Chapter 14

Little Izzy clasped Freddie’s finger, and she smiled down at her baby from behind her mask. Both babies were so tiny, but a week after the emergency C-section, the doctor said they were doing better than could be expected. Freddie was on the mend, but he insisted she remain in the hospital for a while longer to be on the safe side.

“They look huge already,” Rhett whispered beside her.

“I know. I can’t wait until we can all go home.”

“Dr. Gibbons called. She and your sister will stop over for a visit in a few hours.”

“Good. They need to meet their aunt,” she mused. “What about your family?”

“What about them?” he grumbled. “Rodney said he would be here after work, but none of the others need to know anything.”

“Not even your parents?”

He pursed his lips as he turned away. Freddie asked him every day to tell his family. They needed to know that their brother and son had a family, a wonderful growing family. Besides, their kids would only have one set of grandparents, and at some point, she thought they should find out about their grandchildren.

“We’ll get there,” he replied finally.

Freddie and he finished their visit with their babies. Leaving them was always hard, but she needed rest and food. Her stomach grumbled as they reached her room, and Rhett said he would call up some food for her.

“Everyone decent?” Rodney asked as he knocked on the door.

“Yes,” Rhett told him, shaking his head. “That was one time, man.”

Rodney smirked, his smile a dead ringer for his little brother’s. “Just saying you could always close the door if you feel the need to make out with your fiancée.”

Freddie giggled as Rhett’s cheeks burned red. Rodney had stopped by a few days earlier, and though she and Rhett couldn’t have sex, they were enjoying a nice heated kiss Rodney had the misfortune to walk in on.

“How are my favorite niece and nephew doing?” he asked.

“Wonderfully,” Freddie said as he approached her and kissed her cheek.

“And my favorite sister-in-law to be?”

“She needs to rest,” Rhett uttered.

“I thought you were ordering food,” she commented. “And I am resting, see? This is me resting, in bed and not moving. I’m doing fine. The doctor said he’ll release me in another week.”

“And the babies?”

“Another month, probably, but that’s okay. The house isn’t ready yet and won’t be, so I have to come up with a nursery at my place.”

Rodney frowned and turned to his brother. “Did you forget to tell her?”

“Tell me what?”

Rhett cringed. “I think I did. It slipped my mind.”

“Since Rhett finally sold his house—which, judging by that look of surprise, he forgot to tell you that, too—”

“It just went on the market,” she said, surprised. “That was fast.”

“Yes, but anyway, you four will stay with me at my place. I have plenty of room, and I think the babies will lighten up a rather dreary home until your new house is finished. We set up the nursery last night.”

Freddie hugged Rodney and kissed his cheek. “Thanks, really.”

“Oh, what, I don’t get a kiss, too?” Rhett asked mockingly, placing a hand to his heart.

“What you should get is your ass kicked,” Ryan seethed from the doorway.

Freddie glared at him as Rhett and Rodney stood between the pissed off man in the doorway and her bed. “No one invited you here, so get the hell out,” Rhett snapped.

“I thought we told you to dump the woman and the baby,” Ryan snarled. “Look what you’re doing. You’re ruining us. All she’s after is your damn money anyway!”

“The hell I am!” Freddie yelled. “I love him and you can either deal with it or get out!”

“You are not getting a dime from the Macon name, do you hear me?” Ryan stomped forward and poked Rodney hard. “And you—what are you doing here with him? I knew you two were up to something. I smelled it on you both this whole time!”

“I think it’s time for you to leave,” Rodney insisted. “We have something we need to discuss anyway.”

“Oh? Is it how you’re going to be out on your ass, too?”

Rodney’s cocky grin matched Rhett’s as he said, “You’ll find you can’t threaten us anymore because we are no longer under your umbrella of control.”

Ryan’s jaw clenched as his hands curled into fists at his sides. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means we are buying LM Solutions out from under you and will be running it together,” Rhett explained. “You can do what you want with the rest of the company, but you no longer have a say in anything we do, especially with our lives.”

“You can’t do this,” he hissed.

“Actually, we can. I went over your head and talked to Dad. He agreed it was time I stepped out on my own, and the fact that Rhett wanted to come with me…well, that was icing on the cake to Dad,” Rodney said, shrugging. “The papers will be signed today.”

“You can either be with us on this decision,” Rhett told his brother, “and stop being an arrogant prick, or you cannot and we’ll never talk to you again. You won’t be invited to the wedding and you will have no part in our children’s lives.”

“Children?” he blurted out, glaring at Freddie between their shoulders.

“Twins,” she told him happily. “Your younger brother is the proud father of twins who could use four uncles in their lives, if you’re willing.”

Ryan’s eyes narrowed to slits and his jaw worked, but no words came out. He huffed angrily, and spewing curses, stormed out of the room.

“Well, that went better than I expected,” Rodney said brightly.

“How could it have gone any worse? He doesn’t want anything to do with us,” Rhett pointed out.

“Yes, but he didn’t deck you this time.”

“Actually, I started the fight last time,” Rhett muttered.

“What am I going to do with all you boys?” Freddie sighed, holding out her hands for Rhett’s. He took them, and Rodney murmured something about finding some grub as he left the room in a hurry. Rhett kissed her and she melted into his touch.

***

Rhett made faces at the tiny bundle in his arms. Nate calmed down immediately and his face scrunched in a half smile. “Ha, look at that. Look who’s smiling at Daddy,” he cooed at the baby boy.

Rodney glanced over. “Or it’s gas.”

“What? No, it’s not, he loves me.”

Rodney leaned closer and sniffed. “Oh, damn, you sure about that?”

Rhett lifted Nate and gagged as the waft of fresh poop hit his nose. “Say shut up, Uncle Rodney, or it’ll be your turn to change the baby. I’ll be back.”

He grinned and greeted people at the first annual charity ball held at Dr. Gibbons’ home. The silent auction was well under way and so far, had brought in several thousand dollars, not including the donations, which, he was happy to report, were already approaching twenty-thousand. It was a damn good start and they were only two hours into it. New Year’s Eve was three hours away, and there was still plenty of time to bring in more cash. He carried Nate into the bathroom after picking up the diaper bag on the way and changed his son’s diaper. The babies had been home from the hospital for two weeks. Rhett was exhausted beyond all reason and worried out of his mind, but he was so damn happy, none of that mattered.

When he exited the bathroom, Freddie was there to greet him, Izzy sound asleep in her arms.

“How can she do that?” Rhett mused as his baby girl yawned and the music played on around them.

“She takes after her father, who can fall asleep at the drop of a hat.” Freddie kissed him. “It’s going so well. I’m not sure I can ever thank you for all this.”

“How about you be with me for the rest of my life?”

“I think I can manage that.”

“Good, because we’re getting married—right now.”

Freddie glanced wildly around as Clarice and Rodney hurried over to take the babies in their arms. “What?”

“Everyone’s already here,” he explained. “And I want to remember this night for a very long time. What do you say? Marry me right here and now?”

“Who’s marrying us?”

Rhett chuckled as he turned her to face the other end of the room. “I think you know her quite well.”

“Rosie? Oh, hell, do you realize what this ceremony will be like?” Freddie said, but she slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow. “Why the hell not? Let’s do this.”

Rhett raised his hand and the band switched their tune to a different song as the people parted to make an aisle for them to walk down. Arm in arm, they moved towards Rosie and their future as Mr. and Mrs. Rhett Sable, all because of the fatal day he took over a company and found his new assistant named Freddie. He took a chance and couldn’t have been happier.