She took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
* * * *
Tom hooked his arm through hers and led her out of the house and down the yard to where everyone was located by the lake. They were using the same arch Karen had used for her ceremony two weeks earlier, but Peggy had insisted it didn’t need any other decorations. Tom had ordered the tent, chairs, and tables from the same rental company. But instead of a caterer, Peggy had insisted on Publix deli food and a Publix cake.
He had to admit, they made damn good cakes.
Andrew stood in front of the arch with Tyler by his side as the best man. Adam would again be the ring “bear,” and Peggy had asked her daughters and Nevvie to be her bridesmaids. To keep it fair since she didn’t want to make one the maid of honor, she’d decided Adam would hand the ring to her.
Tom walked her up to the arch as friends and family looked on. The reverend smiled. “Who gives this woman away?”
Tom grinned. “My sisters and I do. And it’s about dang time.”
“Hush, Tommy,” she scolded, but she still smiled.
Everyone laughed. Tom stepped back to the side out of the way as Andrew took her hands.
They kept it short, sweet, and simple. Tom exchanged playful winks with both Tyler and Nevvie throughout the vows.
When the preacher declared them man and wife and the newlyweds kissed, Tom sniffled and blinked away a couple of tears of his own. They still had a lot of good years in them. Plenty of time to enjoy the happiness they rightfully deserved.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his mom’s smile look so deep, as if it touched every corner of her heart and soul instead of being a well-worn mask she put on for everyone else’s benefit. Andrew absolutely beamed with happiness.
After the reception ended, everyone threw birdseed at them as they hurried to Peggy’s car and drove off. They would spend the weekend in a hotel in Savannah.
“I still don’t understand why everyone was so blasted against my idea that they take the RV and go on a trip,” Tyler mused as they watched their taillights disappear down the drive.
Tom suspected Nevvie’s incredulous look mirrored his own. “Are you freaking kidding me, Ty?” he asked. “Seriously?”
Nevvie held up a hand, silencing Tom. She glared at Tyler and held up two fingers. “Two words, buster. Dump. Tank.”
He reddened. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you, love?”
“No,” she and Tom said in unison.
* * * *
Once all the guests had departed, Kelly and Laurie took over care of Adam and Mikey. Tom and Tyler shooed Nevvie off to bed.
“Go,” Tom ordered. “We’ll supervise cleanup. You look exhausted.”
She felt too tired to argue. She kissed her kids good-night despite the fact that it wasn’t even dark yet and headed for the shower. Then she pulled on one of Tom’s old T-shirts that she sometimes wore around the house and crawled into bed with an old science fiction movie on TV.
She awoke at the feel of someone curling their body around her.
Tyler.
She wiggled her butt at him, earning her a chuckle. He gently cupped her right breast in his palm through the shirt. “You are awake, you sneaky little thing.”
“What time is it?”
“A little before ten. Tom should be along shortly.”
“Wow. I did go to sleep.” She rolled to face him. He grabbed the hem of her shirt. She sat up and let him pull it off her before she snuggled with him again. His semi-stiff cock had nestled perfectly along the seam of her ass and was quickly growing hard.
“Are you feeling frisky, love?”
“I could be persuaded. I’m just not very energetic.”
He brushed his hand down the curve of her belly and settled between her legs. “Let’s see how good my powers of persuasion are, love.”
She closed her eyes, her head thrown back against his shoulder, as his fingers worked their magic on her. He parted her labia and stroked her clit until he had her juices flowing and her hips rocking against him.
“There’s my sweet angel,” he whispered in her ear. He adjusted position slightly, then lined up his cock with her pussy and slid in. “Just like that,” he said.
She softly moaned as he gathered her juices on his fingers and spread them around her clit, rubbing and teasing, her body responding to his touch.
Tom walked in, chuckling when he saw them. “Starting without me?”
“Just getting her warmed up.”
He quickly stripped and joined them, nuzzling her breasts with his sweet, hot mouth. He cupped her other breast with his hand, rubbing his thumb over her nipple and coaxing it into a taut peak.
The first explosion rocked her, but Tyler wasn’t finished and neither was Tom. They weren’t happy until they’d coaxed two more out of her. Then Tyler grabbed her hips, thrust a few times, and moaned as he came.
“Oh, love,” he gasped. “You have no idea how hard it was to hold back. You were squeezing me so exquisitely.”
“Enough with the chatter,” Tom playfully griped. “My turn. I’m dying here.”
Nevvie giggled as Tom cupped a hand around her ass, nudging his cock into position after Tyler vacated the premises. “Dying?” she asked.
“Uh-huh.” He sank his cock home, and before she could even think about if she still had one more in her or not, his body stiffened and he let out a groan she knew meant he’d added his load to Tyler’s inside her pussy.
He relaxed with a happy smile. “Ahh. That’s better.”
She giggled again. “Wouldn’t want you dying of blue balls.”
He kissed her. “It’s a horrible way to go, sugar. You have no idea.” He flopped back onto the bed. “Now I just need to muster up enough energy for a shower.”
Nevvie had already started dozing off again when the men finished their shower and returned to bed. She snuggled between them. “I hope they have a good time on their honeymoon,” she said.
“Aah!” both men said, protesting.
“What?”
Tom shook his head. “I don’t want to think about what they’re doing on their honeymoon.”
“Me either,” Tyler agreed.
She looked at Tom, then at Tyler, in disbelief. “Oh, seriously? Grow up, you two!”
“Hey, that’s my momma,” Tom said. “I don’t want to contemplate the mechanics.”
Tyler nodded. “Agreed.”
Nevvie lay back down. “God help the boys that try to date our daughters, then.”
“Aah!” both men shrieked.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nevvie had trouble sleeping all night. Despite the king-sized bed, as her belly grew, it seemed like there was far less room for her to move around. She took to sleeping on the far right side of the bed. It had the easiest path out of bed and to the bathroom, instead of her having to struggle to get up out of the middle of the bed for bathroom runs during the night and waking one or both men in the process.
She awoke well before dawn in a foul mood for her lack of sleep. After going to the bathroom, she waddled out to the kitchen in her nightgown and bathrobe to make coffee. No doubt the boys and Laurie would be up soon to open presents. And everyone was coming over for lunch that afternoon. Jacob and Kyle had arrived two days earlier and were sleeping in the RV.
Andrew had taken over all the Christmas dinner arrangements since Peggy had been in charge of Thanksgiving. She knew he’d be up soon to start the turkey and side dishes.
As she waited for the coffee to brew, she stood at the sink and stretched, wincing. She’d tried to cut back her coffee consumption, but if she wasn’t going to be a royal bitch today, she’d need it. Her back hurt worse than usual this morning. Outside the window, she saw frost glinting on the grass in the light of the nearly full moon that was in the process of setting.
Back in Florida, it was a balmy seventy-six, Pete had told her on the phone the night before.
In anoth
er month, their addition to the new house should be done and they could move in. In some ways, she’d miss being here, with Mom and Dad, but she knew Peggy and Andrew deserved some privacy.
She snickered. I’ll have to make sure we call before we come over so we don’t interrupt them.
It was nice seeing them both so happy after the tumultuous summer. And Kelly, John, and Laurie would move out of Peggy’s and in with them until construction was completed on their new house across the road, probably sometime in mid-February.
Another reason to smile. It was sort of like having their own personal family compound.
She winced and stretched her back again. The girls were unusually active this morning.
Feels like they’re having cheerleader tryouts in there.
Nevvie was in the process of running through her mental checklist for the day’s events when a sharp pain took her breath away. She grabbed hold of the sink and tried to recover from that when a sudden gush of water ran down her legs, soaking her panties and puddling on the floor.
In shock, she stared at it for a moment. No, not today. It can’t happen today.
She tried to talk herself into thinking it wasn’t what she knew it was, but she knew she hadn’t peed herself.
She was still standing there when Andrew walked in. “Ah, good morning, Nev.” His tone changed. “Are you all right?”
She closed her eyes and shook her head.
“What’s wrong? Oh dear, let me clean that spill up for you.”
“Dad,” she gasped. “Get the boys.”
“I thought you’d want to let them sleep in before they unwrapped presents.”
She blinked as she tried to comprehend his statement. “No. I mean Ty and Tom. And get Mom, too.”
“Why? What’s…” His face blanched as he finally realized what was going on. “Oh. Oh! Oh, my. Peg! Peggy, darling!” he screamed as he ran for the kitchen doorway.
Nevvie didn’t want to cry, but it seemed the only thing she could do as she stood there, holding on to the sink for dear life as another contraction washed through her. She tried to console herself that the doctor warned her twins sometimes come early, but today?
On Christmas?
Peggy ran in, still pulling her nightgown on over her head as Andrew followed on her heels.
“Nevvie, sugar? Are you in labor?”
Nevvie closed her eyes and nodded.
“It’s okay, hon. Come sit down.”
Tom and Tyler pounded into the kitchen. “What’s wrong?” they both asked.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Peggy said. “Go get dressed. You boys are about to be dads again.”
Their faces went blank for a moment.
“Do I need to paint a picture? Go!” Peggy yelled again, waving them toward their room.
The men turned and ran out of the kitchen.
A snort of laughter escaped Nevvie. “That’s telling ’em, Mom.”
“I’m just glad I get to be here this time around. I missed the other two. Andy, get the mop, please, and clean that up before someone slips and hurts themselves. Nevvie, you come with me. Let’s get you changed and ready to go.”
Nevvie let her grab her arm and help her up out of the chair. John emerged from their room at the commotion.
“What’s going on?” John asked.
Peggy helped Nevvie down the hall toward her bedroom. “Get dressed, Grandpa,” Peggy said. “And wake up Grandma. We’ve got babies on the way.”
“Babies? Holy crap! Kelly!” He disappeared into their room again.
Fifteen minutes and two contractions later, Nevvie, Peggy, Tom, and Tyler were speeding toward the hospital. Nevvie tried to keep her emotions in check, tried to remember what Dr. Fagen had told her, that it was normal that twins sometimes came early.
Peggy drove, while Tyler crouched with Nevvie in the backseat.
The medical staff was prepping Nevvie for her C-section when Dr. Fagen arrived. She offered Nevvie a smile. “This’ll be a piece of cake. Don’t worry.”
“I can’t be awake, can I?”
“You’re already in labor and too far along. I don’t want to risk you bleeding. We don’t have time for an epidural to take effect.”
Nevvie nervously nodded.
The doctor squeezed her hand. “Both your husbands will be there with you. Don’t worry.”
Nevvie nodded harder, holding her tears back by sheer force of will.
Tom and Tyler, having scrubbed in and wearing surgical gowns and masks, stood by Nevvie’s head as the anesthesiologist smiled down at her.
“Just start counting backward for me, Nevvie,” he said. “From one hundred.”
The last thing Nevvie saw were Tyler and Tom peering at her over the tops of their masks.
* * * *
Nevvie awoke with a gasp.
“Steady, love,” Tyler softly said.
She felt woozy, and felt a sharp pain in her belly. “What…”
“It’s the anesthesia,” he said.
A nurse entered her field of vision and took her vital signs. “Hello, Nevvie. Welcome back. How are you feeling?”
Nevvie nodded, then looked at Tyler. She felt the oxygen canula in her nose but didn’t try to take it out. “How… Okay?”
He smiled, all worry leaving his face. “They’re beautiful, darling. Just like you. Thomas and Peggy are with them.”
“Okay?” Her mouth felt dry, cottony.
“They want to observe them, but the tests so far show their lungs are working fine. Once you’re awake and have recovered for a few hours, they said we can take you to the NICU to see them.”
“NICU?”
“Just a precaution,” he assured her. “They’re not even on oxygen.”
“They’re okay? You’re sure they’re okay?”
He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “They’re already as feisty as you, love. Screaming their beautiful little lungs out. Thomas filmed it for you so you can watch later.” He caught her hand and stroked his thumb along the back of it. “And you did fine, too. No unexpected bleeding. Dr. Fagen said it was a textbook C-section. It took them longer to prep you and get you awake again than it did to actually deliver the little darlings.”
She closed her eyes and squeezed his hand hard.
Four hours later, Tyler had Nevvie bundled up in a wheelchair and carefully pushed her down to the NICU unit. He helped her scrub in and don a gown before pushing her over to the bassinettes where Tom and Peggy were standing.
Tom leaned in and kissed her, a beaming grin on his face. “How you feeling?”
“How are they?” she asked, completely sidestepping the question.
“They’re gorgeous,” Peggy said. She gently scooped up one of the babies while Tom got the other. Tyler put a pillow in her lap to cushion her, and then they gently laid the babies in Nevvie’s arms.
Nevvie felt the tears rolling down her cheeks as she stared at them. They were both asleep, their eyes closed. They looked absolutely perfect.
“What color are their eyes?”
Tom knelt in front of her. “This one,” he said, touching the curled little hand of the one cradled in her left arm, “has the Evil Genius’ blue eyes. And this little one,” he touched the other baby’s hand, “has my brown eyes.”
Nevvie laughed, trying to choke it back so she didn’t disturb the babies. “Yeah?”
Peggy smiled. “You got one of each. Congratulations, sugar.”
The men had given Nevvie total say on what to name the babies. She’d been slightly frustrated by throwing names out and having them constantly agree. They were just so glad to be having daughters, they didn’t care what she named them.
She looked at her blue-eyed daughter, who hadn’t yet opened her eyes for her. “Willow,” she said. Then she looked at her other daughter. “And Zoey.”
She thought Tyler’s beaming smile might break his face. “Beautiful names, love.”
Tom snickered. “Too bad we already named them Thing One and T
hing Two.”
Peggy smacked him on his shoulder. “Behave, you.”
He laughed. “Sorry.” He looked up into Nevvie’s eyes. “Willow and Zoey are beautiful names.” He sighed. “I can see Tyler and I will have our work cut out for us.”
“What do you mean?” Nevvie asked.
“Well, love, we’re not letting them date until they’re at least thirty,” Tyler said with a grin. “And we have fake graves to dig in the backyard. That way, when boys come to take them out, we’ll show them how easy it would be for them to disappear should they do anything inappropriate.”
Nevvie rolled her eyes and looked at Peggy. “How long does this cabaret act last?”
She shrugged. “Beats me, sugar. Adam used to always be coincidentally cleaning his guns in the living room whenever one of the girls’ boyfriends came to pick them up for a date.”
Epilogue
Nevvie stood on the back porch, a cup of coffee in hand, and stared down at the pond. Still early, the morning light had turned a beautiful golden hue as it streamed through the pine trees and across the grassy backyard. This was always her favorite time of day.
It was peaceful. It was calm. It was—
“Mom!” Willow yelled from the top of the stairs. “Will you please tell Zoey to let me in the bathroom? She’s gonna make me miss the bus!”
She closed her eyes and silently swore. It was shattered, is what it was.
“Go use your brothers’ bathroom,” she yelled back.
“Ew! Mom, no way! Please?”
Nevvie suspected they could have eight bathrooms in the house and her twelve-year-old twins would still find a way to hog all of them at the same time.
With a sigh, Nevvie returned to the house and walked upstairs to where Willow stood outside the bathroom door. Nevvie tried the knob and found it locked.
She took a sip of her coffee, then pounded on the door with her free hand. “Zoey, open the door or I’ll have Poppa take it off the hinges and you can use it without any privacy at all.” It wasn’t an empty threat. After their last round of sibling bickering, Nevvie made Tom take their bedroom door off. They lost it for a week. It was amazing how quickly they’d cleaned up their acts to earn it, and the accompanying privacy, back.