Page 91 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

Ivo blushed. “Just like you, too.”

“Good.” Ace dropped a kiss on Al’s forehead; Ivo gathered the baby boy into his arms and kissed him when he wailed.

“I can feel the next one coming out.” Ivo tensed up again.

“I’m here to catch the little one. Keep walking if you want,” Ace said.

“At least we don’t have to hold hands right now,” Ivo muttered. But he walked, and Ace followed at a crouch.

The second baby didn’t take long; Ace caught their little girl, holding her up to show Ivo how beautiful she was.

Everyone around them cheered. Ace only had eyes for his little family.

“Hey, Lucida,” he said, nuzzling her cheek. “You’re just as perfect as your brother.”

Ivo took one look at them, and burst into tears. “They’re both perfect.”

“So are you.” Ace pulled them all against his chest, brushing Ivo’s sweaty hair away from his face. “C’mon, let’s show Mary her new siblings.”

“About Mary,” Ivo said, looking up. “I was wondering if... you’d like to be her dad.”

Ace cried a little. “Yes. Yes, sweetheart. Yes. Three babies in a day. That’s—That’s incredible. I love you.”

He hadn’t intended for the words to slip out, but he knew he meant them with all his heart—had meant them for a long time, now.

Ivo’s smile was breathtaking. “I love you, too. All of you.”

When Harvey stepped up with Mary, Ace gathered his family into his arms, and kissed them all. “I have the most perfect life.”

“Same here,” Ivo said, tears in his eye. Ace pulled him closer and kissed him again.

EPILOGUE

“Today is one-eye day,”Mary announced, brandishing a handful of pirate eye patches. “Everybody, collect yours!”

Her siblings raced over—ten-year-old Lucida and Alexander, seven-year-old Sandy and Ray, and five-year-old Ellen and Tim. They grabbed the eye patches and eagerly slid them onto their heads, helping each other so the patches hid one eye of their choosing.

Mary went around checking all of their eye patches, then she raised her wooden sword and led her siblings over to where Ivo and Ace sat in the living room.

“Arr!” she said.

Ivo laughed and waved his blunt hook. “Arr! What ye doin’, Mary?”

“We’re gonna find some treasure today!” Mary clambered onto Ace and lifted his pirate hat, stealing the treasure map from under there.

“I wanna, I wanna!” Her siblings clustered around, reaching for Ace’s pirate hat.

“Roar!” Ace said, sitting tall. “One at a time!”

Ivo watched as Ellen—their youngest—scrambled up Ace’s chest and grabbed his pirate hat. The hat had been spelled to release an object each time it was lifted.

Ellen squealed when she received a marble, scrambling down. Her twin, Tim, scaled their Papa and reached under his pirate hat to find a little toy drum.

One by one, the children clambered onto Ace, getting their own little treasures. Then Mary squinted at the map of their mansion, and led her siblings off on their hunt.

Ace grinned and snuggled back against Ivo. “What do you think?”

“I love them,” Ivo said, his chest warm. “Never thought I’d birth three sets of twins, but it’s been amazing.”

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