Epilogue-Four Years Later

Britt

Ifeel the babies kick right after I put the finishing touches on the cake I'm decorating to celebrate the Minnesota Norse's third consecutive Stanley Cup win.

The team has defied the odds, going from last place to first place in only one year to winning the last three Stanley Cup championships, all thanks to the Hayes family and Teagan's husbands.

"Hey, sis." Teagan bumps my hip with hers in a playful manner as my two-year-old, Twila, bounces on her aunt's other hip.

"Hey, sis, yourself."

Twila stretches her chubby little arms out to me. I take each of her hands in mine and kiss them, making her giggle.

It still feels like a dream to be able to call Teagan my sister-in-law, but once the guys won their first Stanley Cup, I married the three of them in a private family ceremony.

Well, it was actually a double ceremony. Teagan and her guys also got married that day.

"Where did my brothers run off to?" Teagan asks, swiping her finger through the frosting on the cake and feeding it to Twila.

"You're just as bad as your brothers are, feeding her all that sugar," I jokingly scold Teagan. "I can't wait until you have kids of your own, and I can feed them tons of sugar."

"About that." Her tone turns serious. "We're pregnant!" Her face beams with happiness.

"How? When? What about hockey?" I bombard her with questions.

"If you don't know how by now, I'm not going to be the one to tell you." She makes a big production of motioning to my seven-month-pregnant belly that holds my twin boys.

"You know what I mean." I roll my eyes. "What about hockey? I know how much you love to play. How are you going to handle a pregnancy and your hockey career?"

"We hired a surrogate. Well, actually, three surrogates," she adds. "We fertilized my eggs with their sperm and inserted it into the surrogates to ensure they each have their own biological child. I know they've said it doesn't matter if they have biological children or not. They want the baby to be healthy and happy. But I wanted to give them each the special gift of fatherhood."

It's the same conversation I've had with Torin, Talen, and Tarek after we got married, but their response has always been that any child we have will be their biological child because of their triplet DNA, and they couldn't be happier to share that with each other.

"When did you do this?"

"Seven months ago. We're keeping it a secret. The surrogates are all due in two months. The same time as these little peanuts." She rubs my stomach with her free hand. "We're going to be mommies at the same time."

"Oh, Teagan!" I wrap my arms around Teagan and my daughter, giving them both a big hug.

"Don't tell anyone yet. We're planning on telling everyone next week." She hands Twila to me and nods to the door. "You have company. I'll talk to you later."

Torin, Talen, and Tarek stroll into the kitchen. As soon as Twila sees them, she catapults her little body out of my arms and launches herself at her fathers. "Daddies!" she squeals with the freedom of knowing her daddies will never let her fall. They will always be there to catch her.

Torin is the closest and easily catches her in his arms. "There's my little daredevil." He kisses the top of her head before swinging her up on his shoulders.

"Be careful. You might accidentally drop her." Tarek fusses over our daughter like a mother hen while Talen and Torin roll their eyes.

"She'll be fine, won't you, little princess?" Talen says, tickling her belly, making her giggle even louder.

It's funny how we've all changed during our time together. Torin is now the fun one, Talen is the talkative one, and Tarek is the family's protector. Fatherhood changes a person.

As for me, I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have found the three loves of my life. Tears gather in my eyes as I gaze at my family.

"Britt, what's wrong?" Tarek guides me to a chair and helps me sit.

"Everything is fine." I sniffle because, of course, I'm a loud crier. "I just love all of you so much. You guys, Twila, and the twins are my whole world. I couldn't love you all anymore if I tried."

Torin swings Twila from his shoulders and into his arms. The four of them circle around me in a group hug reminiscent of our first group hug on the day I learned that Torin, Talen, and Tarek were my new roommates only this time we have Twila with us, making my heart swell with love at the life we created and the new lives growing inside me.

"We love you too, baby." Torin kisses my cheek and places a hand on my stomach.

"Always and forever," Talen says, reciting our marriage vows before laying his hand on my stomach.

"Ditto," Tarek smirks, reciting a line from my favorite old movie and setting his large hand on my stomach.

"Mommy loves Daddies!" Twila chimes in, adding her small hand to my stomach. Her beautiful violet eyes shine with all the love I feel for them.

"Yes, sweetheart, Mommy loves all your daddies."

The babies decide to add their two cents worth, kicking my belly with the force of soccer players. But that's our little secret. This family is already overflowing with hockey players. Maybe it's time to branch out to a different sport.

I'm so glad that dressing up like one Brittney gave me the courage to pursue what I wanted and that the real Brittany had the courage to hold on to what she wanted, even if I had to beg them to puck me baby one more time.