One Year Later
I sang softly as I tucked the purple blanket around my little baby girl, trying to get her to go back to sleep. She babbled softly and laid her head on my chest again, playing with my hair. She was fascinated by the curls and kept tugging on them. I chuckled and shifted her in my arms.
“She’s still awake, huh?” William asked, dragging me from my thoughts. He walked in, carrying our two baby boys. Noah waddled in beside him, carrying his teddy bear.
I smiled softly. “She’s just not ready to go back to sleep yet. How about the boys?”
“They’re knocked out.” He leaned down and kissed my cheek. Then he put the boys in their cribs and took Jessie from my arms so I could feed Noah.
To my astonishment and William’s joy, we ended up having triplets, two adorable identical boys and a beautiful baby girl—Judah Michael, Ian William, and Jessalyn Ava Solace. Ian was the oldest, being born four minutes before Judah and nine minutes before Jessie.
The three of them had black hair, obviously, but Ian and Judah had William’s dark green eyes and Jessie had grey ones, much to William’s dismay. He actually ended up getting that gun license, saying, and I quote, “Our baby girl looks exactly like you, and that means boy trouble. As a dad, my job is to keep them away with a gun and bury them if they dare touch her.”
There was no stopping him once he said that.
The triplets were now five months, and Noah was twenty-one months. As for the Kelly-Noah situation, Kelly decided that once she got out of jail, she would get a therapist to help her deal with the trauma and move on from everything.
I looked down at Noah, who was very cranky since he started teething again. He glared at the spoon as if it was going to attack him. He grabbed the spoon from my hand and tossed it aside, hitting William in the shoulder.
“Hey, what did I do to you?” William asked, rubbing his arm.
However, Noah was too busy roaring at his teddy bear to pay attention, and I laughed at his cute little growls.
“Now here are my favorite little nieces and nephews!” We turned to look at a beaming Jackson, who waltzed in like he owned the nursery.
“Shh, the boys are sleeping,” William hissed.
Jackson rolled his eyes at him and pinched Noah’s cheek, who frowned at him.
“Whoa there, buddy, don’t be mad at your Uncle Jack.” Jackson patted his head and took Noah from me.
I stood up from the rocking chair and stretched my arms slowly. I stopped mid-stretch when I noticed William staring at me with lust in his eyes and blushed.
“How is it that even though you have three kids already, you two still act like a newly-married couple?” Jackson asked mischievously, poking my blushing cheeks.
I slapped his hand away and glared at him playfully. “When you get married to Hillary, you’ll understand.”
As soon as I said that, Jackson’s ears began turning bright red, causing William and me to break into laughter at his embarrassment.
“When are you planning to put a ring on her?” William asked, handing Jessie back to me.
“Well, um, that’s kinda why I’m here. I wanted Heather’s help to choose a ring she would like…” He looked at me imploringly.
I smiled. “Of course.”
He sighed in relief. “Thanks, I’m planning to propose on our one-year anniversary, which is in about two months.”
“Isn’t Nathan proposing to Alex around that time?” I asked.
“Yep, I thought it would be nice for the Presley brothers to be engaged at the same time,” he said, grinning.
“That’s if Hillary says yes.” Jackson turned to glare at Freddy, who was leaning against the doorframe casually.
“At least I have a woman, unlike someone, whose mother is trying to get me to find one for him.” Jackson smirked.
“I’m already in love with a girl. Right, Jessie? You’ll marry me, right, baby girl?” Freddy asked, walking over and kissing Jessie’s head.
William immediately took Jessie from me again and glared at Freddy. “I’ve got a gun, and I’m not afraid to use it.”
Jackson and I laughed as they stared each other down.
“Hold it! The only person marrying Jessie is my son.” Ethan walked in carrying baby Edward.
“Is that so?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips.
“Yeah, see, they’re best friends already.” He moved Edward closer to Jessie.
Edward poked Jessie in the eye and she hit him with her rattle, causing him to cry.
“Yep, totally best friends,” I said amusedly.
“Okay, not yet, but soon,” Ethan said, rubbing Edward’s back.
“What are all of you doing here anyway?” William asked, patting Jessie’s back and putting her back in her crib.
“We invited ourselves over for lunch,” Freddy said, taking Edward from Ethan. This was turning into a game of pass the babies around.
“Yeah, everyone else is on their way,” Jackson said, looking at his cellphone.
William shook his head and started to shoo them. “All right, all of you head downstairs. Our babies are trying to sleep.”
“Your kids can sleep through a hurricane. You just want some frickle-frackle time with Heather.” Freddy grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.
William pushed him out the door. “That’s none of your business, and who even says frickle-frackle anymore? “
He shut the door in Freddy’s face and turned to me with a smile.
“Finally, some peace and quiet,” he murmured, stepping toward me and pressing his mouth to mine.
After a few minutes of kissing passionately, he pulled away and leaned his forehead on mine. He stroked my cheek with the back of his fingers and smiled.
“Wanna hear a cheesy line?”
I rolled my eyes and grinned. “Some things never get old.”
He smiled. “I have two words to say to you. I love you.”
“Isn’t that three words?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling softly.
“No, love is one word. You and I are one,” he whispered, chuckling at the look on my face.
My mouth dropped open slightly before I grinned. I laughed and shook my head, wrapping my arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. “That was so smooth.”
He chuckled. “Do you know what the best part about marrying you was? Getting the chance to fall in love with you.” He wrapped his arms around me and put his chin on my `head. I smiled softly and tightened my hold around him.
Despite our bad start, we managed to get past everything and have our happy ending. The pain, the hurt, the fights, all paid off in the end. I was in love with an amazing man, and he loved me with everything he had.
I was no longer hurt.
I was no longer in the dark.
I was no longer the rejected wife.
The End