by Amy Lillard
“You have my love. Always and forever.” Jake kissed the back of her hand. “This is as real as it gets.”
Epilogue
They’re awfully wrinkly.” Wesley looked at the boys and frowned. They weren’t exactly what she had been expecting. And the fact that they both were boys . . . well, she didn’t know who was responsible for that. There were enough boys running around the ranch. Now they had two more. “Are they always going to be that wrinkly?”
Her dad laughed. He seemed so happy these days. Ever since they brought Bryn home from the hospital with Jarvis and Jasper. She still wasn’t sure if she liked those names. Bob and Sam sounded so much better to her. But once again no one had asked her opinion before deciding what to call her baby brothers.
“It’s just because they’re so little and new,” her dad said. “Give them a couple of weeks and they’ll fill out.”
Wesley eyed the babies skeptically. “If you say so.”
Daddy reached out a hand for her to take it. “Come on now, Mama’s got to feed them and get them ready for bed.”
Wesley slid her hand into her father’s big warm one. Mama, she liked the sound of that. Once Bryn came home from the hospital she said that Wesley could call her Mama if she wanted to. And she wanted to. So bad.
“They sure sleep a lot,” Wesley said as her dad led her from the room. She glanced back one last time. The twins had their own room with two little beds and cowboy decorations hanging on the walls. It was all right, she supposed, but she preferred pink so much more than baby blue and red. But once again, they hadn’t asked her when they decorated.
She craned her head back to look at her father. “Can we watch Little Mermaid?”
“We can watch anything you want. This is your time.”
“I think I want to watch Little Mermaid. Uncle Seth and Aunt Jessie, are they going to have a boy too?”
Her dad shook his head as he led her into the family room. “We don’t know what kind of baby they’re having. It’ll be around your birthday before we can find out.”
“Their baby will be born on my birthday? Is that even possible?”
Daddy laughed. “Absolutely. Just like the twins were born on Christmas Day.”
“I don’t think I like that idea.”
“We don’t have to talk about it now. Let’s watch Little Mermaid, okay?”
She nodded and scooched over a little more so he could sit next to her on the couch. “I would have much rather had girls,” Wesley groused.
Her father started the movie and gave her a kiss on the cheek as The Little Mermaid flickered to life on the TV screen. “So you’ve said. But keep in mind, the most important part is that they’re healthy.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Wesley.” She was always in trouble when he used that tone of voice.
“Yes, sir.”
She supposed he was right, but adults were always going on about health and being well. She guessed it was a big deal to them. So maybe it was more important that they were healthy than whether or not they were boys or girls.
“What about the family?” Wesley asked. “Isn’t that important?”
“Family is always important.”
And that was what they were now—a family of five. Even more if she counted Grandma Esther and Nana, which she did. That made four girls and three boys. Four girls. That was good, huh?
Okay, so maybe it was all right that they were boys. It wasn’t her first choice, but again no one had asked her.
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Amy Lillard is the author of more than twenty novels, including the Cattle Creek novels beginning with Loving a Lawman. She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband and son.
