Page 16 of Sebastian

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

A few minutes later, the pizzas were delivered, and everyone dove into their meal. Emelia loved to cook for family, but living alone didn’t give her a lot of opportunities to do that. She preferred ordering just for herself than to cook with tons of leftovers that usually spoiled.

Unsure of what was happening between Maddie and Forrest, she didn’t want to get his hopes up and tell him she was on her way. Em knew that they’d been seeing one another for the last five months almost every weekend. Then suddenly, three weeks ago, Maddie started avoiding him. In fact, she was avoiding everyone, and that was even more disturbing.

“I’ll get it,” she said as the doorbell rang. Sebastian gripped her hand, standing with her.

“I’ll answer with you.”

“You don’t need to,” she whispered. “It should be Maddie.” He nodded but stayed close as she opened the door. They both stared at the young woman, then behind them.

“Who is it, honey?” asked her father.

“It’s me, Dad.” Maddie stepped inside the room, and it felt as if the air was sucked out of the entire house. Chief stared at his daughter, then back at Forrest.

“You’re pregnant,” said Em. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I haven’t told the father. Yet.” She looked at Forrest, then rubbed her slightly protruding belly. “I should have told you. I know I should have. I’m sorry, Forrest. I know you don’t want kids, but I do, so I just thought that I’d do this by myself. I was going to come home sooner or later and tell everyone.”

“What the fuck would make you think I don’t want kids?” he snapped, standing so quickly he dropped his plate.

“Y-you said so. Our first time,” she stopped, blushing as she looked at the room. They were family, but some things felt wrong to talk about. Unfortunately, they weren’t giving her an inch at this point.

“Our first time we were together. You said kids have a way of fucking up your life.”

“Maddie, baby. I said if you’re not truly in love, truly committed, kids can cause more problems. They don’t fix the problem. We’d just finished that case with the couple who hated each other’s guts but kept having kids that they ignored and abused. I wasn’t talking about us, Maddie.

“You and me, baby, you and me love one another. At least I know I damn sure love you. Any kids we were to have would be showered in love, affection, learning, peace, everything they could ever want. I have always wanted lots of kids, honey. Hell, I’m a Robicheaux. Lots of kids is written in our DNA.”

“You want kids?” she whispered. Everyone chuckled, and Forrest took a few steps closer to her, hoping she didn’t run. Her father gripped his arm, giving a nod of approval.

“Christopher just found out Ramey is pregnant with triplets. There are five others back home pregnant. Looks like you and I will be the first to bring new babies home since you’re further along. When are we due?”

“We.” She smiled at him and took another step forward. “We are due December 23rd.”

“A Christmas baby,” he smiled.

“Babies.” Chief gasped, staring at his daughter, then at Forrest. His smile got wider, and he reached for Maddie.

“How many? How many blessings does this undeserving man get?”

“Genetics are strong at Belle Fleur,” she grinned. “Four. Spontaneous quadruplets. Again. It’s why I’m so damn big. The Pentagon knows that I have to leave soon. The doctor wants me on bed rest right away.”

“Then you’ll be on bed rest,” said Forrest. “In our bed in our cottage at Belle Fleur. I think first, we need to call your mother and my parents and our grandparents. Sebastian? Em? We might ask to have a double wedding if you could stand that.”

“I would love nothing more than being married beside my sister,” smiled Emelia. She hugged Maddie, kissing her cheeks and then touching her belly. “You should have called me. I wouldn’t have said anything.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” She looked at her father. “Dad? I’m sorry.”

“For what?” he laughed. “I’ll have all my daughters married and grandbabies on the way. Your grandma and grandpa are going to be happy as shit.”

For the next hour, Forrest and Maddie made call after call to let everyone know at Belle Fleur. It didn’t take much convincing for Forrest to get her to agree to leave the Pentagon the next day and return with him. Sebastian and Emelia knew it was best for all of them.

“I did pull some information for you, Em,” said Maddie, taking a seat. Forrest pulled her slightly swollen ankles up onto his lap, gently massaging her feet. “Your lady, Helen. She’s got an interesting past.”

“How so?” frowned Em.

“She didn’t always work as an admin at the bureau. She was with the Pentagon for a while. I’m not sure what happened. That isn’t in her files, but she requested a transfer to the bureau about twenty years ago.”