Chapter Thirty Seven

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The next few months passed faster than anyone expected.

Mostly because life became busy.

Very busy.

Lillie was now eight months old.

Which meant she had discovered movement.

Unfortunately.

One morning she was sitting quietly on a blanket.

The next she was somehow halfway across the penthouse.

Nobody knew how.

Roman swore she was teleporting.

Daisy suspected he might be right.

"You looked away for two seconds."

Roman pointed dramatically.

"She was over there."

Lillie sat proudly chewing on a toy.

Completely unbothered.

Daisy laughed.

"She's mobile."

"She's dangerous."

Fair.

Pregnancy was also proving very different this time around.

For both sisters.

Daisy was exhausted.

Harper was exhausted.

Daisy cried because Roman bought the wrong cereal.

Harper cried because Noah finished the last yogurt.

The men wisely stopped questioning anything.

Experience had taught them survival was sometimes the better option.

One Sunday afternoon both families gathered at Harper and Noah's house.

The twins news had finally settled.

Mostly.

Noah still occasionally looked overwhelmed.

Especially whenever somebody mentioned the word twins.

Today was one of those days.

Poppy sat at the dining table colouring.

Theo was building something questionable with Lego.

Lillie sat on the floor surrounded by toys.

And four adults attempted to enjoy lunch.

Attempted being the important word.

Because Theo suddenly looked up.

"Dad?"

Noah immediately became suspicious.

"What?"

"When the twins come..."

Noah closed his eyes.

Already regretting this.

"...will we need a bigger house?"

Harper laughed.

Roman laughed.

Daisy laughed.

Noah looked personally attacked.

"Maybe."

Theo considered that carefully.

Then nodded.

"Good."

"Why?"

Theo looked genuinely confused.

"Because where else will we put the goats?"

Silence.

Noah blinked.

"What goats?"

"The farm goats."

"There are no farm goats."

"There will be."

Noah immediately looked at Harper.

"This is your fault."

Harper laughed harder.

Later that afternoon the adults escaped into the garden while the children played.

Well.

Poppy played.

Theo organised.

There was apparently a difference.

Lillie sat happily on a blanket nearby.

Every now and then she'd crawl toward somebody.

Demand attention.

Then crawl away again.

Roman was currently her favourite target.

Not that he complained.

Ever.

The second she reached him, he scooped her up.

As always.

Daisy watched from across the patio.

A smile appearing automatically.

Harper noticed.

Of course she did.

"You know."

Daisy groaned.

"What now?"

"You look at him the same way he looks at you."

Daisy nearly choked on her drink.

"Harper."

"I'm serious."

"Stop."

"No."

Roman looked over.

Immediately suspicious.

"What?"

"Nothing," both sisters answered.

At the exact same time.

Roman narrowed his eyes.

Noah laughed.

"Good luck with that."

As the afternoon sun began to set, everyone moved back inside.

Lillie had fallen asleep in Roman's arms.

Theo was explaining goat ownership plans.

Poppy was drawing family pictures.

Harper rested against Noah.

Daisy rested against Roman.

For a while nobody spoke.

The comfortable kind of silence.

The family kind.

Then Poppy suddenly looked up from her drawing.

"I forgot something."

Everyone looked over.

"What?" Harper asked.

Poppy held up her picture.

There were stick figures everywhere.

Noah.

Harper.

Theo.

Herself.

Roman.

Daisy.

Lillie.

And several tiny new figures.

"What are those?" Noah asked.

Poppy looked at him like he was silly.

"The babies."

Plural.

Everyone froze.

Poppy pointed.

"Baby."

She pointed at Daisy's stomach.

"Babies."

She pointed at Harper.

The twins.

Then she smiled proudly.

"That's our whole family."

The room fell quiet.

Not sad quiet.

Warm quiet.

The kind that sneaks up on you.

Because somehow a little girl had summed it up perfectly.

Family.

Messy.

Complicated.

Unexpected.

Growing.

Roman looked down at sleeping Lillie.

Then at Daisy.

Then at the future they were building together.

And for the first time in his life, he realised something.

Success wasn't measured in companies.

Or money.

Or deals.

It was measured in moments like this.

Surrounded by the people you loved.

With more laughter waiting ahead.

And for all of them—

the best chapters were still to come. ❤️📖