After Hailey takes a quick shower and gets dressed, we head downstairs to the madness, and the twelve of us eat breakfast together. It’s as loud and chaotic as it always is around here.
I was the one who suggested we all live here together after graduation, and I’ve never regretted it for a second. I love this fucking family. I couldn’t live a day without them.
After breakfast, while the kids run and play and scream, Quinn and Sloane watch a movie on the couch together, and the rest of us clean up. We don’t have live-in housekeepers anymore. After Blakely and Travis were born, Callie’s intrusive thoughts made her so anxious that she couldn’t sleep. I swear to God, the girl didn’t rest for a year. She’d stay up all night, sitting in the rocking chair next to the babies’ cribs, terrified someone was going to come in and take them in the middle of the night. When she finally told us what was going on, we had the housekeepers pack up and leave. They still come a few times a week, but they’re not around all the time anymore. Callie fought us on it, said we shouldn’t have to change the way we’ve lived forever and that she would deal, but we fought her harder. She shouldn’t have to deal.
While I’m loading the dishwasher, I peek over my shoulder to find Hailey whispering to Callie in the corner. Callie’s forcing a glare, but she can’t hold it for long. After a couple beats, the glare falls, and she chokes, wrapping her arms around Hailey and pulling her in tight.
I smile and get back to the dishes.
Leaning on the counter next to me, Wren accepts the last cookie from Travis and tosses it into his mouth, waiting until the kid’s out of earshot before he says, “I bet you fifty bucks it’s twins.”
Hailey and I both whip our heads around to gape at him. “What?”
“I think it’s twins,” he says quietly, his eyes on Hailey’s stomach as he chews. “Two boys.”
Hailey looks at me, wide eyed and stunned. I blink at her a few times. Damon groans out a curse. Callie’s glare is back, her nostrils flaring as she bounces her eyes between me and my wife.
“You motherfuckers.”
The End.