Thirty-one and a half hours later, I lay there in complete exhaustion while I watched Dean cut our son’s umbilical cord as I held my little goo-covered angel boy against my chest.

After the nurses carried him away to clean and measure him, I reached a hand out to Dean. I was about to apologize for all of the creative ways that I’d cussed him out during my labor, when the lights began to dim and the world went black.

The next time I was awake, I opened my eyes to the sight of Dean sitting in a chair beside my bed, feeding a bottle to our son.

“Did I seriously pass out back there?” I asked softly.

Dean reluctantly tore his eyes away from the baby, then smiled gently at me. “You sure did, but damn… If anybody ever deserved to pass the fuck out, it was you.”

He froze when he realized he’d just cussed twice while holding a baby. “Shi—I mean, shoot. I really need to clean up my language.”

“Babe, you usually manage not to cuss that much in front of the other kids—sometimes, you’re even better than I am about that. I’m fairly certain that our newborn isn’t going to remember anything that comes out of your mouth right now. He has no idea what language is yet, but he already knows the sounds of our voices from hearing us while he was in my womb.”

“He does seem to know my voice, I’ve noticed that.” My heart swelled as I watched Dean’s eyes tear up with wonder as he shared that.

“How long was I asleep?”

“I dunno. Four, maybe five hours? Not nearly long enough, if you ask me.” Dean yawned, bringing home the fact that he’d soldiered through my entire labor and delivery, and then stayed awake with the baby while I had been passed out.

“What did I ever do to deserve you?” I spoke in a low voice, so as not to disturb the baby. “If I’ve never said it before, thank you for being so good about me having another alpha’s baby.”

Dean looked around the room curiously, then turned back to me. “I don’t see any other alphas in here… and… I’m pretty sure that this is my kid, yeah?” I grinned as he bent and licked the baby’s forehead, already knowing where he was going with that. “There! I licked him, now he’s definitely mine.”

I shook my head and groaned. “Dean. Our son is not like the last piece of pie when we were kids. You can’t just lick him and claim him like that. It’s simply not done.”

He stood carefully, making sure not to jostle the baby as he walked over to sit down on the side of my bed. He carefully lowered the baby into my arms, making sure that I had the bottle before he moved his hands. Then Dean rested his hand on my leg and made my heart swell even more with his next words.

“Yeah, I can claim him like that… Because I already did. In fact, I just want to go on record by saying that I hereby claim all four of your kids…” He stopped and cackled like the witch from the Wizard of Oz as he said the next part. “…and their little dad too.”

I rolled my eyes yet again at my crazy husband, but I’d never been happier in my entire life. I cuddled the baby close, inhaling the sweet scent of pure baby while I enjoyed this moment alone with him and Dean.

“Have you narrowed down a name for a boy? I was so busy focusing on girl names that I never thought about a boy name, at least not seriously,” Dean said thoughtfully.

“Yes, actually I have,” I said decisively. “I’d like to name him Noah, that was my dad’s name, and I figured since he’s not using it anymore, then maybe this little guy could?”

Dean nodded as he slowly tried out the name. “Noah Macintosh. Yes, that sounds great. I like it.”

“Wait,” I said. “MacIntosh?”

Dean looked at me like I was an idiot. “Well, yeah. He’s my son, isn’t he? Besides, I’m hoping that all four of our kids will carry my name soon—if you’ll agree to it. Unless Matty changing his name will screw things up for him getting his trust fund?”

I shook my head. “No, I talked to Tristan’s father a few days ago. He wanted to apologize for everything that Helen had put me through. He says he had no idea how deep it had gone—but I’m pretty sure that’s just him doing the political backpedaling dance since Helen was given that suspended sentence and house arrest for the next nine months.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Dean asked curiously. He didn’t look upset, but rather that he didn’t understand why I hadn’t shared that information sooner.

“Honestly? It wasn’t that important. You came in and we were talking about Kiki’s dance recital, and Matty finally agreeing to take lessons too, and it pretty much slipped from my mind. But, before I forget. Mr. Adams said he’d be sending papers by courier for me to put in a lockbox. All three of the kids, and this one now that he’s been born, would be named on the trust fund equally. And when he passes, all four kids will equally share in his estate as joint heirs.”

“Even if they don’t have his last name?” Dean asked suspiciously. He seemed intent that the kids would be taking his name.

“You know, we have a pretty good lawyer in the family who can make sure that stipulation is named in the trust. As far as his will goes? Who cares. I’d rather see my kids carry your name than inherit more money they won’t need. The trust is enough. Besides, Dean... you’ve been more of a dad to them this past year than their biological father ever was.”

Dean’s face softened with a gentle smile. “That’s because I love them, Laurie. Those babies all came from you, how could I not love them? I’m beyond grateful that you’ve given me this chance to be a father, and I won’t ever let any of our children down. They will always know that I’m there for them, no matter what.”

Tears were streaming down my face at his words, when the door to my room flew open and a crowd of MacIntoshes came flooding in. Matty and Chris came running over to my side, eagerly waiting to see the baby, while Kiki went straight for her Papa Dean and started climbing into his lap like a true daddy’s girl.

“Granny said that we have another brother, what’s his name?” Matty asked as he signed for Chris’s benefit.

“Sign for me too, Matty—I kind of have my hands full right now. But yes, this is your new brother,” I paused to make sure that Matty was indeed signing before continuing. “His name is Noah—and his last name is going to be the same as mine now, MacIntosh. Is that okay with you guys?”

“I want to be a MacIntosh too,” Kiki whined. “I don’t want to be a stupid old Adams anymore. I want my name to match Papa Dean’s.”

I took a breath, aware that every member of Dean’s family were avidly listening to our little discussion.

“It’s up to you guys, but your Papa Dean has already suggested exactly that. If you guys would like to become permanent MacIntosh members instead of honorary ones, we can do that.”

Matty and Chris shared a long look, then Matty turned back to me with a firm nod. “We’re already MacIntoshes, so you guys might as well make it legal. Besides, everyone knows that Papa Dean is our dad now.”

“That baby looks like he needs to be burped, and I need to hold the newest MacIntosh,” Granny said as she bustled in with grabby hands for the baby.

I let her take him, smiling as I watched her expertly burp him. I hadn’t noticed the towel over her shoulder until she’d put him against it.

Kade noticed me looking at the towel, and shook his head. “Are you really surprised that Granny came prepared? Come on, Laurie. You’ve got a brand-new baby here—that’s crack for old ladies.”

Grandma did her usual smack upside the back of his head. “Watch who you’re calling old, boy. You’re not too old for me to take over my knee,” she added with what she tried to pass off as a menacing glare.

Kade was laughing too hard for her to pull it off, and pretty soon they were both laughing together. Zeke pulled my boys away from the bedside.

“Come on, you two. Let’s go down to the gift shop and see if we can’t find some balloons and a giant teddy bear for Noah.”

Kiki jumped off Papa Dean’s lap, and went over to climb up on Grandma Dot’s instead. I watched her with a fond smile, she sure did love being part of this family.

While they were slipping away, Dean bent down and stole a kiss. He gave me a careful hug, taking care not to squeeze my sore body too hard as he whispered in my ear.

“I love you so much, Laurie. Not only are you my best friend—you’re the love of my life. I’m so glad that I finally figured that out. Thank you for making me part of this crazy family of ours.”

When he leaned back to look me in the face, I braced my hands on his cheeks and pulled his face down for a quick kiss before I said anything.

“Our crazy family? You must be talking about yours, because at least mine have the excuse of being children. Yours are absolutely bonkers, which is pretty cool, because that means we all fit right in. Oh, and before I ramble anymore, let me say one more thing—I love you, too.”

Kade pushed his way in and sat down on the other side of me on the already overfilled hospital bed. “Seriously? Did I just hear you say that our family is crazy? You two are the ones who have four kids. And I won’t be a bit surprised to be back here in another year or two greeting number five. But that’s okay, as long as they all sign up for dance classes with their favorite uncle.”

I pushed at Kade’s shoulder. “Get out of here. I’m trying to have an intimate moment with your brother.”

“See? I was right! You’re already trying to have an intimate moment, and yet you barely got done pushing one out.” Kade looked around the room until he spotted Zeke who hadn’t left yet. “Zeke! Get your ass over here; we have a new bet in play.”

Zeke perked up with a broad grin as he walked back over to my bedside. “A bet, you say? Name the terms.”

Dean and I groaned while Kade waved a hand in our direction. “The bet is for how long it will take before we’re all back here greeting Dean and Laurie’s fifth child.”

“Let’s see, it’s about six weeks before Laurie can have sex again, if I remember correctly. So, take that, add nine months…” Zeke tilted his head and looked up to the ceiling thoughtfully then turned back to his brother.

“Can I have a spread? Like, one to three years?”

“No, asshole. That defeats the whole purpose of this bet. Besides, I’m taking two years,” Kade said.

“Now see… me personally? I think a better bet would be as to how many more they have. But if you want time? Put me down for fifteen months.” Zeke nodded confidently, then patted the wallet that was stashed in his back pocket. “Usual terms?”

“Yeah, usual terms. Now tell me, what made you choose fifteen months?” Kade asked curiously.

Zeke shrugged. “Because Laurie won’t want us to win a stupid bet, so he’ll make sure he doesn’t get pregnant right away—but by about the six-month mark, he’ll forget all about it, and then the next thing we know? We’re getting a text telling us that were going to be uncles again.”

I laughed at the validity of his statement, that really did sound exactly like how I would play it. Dean shook his head. “Please, like we would have to announce a pregnancy by text. All we’d have to do is call Granny. You know she’ll take care of the shouting it from the rooftops part of things.”

Everyone laughed, even Dean’s grandmothers—because we all knew that Dean spoke the truth. In the middle of all the fun, Dean leaned over and kissed me again. When he broke the kiss, he pulled back just enough to speak softly against my lips.

“Welcome to my crazy family, Laurie MacIntosh. I’d ask if you know what you’re getting yourself into, but you already did it when you agreed to fake-marry me and then signed a legally binding marriage license.”

“And I’d do it all over again, Dean MacIntosh. Fake-marrying you was the best decision I ever made, the runner-up would have to be deciding to come home in the first place.”

Dean smiled against my lips. “Yeah, as decisions go? Those are both pretty top-notch. But, shouldn’t you probably add having your kids into your list of best decisions?”

I shook my head. “I never had to actively decide to have my children. I was blessed with each and every one of those little surprises. Just like I never had to choose to love you—I always kinda did. But choosing to marry you? Yeah, that’s definitely the best decision I ever made.”

“I don’t know if loving you was a choice for me, or something that just happened, but I’ll tell you this—if it was a choice? I would happily choose to love you each and every time.”

“Then how about we spend the rest of our lives choosing every day to fall in love with each other all over again?” I asked.

“Now that’s a plan I can definitely get behind,” Dean said. Then he closed the scant distance between our lips and kissed me.