- PIP -
I was on my third champagne when I started to feel a wee bit drunk. After not drinking for a year, I’d become a bit of a lightweight.
“I can’t believe you’re leaving me,” Reece said beside me. “We’ve been Pip and Reece since freaking kindergarten.”
“It won’t be forever.” Even though I thought I was telling the truth, something inside me told me it was a lie.
When the doctors told me six weeks ago that the complications of Beckham’s birth and the issues during the pregnancy meant I might not be able to have more kids naturally, it took whatever strength I had left not to break down.
It was the one thing I’d always wanted, and Gage wanted it too.
When I saw Blair and Garrett with their baby, the pain lessened and made it all worth it, but the last thing I wanted to do was be around my group of friends who were breeding like rabbits. Paige was about to give birth any day, Reece announced she and Spencer were pregnant again, and Blair and Garrett were already talking about baby number two.
Sara was the only one not thinking about more babies, even though Hunter was practically pleading for more.
After the complicated pregnancy, I was no longer a surrogate candidate for Blair and Garrett, which I was thankful for. It meant I didn’t have to tell them I couldn’t go through it again unless it was my own child. I had no regrets, and I wasn’t mad, but my heart was broken.
I came out here into the farthest corner of Reece and Spencer’s backyard to be alone from their baby excitement, but Reece had followed me. She knew something was wrong, but I didn’t want to whine and ruin their joy. It was grief making me selfish, and I’d get over it soon enough. I just needed time.
The chance to move to America ended up being perfect timing. Gage and I were going to take the time to really be together. An escape from the only thing we’d known was the perfect way.
“What are you going to do over there?” Reece asked.
Gage and I were officially unemployed. Tony had already hired two newbies, and Garrett was off paternity leave, so they didn’t need us to stay on until we left.
“We don’t know yet, and that’s the beauty of it.” I smiled. “We’ll be a year, tops. It’s like a gap year, only fourteen years late.”
We had savings, and Gage mentioned Tony giving him a quitting bonus—totally bogus thing, but Gage wasn’t complaining. His uncle was upset we were leaving him, but he understood and wanted to help out. I’d never travelled, so we were taking the opportunity to explore. Even though Gage grew up in the US, he hadn’t seen much of it, so that was the first thing we were going to do. We’d be a short flight or drive away from Joel if he needed us instead of an ocean away.
After that, we had no plans. Depending on how Joel was doing, we would either come home or find something to do over there.
“Why do I get the feeling you’re never coming home?” Reece asked.
Probably because I have the feeling I won’t be.
***
THREE YEARS LATER
The noise of the jet engine hummed, and even though we gave the girls lollipops, the poor little things were scared.
“First flight,” Gage said, trying to put as much excitement and enthusiasm into it as he could.
At four years old, our twin girls hadn’t had a great life already, and they were timid about everything. Granted, we’d only met them a month ago in an orphanage in Nicaragua, so we didn’t really know their personalities that well yet, but they barely spoke, and they jumped at every noise.
The orphanage and adoption agency didn’t know much about what they’d been through, and all they could tell us was they were found in the slums on their own, starving and malnourished.
When Gage and I left Australia, we had every intention of returning eventually, but when doctors confirmed the chances of me falling pregnant were small, we started the adoption process. Australia’s adoption laws were insane and full of hoop jumping—more so than the US’s. So we stayed in Virginia and created a life for ourselves, while we waited for our babies.
Now that we had them, we were going home. To Australia. The last few months had been a whirlwind, from the moment we found out we were getting the girls to shutting down our lives in Virginia. Gage was working as Joel’s personal assistant and helping him run his business so Joel could take on more jobs. I stayed in graphic design, working freelance. While Clarion’s population could no longer torment Gage over his past because Gage had built titanium walls, we didn’t want to subject our children to the same mentality. We frequently got sneers and stares, but we didn’t let it get to us. The kids, though … we wouldn’t do it to them.
So we packed up, shipped what we needed back to Australia, and then spent the last month in Nicaragua with the girls.
Now they were finally ours after two years of being on waitlists.
Joel got over his grief eventually—although, I was sure he missed Sean every day—and had dated around a bit, but when the news of the adoption came through, he found it in himself to leave Sean and Virginia behind him.
He turned around from the seat in front of us. “Want me to take one of the girls?”
I had Analee in my lap, and she was sucking her thumb and burying her head in my shoulder, but Aura was wailing, and no matter what Gage did, she wouldn’t settle. She kept pointing to her ears.
Gage handed her over, and she settled immediately in Joel’s arms.
“Oooh, someone likes Poppy more than Daddy.”
Turned out Joel was totally okay with the name Pop since becoming a grandparent.
Gage returned to his seat and put his arm around me and Analee. At least one of his girls was already smitten. Her chocolate-brown eyes stared up at him, and she looked at him as if he had saved her.
The look of adoration in Gage’s eyes reflected in hers. He fell in love with the girls before we even met them.
There was a short moment—when we found out we supposedly couldn’t have kids naturally—that I wanted to walk away and let Gage have the family he always dreamed of. The big lug wouldn’t have it. He said he’d rather no children and me in his life than try to find another woman who’d he’d never be able to love while I was in the world.
“Have you spoken to anyone recently?” Gage whispered in a soothing voice so he didn’t startle Analee.
“Reece, but not about the adoption. Last I told her, we were still waiting. It’s been too crazy to update them, and I didn’t want to jinx it in case it fell through. You?”
Gage shook his head. “What do you think will shock them more? The twins or this guy?” His hand went to my teeny, tiny bump that Analee was leaning against.
That thing about not being able to fall pregnant? The doctors were wrong. There was a chance I’d have another complicated pregnancy, but we were monitoring it closely, and everything had been fine so far. No weird travel sickness, the baby was measuring the right size, and it was completely different to the pregnancy with Beckham.
I grinned. “I can’t wait to freak them out about all of it.”
***
“You’re here!” Reece screeched and threw her arms around me as soon as she opened her front door.
“We’re here!” I mocked.
When she pulled back, her eyes widened as her gaze travelled down my body to my stomach and back up again.
“Really? You didn’t think to tell me?” she yelled.
“Shh.” I glanced over my shoulder. “That’s not all I haven’t told you. Now, you have to use your inside voice, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered. “Why?”
I stepped aside, and let her see Joel and Gage with my adorably shy girls hiding behind their legs. “I’d like you to meet our daughters, Analee and Aura.”
Reece’s eyes teared and her hand went over her mouth. “Oh my God, I’m so happy for you. When, and how, and—”
“We’ll tell you everything once we’re inside. The only time I’ve seen the girls excited so far was when we told them there would be other children here.”
She rushed into the backyard where everyone else was waiting for us. Her expression must’ve gave something away, because everyone’s focus was on us before we’d even stepped through the doors onto the veranda.
Aura was in Joel’s arms again, too nervous to face everyone, but Analee smiled at the chaos that was our group of friends. Sara and Hunter’s twins, who were similar in age to ours, were chasing Reece’s son Elliot with Nerf guns and yelling. Cody was sitting on a folding chair near the bonfire on his tablet—God, he was a teenager now. Cole and Paige’s three-year-old was playing peek-a-boo with her baby brother. And Garrett and Blair were holding their baby boy, Erikson.
“Where’s—” Before I could get the question out, an adorable little girl I’d only seen in photos bounded up to me. Her long brown hair was all Sara, but her hazel eyes looked like Blair’s.
She was holding a bouquet of flowers, and she held them out to me. “Thank you for growing me in your tummy.” Her words were crisp and clear—a lot clearer than a three-year-old’s should be.
My mouth dropped open in shock, and when my eyes found Garrett and Blair, they were heading our way.
“She’s been practicing,” Blair said.
“All day,” Garrett added.
“These are for you.” She thrust the flowers in my direction again.
“Oh my.” I kneeled to her level to take them off her. “Thank you so much, Beckham. They’re beautiful, just like you.”
She blushed and then threw her arms around me.
My eyes teared. “Would you like to meet some very special girls who want to be your best friend?”
Beckham nodded.
“Now, my girls are a year older than you, but they can’t talk as well as you yet.”
I stepped aside and beckoned my girls over. Analee ran over first, while Aura was her timid self. But as soon as Analee and Beckham ran off, she wanted to follow.
Garrett and Gage hugged like long-lost brothers. “Good to have you home,” Garrett said.
“Good to be back. Your kid is like … a genius.”
“She takes after me,” Garrett said.
I scoffed. “No, she takes after the woman who grew her.”
Blair laughed. “Do we need to mention the fact it’s Sara’s and my genes who made her? It’s totally because of us.”
“Damn straight,” Sara called out. When she stood, I saw a matching bump.
“You too?” I asked. “You finally caved?”
She rubbed her stomach. “Finally caved. The boys start school next year, so I’ll have time to spend with the baby.”
“Are you sure there’s only one?” I asked.
“Yes! It was the first thing I asked when we went for the ultrasound.” Her gaze travelled to Gage’s and my girls. “Twins too, huh? At least I’ll have someone to complain to who understands.”
In perfect timing, one of her twins tackled the other and they started roughhousing.
Sara marched over to them. “Garrett, get off your brother!”
Adult Garrett shuddered. “Freaky, man.”
“What?” Hunter asked.
“You married Mum. How much did that sound like her when we were growing up?”
Hunter laughed. “Maybe you shouldn’t have beat me up so much.”
Garrett rolled his eyes. “Wah, wah, wah.”
Gage wrapped his arm around my waist. “See, babe. Nothing’s changed.”
“Nothing at all.” I was freaking out about everything being different when we got back. These last three years, Gage and I had learnt how to fall in love with each other all over again in different ways. The travelling we did the first year probably trialled our relationship more than the coma. Navigating a foreign place could strain any relationship, but we came out the other side stronger.
Whatever the universe threw at us, we tackled together, and now we had a brand-new set of challenges, and we couldn’t have been happier.
I had everything I ever wanted.
Two beautiful kids and one on the way. A group of friends who I loved and had missed. But most importantly, I had my best friend. My husband. My soulmate.
My everything.