‘Have you seen a doctor?’
‘No.’
‘Then you should because I don’t think you’re ill. I think you’re pregnant.’
‘No, I’m not. I...’ Alexa’s eyes widened incredulously; her mind swung back to when her last period was due. She was late but in her misery she hadn’t even noticed. ‘I can’t be.’
‘There were a couple of times I didn’t put a condom on right away.’
Alexa stared at him wide-eyed. ‘Oh, God.’ She clapped her hand over her mouth. ‘What will we do?’
Rafe gave her a half smile. ‘We’ll have a baby.’
‘I mean, will you mind if it’s true?’
‘Absolutely not,’ he said huskily. ‘I need to catch up to Jag, but...’ His eyes grew wary. ‘Do you want a baby?’
Knowing by the tense set of his shoulders that he was no doubt remembering his own childhood, Alexa clasped his face in her hands. ‘If we have made a baby together I’ll be the happiest woman in the world. I love you. I want to have your babies, and I intend to smother them in love and attention for ever.’
Rafe gave her a slow grin. ‘Then how about you take me your room now, just in case I’m wrong. We can get to work immediately.’
Alexa threw her arms around his neck. ‘With pleasure.’
EPILOGUE
RAFE HADN’T BEEN WRONG. Exactly two hundred and seventy days after their wedding Zane and Tobias had been born. Now they were rambunctious one-year-olds.
‘Milena, can you grab Jana and Zane before one or both of them climb into the fountain again?’ Rafe asked, scooping his remaining twin up and tucking him under his arm in a football hold before he could think about joining his brother and cousin.
‘On it!’ Milena yelled, pretending to be a wicked witch as she ran after the two children, making them squeal with delight.
Seeing the fun his twin and older cousin were having, Tobias let rip a loud squeal of indignation.
‘Looks like you have your hands full!’ Jag laughed, burping one of his own newborn twins against his shoulder. ‘Where’s Alexa?’
‘Grabbing a coffee with Nasrin while she checks in with her father. Okay, buddy.’ Rafe swung Tobias to the ground and waited for his little legs to steady beneath him. ‘Go pull some more of Aunty Milena’s hair out. We don’t like the colour right now anyway.’
Tobias let out a war whoop and took off as fast as his legs would carry him. Rafe gav
e a loud sigh of relief. ‘This parenting gig is harder than tending to a room full of Berenians with a chip on their shoulder.’
‘Well, he is half Berenian,’ Jag observed, patting his daughter’s back.
Rafe gave him a bemused glance. ‘Lucky for you that they are. Thanks to me, everything has completely settled down between our nations now. The Berenians love me.’
‘Yeah, right.’ His brother grinned back. ‘And, speaking of Berenia, how’s the new business venture?’
‘Great. The new university is so popular we have to build more student accommodation to cope with demand.’
‘You don’t miss the nightclub scene?’
Since moving to Berenia, Rafe had sold off most of his clubs, keeping a few that Hannah had stepped into running for him. He now worked on restoring old buildings and returning them to their former glory and loved it.
He’d also opened up to his sister and brother, forging a bond with them that was deeper than ever.
‘Everything is great,’ he said, and meaning it.
‘And you wouldn’t swap it, right?’