Until Series: Box set (116 page)

“Tell me,” I growl.

“We’re having twins,” Sophie blurts then covers her mouth, looking at my mom with wide eyes.

I stare at her blankly for a minute. I don’t make her repeat herself; I heard her loud and clear. “I need to sit,” I mumble, walking over to the couch where I plop, putting my head between my knees. “How did this happen?” I wonder out loud. Hearing my mom laugh, I lift my head to glare at her.

“I’ll be in the kitchen,” Mom sings, walking off.

“Are you okay?” Sophie asks, coming to sit next to me and running her hand down my back.

I sit back, pulling her into my lap to run my hand over her stomach. I can’t believe this; it’s like hitting the kid lotto.

“You’re okay with this, right?” she asks, and I realize I haven’t spoken to her; I’ve just been staring at her stomach, running my hands over her large bump.

“Shocked as hell.” I shake my head in disbelief. “We’re having twins.” I smile then feel it fall from my face. “They’re both okay, right?”

“The doctor said they’re perfect.”

“Why are we just finding this out?” I rub her stomach again, amazed that two babies are growing in there. I can’t imagine how large her stomach will be when it comes time for her to give birth. She’s so tiny, and her stomach is already large at just four months along.

“The doctor wasn’t sure why the other baby didn’t show before now, but he was suspicious when I told him we could feel him or her moving already, so he did an ultrasound to see what was going on. That’s when we saw that there were two of them, and he assured me that everything’s fine,” she explains with a beautiful smile that lights up her whole face.

“Do you really want to move?” I pull her head down to lay against my chest. I love the townhouse, but I can’t see us raising our kids there. The neighborhood is mainly single people and couples with no children.

“I know you love your place, but I want my kids to grow up close to family. Well, your family, anyways,” she says softly.

“They’re your family now too, and my place is always your place.”

“I know.”

I can hear the smile and tears in her voice, so I pull her face away so I can look at her. “All right, baby. We’re gonna have to move anyways. One baby would be okay in our place now, but two would be pushing it.”

“Really?” she asks happily.

“Anything for you, sweet Sophie,” I tell her, watching in fascination as she laughs and cries all at the same time.

Sophie

“I
can’t believe
how much has changed. I mean, you got married, you are not only pregnant but you’re having twins, and now you’re moving into a new house,” Maggie says, coming to sit down next to me on the couch. “I should have guessed that you’re having twins though. You’re really frickin’ huge,” she says, rubbing my large belly.

I know she doesn’t mean it in a bad way, but her words hit me wrong and I start to cry. My boobs are giant, my belly is so big that I can’t even see my feet, and my legs are swollen and probably hairy.

“Why are you crying?” she asks, looking at me like I’m crazy. I probably am crazy.

“I’m a big, fat, hairy beast,” I tell her on a sob.

“Oh God, you’re so dramatic.” She laughs, making me cry harder.

“Why’s my wife crying, Maggie?” Nico growls, walking into the house, Devon following close behind him, carrying a box.

We’re in the process of moving from the townhouse to our new country home. The process took longer than we’d planned. The house was a short sale. The bank took two months to get back to us that they had accepted our offer.

I wipe my face, trying to get rid of the tears; I don’t want Nico to see me cry. He’s so amazing and supportive while I’m horrible with my constant complaining and crying. I start crying harder as I think about what a bad wife I am.

“Geez, girl. You need to calm down. We can shave your legs if it’s bothering you that much.” Maggie rolls her eyes, handing me another tissue. I blow my nose then look up when I see a shadow fall over me.

“You know I hate to see you cry,” Nico says softly, putting one hand on the armrest of the couch and the other on my neck. “If Maggie’s the reason you’re crying I’m gonna make Maggie leave,” he says, making my eyes narrow.

“If you try to make my friend leave, I’ll leave with her.”

I watch as one side of his mouth quirks up before he replies, “You can’t. You have two of my kids growing inside you. So basically, your body is half mine until you’re no longer pregnant. Not only that, you have my last name, meaning I own you.” He smirks.

“Holy shit,” I hear Maggie say from beside me. She doesn’t sound pissed, which is surprising.

“I can’t believe you just said that to me,” I tell him, ignoring Maggie.

“Believe it.”

“I really cannot believe you just said that,” I hiss, glaring at him.

“Would rather have you mad than crying,” he says before leaning forward, kissing me until I can’t breathe, and then standing and leaving the house.

“I’m not sure what just happened, but that was hot. So hot that I want to drag Devon into your spare bedroom,” Maggie says, and I look over to see her leaning back, fanning herself.

“He just did that so I would stop crying,” I tell her in shock.

“He did,” she agrees, smiling.

“He’s crazy.” I grin back at her.

“Crazy hot.” Maggie giggles, and I look at her in shock; I have never in my life heard her do that.

“Did you just giggle?” I ask.

“Absolutely not.” Her eyes get big. “Holy shit, I fucking giggled. What the hell is wrong with me?”

“I don’t know, but you should get that checked out,” I tell her with a straight face.

“Your man turned me into a giggling school girl.” She sighs, laying her head back against the couch, a large smile on her face.

I smile and then look around our new home. The house is a newer two-story brick home with a location perfect for being close to family. Our new living room is much larger than the townhouse’s, with dark bamboo floors, tall vaulted ceilings, and large windows that look out to the forest behind the house. The kitchen is also large and has all new appliances, with a large island that can seat five barstools. Next to the kitchen is a small dining room that was built into a rounded section of the house that is surrounded by floor-to-ceiling bay windows.

I love this house. I love that the backyard is huge and already has a play set for kids. I love that all the bedrooms are on the second floor so we won’t have to be separated from the babies when they get here. What I really love is that Nico loves it as much as I do. I know he loved his townhouse and his neighbors, but when he walked into our new house for the first time with me, I could see it on his face that he loved it. Or maybe he just loved the fact that he’d have a three-car garage and two of his brothers as our neighbors.

“Aunt Sophie!” I hear yelled in time to see July running into the living room, carrying a very annoyed Daisy in her arms.

“Hey, honey.” I sit forward on the couch as she runs to me.

“Uncle Nico said you’re getting another puppy.”

“He did, did he?” I look over at Maggie, who shrugs her shoulders.

Nico hasn’t said anything to me about getting another dog, but with him, I never know what’s going to happen. He never even told me he wasn’t going to be working for Kenton anymore or that he was taking a job with the MNPD working with Leo until he had to be gone for a week to do some training and testing. When I first found out, I was upset; I didn’t want him to change jobs because of me. Then he sat me down and explained that, with the babies coming, he didn’t think he would be able to handle being away all the time, and taking the job with Leo meant he would have more stability. I told him that was good, but if he didn’t like it, he should go back to working for Kenton.

“Yes, but Daisy’s still my favorite,” July says, and I laugh as she pulls a wiggling Daisy up to her face to talk to her. “You will always be my favorite. You’re so cute and small and fluffy,” she tells the Pomeranian before bringing her down to her chest for a hug. Poor Daisy looks like her eyes are going to pop out of her head, making me wince.

“Honey, why don’t you let Daisy down for a bit and go wash your hands? Maybe we can make some sandwiches for everyone.”

“Uncle Nico ordered pizza,” she says, holding Daisy tighter against her, making her squirm.

“Daisy may need to pee.”

I guess those are the magic words, because she immediately puts the dog down. I watch as Daisy jumps off the couch, quickly running away, probably trying to find somewhere to hide.

“I don’t want her to pee on me. May peed on me one time when I was holding her, and that was gross.”

“That is gross.” I laugh at the squeamish look on her cute little face.

“Now that you live here, can we have more sleepovers?” she asks, looking around.

“We can.” I don’t tell her that it won’t be for, like, ten years. She doesn’t need to know that. I’m still trying to recover from the last sleepover we had.

“Good! The last one was so much fun!”

I smile and shake my head. Having six kids over for a sleepover was insane, and not something I want to repeat anytime soon. The first couple of hours were fine, but then it came time for bed and none of them wanted to sleep, except Jax, who was hanging with his uncle most of the time. Then there was a lot of crying. We had to take all of the kids home at around two in the morning, so it really wasn’t a sleepover; it was more like an extended visit. I love them all, but I won’t be doing that again for a long time.

“Uncle Nico,” July says as soon as she sees him walking into the room carrying a box, “Aunt Sophie said we can have a sleepover.”

“Did she?” he asks, smiling at her. I bite back my smile when his eyes come to me and narrow slightly.

“She did.”

“After the babies are born, we will talk about it,” he tells her, carrying the box somewhere into the house and getting out of Dodge.

“Where are your sisters, honey?” I ask her before trying to stand.

“Outside with the other kids.”

“All right. You go get them and bring them in here. When all of you wash your hands, we can get you guys some juice for when the pizza gets here,” I tell July, and she runs off. “I’m gonna go check on Nico,” I say, looking at Maggie, who is lying on the couch with her eyes closed.

“Sure, whatever. Leave me to my dirty fantasies about your husband.”

“Whatever you say.” I laugh, leaving the room. When I get to the office, Nico’s there with his back to me, putting something up on one of the shelves built into the walls.

“We are not having a sleepover,” he says without even turning around.

“I agree—no sleepovers.” I walk behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist, laying my head against his back.

“I set up the bed in our room. Why don’t you go lay down for a while?”

“I’m not tired.”

I look over his shoulder to see what he’s putting on the shelf and see the picture of us on our wedding day. We’re both in profile. I’m in my dress, standing in front of him in his suit. My head’s bending forward, my forehead pressed to his chest, his lips on the back of my head. Both of us have our hands on my belly. Every time I look at that picture, all I remember is how loved I felt right then. We had just walked down the aisle after saying our ‘I do’s.’ Through the whole ceremony, the babies had been going crazy, so I’d stopped Nico at the end of the aisle and pulled his hands forward, splaying them on my belly. He had said something sweet, making me lean into him, and I could feel his mouth on the back of my head where he kissed me.

With the way the picture was taken, you can’t really make out our features, but out of all of our wedding pictures, it’s my favorite. I never would have thought I’d want a big wedding, but the minute I saw my wedding dress through the shop’s window, I knew I needed to have one so I could wear that dress; it would have been a sin to waste it on a courthouse wedding. The dress was white—so white that, if you looked at it in the sun, you might go blind. The top had slim sleeves that hung off my shoulders, and the waist was taken in with a simple white ribbon tied under my breasts, showing off my baby bump. It was perfect.

After I found that dress, everything else fell into place. All the Mayson women were more than happy to help plan everything. We decided to have the wedding in November and Asher’s backyard. The boys built a bridge over the pool with a perfectly placed altar in the middle, and the colors were pale yellow and cream. Nothing was like anything we’d planned all those months before while we’d lain in bed. We had over a hundred guests, most of them I didn’t know, but all of those people there to see Nico and me get married, and that made it that much more perfect. We had a huge three-course dinner and a six-tier cake for dessert. That night, I learned that my new husband loved to dance. Every chance he got, he dragged me out onto the dance floor to hold me close through every slow song.

“Baby, you really need to rest. It’s not good for you to be on your feet for so long,” Nico says, bringing me back to the present.

“I’ve been resting all day,” I tell him as he turns around to face me.

“You’re so damn stubborn.” He shakes his head but looks at me lovingly.

“You’re not?” I smile, looking up into his eyes. “July said you ordered pizza?”

“I did. Devon went to pick it up.” His hands hold my face and he kisses me.

“I’m starving,” I say against his lips.

“You should have eaten earlier,” he scolds, running his fingers through my hair.

“I did, but I want to eat again. I always want to eat,” I tell him. He knows this because he does at least one late-night grocery run every week.

“My boys are going to be strong.”

“I’m not even going to argue with you. As you know, they could be girls. Two girls,” I taunt him.

“You’re only allowed to give me one girl.”

“Really? You’re going to allow me to give you one girl?”

“Yep. Just one,” he says, smiling.

“All right, but don’t come crying to me if these are both girls,” I say with a smirk and rub my belly.