Yeah, Mother Nature could be cruel, but she could also be so kind. I touched my stomach, remembering the frightening time when we didn’t know if our twins were going to make it. I was put on hormones and ordered to bed rest, but…it was nothing to pay for those two little lives who made our lives so big. Their magnificent existences swallowed up all the stuff nonsense was made of and showed us what it really meant to live.
To live Happily Ever After.
I laughed, and Talula did too, not even sure what she was laughing about. She was so engrossed in her beast and his princess, her eyes seemed full of stars. Her little dress was gold, and she had sandals on with it.
As happy as she could be.
I turned in the opposite direction, shielding my eyes with a hand. My dad held our second set of twins, identical boys, Faolan Pauric and Tiernan Joseph (after Keenan). They both started kicking their legs the closer they got to us, their gray eyes lighting up when the sun hit them and chased the clouds away, just like with their Da.
Pretty soon, Cian and Camden were going to have an entire crew to add to their stronghold on their pretend city.
In ten years, we’d had five children, and how sweet it was. Each one not only overflowed my heart but reminded me of everyone we loved.
Camden and Caitlin were a hearty mix of my mom and dad. They both wore glasses since they were little, and they were as smart as whips. Talula, our little singleton baby, looked like me, but she had a big dose of Mona inside of her. She was our romantic daughter, always dreaming of princes, princess, and of course, the Beast. She looked at her Da like he hung the moon in the sky. Faolan and Tiernan seemed like Cian had spit them out—they were identical to him and to each other.
My husband thought he’d given me five purposes.
He’d given me six, including him.
In nine months that number would tick to seven, but he didn’t know that yet.
I grabbed Faolan from my dad, and we both watched with grins on our faces as Cian led the charge downhill toward us, the three of them roaring as they did. They came to a stop directly in front of us, Camden and Caitlin out of breath.
“Mam!” they yelled in unison.
They started talking at the same time. I went back and forth, listening to each while rustling their sweaty heads. It was chaos, the way they would go on at the same time, but I understood it. They had captured the pirate they’d been looking for.
“Until tomorrow, when we fight another day!” My dad joined in the make believe, wielding his pretend sword. Tiernan started waving his arms, along with Faolan, and Cian roared with laughter.
“Until tomorrow!” Camden and Caitlin said together, Cian’s voice joining in at the end.
“Until they getmwarried!” Talula threw in her own shout, trying to pronounce “married.”
We all started laughing, Cian scooping her up and setting her on his shoulder. He never made a big deal out of it, but I always noticed when he rolled his shoulder to try to loosen some of the tension. Dermot had left him with some lasting issues, especially in the hard Boston winters. He’d get stiff and I’d rub him down, hoping to relieve some of the tension. Summer was easier on him, but he still had some muscle weakness and nerve damage. The scar still took my breath away when I looked at it.
“Okay?” I mouthed to him.
He leaned in and kissed me. “Now I am.”
“Mam!” Camden entwined his fingers with mine. He fixed his glasses. “Can we take a ride in the Thing now?”
“Let’s go!” I said, giving him a high-five.
The three kids who could walk all started dancing around, and as soon as we were to the garage, they all took their spots in the Thing. Faolan and Tiernan sat in their car seats, trying to grab their toes. My dad took the very back, holding on to one of the bars, having the time of his life.
“Ready?” I breathed toward my husband. He’d never looked so good. So alive.
He grinned and started the engine in answer, and as the sun started to lower, we toured the property on four wheels.
After we sold the castle, Cian decided to buy the acres next to the area where the cemetery was, which we had kept. The opposite side of the property was a continuation of the one the castle was on. We had streams and forests and berries. But it felt fresh, like a new start. We were discovering it together.
We took a month to ourselves in the summer while Keenan and Fiona kept things in order in Boston. Cian never spoke to anyone directly, so all communication had always gone through Keenan anyway. It gave us the freedom to have these days and nights to ourselves.
Keenan and Fiona took a month to themselves before or after we did. They lived with us in Boston, so I was sure a month away from all the kids was needed. Except…a small grin came to my face when I thought about it…Keenan and Fiona both called to check on us every day. They secretly missed our little monsters.
Delaney and Robert too.
Cian bought half of the bookstore for me. While the kids were in school, Delaney and I came together and made the store even more successful than it had been.
