," I tell him, pulling the ultrasound photo out for him to see the very distinct view of both babies in the same frame.

"I love you," he says reaching me, dropping a kiss onto my lips, before leaning over, adding, "and you, and you," while kissing my belly twice. "I guess baby two really is baby times two."

"Happy?" I ask resting my arms on his shoulders after he gives me another sweet kiss.

"More than you'll ever know, baby. Now we just need to know if they're girls or boys or one of each," he states, and I can't hide my smile in time. "I've read the books, you can't tell for several more weeks."

"Well there's a blood test that can tell if it's a boy or girl, although with twins it'll only tell you that at least one could be a boy," I muse, drawing it out. "Except ours didn't show any boys…"

" Lucy! " he shouts in excitement, drawing Liam's attention our way as Jayden twirls me around, tears shimmering in his eyes that I know have absolutely nothing to do with sadness.

"What's going on?" Liam asks, and we show him the onesies.

Jayden holds up the one that says ‘I was planned' which doesn't surprise him since we've already told him about the baby. His eyes widen when I hold up the ‘But I tagged along' onesie and he lets out a big shout of excitement.

"Think you'll still be this excited to know they're both girls?" I ask and am nearly toppled over as Liam hugs me tight, happy tears falling down his face.

"Guess I don't have to ask if he was team girl or team boy," Jayden teases, picking him up to hug between us.

"You were both team girl from the moment I told you," I counter, loving that they both wanted a little girl to join our family.

"Okay, you all enjoy some snuggles while I go get out food. I think I'm going to have to stop and get some dessert as well after this news," Jayden adds and my mouth waters with a huge craving for something sweet but light. "I already know," he states before I can begin to ask for it. "Strawberry shortcake from Dezie's?"

"Best…husband…ever," I sigh in between kisses, and when he gets home, the salad is just what I was wanting but oh god, the strawberry shortcake was delicious, leaving a permanent smile on my lips long after Liam was in bed.

"Do you want to try and convince Liam to not spill the beans or tell everyone…or just let him do it?" Jayden asks as we pick up the house for the night.

"Well, I might have taken some pictures of my little set-up before you found it, including some with the ultrasound photo. I thought maybe we could post it, so they all see it together and then we won't get in trouble for telling one of them before the others? You know the second they get the notification that we've added a post, they'll be calling—like immediately."

"True," he states, giving me a long kiss before we head upstairs. He grabs his iPad and types up a post. Neither of us are huge fans of social media still but it lets our parents—mostly his, Jessa, Joel, Tiffany, Bryant, and Patrick to see what's going on with us since they're rarely in town. We only use one page on just a few platforms which makes it easier.

Tiffany, Bryant and Patrick have welcome Jayden, Liam and me into the family fully, they're just not nearly as family oriented and enjoy their freedom far too much to stick around the city. We still have Sunday brunch every week and I love it, so does Liam, so we don't plan on stopping any time soon.

Mom and I can spend as much time together as we want without having to worry about being hurt too. My father is in prison, with a life sentence thankfully, and won't ever get out. He can never come to hurt any of us, which makes it so much easier to enjoy this pregnancy.

I love the sweetness of his post and lean over, kissing him as we lounge on the bed, waiting for the calls. Almost simultaneously, ones come in from both our moms. We answer Shelly first, sending a request to Claire to join the group call, then do the same for Jessa and Joel when they both try to call just moments later.

"Are you serious?" Jessa asks as Jayden drops a kiss on my temple. "Twins?"

"Twin girls according to the blood test she tells me," he says with a grin for the group. "Liam and I are both over the moon about it."

"You've been saying you want a little girl for the last year so that's definitely not a shock," Michael says from behind Shelly who takes up most of the screen with her hugely grinning face.

"It's amazing, honey," Mom adds, her eyes shining as brightly as Jayden's did earlier. "Summer is going to be so sweet now. You should be able to be off for most of it, won't you?"

"Well…I talked with Dr. Moore at the university after we found out I was pregnant, and they've agreed to let me take a year's leave of absence after the twelve weeks I can take for normal maternity leave would be up. I wouldn't go back until the new school year starts after they're one," I tell everyone, including Jayden who can't hide his excitement about that news. "I figured we would be okay without my paycheck for a year. That even with two babies it won't hurt us."

"If you didn't love your job I'd tell you not to go back at all and you know that, baby," he teases, and I know it's a hundred percent true.

"You both can still babysit, I'm sure we'll be glad to have some date nights or days, whatever works out best. And just think, if we do a vacation somewhere next summer, you won't have to fight over the baby," I add to our moms who laugh but also agree it's a win for them for sure.

The joy for our girls doesn't fade one bit, and two weeks before we're due, Shelly comes to town, not wanting to miss a thing. And she doesn't when a couple days later, our girls decide to come in the middle of the night. Kenneth comes over to stay with Liam, who isn't thrilled he can't come to the hospital with us, so we promise if the girls aren't there by morning, he can skip school and stay with us, which makes him happy.

It makes me happy too because at seven-thirty, he pops into the room with his daddy, and an hour after that, our gorgeous little girls with their blue-green eyes arrive without a fuss.

"They're perfect," Shelly says softly that afternoon, holding onto one of our babies, while Mom holds the other. Liam's in a chair with me, watching them very carefully, while Jayden hovers to make sure neither of them wakes needing anything.

Seeing him with a tiny baby in his hands makes me wish there wasn't the need for recovery because it makes me want him even more.

"Did you finally pick names for them?" Shelly adds drawing my attention off him which is probably a good thing if they're monitoring my vitals still because he makes my heart race and probably always will.

I smile holding my mom's gaze for a moment before telling them, "Baby A is…Jeannine Elizabeth, and Baby B is Danielle Elise."

"Perfect," Shelly whispers to Jeannine, "yes, absolutely perfect for our sweet little girls."

She lets out a coo in her sleep which has Jayden taking her back and none of us can hold onto our laughter. Our girls have him tied up in knots and I'm certain it'll never change.

Though it's not just our little girls that does it, because a hint over three years later, our Leo Kenneth steal his heart just as easily as his older sisters did, and I can't wait to spend a year with him, the same way I did with the girls before going back to work.

"You're amazing, baby," Jayden says, holding me late that evening as Leo snoozes away in his bassinet.

"Still love me I take it?" I tease giggling when he holds me even closer, showing me how his body reacts to my closeness.

"Always, forever, until the end of time. You've given me four amazing kids on top of giving me you. They're my world, but you are my center of everything. That will never, ever change, I promise you that."

"Good answer, papa bear," I sigh, a smile on my lips as my eyes flutter shut. "Good thing I love you right back, now isn't it?"

"More than you'll ever know," he agrees, kissing everywhere he can easily reach until sleep comes, leaving me safe and protected in his arms, dreaming peacefully of the years to come.