“What are you doing?”
“Letting everyone know about my present.”
That soft smile was back, before her eyes went wide in horror. “No! I’m in my bra and underwear!”
“Calm down, Sour Patch. I’m not about to let anyone see the rest of you. You’re mine, not theirs.”
All that you could see in the picture was her torso and the ultrasound picture. As soon as she gave me the okay, I set up a text to go to Mason, Candice, Maddie, Eli, and all our parents. Above the picture I typed out: MY WEDDING PRESENT, and underneath, I did a twist on Rachel’s words from the envelope: BABY RYAN 1 AND BABY RYAN 2 WILL BE HERE IN MARCH.
Once the message went through, I turned both our phones on silent and put them in my bag.
“What are you doing? You know they’re all going to call us.”
“Exactly,” I said as I climbed on top of her again and moved the ultrasound picture to a safe place. “But right now it’s our wedding night, and I’m not done celebrating with just you.”
Epilogue
Two and a half years later . . .
Rachel
“BABE, DO YOU HAVE KENNEDY?” I called as I went from room to room with Kira.
There is no way to keep track of twins that are running all over the place while you’re trying to get ready to go somewhere. I swear, if she is getting in Trip’s food again . . .
“Kash! Do you know—”
“Where this beautiful monster is?” he asked as he rounded the corner with Kennedy in his arms. She was missing her shirt.
I stopped and blew out a thankful breath that at least she was only missing an article of clothing instead of being completely naked, or covered in baby powder again like last time.
“Where’s her shirt?”
He shrugged and held her up to blow a raspberry on her stomach. “I don’t know. I was hoping you knew.”
“I don’t.” I looked at Kira in my arms and shook my head as I smiled at her. “Your sister is crazy, absolutely crazy!”
Kira just smiled and set her head down on my shoulder as we began walking through the house, looking for Kennedy’s shirt.
“Your daddy better be happy at least one of you is calm.”
“What? Kennedy’s just having a little fun.”
I shot him a look. “She can’t keep her clothes on. Are you going to keep saying that when she’s sixteen and still doing the same thing?”
His face fell into a look of pure horror. “Oh no. No, no, no. That’s it. You’re going to homeschool them. Both of them! And they’re not allowed near boys until they’re thirty. And . . . and . . . and from now on, they only wear dresses. Ugly ones that are three sizes too big.”
I laughed and leaned in to kiss Kennedy’s big smile. “You take after your daddy. The crazies.”
“I’m so serious, Rach. They’re never allowed out in public without me.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Don’t act like that! You’re the one that said she was going to be taking her clothes off when she was sixteen.”
I rolled my eyes and pointed at the discarded shirt on the ground so he could bend down to pick it up. “She’s not even two, calm down. I was just saying that so I could make a point. And I’m not homeschooling them, or making them wear ugly clothes, so you can work at getting over that right now.”
He set Kennedy down and pulled her shirt back on before pointing at it. “You keep this on. Always. Even if boys tell you to take it off when you’re older. You don’t listen to—” He cut off and hung his head when Kennedy zoomed away again with Trip chasing after her.
“You’ll have a lot of time to tell her that when she’s older . . . when she’ll understand it.”
Looking up, he made a face at me before leaning forward and grabbing my hips. “I’m so glad you’re going to be a boy,” he said to my large stomach, and placed a kiss on it. Standing up, he pulled me as close as my stomach would allow and kissed me thoroughly until the shrill laugh of Kennedy filled the air.
“Naked baby.” I pointed as she ran through the living room and into the kitchen. “You catch her and I’ll finish getting Kira ready?”
“Oh, so you get the easy one tonight? Why?”
“Uh, yeah . . . because I’m Rachel.”
Kash smiled and kissed me hard once more. “The last time we had this conversation, it ended in you slapping me. So I’m just gonna keep my mouth shut.”
“Good choice.”
He winked and took off after our crazy daughter. “Kennedy, clothes stay on, baby girl.”
Once I had Kira ready, and we got Kennedy to keep her clothes on, we got all of us in the car to head over to Richard and Marcy’s for their New Year’s Eve party. Mason and his family were all going to be there along with some family friends, and I was ready for the time to hang out with everyone . . . and to have extra eyes to make sure Kennedy kept her clothes on.
We’d gone to California for Christmas, and while I wouldn’t suggest flying with two toddlers, it was so worth it to see my family again. Candice was still being Candice. I’d figured she’d start settling down after college, but she didn’t show any signs of stopping anytime soon. She was working at a physical therapy place, and loved her job . . . as well as half the men she worked with. But she was happy, she was enjoying her life the way she wanted to, and I was happy for her.