Leaning back until I was lying on the bed, I rolled us over and hovered over her body. She dragged her hands through my hair and giggled when I bent low and kissed her stomach over and over.

“What does it feel like?”

“Nothing,” she said on a laugh as her fingertips continued to trail across my head.

“You haven’t really been sick, have you? I remember that day last week, but I can’t think of anything else.” I felt shitty for not noticing, if she had been. I should have picked up on this, shouldn’t I?

“Not really. There’s been times here and there, but from the horror stories I’ve heard, I don’t have it bad at all.”

I nodded and kissed her stomach again before reaching over to the nightstand. Grabbing the ultrasound picture, I laid it down on the bottom of her stomach and hopped off the bed, looking for my pants. After I found them, and took my phone out of the pocket, I walked back over to Rachel and opened up the camera app.

“What are you doing?”

“Letting everyone know about my present.”

That soft smile was back, before her eyes went wide in horror. “No! I’m in my bra and underwear!”

“Calm down, Sour Patch. I’m not about to let anyone see the rest of you. You’re mine, not theirs.”

All that you could see in the picture was her torso and the ultrasound picture. As soon as she gave me the okay, I set up a text to go to Mason, Candice, Maddie, Eli, and all our parents. Above the picture I typed out: MY WEDDING PRESENT, and underneath, I did a twist on Rachel’s words from the envelope: BABY RYAN 1 AND BABY RYAN 2 WILL BE HERE IN MARCH.

Once the message went through, I turned both our phones on silent and put them in my bag.

“What are you doing? You know they’re all going to call us.”

“Exactly,” I said as I climbed on top of her again and moved the ultrasound picture to a safe place. “But right now it’s our wedding night, and I’m not done celebrating with just you.”

Epilogue

Two and a half years later . . .

Rachel

“BABE, DO YOU HAVE KENNEDY?” I called as I went from room to room with Kira.

There is no way to keep track of twins that are running all over the place while you’re trying to get ready to go somewhere. I swear, if she is getting in Trip’s food again . . .

“Kash! Do you know—”

“Where this beautiful monster is?” he asked as he rounded the corner with Kennedy in his arms. She was missing her shirt.

I stopped and blew out a thankful breath that at least she was only missing an article of clothing instead of being completely naked, or covered in baby powder again like last time.

“Where’s her shirt?”

He shrugged and held her up to blow a raspberry on her stomach. “I don’t know. I was hoping you knew.”

“I don’t.” I looked at Kira in my arms and shook my head as I smiled at her. “Your sister is crazy, absolutely crazy!”

Kira just smiled and set her head down on my shoulder as we began walking through the house, looking for Kennedy’s shirt.

“Your daddy better be happy at least one of you is calm.”

“What? Kennedy’s just having a little fun.”

I shot him a look. “She can’t keep her clothes on. Are you going to keep saying that when she’s sixteen and still doing the same thing?”

His face fell into a look of pure horror. “Oh no. No, no, no. That’s it. You’re going to homeschool them. Both of them! And they’re not allowed near boys until they’re thirty. And . . . and . . . and from now on, they only wear dresses. Ugly ones that are three sizes too big.”

I laughed and leaned in to kiss Kennedy’s big smile. “You take after your daddy. The crazies.”

“I’m so serious, Rach. They’re never allowed out in public without me.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Don’t act like that! You’re the one that said she was going to be taking her clothes off when she was sixteen.”

I rolled my eyes and pointed at the discarded shirt on the ground so he could bend down to pick it up. “She’s not even two, calm down. I was just saying that so I could make a point. And I’m not homeschooling them, or making them wear ugly clothes, so you can work at getting over that right now.”

He set Kennedy down and pulled her shirt back on before pointing at it. “You keep this on. Always. Even if boys tell you to take it off when you’re older. You don’t listen to—” He cut off and hung his head when Kennedy zoomed away again with Trip chasing after her.

“You’ll have a lot of time to tell her that when she’s older . . . when she’ll understand it.”

Looking up, he made a face at me before leaning forward and grabbing my hips. “I’m so glad you’re going to be a boy,” he said to my large stomach, and placed a kiss on it. Standing up, he pulled me as close as my stomach would allow and kissed me thoroughly until the shrill laugh of Kennedy filled the air.

“Naked baby.” I pointed as she ran through the living room and into the kitchen. “You catch her and I’ll finish getting Kira ready?”

“Oh, so you get the easy one tonight? Why?”

“Uh, yeah . . . because I’m Rachel.”

Kash smiled and kissed me hard once more. “The last time we had this conversation, it ended in you slapping me. So I’m just gonna keep my mouth shut.”

“Good choice.”

He winked and took off after our crazy daughter. “Kennedy, clothes stay on, baby girl.”

Once I had Kira ready, and we got Kennedy to keep her clothes on, we got all of us in the car to head over to Richard and Marcy’s for their New Year’s Eve party. Mason and his family were all going to be there along with some family friends, and I was ready for the time to hang out with everyone . . . and to have extra eyes to make sure Kennedy kept her clothes on.

We’d gone to California for Christmas, and while I wouldn’t suggest flying with two toddlers, it was so worth it to see my family again. Candice was still being Candice. I’d figured she’d start settling down after college, but she didn’t show any signs of stopping anytime soon. She was working at a physical therapy place, and loved her job . . . as well as half the men she worked with. But she was happy, she was enjoying her life the way she wanted to, and I was happy for her.

For the first time, I’d taken Kash and the girls to my parents’ graves. I still wrote to them daily whenever the girls went down for a nap, and writing to them was still something that made me feel closer to them. But I’d wanted my family to be able to talk to them too. Not that the girls really said much that made sense yet, but I was happy we’d all gone, and knew it was something we would do when we visited California again.

Kash grabbed my hand, and pulled it toward him to kiss the inside of my palm when we were a couple minutes from his parents’. I smiled over at him and curled my hand around his to squeeze it, and his eyes flashed on my pale blue nails. Kissing them, he smirked at me before bringing our hands down to rest on the center console.

“I wonder what color he’ll send this time.”

I didn’t have to look at his eyes to know there was no lingering doubt there. After Kash had given me the option to leave with Trent, and we’d talked about everything I’d been feeling, he seemed to understand how I viewed Trent. Nothing more than my protector, and friend. A month after Trent had left, I knew for sure that Kash was finally okay with him.

Every month, on the fourth, a small package was delivered to Kash at the police department. And every month, I was waiting anxiously for him to come home with it. It was always a bottle of nail polish with a card that only ever said two words. “I’m fine.” The only time it ever changed was on the Fourth of July. Along with the polish, there would be a new journal for me, and somewhere in the middle would be a letter from him giving me more insight into his new life, without ever giving away his name, location, or job.

That first month, Kash had been confused but had finally pieced it together by the time his shift was ending. He’d read my journal from when I’d been kidnapped, and remembered everything Trent had bought me, and was honestly appreciative that Trent was—in a weird way—letting me know he was safe. I wished there was a way for me to thank him, but there was never a return address, and every month it was somehow sent from a different state. Besides, he was already risking a lot; it could put him in danger if we tried to get in touch with him. So I would be happy with my monthly gift from him. At least Kash and I could be happy for him and his new life, based on the two letters.

With a soft smile, I squeezed Kash’s hand and said, “Few more days and we’ll find out, I guess.”

After putting the car in park, Kash looked at me seriously and whispered, “I’ve got fifty on orange.”

“Silver,” I whispered back. “And you’re on.”

He laughed and kissed me swiftly before getting out of the car. After we got Kennedy and Kira out of the car, we made our way inside the house, and everyone rushed over to take the girls.

“Oh, we haven’t seen you in so long!” Marcy crooned at Kennedy as Richard took Kira.

“Mom, it’s been a week and a half.”

She leveled her signature glare at Kash, before smiling and raining kisses all over Kennedy’s face. “Don’t start with me, Logan. A week and a half is a long time to go without my favorite girls.”

“Rachel!” Maddie screamed, and ran toward me.

Kash stepped in front of me and blocked my stomach. “Calm down, turbo.”

Maddie rolled her eyes and pushed him aside as she bounced up and down on her toes, her left hand going in front of her face as she squealed.