Page 77 of Triple Protection
The boys all retired from their bodyguard duties so we could stay together.
Brick began writing suspense and murder mystery novels, claiming the ones he read were getting shallow and boring. He pulled on his experience in the Marine Corps and as a bodyguard for inspiration and has developed a network of like-minded authors and experts that he collaborates with regularly.
Alex designs work out regimens remotely for personal clients. They share an app where he designs their circuit and weights and meets with them virtually to check up on their goals. He's insanely popular and in high demand, with a long waitlist.
Liam is a beach bum when we're in the Virgin Islands and a ski bum when we're in the mountains. But he's also the best Instagram boyfriend and happy to be a "kept man" - his words, not mine. Whenever the boys give him shit for not earning an income, he sasses back that he took a bullet in the line of duty and that earned him an early retirement. And yes, he plans onusing that excuse for the rest of his life. I don't mind that he doesn't work, we have more than enough with my career.
Although, today, I'm nervous.
Today, everything changes and I'm not sure how the boys will take it.
It's Christmas morning in our cabin. After we have a lazy breakfast and coffee, we exchange a few presents - nothing extravagant, we all already have everything we need, so presents are usually inside jokes, or little things that we find throughout the year that remind us of each other. A book, a coffee mug, a trinket. Soft instrumental holiday music plays on the speakers, and I can't remember ever being this happy. Even in my nervousness, I want to preserve this moment. The boys all look delicious with their messy hair and pajamas, and between the fire in the fireplace, the music, and the snow falling outside, I've never been more content and at peace in my life.
"I love you all." I whisper, afraid if I speak too loudly, my voice will crack under the weight of the emotions inside me. I'm barely holding back happy tears when the boys all look at me. They don't have to say the words. I can see the love on their faces and feel the love surrounding us.
Liam plops down on the couch next to me, laying his head in my lap, his favorite position. Obligingly, I run my hand through his blonde hair.
"There's one more under here." Alex says, reaching for a small box wrapped in sparkling red wrapping paper. I specifically hid it deep so it would be the last one. "It's for all three of us?"
I bite my lip and nod. My heart rate picks up and butterflies accost my stomach. He and Brick come closer and sit on the coffee table, so all three of them can open it together. Liam sits up, peering over at the gift. Alex unwraps it slowly before prying the box open. At the same time, Liam gasps, Alex groans andBrick just looks at me with a single eyebrow raised. I smile and give him a nod.
Liam jumps up and throws a fist in the air, whooping.
"But kids are so loud," Alex complains but laughing and smiling. He sets the box with the positive pregnancy tests next to him on the coffee table. I took two, just to be sure.
Brick's looking at nothing, his face distant. If you didn't know him, you'd be worried that he was upset, but I can tell he's envisioning an entire life with a child, from baby to child to teenager to adult. He swallows stiffly before wrapping me up in a giant bear hug and spinning me. I squeal as I'm pulled from his arms and laid gently down on the couch, Alex's large body pressing into mine. He kisses me with a fierce passion that takes my breath away before Liam wrestles him off of me.
"You'll crush the baby, you idiot!" he shouts in panic. I can't help but laugh. We had discussed kids, and how we all wanted them, and agreed we'd do a DNA test for medical reasons, but that every baby we had would be raised equally. Each of the boys are so different and bring something new to the relationship.
Brick is safe, solid, and calm. I can already imagine our son or daughter going to him for comfort and support. Perhaps a heartbreak, knowing that Brick will keep space for them to feel loved and calm.
Alex is stubborn, aggressive, and likes to challenge people. He'll push our children to take risks, to work hard, to try. I can see him coaching the baseball team, I can see a teenaged son getting a personal record in the gym and how fiercely Alex will celebrate him. Our children will be better people because Alex will be there, pushing them.
Liam will be the fun one, the goofy one. I can see him and our children sneaking ice cream at night or building pillow forts in the living room. He'll ensure our children love life just as much as he does. He lives every day to the fullest and goes to bed everynight with an empty tank. He falls asleep every night knowing he's given out all his love, all his energy, all his everything in honor of the day and his relationships. He'll teach our children how to love, how to live and God, I love him for that.
And me? I'm not sure what kind of mother I'll make. I never saw a good example of what a mother is supposed to do, or supposed to be like, but I know I'll try - I'll try every day to be the best mother I can, the kind of mother I would have wanted to have, and I know even when I screw up, the boys will always have my back. That's the only reason I'm not nervous about having a baby. These boys won't let me fail, won't let me fall. And I'm the luckiest damn woman in the world.
Chapter fifty-four
Bonus Epilogue
Angela
"Daddy!!" Amelia screams as Liam tosses her into the surf. My mama-heart starts to worry, but all three of her fathers would gnaw their own arms off before letting anything happen to that little girl. The first born, she instantly turned all three of my men into girl-dads and from the get-go they were all wrapped around her chubby little finger.
If I thought the boys were ridiculous and overbearing when I was pregnant, it was nothing compared to how they dote on and protect their little girl.
All three pregnancies had their different challenges. From heartburn to Braxton hicks contractions for a month, to little Joey dropping low and feeling like my pelvis was going to break every time I walked. But the worst part was how extra all three boys are when I get pregnant. Liam bounces around me like a puppy, eager to do every little thing for me. He barely lets me go pee by myself, let alone get dressed by myself or get myselffood. Brick gets extra broody and serious when I'm pregnant and lectures the other two to be gentler with me during lovemaking. Alex lectures me about all the dangerous things I'm doing, like driving or sitting or standing. But for all my bitching, I'm still the luckiest woman in the world. Our family has grown from four to seven, and I swear I might be the grinch, because every new member of our family grows my heart by that much more.
Then, during Thanksgivings and Christmases, when we're surrounded by our extended family, my heart feels like it might explode. For holidays we always go back to the old house because it's the biggest and has enough bedrooms, and the pool house, to give almost everyone a place to stay. Dan and Amy and little Andy, although not so little anymore, Isabella, Hannah, Brian, Vikki and Ellie, plus my three big guys and now our babies make for loud and chaotic holidays. And I couldn't love them more. My family never came around to the idea that I was in love with three men, but my sister keeps in touch so she can see her nieces and nephews. Even if she's uncomfortable around the boys and me, my usually uptight big sister dotes on our kids, and I'm not going to deny my babies any amount of love.
Amelia is three, Evie is just over one and Little Joey is just a few months. Little Joey and I are in a tent on the beach, keeping out of the sand and sun, while Liam and Alex play with Amelia in the surf, while Brick sits with a sleeping Evie on his chest, a floppy hat and towel covering her fair skin. I can see Brick through the opening in the tent. He struggles with his prosthetic in the waves and the sand, but he makes an effort every time one of us wants to go to the beach. Seeing such a tan, broad chest, covered in soft chest hair and tattoos, draped by the palest, chubbiest, littlest thing makes my heart sore. There's something about a 'scary mother fucker' with the patience and softness that Brick brings to fatherhood that I just can't get enough of.
"Keep looking at me like that and I'll put another baby in you." he growls without turning to look at me. I laugh.
"I think my baby making days are over. Any more and we'll be outnumbered!" Little Joey squirms in my lap so I pop a boob out of my breastfeeding access bathing suit to give to him.
"If you didn't look so goddamn sexy pregnant, we wouldn't keep knocking you up." I laugh again before throwing a beach toy at his broad back. I always felt huge and awkward pregnant. I was never one of those cute pregnant women. I swear I look like I'd swallowed a bowling ball at conception, but the boys always look at me like they can't get enough of me. Even with my extra tummy and hips from my latest pregnancy, the boys' hungry stares and wandering hands always make me feel like a Goddess. Lovemaking is a little more complicated with three back-to-back pregnancies, rest time after births, and now children, but that need never goes away. I thought we'd get tired of each other over awhile, that that intense burn for each other would fade as real life and children and routine dulled it but it really hasn't. Now it's heated stares over breakfast, quick gropes behind the kitchen island, and long, heated kisses whenever we can get away with it.