Page 157 of Veil of Lies

Stella looked at the three of us with wide eyes and a question mark on her face. I guessed immediately she had no clue Tessa’s father was a mafia don. Not surprising. Tessa had nothing to do with the guy, which was why she was at college on a scholarship. She’d refused to touch his ‘dirty money’ as she called it. Still, it sounded like the guy was still there for her if she needed him, which made sense. The mafia families were thick as thieves.

I tried not to roll my eyes. “Tessa, we love Stella, we’re here for her, whatever she decides. There’s no need to threaten us with extreme violence, yeah?”

“Fine, just putting it out there. Babe, how are you feeling? Put your feet up and chill. You need to rest and eat lots of good food.”

“I’m on that,” Quinn interjected. “She will be pampered all summer.”

“Good, I’ll be up that way in a few weeks, so I will be checking in on you guys. Let’s just say Stella better be healthy and happy.”

“Jesus,” muttered Harley, necking the beer I’d just handed him.

Stella laughed. “I’ll be fine, Tess, don’t worry.” She knocked the phone off speaker and wandered off to have a more private conversation while the three of us looked at each other.

“We’re going to be daddies,” chuckled Quinn.

I grinned. “Yeah, it seems we are.”

We fist-bumped each other.

“Now let’s get some food organized. Our girl needs a decent meal in her,” Quinn said.

“I’m downloading a pregnancy app, so we can track the baby’s development week by week,” Harley announced.

“We need to find an obstetrician.” I made a mental note to talk to my doctor tomorrow and ask him to recommend someone. The next few months were going to be interesting to say the least.

I could hardly wait.

Epilogue 1

7 Months Later

Stella

I felt like a beached whale. No fucking joke. Heaving myself out of bed to use the bathroom four times a night was my reality these days. I cursed the boys every single day for knocking me up, but they just laughed. Thankfully, none of them minded my mini temper tantrums; Harley told me they were cute and Quinn just chuckled and spouted some of his mother’s psycho-babble about getting it all off my chest.

Even Brax was coping well, despite his job taking him away much too often for my liking. I hoped things would change once the baby arrived, or we were having words.

All three of them were fast asleep in our massive bed. The house was perfect. It was our little oasis away from the world.

Months ago, when Harley took me to his cabin, I’d told him it was my perfect home. He’d taken that on board and when we found out about the baby, the guys talked to my father and bought a plot of land adjacent to his.

Without breathing a word about it, they built a house with plenty of room for us all, plus any future kids we might have. Every morning, I could look out of our bedroom window and see the lake, with the mountains in the distance.

Once my pregnancy became obvious, I'd decided to leave Ridgeview and finish my degree online. The boys had joined me. Quinn's degree was perfectly suited to online study. Brax split his time between the company and his studies, and Harley traveled back and forth when he needed to complete practical assessments.

The only thing I missed about being at Ridgeview College was Tessa. She was my best friend and I missed her, even though she visited as often as she could.

Graduation was so close now, but I was questioning whether I wanted to complete my degree. Business no longer interested me. I wasn't sure it ever had. Besides, studying was going to be difficult when the baby arrived.

Dad wasn’t far away, there if we needed a babysitter or someone to fix things. He’d changed since being released from prison. The dad I’d grown up with - the one who prioritized work over me - was long gone.

These days, he loved spending time with me, and our relationship had gone from strength to strength. Sure, he’d been a little pissed when we told him I was pregnant. He threatened to kill the guys but thankfully, we managed to smooth things over and now, they were all thick as thieves.

Dad even had a girlfriend, a lovely woman called Sheila, who helped him manage the guest house he ran for people who came to fish on the lake. It was wonderful seeing him so happy and relaxed. He deserved to be happy. He’d spent too many years mourning the loss of my mother and living a half-life.

The bathroom light glowed as I used the toilet and then washed my hands. Only three more weeks to go, although the OB had told me it was likely the baby would be late, as she was my first.

I rubbed my hands over my swollen belly and smiled. We had a list of names on the refrigerator, which Harley added to daily. Top of the list, currently, was Juno, but that would likely change once our daughter arrived.

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