The joke was on me because it was several hours before the party began to die down.
I’d given Thana her presents this morning over breakfast in bed, and she was waiting to open her gifts from everyone else tomorrow. For tonight, I was going to dance with her a little longer, then take her back to our bedroom and give her additional birthday orgasms.
“Happy Birthday, my love,” I whispered as I twirled her around and back into my arms. “This has been the most wonderful year of my life.”
“I think we can top it.” She beamed up at me with a gorgeous smile. I was often stunned speechless by her beauty, but tonight she had a glow that seemed to be coming from inside her. “You know, it’s pretty darn hard to keep a secret from your husband when you share a mind,” she teased.
I frowned and narrowed my eyes. “You shouldn’t be keeping secrets from your man, baby.”
Thana giggled, and her smile got wider. “I have a birthday present for you.”
I raised an eyebrow at her cat that ate the canary expression. It was adorable. “It’s not my birthday.”
Thana’s eyes sparkled, and she bounced a shoulder. “It’s really for both of us.”
She stared up into my eyes, and her mind opened completely. My knees went weak as the picture of a sonogram swam before my eyes.
“You’re pregnant?”
She stuck one of her hands in the folds of her skirt, and it reappeared, clutching a piece of paper. It trembled as she lifted her hand up. I took the picture, and a smile began to split my face.
“You’re pregnant?” I shouted, my smile so wide it actually hurt my face.
Thana glanced around and giggled. “Shhhh.”
I straightened and swung Thana around in a circle, the sound of her laughter breathing life into me. “WE’RE PREGNANT!”
Once we’d made a full rotation, I gently set her over my shoulder and shouted one more time, “Party is over! Get out!”
Then I stalked out of the ballroom and down the candlelit hallway. “That was so rude!” Thana said, hitting me on the derriere.
I growled, “Keep it up, wife, and I’m going to remind you what a spanking really feels like.”
Thana gasped, and I groaned when I felt her desire through our connection. When we reached the bedroom, I slid her halfway down my body and cupped her bottom to hold her so that her legs went around my waist. “Are you happy?” I asked softly.
“You can’t feel it?”
I shook my head. “I want you to tell me.”
Thana kissed one corner of my mouth. “So.” She kissed the other side. “Very.” Her lips brushed my right eye. “Very.” Then the left eye. “Happy.”
When her mouth gently met mine, I lost it and kissed her deeply. It was carnal and full of love wrapped in desperate passion.
Hours later, as we lay in bed, naked and sated, she cuddled into me and sighed. “I love you.”
I tightened my arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “I love you, too. Forever.”
Epilogue Thana
“Ronan, you come back here right this instant!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, uncertain where my five-year-old had disappeared to.
Something Kieran had neglected to warn me about when it came to raising daywalker children was how young some of them were when they gained the ability to teleport. Our son was only three when he shocked the heck out of me by pulling a disappearing act while I was in the middle of explaining why he couldn’t have another cookie. He’d popped up in front of me again about a minute later—with crumbs on his shirt, a smudge of chocolate on his chin, and an innocent smile. I’d asked Kieran to have a stern talk with him afterward, where he’d told our son that his gift should only be used in the case of an emergency. What he hadn’t taken into consideration was that Ronan’s definition of a crisis covered a whole lot more scenarios than ours did.
There was a popping sound behind me, and I whirled around to find Ronan sitting cross-legged on the floor, grinning. “I wasn’t bweaking the rules. It was an emewgency, Mommy.”
“Oh, really?” I drawled, tapping my foot and biting my cheek so I didn’t start laughing because of how adorable he was. Scanning his face and clothes, I didn’t spot any sign that he’d been in the kitchen pilfering a treat. His emergencies often involved him desperately needing a second dessert since he had quite the sweet tooth. “What were you doing?”
He slow-blinked his bright blue eyes—the same shade as his father, uncles, sister, and cousins. “Sheridan was cold. I helped her with her bwankie.”
“Your sister is napping in the nursery.” I crouched down so I was closer to his eye level. “How did you know she was cold?”
“I heawd her.” He tapped his ear.
I dropped down on my butt, shocked by his answer. Neither of the kids had spoken telepathically to Kieran or me yet. I kind of figured the first time one of them used that particular gift, it would be to reach out to us. “Have you heard Sheridan say something when she isn’t near you before?”
“Uh-huh.” His little forehead scrunched while he nodded. “I heawd her ask to go higher on the swing set.”
We’d added a playset to the back lawn just beyond the patio, but it was within earshot of the kitchen. “Did that happen yesterday when you went inside to get a drink?”
“Yup.” Rowan made a popping sound at the end of the P as he nodded his head.
That wasn’t what I’d meant, but figuring out how to explain telepathy to a kindergartener wasn’t exactly easy. “The nursery is all the way upstairs, and you were down here with me. Has
