I was surrounded by babies.

Wailing and unhappy babies with the exception of Kate’s daughter Mira. She was sweet most of the time. Even when she was hungry she seemed a lot more like her mother than her twin did. Ethan was a hellion already and had his parents panicking every time he threw a fit. In those instances, he would throw his head back, scream, then hold his breath until he turned red in the face.

I watched as Logan took him from Kate and walked around patting him on the back. Kate looked relieved that her two month old son was in his dad’s arms and not hers. I could tell that the rigors of dealing with two babies at the same time was making her stress like any other new mother would. Happy but stressed.

Julia was comforting her new baby, Daisy, as we sat outside on Aiden’s huge patio. Holden was talking with Aiden while they cooked on a huge grill that was built into a stone enclosure. He kept looking over at Julia and Daisy like he needed to rush in and take over the situation at any minute but was resisting the urge.

Liv played in the yard with her son Tobias, while Drew looked on with amusement. They were trying to teach the toddler how to catch a ball but he just kept giggling and chasing after Drew.

Mira stretched an arm and yawned as I held her. She was completely oblivious to the antics around her. I slipped my finger into her hand and she grasped it and looked at me. We got along just fine until she started crying. Right now she was easy and sleepy.

“Sure you still don’t want to have a baby?” Brock suddenly whispered in my ear.

I flinched and a shiver ran down my back. I wondered if that would ever stop happening with him.

We had both recovered well from the fire without too many complications. When I had come out of my sleepy daze he had been there right beside Drew. Both of them had fussed over me even though Brock had been ordered several times to go back to his room. Eventually the staff had given up and given us a double room. It didn’t stop him from getting out of bed from time to time to crawl into my small one just to lay down with me.

“I’m still absolutely positive I don’t want a baby,” I whispered back at him. “I’m perfectly happy being a good aunt to all of these kiddos.”

Brock slid into the seat beside mine and looked at Mira. “She’s sweet, we can just take her home for a few nights. They won’t miss her.”

I chuckled. “Right. They’re not always like this. Look at Ethan.”

Brock glanced at Logan and smiled. “Clearly, the evil child. We’ll take the angel.”

I gave Brock a look that told him to shut it.

“He’s just a baby but I don’t want one. I want to go to school first, then we’ll talk about adopting an older child. No babies.”

Brock smirked at me and looked down at Mira again.

“Fair enough. So, does that mean you’re going to marry me then?”

“I’ve told you no for two months straight so why would that indicate that I want to marry you? Plenty of people just live together in relationships without marriage.”

“Because I gave you the best orgasms of your young life last night with my head between your legs and you said a lot of yes, yes, yes when I asked.”

I looked around to see if anyone had heard, then scowled over at him.

“Will you be quiet about that?” I hissed.

He shrugged and gave me an indifferent look. “What? I like making you scream. Should I give you my impression of how you sounded.”

“No!” I hissed again and Mira stirred. “You’re going to wake up Mira and her poor little innocent ears don’t need to hear about it.”

“Marry me then and I’ll stop. Otherwise I’m going to sit here and describe every moan, scream and begging word I heard last night. I don’t give a shit who hears it.”

I snuggled Mira closer to my chest and rolled my eyes.

“I love you, Brock, but we don’t have to be married to be happy.”

“Says you. I would be happy being married. That way I can call you Andromeda Renee Fleming and you can officially be my wife. When we adopt our hoard of children, they’ll all be Flemings and I know Drew wouldn’t mind changing his name too.”

“And you’ll chip all of them no doubt.”

Brock looked at me like I was nuts. “Of course. All Flemings get chipped. Drew didn’t mind.”

I rolled my eyes.

Brock cleared his throat and spoke up. “Hey Kate, did I tell you what Andi was saying to me last night?”

She opened an eyelid and looked at him like she could care less.

“She was saying—”

“That we’re getting married,” I smiled at her, then scowled at Brock.

The guys turned toward us and said congratulations.

Logan gave their son to Kate and shook Brock’s hand. They spoke for a moment privately then Logan left.

Brock sat back down afterward and leaned back in his seat. He put his hands behind his head and shut his eyes.

“Told you not to test me, Andi.”

I sighed and shook my head. This was my family and he was most definitely going to be my husband. It was not the family I was born with but the one that I would have chosen over any other and I was more than happy.

Mira burped quietly and spit up on my shirt. Reason number one-hundred-eighty-two why I was never having a baby. They were messy. Even the sweet ones.

Brock looked over at me, still wearing a smirk on his face. I handed Mira to him and smiled.

He held her at arm’s length for a minute and looked like he might panic.

“Just cradle her for a little bit while I go wash this off.”

He gave me look that promised retribution if I didn’t hurry.

I stepped into the kitchen, walked around the island and started trying to dab at the spot that Mira had left.

I heard Logan on the phone somewhere in the living room.

“Just thought I would let you know, man. Contact me when you can. Hang in there. Bye.”

I finished rinsing my hands and turned back to him as he walked in.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

Logan looked surprised to see me for some reason.

“Good. Just passing along your news.”

I tilted my head and looked at him. “Hmm. Anyone particular?”

He shook his head. “No, just family. Everyone likes good news.”

We stared at each other for a moment longer.

I nodded and smiled at him. “Have I ever told you that I’ll murder you if you ever do anything to Kate?”

Logan laughed. “I would never hurt Kate and you know it. It was family. We’re all happy for you both.”

I gave him a sheepish look. “Thank you.”

“I mean it. Of course, you know that Brock is a nuisance half the time. So, if you would like a tranquilizer for him, I would be more than happy to send one home with you.”

I laughed and headed through the door. “I might take you up on that.”

“On what?” Brock asked. I noticed that Mira wasn’t in his arms anymore.

“Nothing dear,” I smiled at him and sat in his lap.

“Hmm, I love you,” he said and kissed my cheek.

“I love you too, IAN.”