Across the hall, Shannon was asleep on the end of her bed, the blankets on the floor. She was restless at night, almost grudgingly giving in to sleep. I moved her back up to the pillows and draped the blanket back over her, knowing she’d end up on the bottom again before morning. I kissed her cheek, and she snuffled in her sleep at the touch of my beard on her skin. I left the nightlight on, the stars a dim glow on her ceiling.
Downstairs, Erin was a tight bundle in the middle of her bed. She never stopped all day long and crashed fast at night, barely moving until the morning. Her room was yellow and white, flowers everywhere on the fabric and wallpaper. She was wrapped around a stuffed penguin, her face buried in the black-and-white pelt. I brushed my hand over her soft hair, smiling at my youngest girl. She’d be up early with me tomorrow, anxious to see her flowers and the world.
I stood in our bedroom doorway, smiling at Paige. She was asleep early, her hand tucked under her cheek. She wore one of my T-shirts, liking the loose cotton on her skin. Her hand rested on her stomach, a bump already forming.
Our incredibly busy lives were about to change yet again. Two more babies would be added to our world. Two male babies in a house that had only ever known girl ones. Four girls, three boys.
All living under the same roof. Learning, growing, loving. I could imagine the mornings now. The craziness of dinnertime. The constant running to soccer practices, dance recitals, school functions. We were going to need a lot of help.
Life would be wild.
And I couldn’t think of anything that would make me happier.
I slipped into bed, pulling Paige to my chest. She settled with a small noise, then she was out again.
I laid my hand over hers, knowing underneath them, our children slumbered.
All around me, my family was at rest. What a great future.
I closed my eyes and joined them. I was going to need the sleep.
Tomorrow beckoned.
Ten years later…
Liam
The phone rang and I sat up, startled and rubbing my eyes. I squinted at my watch, seeing it was just past midnight.
A phone call that late never boded well.
“Hello.”
“Son, I thought you ought to know that AJ and Brock are in the pool. Again.”
“What?” I let out a string of curse words. “How the hell did they get out of the house?”
“You’ll have to ask them. They figured it out. Luckily, they didn’t figure out the sensors I had put in around the pool. They went off, and I found the boys floating around like nothing was out of the ordinary.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Take your time. They’re having fun.”
“Fun?” I hissed. “It’s midnight. They should be asleep.” I hung up and flung back the covers.
“What now?” Paige asked, her voice dry.
I pulled on a pair of sweats. “Your sons found a way around the security system Reid put in, snuck out of the house, and are in the pool.” I yanked a T-shirt over my head. “Again.”
Paige sat up, wrapping her arms around her knees. “Why is it when they do these things, they’re my sons? Other times, you claim ownership as well.”
“Because right now, I want to lock them up and refuse to admit any of my DNA is inside them.”
She burst out laughing. “Good luck with that. Your little mini-mes. They are the nine-year-old version of you, my darling husband.”
“I think it’s Reid’s influence. Ronan’s too.”
She slipped back under the covers. “Okay. Have fun. Make sure to towel-dry their hair, or they’ll get their pillows wet.”
“You’re not coming?”
She snuggled deeper. “Nope.”
“Paige, we’re supposed to be in this together.”
“I’ll withhold dessert. Make them do extra chores. I recall you gloating over having twin boys and how much of an expert you were at boys since you were one and all. You handle it.”
I glared at her, then tugged the blanket over her shoulder and bent down and kissed her. “Once I’m finished dealing with our errant sons, I’m coming back to deal with my cheeky wife.”
“Promises, promises.”
I stomped to the pool, normally a five-minute walk. I did it in two. My dad was sitting on one of the chairs, dressed in sweats and a shirt like me. He had one ankle resting on his knee, leaning forward. “Put some muscle into it, AJ! Brock’s beating you—again!” He sat back, grinning at me.
I sat beside him. “What are you doing?”
“Making them race each other until they’re exhausted.”
I sat back. “Good idea.”
I watched them for a moment. “I have to punish them, Dad. What do I do?”
“What you think is best.”
I snorted. “Thanks.” I waved my hand. “They keep doing stuff! Sneaking out to the pool, stealing the golf cart, messing around on the rocks.” I wiped my hand over my eyes. “Paige thinks it’s a phase, but man, it’s not ending. I got called to the school twice last week. Twice. The last week of school. Nothing should happen the last week of school.”
“What did they do?”
I scrubbed my face. “One of their teachers pointed a ruler at a classmate and informed him at the end of the ruler was an idiot. They both yelled out, ‘Which end?’ Caused total chaos in the classroom. They got sent to the principal’s office.”
He guffawed, slapping his knee. “You have to admit that was a good one. What else?”
“They snuck into the principal’s office and burped and farted into the loudspeaker.”
“Did they get caught?”
“Not while doing it, but they laughed, and everyone knows their laugh. Even the principal. He called me.”
They both laughed like braying donkeys—it was impossible to mistake.
“Amateurs,” Dad snorted.
“It’s not funny.”
“It is because I’m not dealing with it.”
I sat back with a groan. “It’s my fault. I was over the moon when Paige was pregnant. Twin boys. I thought it would be great.”
My dad turned in his chair. “Hey. They are great. They’re well-behaved, smart, nice kids.”
“Well-behaved?” I asked. “Did you just hear me about the school? Do you see the two delinquents in the pool at midnight?”
“They’re no different than you or your brothers were at that age. The four of you used to get into trouble all the time.”
“No, we didn’t.”
He scoffed at my words. “What about the time you threw manure over old man Tate’s house in town? He’d just had it painted, and you four got into a manure fight right beside his house. The four of you stank for days. I had to pay to have the house cleaned and repainted.”
“I remember having to do extra chores to pay you back.”
He snorted. “You got off easy. Then there was the time you jumped off the cliffs when we were on vacation? Almost gave your mother a heart attack. Or the time Ronan switched out oil for soap in the bathrooms at school? Or Paul freed all the frogs in biology?”
I had forgotten those incidents.