But we hadn’t let the doctor or tech tell us when they were doing the latest scan just a few days before. We wanted to be just as surprised as everyone else. The only person who knew was Raven so she could put the boxes together, and she hadn’t dared even hint at the secret she was keeping.
Glancing down at me, she smiled. “You ready for this?”
I nodded in a rush, causing her to laugh. Offering me her hands, she helped me stand carefully.
James glared at both of us as he broke away from Bash and Hawk again. “No standing.”
“I think she’ll be okay for the five minutes it will take to do the reveal, Spider,” she told him with a roll of her green eyes. “Let her have a little fun. You keep claiming this is the only time she’s going to get to do this, so let her enjoy it.”
“Five minutes and not a second longer,” he growled.
I beamed up at him. “Thanks, baby.”
Raven positioned us right where she wanted us, each of us standing in front of a box, with one box left in the middle. The goal was to open the outside two at the same time, then do the middle one together. I was practically dancing with excitement as I waited for her to give the signal to open my box.
“Five. Four. Three. Two…” She paused, making me do a little growling of my own at her. Laughing, she cried, “One!”
I opened my box so fast, it took a moment for me to realize what color balloons flew toward the ceiling.
Pink!
I looked over at James and saw his eyes were on his own balloons.
Pink…
Wait.
I had been sure that every single baby was a boy. All the pink balloons kind of disappointed me a little. I wanted a son, someone who looked just like his daddy, whom I could dress in little jeans and miniature biker boots and leather jackets. I even had an online shopping cart full of all those things I wanted to dress our boys in.
“Last one,” Raven said, urging me toward the middle box.
James had the biggest grin on his face as he bent to kiss me. “Best day of my life,” he murmured by my ear.
The disappointment melted away at those words, and I leaned into him, soaking up all the love that was radiating off him.
Each of us put a hand on the box as Raven counted down again, and I was sure the entire room held their breath as they waited for us to open the box.
A dozen blue balloons floated up past my face, and I screamed in delight, only just barely containing the urge to jump up and down in my excitement. The whole bar was cheering, congratulating us, pounding James on the back like he’d done his job as a man and then some. It all had me rolling my eyes, but he was eating it up.
“You do realize I’m the reason we’re having more than one, right? Different genders means more than one egg,” I told him. “I feel like I should be the one getting a pat on the back here.”
“Actually,” Raven spoke up. “The notes on the scan said they were sure the girls are identical, so it seems like you’re both responsible for these multiples.”
“So there,” Bash said with a laugh, teasing me like always. “You’re both to blame.”
James snorted, then picked me up in his arms. “Five minutes are up. Sit and stay there, or I’m taking you home.” He placed me back in my chair then bent and kissed me. “This really is one of the best days of my life,” he said as he pulled back. “Thank you for our life, Willa.”
Emotions choked me as I grabbed his cut and jerked him back down when he would have straightened. “I love you so much, James.”
Epilogue
Flick
Twelve years later
I picked up the last of the dishes and placed them in the sink. Breakfast had turned the place into a madhouse with the kids all running around. There were times when I loved sharing a house with Raven and Bash and their two kids, but now that Jet and I had kids of our own, mornings were a disaster, especially when it was a school day.
Lexa, Max, and my son were already on their way out the door before I could blink.