Triplets Make Five

She laid Aiden down in his crib, his sleeping body settling into the mattress. Her hands were shaking as she opened the

box, revealing the sparkling diamond ring I had purchased for her. Tears rose to her eyes as she looked up at me, but she didn’t find me staring back at her from above.

Instead, I had knelt below her, my hand reaching for hers as she gasped.

“I was going to do this earlier, but you just had to be a drama queen and give birth first,” I said.

A breathless chuckle fell from her lips as a tear fell upon her cheek.

“Delilah Kent, you’ve turned my world upside down. A night of selfish passion spiraled into a lifetime of happiness for me, but it still doesn’t feel complete. We have a home. We have our children. But there is something we don’t have yet. Something I don’t have yet.”

“What…what is that?” she asked.

“I don’t have my wife,” I said. “And I was hoping you would remedy that.”

“All you ever had to do is ask,” she said with a whisper.

“Delilah Kent,” I said as I stood up, “will you marry me?”

Her lips crashed into mine as she nodded against my skin.

“Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, Preston. I will most certainly marry you.”

Wrapping my arms around her, our tongues connected as our children slept soundly around us. I took the box from her hand and plucked the ring from its cradle, sliding it onto her finger. I watched it shine as tears dripped down Delilah’s cheeks, her body shaking as I pulled her back into me. I peppered the top of her head with kisses as I began to sway us, humming a small tune in her ear that would become the song she would sing to our children at night as they tried to get you sleep.

“You are my Lilah, my only Lilah. You make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my Lilah away.”

Epilogue

Delilah

“I’m coming! I’m coming!”

I ran towards the door as Preston prepared the cake and ice cream in the kitchen. Our home was filled with people. Friends from work and both of our parents. Investors from the board that wanted to spoil our kids and mommy friends I had made who had children around the age of ours. Pizza and ice cream and cake filled the atmosphere as presents continued to pile up in the corner, and I sighed as I looked at the growing mound.

Our three children were going to be spoiled brats if we kept up this trend.

Abigail, Aiden, and Charlotte were turning one. I wanted to have a small gathering of people, but Preston insisted on doing it big. He kept telling me they only got one chance at a first birthday, so I caved and allowed him to invite people.

But even though we had already blown out the cakes and sang ‘Happy Birthday’, the people just kept on showing up.

My parents were there, doting on their grandchildren and getting to know Preston’s parents. They were helping him in the kitchen while the kids rolled around in the nursery. People kept asking me if they could help with anything and wanted to sit down and talk, but I was too busy answering the door.

How many people did Preston invite to this thing?

“So, what do you think?” Preston asked.

“Why are eighty people necessary to celebrate our children’s first birthday?” I asked.

“Well, some of them are here for the housewarming party,” he said.

“Housewarming party? When were you going to tell me that?”

“I told you now. Does that count?”

“Preston, I thought we agreed on no housewarming party.”

“But that’s not fun. People bring their good wines and presents during house-warming parties. Plus, don’t you want to celebrate this place? We’re going to raise our children here, Delilah.”