Tension settled over the room like a heavy, dark cloud.
Dex looked at Alexis, who bit her lip.Their dad’s free hand fisted and he stared at the floor.Roxie was a bit surprised when it was their mother who started talking.
“Dex and I met when we were teenagers.He was a basketball star for West Cobalt, and I was a cheerleader for East.One game he chased a ball, trying to save it from going out-of-bounds, and he crashed into me.We literally fell for each other right then and there.”Lifting their joined hands, she kissed her husband’s knuckles.“We started dating, but our parents didn’t approve of the match.We didn’t care.We got serious really fast.Everyone told us it was puppy love and it wouldn’t last, but we knew better.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear and her gaze dropped.“That talk all stopped when I got pregnant.”
Dex cleared his throat.“When we found out we were having triplets, we didn’t know what to do.We loved each other, but we were only sixteen.”
Roxie glanced at Maddox.Younger than him.Younger than even she had been when she and Billy had thought they were expecting.
“My father—your grandfather—was a powerful man in town,” Alexis explained.“He and my mother were horrified that I’d gotten knocked up by a boy from the wrong side of the river.”
Dex grumbled underneath his breath.
“Your grandfather owned the local newspaper, and he did everything in his power to keep anyone from learning that I’d gotten pregnant,” Alexis continued.“The doctors and nurses were excited about identical triplets, but he made them sign nondisclosure agreements.He used his power to keep it out of the press.The news stations didn’t pick it up.All my friends and schoolmates thought I’d gone away to boarding school.”
Roxie bit the inside of her cheek.That was why she hadn’t been able to find any news articles or birth announcements.
“My mom wasn’t much better,” Dex confessed.“She was a single mother who never really had any maternal instincts.She’d tried to trap her boyfriend into marriage by getting pregnant.When that didn’t work, she resented having to lug me around everywhere.There was no way she was going to help raise more babies that weren’t wanted.”
“But we did want you,” Alexis said firmly, clearing up that matter right then and there.Her voice turned fierce.Some might even say mama bearish.“We loved you so much, even before you were born.”
Dex finished his bourbon and Charlie went to get him another.
“There were fights and a lot of yelling, but I refused to go away,” he said.“They didn’t know how to take that.Here I was, a kid they hated, but I was standing up and doing the right thing.Or trying to.”
Alexis sighed.“I don’t know what upset my mother more—that I refused to give my babies up for adoption or that I was pregnant out of wedlock.”
A corner of Dex’s mouth curled upwards.“In that regard, their conservative principals worked to our advantage.They gave their approval for us to get married, and my mother hopped on that bandwagon.She thought I was marrying into money.”
“Like I would have touched any of it,” Alexis hissed.Her jaw hardened, and she pushed her hair back and took a deep breath.“So, then we were sixteen and married.”
“Happily married,” Dex added.He comforted his wife with a kiss on the temple and glanced around the table.“I’m not advocating teen sex or early marriage, but you can’t control when you’re going to fall in love.It worked for us, and it’s still working.”
Roxie only remembered to breathe when Billy ran his hand up and down her side.Their life was mirroring her parents—or vice versa.She understood more than they could know.With her and Billy, it had been the two of them against the world.
With her parents, it had been the two of them and their babies.
Her, Lexie, and Maxie.
“We lived in my parents’ house, which wasn’t easy, but we were so happy when you arrived.”Alexis smiled weepily across the table at Maxie.“You were perfect in every way.Tiny, beautiful, and so loving.”
“But then the fights started up again about giving you up,” Dex said roughly.“Everyone kept telling us that we couldn’t care for you the way you needed.”
“That we didn’t know what we were doing,” Alexis added.
“That we were ruining our lives and yours.”
“And we were being selfish trying to keep you.”
“I finally had it,” Dex said, his voice like a rapier.“You were my kids, she was my wife, and I loved all of you.We belonged together.”
Alexis’ chin lifted.“So, we moved out.”
Dex shook his head, but there was a smile on his face.He was deep in memories.It was clear both of them were, and Roxie was just as rapt as her sisters.
“We made a go of it,” he finally said.“It was tough with three little mouths to feed, diapers to change, and the rocking… So much rocking…”
