Epilogue
Two weeks later
“I can’t believe the babies are a week old already. I can’t wait to see them.” Tatum ran into the living room holding two big boxes filled with clothes for each of Eira’s twins. One box, pink...and the other, blue.
Jett took the boxes out of Tatum’s hands and set them down on the oak coffee table. “Will you relax. They will be here any minute. You seriously need to calm down. They’re just babies for goodness sake. It’s not like you’ve never seen one before.”
“Hey, this is the first time I get to be an auntie and I’m going to savor every single second of this.” The doorbell rang followed by a loud wrap on the hard wood. “Yay! They’re here.” Tatum bolted to the door and swung it open and her excitement quickly deflated. “Oh, it’s you.” She walked away from the door leaving it wide open.
“Nice to see you too sis. Can someone give me a hand please?”
Jett stood from the couch and clapped for his brother.
“Ha. Ha. Ha. You’re a fucking comedian. Now, help me. I walked up the stair all by myself.”
Tatum shoved a pretzel in her mouth. “So? What do you want a cookie? Or maybe a doggie treat? I think I have some left in the pantry for you.”
Ronin paused long enough to steady himself on his crutches to flip Tatum the bird. “Sit on it and rotate.”
Tatum swept her hand in front of her, pretending to take the finger from him and kissed it before placing it in her pocket. She smirked. “I’ll just keep that for later.”
“You do that. Now, can somebody please help me?”
“Fine. You’re so needy.” Tatum took one of Ronin’s crutches from him and guided him over to the sofa.
Ronin plopped on the cushion and lifted his leg onto the table next to the boxes. “Ah, that’s the stuff.”
Tatum pushed Ronin’s leg as she sat down. “No, that is certainly not the stuff. Get your stupid broken leg away from the babies presents.”
“Ow! Shit Tatum, that hurt.”
Tatum elbowed him in the rib. “Don’t be such a baby!”
Ronin hunched over from the pain of her blow. “Fuck!”
Tatum slammed her hands over her mouth. She didn’t know whether she wanted to laugh or feel bad for him. “I’m sorry. I forgot your stitches.”
Leaning back with his eyes closed, Ronin blew out a ragged breath. “I survive a rogue wolf attack and this human is going to kill me.”
Tatum lifted his Ronin’s t-shirt to inspect the damage. “When was the last time you changed the bandage?”
“A few hours ago.’
“And when did you last take your pain meds?”
“Yesterday. I don’t need them.”
Tatum rose off the sofa. “You do too need them. I’ll be back. I think you left some here when you stayed with us.”
“If I wanted a doctor I would go see Drake.”
Turning on her heel, Tatum squinted her eyes at him. “Theodore is an obstetrician, not a medical doctor.”
“So what? Tomato, potato. Same thing.”
Tatum shook her head in annoyance. “I don’t want you teaching those babies anything. Ever.”
The doorbell rang again and she dashed for the entryway swinging the door open again. It wasn’t Eira and Adonis, but the man standing in the doorway made her just as happy. She threw her arms around his neck, drawing him into a tight hug. “Jasper! What are you doing here?!”
Ronin yelled from his spot on the couch. “Why didn’t you greet me like that?”
“Because she doesn’t like you.” Jett said as he placed a pretzel in his mouth and smiled.
Tatum took Jasper by the hand, dragging him into the living room to meet everyone. “Jasper, this is Jett, and that lump on the couch is Jett’s brother.”
Jasper smiled, stretching out his arm to shake Ronin’s hand. “Does Jett’s brother have a name?”
“No.” Tatum said before anyone had a chance to answer Jasper’s question. “We just call him The Thing.”
Ronin took Jasper’s hand and shook it as he shot Tatum a playful wink. “I think you should take that finger out of your pocket and rotate on it, like I told you to do before.” He turned to face Jasper. “Ronin.”
Jasper laughed. “Oh no, she does that saving the finger for later thing with you too?”
Ronin rolled his eyes. “Unfortunately yes.” Ronin looked down at their joined hands and smiled before gracing Jasper with a lust filled gaze. “Can I have my hand back now.”
Jasper was mesmerized by Ronin’s golden eyes and for a fraction of second, so was Tatum. Jasper pulled his hand away from Ronin’s as if it were on fire. “Oh, yeah, sorry.”
“Uh, what kind of greeting is this. We have to let ourselves in now.” Eira’s voice had Tatum spinning around and pushing Jasper out of the way. In the corner of her eye she Jasper stumble onto Ronin’s lap and heard Ronin groan from the pain of Jasper jostling his leg. But, Tatum didn’t have time for that, she was dying to see the babies. “Oh my God! They’re so beautiful. Can I have them?”
“No!” Jett yelled from the couch as he stood and took one of the babies from Adonis. “Give me Atlas. You two take a load off. I got it.”
“You do?” Adonis and Tatum said in unison.
“Shut up. How hard can it be to take care of a little baby?”
Adonis laughed. “You can figure that out when you babysit for us next week.”
Jett placed Atlas on the coffee table next to the presents. “When did I agree to do that?”
Tatum took Aleera out of her car seat and placed her on her chest as she addressed Jett. “You didn’t, we did.” Kissing the baby on top of her head, Tatum breathed in the wonderful baby smell she heard everyone talking so much about and they weren’t wrong. It was the most beautiful scent she ever experienced. “Oh, I could just squish her.”
Eira laughed. “Please don’t squish my child.”
Adonis sat on the arm of the couch, elbowing Jett in the arm. “So, when are you going to have one?”
Jett arched a brow at Adonis. “Have one what?”
“A watermelon.” Adonis said giving Jett an exacerbated look. “A baby, you moron.”
Jett glanced at Tatum and smiled. “Whenever she wants one.”
Tatum pretended she was going to give Eira back the baby. “Can we start now?”
“Ew. No. Not while I’m in the house please.” Ronin groaned.
Tatum settled back against the sofa with baby Aleera snuggled on her chest and as she looked around the room at all the smiling faces, she wondered how she got so lucky to have wound up with such an amazing, loving family.