Our family has never been stronger.

And that strength will only grow with time.

Speaking of growing...

“So.” I clap my hands and turn toward Maddoc and Captain, to Raven and Victoria. “How many times I gotta come inside her to put a mini-me in there?”

They gape at me, and all at once, the three of us start laughing and my body eases.

This is it.

This is where it’s at.

Brielle

Phoenix and Zoey have been sleeping for the last hour, his little bassinet set up directly beside her bed—she wouldn’t lay down without him by her side—and Rolland’s just announced he’s done for the day as well, so it’s just the six of us. The boys are sitting around the mini bonfire at the end of the deck, waiting for us to return with drinks and snacks in hand.

I spin, snagging a box from my bag on the counter, and when I turn back around, I meet Raven’s outstretched hand.

I look from hers to mine and we both laugh.

With a heavyhearted sigh, she sets down the box she was about to give me, looking to the same exact hot chocolate as in my grasp.

She smirks, turns and goes back to grabbing whatever it was Maddoc asked for.

Only after I’ve got the hot water poured into two mugs, and I’m tearing into the cocoa packets does my gaze snap to hers. “You knew we’d come.”

Victoria smiles into her mug, looking between the two of us and Raven laughs, turning to face me with a shrug.

She sighs with a smile. “Yeah, I did.”

“How?”

She comes closer, takes the cups from my hands and shocks me when she hugs me, her words hitting my ear. “’Cause you’re absolutely fucking perfect for him, Brielle. For us and this place.” She pulls back. “Thank you for... loving him like no one else could. For pushing back when he pushed good and hard.”

“You don’t have to thank me for any of that.”

She smiles, grabs her cups, and walks ahead of me. “I know, now come on. Our boys are waiting.”

She leaves and Victoria steps in front of me, but her mouth freezes open when a sweet, sleepy, little voice sounds from the bedroom.

“Mommy, I’m thirsty,” Zoey calls.

Every muscle in Victoria’s body goes limp and she shoots a hand out, allowing me to steady her, to hold her up.

Her eyes are wide and on mine, instant tears pouring down her cheeks.

“Did I... did you hear that?” she dares to whisper, swallowing hard and afraid to look away.

“Mommy...” her daughter calls again.

She squeezes tighter, and my eyes cloud. “Yeah,” I whisper. “I did.”

She gasps through a laugh, spins around to grab a bottle of water and looks back to me.

I smile, reach up and wipe her tears away and she nods.

Off she goes to give her little girl what she needs.

I stare until she disappears, and then grab the mugs off the counter, but before I can spin with them, a heartbeat that matches mine, that knows mine, beats against my back.

His lips bury in my neck as he holds me from behind.

“Baby girl.”

“Baby boy.”

He hums. “That could be fun.”

I chuckle lightly, spinning in his arms and he brings his finger up, now covered in whipped cream. He slips it between my lips, taking them with his in the next movement.

I smile. “I brought the chocolate syrup, too.”

He groans, tugging me closer. “My sweet baby,” he whispers. “I want you.”

“You have me, and you’ll have me tonight, but first...”

“Cocoa and candy?”

I laugh. “And a night under the stars with your family.”

He drops his forehead to mine, his hand coming up to subconsciously trace my scar as he does at least four to five times a day now. “Under our stars with our family.”

Our.

My chest rises and falls quickly, a slow smile finding my lips, because he’s right and I feel it.

The acceptance.

The care.

The love.

What once was five is now six.

The circle now full.

Until the littles grow... then who the hell knows what’ll happen.

But now isn’t the time to think about that.

Now is the time to enjoy what we have... front row seats to watch as the boys of Brayshaw High grow into the men of the Brayshaw mansion.

“I love you, Tink.”

“And I love you.”

I stare at my man.

My world, it will be painted black and sooner than it should, but I can say now with complete honesty that I’m okay with that, because Royce Brayshaw will be my light.

My night.

My everything.

He’s my kind of king.

Epilogue

Brielle

Six months have passed since the day Royce and I came home from the hospital, and the beginning of near every night has looked exactly the same.

Royce takes me onto the balcony he had built outside our bedroom window, and we lie back on the large, round couch or sit tall in the king and queens’ chairs he refused to pass up that are placed beside it, staring up at the stars. Two of which now belong to us.

My baby bought me my own star and named it Tink. Of course, he said I couldn’t be anywhere he wasn’t, so he bought himself one two, and named it Lost Boy.

He says we’ll forever fly together...among so many other dirty, dirty things.

Tonight though, I’m beyond nervous as a surprise is in the works, one I’m more anxious about than anything ever before.

I always knew the good would one day come, but never expected to feel so eager for the days that follow.

I’m eighteen, graduated early, and will start college in the fall as a second semester freshman, study youth counseling and be the first Brayshaw to go to college. Though, I’m pretty dang sure the others are this close to deciding to join me, especially since the boys would have a chance to play basketball again. They’ve been asking so many questions and grow more curious by the day, everyone minus Raven. She hated school and is more than happy at home with Phoenix, and the work she’s doing to her faster kids around our state – even if it’s not something she talks about.

It’s so crazy, how my life has changed so much so quickly.

I have a family who watches out for me and will forever be here to help the second I need it.

I have a man whom I love, who loves me, and is only missing one thing in life, something that only I can give him.

After tonight, he’ll have it all.

It’s not uncommon for the family to join us on our balcony, so he’s clueless as to what’s to come.

Right now, Maddoc and Raven sit on the couch, Victoria and Captain lean against the ledge, and Phoenix is crawling around their feet, Zoey following his every move. Rolland is perched against the door at our backs, and Royce doesn’t know it, but Maybell is on the grass way down below us, waiting.

In exactly two minutes, she’ll release two dozen balloons that will travel this way with the help of the nights breeze and reveal my greatest secret.

Zoey is now three, and Captain has already decided to keep her home an extra year so that Phoenix and she are close in grades.

Maddoc says he’s working on another bodyguard for Zoey – I’m positive he’s already accomplished this, but it hasn’t been announced yet and I know why.