They brought our perfect twins into the world, and Chloe made it through the whole ordeal just fine. Mia stayed with us while Chloe healed, helping with the twins and anything else she needed. How helpful she’d been, how amazing she was with the babies, had surprised me. Though, when my sister truly cared about something, she did so with single-minded ferocity.
I went over to Pierce, patting him on the shoulder. “Congratulations, man.” He was not only my best bud but now my brother-in-law… which was still weird.
“Yeah. Thanks for not beating the shit out of me during the vows.” He chuckled.
“Just don’t hurt her and I won't have to, Hendricks.”
“Ha! Like she would ever let that happen.” He watched my sister bouncing the baby in her arms with adoration in his eyes. “I, uh, changed positions. I’m doing a lot more desk work now so I won’t be gone as much when we get back from Colorado. No more undercover shit,” he told me as everyone came inside—Ava, my grandma, and Mom going right to Mia to coo at Farrah. Dad talked to my grandpa, Pierce’s father, and the minister. And Cade went to stand by Ava.
With raised eyebrows, I shot him a sideways glance. “How do you feel about that? ”
He grinned at Mia. “Better than ever.” She glanced at him as if she could feel his gaze on her, then winked. They loved each other. It was that simple.
I caught Chloe’s eye when she switched babies with Mia. Her crooked smile lit me on fire. It seemed such a huge burden to be stuck there feeding both babies, but she handled it with finesse and grace. Like she handled every other part of being a mom. Everything she did that she’d never imagined herself doing. After everything she was raised in, she somehow found something inside her that was far greater than that oppression. Something that shined in the darkness. The same light we’d found in the midst of our surprise pregnancy.
When the pictures were taken and the festivities began, Chloe wore Farrah in one of those wrap things while Ava played with Phillip and I played cornhole with Pierce, Cade, and Mia. We ate good food and partied until the sun set over the horizon. Mia smashed an entire piece of chocolate cake in Pierce’s face, and then he kissed her, rubbing the chocolate frosting all over hers. The small crowd was in hysterics. Watching my sister enjoy life after enduring so much dark showed me just how blessed my family was. Both my sisters and I were blessed beyond measure.
“I want cake,” Chloe told me, squeezing the hand she held.
I smirked, kissing her cheek and murmuring, “Want me to feed it to you, toots?”
The sultry smile that spread across those luscious lips had my blood thrumming. “We could take some back to the hotel.”
I chuckled, kissing her mouth that time. “I will get all the damn cake you want.”
“Let’s get the hell out of here, then!” she exclaimed, making me laugh, my heart swelling.
We got our cake and said our goodbyes, the bride and groom leaving right behind us to head for their house. They would be leaving for Colorado in the morning, as we would be headed back to Ohio and Ava and Cade to Tennessee. Though we all lived scattered across the country, we were so much closer than we’d ever been. Or rather, my sisters were extremely close to my wife, always calling, often coming all the way to Ohio to visit. Where I thought my family may have been disappointed that they didn’t get to share in our wedding, they had all been ecstatic to add her to the family, especially after getting to hear most of her story.
“That was the most perfect little wedding.” Chloe sighed after we got the twins strapped in the new car Chloe had let me get her.
My hand resting on her bare knee, I squeezed it. “You’re not regretting our courthouse wedding, are you?”
“No!” She snorted with an eye roll. “But I’m glad Mia got what she wanted. She deserves that.”
“Looks like all of us got what we wanted all around,” I stated, rubbing my hand up and down my wife’s leg.
“And I couldn’t be more blissful.” She reached back, soothing a fussy Farrah, sweetly cooing at her.
She wasn’t only an amazing wife who kept me on my toes and an amazing mom who loved our twins fiercely, she was a warrior woman who I had the pleasure of getting to spend the rest of my life with.
Acknowledgments
First, to our Maker for giving me these gifts and making life possible. I must also thank the love of my life for having confidence in me and pushing me to leap with this one. You’ve rooted for me from the very first.
A humongous thank you to the Hot Tree publishing team. To the lovely editing team (Liv for keeping it all flowing and Kristin for making editing fun), thanks to all of you for combing through Kate until she was perfect. To the amazing marketing team through Ink-N-Flow—Jas and Lori, you gave me so much courage in my work. To Becky, thank you for believing in Kate and taking that leap with me. You’ve done amazing things in the publishing world. To BookSmith Designs for getting this cover just right.
To my amazing friend Veronica, who believed in every word and pushed me to see it too. You’ll always be The Kind of Person That Listens to Reasonable Demands ;)
To my family (including extended!) for rooting for me the whole way and for listening to my incessant jabbering about my WIPs. There’s no other family out there like you.
To all the bloggers and author services out there, you’ve done so much for the author community, making our lives better. We wouldn’t be able to do much without you.
Finally, my readers, thank you for the support and
