“I do ski well,” she said.
“If by well, you mean as well as the tourists do,” I said.
“That’s not bad. I’ll take it.”
“I mean the child tourists,” I said.
“I’ll ignore that,” Tempest said. “Is this place low profile enough for everyone?”
“I think it’ll do nicely.” Iver straightened from where he’d been looking inside the refrigerator. “We’ll have to take appropriate precautions, split up when we adopt our identities, but it’s fine as a base camp. Quite literally a camp almost, in this case.”
“We’re so far from West Bend,” Oscar said. “Over an hour, and in the middle of nowhere. And everyone’s in a rental. No one’s being tailed. All precautions were taken.”
“And, the most important thing is that you even stocked champagne.” Iver said, holding up a bottle.
“You can thank Silas for that one,” Tempest said. “He special ordered it at the general store.”
“Silas, you’re growing on me,” Iver said as he popped the bottle. “I’ll pour glasses and we’ll toast the new grift.” There was a knock on the door and he scowled. “Now who is about to ruin a perfectly good toast?”
“That would be Luke,” I said, crossing the room. “Don’t worry - he’s all good. I was schooled on precautions they needed to take, avoiding a tail, all that.”
“I hope you’re not revealing all of the trade secrets,” Iver said.
“What trade secrets?” Luke asked.
“Is this the twin?” Emir asked. “You don’t look that alike.”
“We’re just brothers,” Luke said.
“Yeah, unfortunately,” I said, as Luke wrapped his arm around my neck, putting me in a headlock.
“Unfortunately?” Luke asked.
“Did you forget I was a wrestler?” I said, easily pulling Luke’s arm from his neck.
“Yeah, but I’m bigger, and older than you,” Luke said. “And fitter.”
“Is this what they do in Colorado?” Iver asked.
Tempest rolled her eyes. “Boys, please don’t destroy this place.”
I laughed. “Yeah, okay” I said, letting go of my brother’s arm. I pulled Tempest up against me, slid my hands around her to the small of her back, and kissed the tip of her nose. “Happy?”
“For sure,” she said. “You?”
“Very.” I was. I could have been anywhere with Tempest, anywhere in the world, and I’d have been so stinking happy. There was nothing that could change that.
Tempest
“Oh my God, with the kissy face all the time,” Luke yelled. “Get a room.”
“Shut up,” Silas said. “You’re just jealous.”
“What’s that about?” I asked, and Silas shrugged.
“He’s all gaga for some girl,” Silas said.
“So you’re giving him shit about it?” I asked. “Are you a total asshole?”
“It’s what we do,” Silas said.
“Where’s the other one?” Emir piped up from across the room. “Isn’t there a twin?”
“He’s in Hollywood,” I said. “He’s dating River Andrews.”
Emir started at me blankly. “Who?”
“She’s an actress,” I said. “Romantic comedies.”
“Oh.” Emir looked down and returned to what he was doing.
“She’s getting an award,” I said. “A big one. Elias went with her to the awards show. It’s going to be on live television.”
“It’s on in about twenty minutes, too,” Luke said as he walked around. “Is there a TV? I told Elias I wanted to see him in a monkey suit.”
“Ahem,” Iver clinked a spoon against the side of his glass. “A toast. If everyone would please pick up a glass of champagne.”
When we had, and the buzz of talking in the room quieted down, Iver cleared his throat. “Now,” he said. “When I found out that the most attractive member of our team had absconded to a little Colorado town with someone, I couldn’t imagine that it was true.”
Silas’ hand wrapped protectively around my shoulder. “Most attractive, for sure,” he whispered into my ear.
“Until,” Iver said, clearing his throat again. “Until I heard her talk about him. And then I understood that it was the only possible thing she could have done. Because when you find the person who makes you want to leave everything behind, you can’t do anything but that.”
Oscar held up his glass. “To Ariana and Silas.”
“Who’s Ariana?” Silas asked.
“About that…”
Silas turned to me. “Your real name isn’t Ariana, is it?”
I laughed. “No,” I said. “It’s Tempest. They know me as Ariana.” She yelled loudly. “It’s Tempest, guys. My given name is not Ariana.”
Oscar put his hand over his heart. “I’m hurt that you gave us a fake,” he said.
“I’ve known all along,” Emir said, opening up one of his laptops on the table he stood behind.
Iver turned toward him. “And you haven’t said anything, Emir?”
He shrugged. “You should just assume I know everything. Because I probably do.”
“I find that equal parts admirable and reprehensible,” Iver said.
“Thanks.” Emir sat down, typing furiously on his keyboard.
“Is this the part where we plan out the grift?” Silas asked before bringing his lips to my cheek. I felt a shiver of pleasure at his mere touch, and I nuzzled against him.
“Oh, no,” I said. “Not yet. This is the part where we drink champagne and talk.”
“Shouldn’t the champagne go after the grift?” he asked.
“Let me refill that for you.” Iver appeared beside us, filling up Silas’ glass. “We drink champagne anytime. This is the part where we regale you with stories of Aria- I mean, Tempest’s legendary grifter antics.”
I looked at Iver, my eyes narrowed. “Not the embarrassing stories,” I said.
“Of course those are the ones we’ll be sharing,” Oscar said. He sipped from his champagne glass. “They’re the most important stories of all. Do you remember the time in Monaco when-”
I groaned. “Come on, guys.”
Luke interrupted from where he stood in front of the television. “The camera just panned over Elias and River in the crowd,” he said. “I think her category is up next.”
“Saved...for now,” Oscar said.
We watched, standing around the television while River, clad in a floor length gold dress that shimmered under the lights, walked onto the stage to collect her award. The camera panned briefly on Elias, who sat in the audience, grinning broadly. “Turn it up, man,” Silas yelled. “We can’t hear what she’s saying.”
River’s mouth moved, and Luke pressed on the volume button. “She’s thanking people,” he said. “Can you hear it?”
“Who’s that?” I asked, watching as a man wearing tight leather pants and a ragged black t-shirt ascended the stage, grabbing the microphone from her hand.
“Holy shit,” Silas said. “That’s her fucking ex-boyfriend.”
“Oh my God, the one who cheated?” I asked. “With her sister?”
Iver and Oscar were talking and Luke hushed them. “That’s that douchebag Viper,” he said. “Do you think River is going to push him off the stage?”
We watched as Viper grabbed the microphone from her hand and got down on one knee, proclaiming his love for her and apologizing for his indiscretions. Beside me, Silas hooted. “Shit, if River doesn’t punch him, Elias is going go up there and beat his ass on live TV.”
But Viper didn’t get out more than two sentences before River yanked the microphone out of his hand. “You stupid fuck,” she said. And then, as he started to stand, she punched him in the face.
Luke and Silas whooped. Luke turned from the TV, now cut to commercial, laughing. “River can fucking hold her own,” he said. “I can’t wait for Elias to tell us the whole story.”
“She’s one of us now,” S
ilas said. “A Saint. And you just don’t fuck with us.”
“Speaking of that,” Oscar said. “Do we have an update on Coker?”
“He figured out that he’d been had,” I said. “Finally. It took him long enough.”
“But, as it turns out, he also owed money to some Eastern Europeans,” Silas said. “One of my friends back in Vegas said he disappeared.”
“Well, isn’t this darling,” Iver said. “It’s happy-ever-afters all around.”
“Grifter style,” said Oscar.
“Well, happy-ever-afters for everyone except for the people we’re about to con next,” I said, grinning. “The sheriff and the mayor don’t know what they’re in for.”
I’d never thought I’d return to West Bend again. I never thought I’d be with Silas, but once I found him, I wasn’t letting go this time. I was happy and Silas was happy and for the moment, nothing else in the world, including the grift, mattered. The only thing that mattered was us.
40
Bonus Epilogue
Tempest
"We're going to go see the baby in mommy's belly," I remind Ethan, who grimaces.
"How does it fit in there?" Jacob asks.
"Stop touching me!" Ethan yells. "Mom, he's not keeping his hands to himself!"
"Jacob, come on, keep your hands to yourself," Silas groans.
"We should rearrange their car seats and put Liam beside Jacob instead," I note. "Jacob and Ethan just get under each others' skin all the time."
Silas snorts. "Elias and I were the same way."
"Yeah, and look at what kind of troublemakers you two turned out to be."
"The former C-O-N A-R-T-I-S-T is calling me and my twin brother troublemakers?" Silas feigns shock, laughing as he puts on his turn signal and heads down the exit ramp.
We decided to drive over to Grand Junction to do one of those three-dimensional ultrasound things so the kids could see the baby, since West Bend is too small to have one. We though it would be a cool experience for them and help them adjust to the idea of having a new sibling, especially since Jacob's first reaction to the news of my pregnancy was to scream, "I'm not sharing any of my stuff!” before throwing himself dramatically on the floor.
Liam pipes up from the back seat. "I have to pee."
"Can you hold it?" Silas asks. "We'll be there in two seconds."
"I don't know!" Liam yells.
"Distract him," Silas tells me. "The ultrasound place should be right up here."
"Let's sing!" I suggest brightly. "How about one of your preschool songs?"
"Row, Row, Row Your Boat?" Jacob asks.
"No!" Silas and I both object at the same time. "Nothing about water!"
Fifteen minutes later, we're in the ultrasound room and an ultrasound technician is squirting jelly onto my abdomen while Silas and the triplets watch expectantly. That's right – Jacob, Liam, and Ethan are four-year-old triplets. Twins run in the family, obviously, but triplets were totally unexpected.
When I imagined having children with Silas, I pictured a cute little boy and girl who were sweet and darling and brilliant and – well, we did wiund up with sweet, darling, brilliant children (if I do say so myself).
"Mom, Liam just farted!"
They're also mischievous, loud, and totally obnoxious.
Jacob yells "gross!" and Ethan collapses into hysterical laughter, repeating: "He farted! He farted!" over and over.
"No one farted," Silas says, his voice stern. "That was the sound of the ultrasound jelly being squirted onto your mom's belly."
"Jelly and belly! Jelly and belly! Those rhyme!" Ethan sings.
Silas looks at me and shakes his head. "Remind me why we though that bringing them here would make this a special moment?"
"Remind me why we thought it would be a good idea to have another one," I whisper.
"Is it too late to return them?" Silas whispers back.
Jacob elbows Ethan in the arm and Ethan yells, "Stop hitting me! Mom, he's touching me again!"
"I think if we sneak out of here quietly, they might not notice," I suggest.
The sound of the heartbeat is amplified on speakers in the room, and suddenly the kids are standing still, quietly watching on a screen as a view of the baby comes onto the display.
"What's that sound?" Liam asks.
"It's the heartbeat," Silas explains.
"Two heartbeats, actually," the ultrasound technician notes.
I think my heart stops beating. "What do you mean, two?"
"There are two babies," she says. "Didn't your doctor tell you?"
"Uh… no," I note, my eyes going wide as I look at Silas. His face is pale. "I'm a thousand percent positive there was one baby in there when we saw my OB doctor four weeks ago."
"Sometimes one of the twins will hide behind another one," she says nonchalantly, as if she's not standing there telling us we're going to have two children instead of the one we were expecting.
"There are two?" Liam asks.
"Two." Silas stands there slack-jawed. Hell, I think my mouth is hanging open.
"Two," I repeat stupidly.
"Twins," Silas says.
"Twins," I repeat. "And triplets. That's five."
"Are the babies going to take my toys?" Ethan asks.
"They're babies. They don't want your toys," Liam says.
"They look like aliens!" Ethan laughs, running around the room in circles. "Mom has aliens in her belly!"
"No, zombies!" Jacob cries out. "Zombie-babies!" He stars walking around the room growling, his arms extended in front of him.
"Get away from me, you butt!" Ethan yells.
"What have I told you about butts and zombies?" Silas asks.
"Butts and zombies! Butts and zombies," Ethan repeats.
"No butts. No zombies. If either of you say either of those words one more time, you're in ‘time out’ right here and no one – I mean, no one – is going to the splash pad at the park later today."
"What?!" Ethan groans.
"Stop saying it, Ethan!" Jacob yells.