Shannon’s hands started to shake, the decision to risk pain for the love he offered or go on living in the world alone . . .
She removed one of her hands from his and placed her palm on the side of Victor’s face.
Slowly he looked up at her. “The problem with loving someone is that even if you walk away, the love is still there.”
“Don’t walk away.”
A single tear fell from her eye. “I love you.”
He captured her hand against his face, pushed into it, and closed his eyes. “Say that again.”
“I love you, Victor.”
He opened his eyes, took her face in his hands, and brought her lips over to his. Their kiss was salty with her tears and sweet with their hearts.
He broke their kiss to pull her into his arms; his steel embrace locked her in the moment.
“Don’t ever leave me,” he whispered.
“Always give me a reason to stay.”
He stood, taking her to her feet with him. “I’m going to give you my name, my life, my family. I’m going to give you all the babies you want. I’m going to shackle you with all the reasons I can.”
Shannon shook her head, placed a finger over his lips. “All I need is your love.”
“You already have that.”
The world shifted and fell into place. “We’re doing this.”
He nodded. “If you ask me, it’s already done.”
And he kissed her one more time.
Epilogue
One Year Later
The playroom in Shannon and Victor’s new home took up the entire basement.
Playpens were set up and being used as cribs for Lilliana—or Lilly, as Wade and Trina called their eight-month-old daughter—and Max, Avery and Liam’s nine-month-old son.
Some of Shannon’s recent photographs peppered the walls of the room.
Lori half sat, half lay on the plush sofa, her belly propped up on a pillow.
“How is that sciatica?” Trina asked as she handed her a wineglass full of milk.
“Great if I don’t lay on my right side. I swear these kids are killing me already, and they’re not even out yet. Good thing there are two of them, because I’m not doing this again.” Lori and Reed had visited a fertility clinic when their attempts to get pregnant without it failed.
“That’s what you say now,” Trina said. “You’ll change your mind.”
Lori massaged her right hip and flexed her leg. “I don’t think so.”
Shannon eased herself into the rocking chair Trina had just left after feeding Lilly and putting her down for a nap. Simon, her unborn son, kicked a rib before he started dancing on her bladder. “Victor and I are waiting a year and then doing it again. Back-to-back . . . all the diapers at once.”
Avery tipped her wineglass in the air. “I can drink to that.”
Shannon toasted with sparkling water, regretted it when she realized she would have to vacate her comfortable seat to use the bathroom . . . again. “I just realized that the last time I had alcohol was at my wedding.” A small ceremony that had taken place during their First Wives meeting at Trina and Wade’s ranch in Texas. With two of her best friends heavy in their pregnancies, Lori stood beside Shannon, and Justin took his place beside Victor.
The memory of Victor’s face when she’d walked around the corner and up the small path to exchange vows with her husband was etched in her brain forever.
They both cried, which got Trina and Avery going, and before you knew it there were sniffles rising up like a chorus from those who watched.
Angie had flown in with the promise of returning after Simon was born.
Paul announced an engagement shortly after the papers grew bored with Shannon and Victor. His future wife was young. Not Corrie young, but at least a decade separated them in age. Shannon couldn’t help but wonder if he’d found another woman to fake forever with. She was just exceptionally happy that person was no longer her.
And Corrie, she got a visit from Reed with a list of crimes he would see she was charged with if she approached Shannon again. Seems that was all it took, because Corrie stopped coming around.
“That’s what happens when you get pregnant on your honeymoon.”
Shannon shifted positions in an effort to get comfortable. The task was useless this close to her delivery date. She gave up and stood. “I have to pee again.”
Trina and Avery laughed.
“I don’t miss that,” Avery said.
Shannon left them alone with their conversation about Kegel exercises.
“Okay, Simon . . .” Shannon spoke to her son once they were alone. “I need you to give Mom a little break.” A pull along her back told her that was wishful thinking. When she stood from the toilet and looked down, she realized her blissful night of relaxing would have to wait.
She blew out a breath and looked at herself in the mirror. She used the brush to pull her hair back, tied it in a loose knot, and applied a little lip gloss.
“Let’s do this,” she said to herself with a smile.
She emerged from the bathroom and walked past her friends to the stairs.
“Going somewhere?” Lori asked as she walked by.
“My water just broke.”
Avery jumped to her feet.
Lori set her glass down and rolled off the couch.
Trina was already up the stairs.
“You have hours, you know that, right?” Avery asked after giving her a hug.
“Yeah, but I’m older than you, and the doctor wanted me at the hospital if my water broke before labor set in.” And from the cramping in her back, she wasn’t entirely sure she hadn’t been in labor most of the day.
Several sets of feet trampled down the stairs, Victor’s leading the pack.
Her husband jumped the last two steps and grasped her arm. “It’s time? Really?”
She winced through a cramp, blew out a breath. “Yup . . . pretty sure I didn’t just pee my pants.”
Wade stood beside them and made a whoo hoo sound.
Trina and Avery shushed him and pointed to the sleeping children.
Liam kissed Avery’s cheek. “I’m driving.”
“I can manage,” Victor said as he started the slow ascent up the stairs.
“Oh, no. Liam almost crashed on the way to the hospital with me. Trust me, Victor . . . you just sit in the back seat with Shannon.”
“We’ll meet you there in a couple of hours,” Wade said with a wink. “I’ll chill the champagne.”
Ten hours later, Shannon held Simon to her chest with Victor at her side.
She couldn’t stop crying. “Look what we made,” she quietly said to her husband.
Victor’s big hand brushed back his son’s puff of hair, all clean after the nurses returned him from his first bath. “He is one big link in the chain shackling you to me.”
They’d made jokes about balls and chains every single step of the way since Barcelona.
“Isn’t he beautiful?”
Victor looked up at her. “You’re beautiful.”
He kissed her tired cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Simon wiggled in his sleep.
“I think we need to let the masses in so you can get some rest.”
Shannon nodded, and Victor left the room, only to return with a parade of their friends. The babies had been left at home with a nanny, since the hospital didn’t allow infants other than those just born in the ward.
Simon was passed around and pictures were taken.
Avery was holding Simon and talking in a high-pitched voice. “You and Max are gonna cause lots of trouble, aren’t you?”
Wade leaned in and whispered, “And look out for my daughter.”
“Max is going to want to date your daughter,” Liam said.
“Bite your tongue.” Wade was serious.
They laughed.
“No, really . . . that’s not funny.”
“It’s kinda funny,” Trina said.
Lori rubbed her stomach. “You never did tell us why you decided on the name Simon.”
Victor took Shannon’s hand, and they both looked at each other and smiled.
“Because Garfunkel is a lousy first name.”