by K. C. Crowne
“Ewww!” Abby called out, causing both Liam and I to pull away from the kiss in laughter. “Icky poo.”
“Oh you think kisses are icky, do you?” Liam said, rushing over to Abby. He picked her up and kissed her cheeks and forehead, covering her in them while she giggled.
Emma was on the floor laughing at the display. “Oh, would you like some too?” he said, picking up the baby and kissing her chubby little cheeks.
How this man ever thought he wasn’t cut out for fatherhood was beyond me. These girls loved him so much, and it was easy to see why.
Their laughter was like music to my ears, and it was contagious as hell. Before I knew it, I was pulled into their little kissy fest, with Liam kissing my cheeks and Abby rolling around on the floor laughing. If someone had walked in on us right then and there, they would have thought we had all gone mad.
But to me, it was perfect.
Chapter 27
Liam
The guys were chilling in the meeting room when I arrived for work the next day. I plopped down in my seat and said, “Welp, looks like you have one less person to compete with for the car.”
Mike grinned at me from the seat beside me, while Clark’s jaw nearly hit the floor. Declan and Ezra shot me a confused look.
“Is this a joke?” Ezra asked.
“No, I’m serious. I’m no longer single.”
“You know a random hookup doesn’t exclude you from the competition, right?” Declan said.
“It’s not a random hookup,” I said. “We’re serious. We’re really doing this.”
“I’m proud of you, man,” Mike said, slapping me on the back. “Some things are more important than a fancy car.”
“Who is she?” Clark asked, still looking like someone had shit in his Cheerios.
“Do you remember, about six weeks or so ago, I got shot down by a beautiful woman at the bar?”
“You could be talking about any number of nights,” Declan said with a dry laugh.
“No, this one was the night Mike had told us about the bet,” I said. “Anyway, even if you don’t remember her--”
“Wait, I do remember her,” Mike said. “You even joked that she might have been the one, but she turned you down.”
“Bingo,” I said, motioning to Mike.
“So, what? You eventually hooked up?” Clark asked.
“Not that easily, no. It was just like we kept running into each other. I couldn’t escape her. And well, one thing led to another and--”
“So you slept with her?” Clark said.
“More than that. I’m going to be a father now,” I said.
“Yeah, to your nieces, but--” Clark said.
“No, Alex is pregnant. With my child,” I said. “And we’re going to combine our families. She has twins already, so it’s going to be a full house.”
“A really full house,” Mike said. “Wow, you have Michelle and I beat.”
“You’re going to have your hands full,” Ezra said slowly. “That’s a lot. Think you can handle it, Liam?”
I thought long and hard about his question.
“I do. As I told Alex, I’ve never been one to run away from something just because it’s hard. This is no different. I love those girls, and they belong with me,” I said. “And I care about Alex too. I want to make this work.”
The room fell silent for a few minutes, but Mike broke the silence. “I’m proud of you, Liam. I really am,” he said. “And if you need any advice, Michelle and I are pros with balancing multiple kids.”
“Thanks, man.”
Ezra was next up. “I can’t believe it, but our Liam is finally growing up and leaving the nest.”
“Wow, was that a joke, Ezra? Because I can’t remember the last time you told one of those.”
He smiled at me and shook his head. “No, seriously, I’m happy for you. And it’s not just because I’m one step closer to winning this thing.”
“Hey now, you still have to beat me,” Clark said.
Declan joined in. “Me too.”
The entire room erupted into laughter over that comment.
“Sure, buddy,” Clark said, patting Declan on the back.
My bet was on Clark now that I was out of this thing, but who knows? Ezra - or even Declan - could surprise us all.
“Alright, munchkins,” I said, ruffling Abby’s hair as we walked to my truck after picking them up from daycare “We’re going over to Alex’s for dinner tonight.”
“Yay!” Abby said. “Awex!”
I loved that Abby seemed to take to Alex so well, but then again, could you blame her? Alex was amazing with kids. Emma didn’t understand what I was saying, but being the happy baby that she was, she threw her little hands in the air and giggled with her sister.
At that moment, I knew I had made the right decision to adopt them.
When I had called and told Ms. Peters that I had changed my mind, she sounded happy for me. She said that it always works out better if kids are taken in by family when possible. She told me she’d get the ball rolling, and hopefully before long, Abby and Emma would legally be mine. It still sounded strange to call them my daughters, and I wasn’t sure if they’d grow up calling me da or not. They had a dad. Not a great one by any means, and they might not ever see him Which I agreed was for the best.
I put Emma and Abby in their car seats and drove off, headed toward the diner to pick up dinner. With four little ones - and a fifth on the way - making dinner was going to be a challenge, and I told Alex I’d just pick something up for all of us instead of her having to cook. We’d figure out some sort of system in the future, I was sure of it, but for now, it was just easier to grab some yummy food from the local diner and take it easy.
And in many ways, it was a reason to celebrate.
We had a lot to celebrate.
Me adopting the girls.
Alex had worked out a beautiful arrangement for the boys and their grandparents.
And of course, our baby.
Alex had gotten confirmation from the doctor that she was indeed pregnant. It wasn’t a fluke on the pregnancy test or anything like that. It was made official - we were having a baby.
We’d figure out how to combine our families, with her likely moving in with me since my house was bigger. Everyone had told me I was crazy to buy such a large home with four bedrooms and an office, and I had thought I was mad too at the time. But now, I knew why I’d felt the pull to buy it. I was meant to fill it.
We’d finally put those empty rooms to use with her brood and mine.
Hers, mine, and ours, as I was calling it.
Though in my heart, I already thought about how eventually, it would just become our family.
A family unlike one I’ve ever had before.
I pulled up to the diner and rang the counter. Tasha waved from the entrance as her and Felicity, the diner’s owner, carried out our order. There was so much food, I almost had trouble carrying it all. Good thing I had a nice little nest egg due to the company, because feeding our brood was going to cost an arm and a leg.
“No peanuts in anything, correct?” I verified with Felicity.
“None whatsoever. No cross-contamination either. I was very careful,” she said.
“Thank you for bringing it out,” I said, tipping a lot extra for the help.
“No problem. It appears you have your hands full.”
“Tell me about,” I chuckled.
I waved and drove off, headed toward Alex’s with the smell of fried chicken and French fries wafting throughout the car.
“Chicken leg?” Abby asked me.
I laughed. “When we get to Alex’s, yes,” I said.
Thankfully, the drive wasn’t that long, since Abby was complaining about being hungry. And as I pulled up to Alex’s house, I couldn’t help but smile.
She was in the yard with the boys. She smiled so big when she saw me, well, it was hard not to jump out of the car, run over to her and lift her up off the ground
and carry her upstairs.
But we had kids to feed and couldn’t just run off and lock ourselves in the bedroom until we were exhausted.
I got the girls out of the car as quickly as possible, carrying Emma over as Abby rushed to the boys who were playing with some trucks in the grass.
“Can I play?” she asked softly.
“Ya!” Lucas said.
Abby sat down on the ground, her pink dress likely getting grass stains, but I didn’t care. She picked up a bright red fire truck and made a “vroom vroom sound” as she played with Lucas and Jacob.
“I thought you were hungry,” I said to Abby.
She ignored me in favor of the boys and their toys, which was fine - I still needed to carry everything inside and set it up.
“I’m just so glad they get along so well,” Alex said.
“Me too,” I said, leaning in for a kiss.
Her sweet lips felt right against mine, and I knew that there was nowhere else I was supposed to be.
“I want racecar!” Abby called out, and I had to laugh thinking about the car I gave up on for a chance at all this.
But as I stared at Alex, watching as my girls played with her boys, I knew it was the right choice. I would never, ever regret it.
I placed Emma down in the grass with her sister and the boys, and went back to wrap an arm around Alex, giving her the hug we both clearly wanted.
She kissed me again, and the words came out of my mouth before I even knew what hit me.
“I love you, Alex.”
She gasped and her eyes grew wide, but then she said, “I love you too, Liam.”
I gave her waist a squeeze and covered her face with kisses as she giggled in my arms.
“I have to get the food before it gets cold, but I don’t want to let you go,” I said.
“Well, after dinner and once the kids go to sleep… you won’t have to.” Alex nibbled her lip as she stared back at me through her thick lashes.
I hadn’t been planning on staying the night, though I knew it was always an option. It would depend on the girls, obviously, but I found that I wanted to stay.
I didn’t want us to part ways at the end of the evening.
I wanted Alex in bed next to me every night. I wanted the boys to grow up beside my girls. And our child - boy or girl - alongside all four of them. I couldn’t imagine a better future for myself.
“Please tell me you’ll move in with me,” I said.
Alex chuckled, her cheeks turning a bright pink. “We’ll talk about it, Liam. But let’s get dinner served before we have some hangry munchkins on our hands.”
“Or a hangry pregnant woman?” I teased.
“Yes, I think that might be even worse.”
I kissed her again for good measure, then ran off to grab the food from the truck. In the distance, I heard the laughter of our children and my heart swelled with joy.
This was it.
This was my new life.
And I was loving every minute of it.
Epilogue
Alex
One Year Later
“Mommy’s home!” Liam called out as I walked into the door.
“Yay!” Abby ran to me first, her red pigtails bouncing around her head. She hugged my knees. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too, sweet girl,” I said, kneeling down to hug our oldest.
Lucas and Jacob weren’t far behind her, and they ran into my arms with excited squeals. And then Emma, who at almost two, was nearly as fast as her older siblings. Her red hair was getting long enough to put it into pigtails like her sister, and you could see a clear resemblance between the two girls.
My arms, as well as my heart, was full.
I hated going back to work so soon after giving birth, so I only worked part-time at the moment. Leaving my three-month-old at home was hard, but Liam was able to work from home on the days I worked at the library, so I never had to worry about our kids while away. And I knew it was important to keep up my career, as my littlest wouldn’t be a baby forever and unless we seriously went loony, I didn’t think we were going to have any more kids. Five was plenty for us.
“Hey there, beautiful,” Liam said as he walked into the entryway, our little girl in his arms.
“Can Mommy see Maya for a second, please?” I asked the four kids hugging me tightly.
One by one, they pulled themselves off me, but Abby - being the hugger she was - was the hardest to convince to step away long enough for me to greet her sister.
“You can come to Daddy,” Liam said, and that was it.
Abby loved Liam even more than she loved me, a total daddy’s girl.
She was the one who started calling him Daddy without any prompting from us. It had made Liam slightly worried since Shane was his brother, but Shane had written him a letter thanking him for taking the girls in and saying that he was happy they’d be raised by someone better than him.
I was still getting used to her calling me Mommy instead of Alex. Not that I was complaining, I loved it - and again, it was her choice.
As it was for Emma, who as far as she was concerned, we were her parents, and we would always be that way. I was in the process to legally adopt the girls, and Liam was in the process of adopting my boys. We had moved into his house before Maya was born, and it became clear very quickly - we were meant to be a family.
There was no “step” anything. Liam was my boys’ dad, and they were his sons. Just like I was for the girls as well.
I took little Maya from his arms, my sleepy baby girl tiny in my arms. She was young, but already, I had a feeling she was going to be a redhead like her daddy and sisters. She looked just like Liam, there was no denying she was his child. And the way he looked at her, he loved her more than life itself.
“Something smells good,” I said, as I got a whiff of something yummy from the kitchen.
“Yeah, dinner should have been ready by now, but I had some help,” Liam ruffled Abby’s hair. “So it’s going to be a bit delayed. I’m sorry about that.”
“Oh don’t be sorry, you are amazing.”
“It’s just a casserole.” He chuckled.
“But it’s a casserole I don’t have to cook myself, so it’s the best kind of casserole there is.” I snuggled with Maya. “Has she been fed yet?”
“I was just getting ready to feed her when you walked in the door.”
“Perfect, so it gives me some Mommy-Maya time.” I kissed my little girl’s face as she began to fuss.
“And I’ll get the table set. Does a certain three-year-old wanna help?”
Abby jumped at the chance to do anything with Liam, and even though she probably slowed things down, Liam always welcomed her or the twins at his side whenever he did anything.
He was really an amazing dad and I was so very lucky.
I went into the kitchen with him, taking a seat at the table while Emma and the twins played on the floor. It was loud and chaotic, but it was everything I had always wanted.
“Oh, Rachel has verified the dates for her vacation, so we can book the trip whenever you’re ready,” I said.
“Oh God, tell her thank you for me,” he said. “She’s a lifesaver.”
It was going to be the first family vacation together. All of us in a mountain cabin. There’d be a lake and hiking trails for us to explore - many of them easy enough for the kids. Rachel was coming along with us to let Liam and I step away for a more adventurous mountain climb. Nothing too hard yet, but I was learning the ropes, and Liam was eager to get out there again. I knew he had given up a lot to be a family-man, and even though I never thought I’d enjoy some of his scarier hobbies, I could get behind some light mountain climbing.
It would be good for us, and a sign that no matter what, Liam didn’t have to give up everything from his old life.
If anything, it just meant he had more people to join him. I had no doubt that once she was old enough, Abby would follow him on the ski slopes and trails, she was a littl
e snow bunny. Lucas was discovering he liked adventure too, while Jacob was more of a homebody like me. Emma was happy to stay home and read books with us too.
But Maya? Who knew? She might be the next adrenaline junkie in the family, or she might prefer books at home with the rest of us.
Either way though, we would support her and find a balance that worked for her.
A balance that worked for all of us.
Which was good, since we had planned to get married while up on the mountain. With only our family and Rachel, who was ordained just for the occasion.
Did you enjoy Alex and Liam’s love story? Great news! You can enjoy an exclusive extended epilogue three years into the future of their happily ever after HERE.
More great news! For a limited time, you can now snag your pre-order copy of the next book in my Mountain Men of Liberty series for a special pre-order price of just 99 cents HERE. This is Declan’s story.
Finally, thank you for reading. Check out a sneak peek of Irish Doctor’s Secret Babies in the Doctors of Denver series, that was an Amazon Top 25 bestseller, on the next page. As always, thank you for your awesome support!
Irish Doctor’s Secret Babies (Preview)
An Amazon Top 25 Bestseller
A tall beefy doctor walks into a bar. No, it's not the start of a joke.
It's how this ALL started.
For one wild night, an Irish Adonis made me feel beautiful...
S*xy.
Desired.
But a one-way ticket with his name promised I'd never see him again.
Until Today.
"Kenna?"
A man with a familiar Irish accent catches my attention.
I feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise up.
"Finn? What are you doing here!?"
My heartbeat races.
The gorgeous stranger from the past is now about to administer annual checkups on an adorable set of twins.
