Twins For My Bestie’s Brother (Billionaire Daddies)

Epilogue

I ’d never understood exactly what they meant by birth being a miracle until the birth of my children. Being in the room, at Lily’s side, giving her all the strength I could while she did all the fucking work, was an experience unlike any other. And she did it twice. Twice . After the relief of the first, I thought we’d achieved it all until Lily grabbed my hand again in desperation as the contractions started again.

And then we were four. Our family doubled in the blink of an eye.

Okay, not the blink of an eye. Sixteen hours plus days leading up of false alarms.

But they’re here now. And everything has changed. Even the love I have for Lily. My wife. It has not doubled but quadrupled. More than that, probably.

The second our first child was laid onto her chest, and Lily burst into tears of joy, the earth shifted on its axis.

Once both are earthside and swept off for all their tests and checkups, Lily is finally able to see me clearly again. It’s not that I disappeared. All her focus had to go into the moment before her. Now, though, she sees me, and her tearful face lights up. “I did it,” she says, clutching my hand.

“You did,” I reply, smoothing my hand over her forehead, moving away the curls that have been stuck there by sweat. “You did so good, baby.”

Lily beams.

I kiss her, clutching her hand to my chest. Her engagement ring digs into my chest. I like the discomfort, the reminder that we belong to one another as much as two people possibly can. After my impromptu proposal, I made a more formal one, and just a few weeks later, we married at the courthouse. Man and wife, Jackson and Lily Roy.

“I feel so empty,” she says with an almost childlike level of shock.

One of the nurses attending to Lily’s IV giggles. “That does tend to be the case.”

I place my hand on her belly, soft under her hospital gown. “Still perfect.”

She smiles up at me. She’ll have to learn to trust me again, just as she did through the first part of our relationship. Learn that I always mean what I say, and that my words will never be used to hurt her. Not like anything that happened before us.

“Ten fingers, ten toes, all perfect,” a nurse announces as she and another nurse come back to the bed, each with a baby bundled in their arms.

They hand both to Lily, one tucked into each elbow. They’re almost carbon copies, the only difference being their hats, one pink, one blue. More baby than any person knows what to do with. “Oh my gosh, you’re real.” She laughs at her own words and smiles at me. “They’re real.”

I can hardly believe it either. It’s all real.

My life, this life is real .

“Hi,” Lily says. “It’s Mommy. I missed you while you were gone.”

I have to hold back more tears as I watch Lily talking in her small voice that’s always been saved for our children, even while they were in the womb. It’s different now. Because now we’ll start to see just how our love impacts them as they grow up and become their own people. It’s all overwhelming.

“And Daddy’s here too. He was here the whole time,” Lily says. “We’re so excited to meet you.”

I lean closer, though I’m nervous. I’m so nervous that I’m shaking. I lay my arm against Lily’s, shoring up her cradled arms with my strength. Both of them seem to be waking up from a long nap, eyes squinting open, unsure of their surroundings.

Lily looks at me. “Thank you.”

“For what? I didn’t do anything,” I reply.

“No, no, you did so much more than you even know, Jackson.”

Elliot and Simone Roy are the talk of the town from the moment they’re born. Firstly, their parents are childhood friends turned lovers with a whirlwind courtship. Secondly, they are the first twins born in Cider Bay in a decade. And thirdly, they were born a year to the day of their mother’s ten-year high school reunion.

The last fact is more a fun fact for us and those who were in on the arrangement from the beginning. All of it almost too cosmic for words.

It all just lends to my belief from the beginning that Lily and I were inevitable.

Kayla is our first visitor. It only felt fair given her status as godmother to the twins, not to mention she’d cheered for Lily and me from the second I shared my feelings with her.

“Stop it. I can’t even look at you,” she says when she spots me in the chair beside Lily’s bed with Simone cradled in my arms. She fans her hands at her eyes. “You guys, come on, this isn’t fair.”

“Come on, Kay,” I encourage her to come closer.

Kayla seems to tiptoe toward me until she’s at the side of my chair. “Oh, my gosh . . . look at her. You did so good, Lil.”

“She did,” I affirm.

We spend a long while gazing into the face of my daughter who is stretching out her little legs, a foot emerging from her cocoon. I place my thumb against the bottom of her foot. Her toes curl around the tip of my finger, and I smile. “It’s amazing,” I say.

Kayla wraps her arm around me and kisses the top of my head. “I’m so proud of you. I’m so, so proud.”

Soon after, Sue and Darryl join us. Unlike Kayla, who is tentative and nervous to even interact, they want to hold their grandchildren as soon as possible.

“So big! They’re so big,” Sue says.

Lily, who has finally had some interest in eating, replies, “I know,” through a mouthful of Jell-O.

Sue and Darryl spend a long time trying to figure out who the twins take after more which Kayla referees as the one staunchly in the camp of, “They’re babies. They don’t look like anyone.”

While they’re occupied, I take a moment to call Wild Bloom to check in on everyone there. Lily worked up until the day before she went into labor officially, just as she promised. The only reason she stopped that last day was because I had a panic attack over the confusion between real contractions and Braxton-Hicks, so she took off to humor me.

Now, here we are, just about two days later in the hospital with our twins. I deserve an, “I told you so,” but I would never, ever say it aloud.

In the time I’m on the phone, we get two more unexpected visitors: Danforth and Carina. We have a group text chat, the four of us, so they were abreast of when Lily went into labor and were some of the first to receive pictures of the twins in their hospital bassinets. I should have known they’d show up without warning. With flowers and balloons to boot.

“You didn’t put on makeup?” is the first question out of Carina’s mouth when she sees Lily. Her high-pitched voice sends Elliot into a startled sob which she apologizes for quietly before going to Lily’s side and giving her a hug. “I already hired a makeup artist for ours.”

It wasn’t long after Carina and Danforth joined us in Cider Bay that they found themselves pregnant, which was both a humongous celebration and a great relief. She’s not showing yet, but she talks about it nonstop. And who can blame her?

Danforth greets me with a handshake and a few slaps on the back. “You made it! No scarring I see.”

“No, but I still can’t feel my hand,” I say, shaking out my right hand that served as Lily’s stress ball.

“Don’t remind me,” Danforth says with a heavy sigh, crossing his arms over his chest. “While I have you, I wanted to ask you about—”

Carina appears at his side. “Honey, later. Babies, not business.”

Danforth’s ears turn red, and he smiles at me sheepishly. “Old habits die hard.”

Cider Bay has softened him. I see it every day. And while the plans for our adventure business are still in the works, I think Danforth is already seeing how family comes first around here.

Lily’s eyes find mine from the bed. She sits up straighter. I know that look. She needs me.

And I will run.

I go to her, sinking onto the bed beside her and touching her cheek. “What is it, baby?”

“I need them back,” she whispers, her voice plagued with a swell of emotions. “Elliot and Simone. I’m not ready; I need them—” She waves toward herself. “Back.”

My protector instincts have already been in overdrive since the moment we kissed during a dance a year ago to the day. But now they’re in hyperdrive. I get to my feet and get the attention of the group. “Would you guys mind? It’s, uh—” I look down at my watch. “Time for a feed, and we’d like the privacy, if that’s okay.”

No one has any qualms, except for Sue who is a little stubborn, reasoning that she’s seen Lily naked since the day she was born, and she might be a good help with breastfeeding. Thankfully, Darryl manages to get his wife out of the room after both babies are returned to my wife.

And again, we are alone.

No.

For the first time. No nurses. No sisters. No parents. No friends.

My children. My wife. And me.

“Thank you,” Lily says with a tired smile.

I stand at the edge of the bed and take her in. She’s got Elliot in her arm, bouncing him as he coos and Simone in the small rest spot made by her legs.

A grown woman with children of her own.

And yet, it’s still like all those years ago. That Lily I saw coming down the hall one day when she was fifteen, the same Lily that was over every other day at my house. That moment when everything changed. A light shone down on her from the heavens, and angels fucking sang, and for the first time she wasn’t ‘just Lily’ but she was Lily .

I remember how she grinned at me, gave me a once-over, and said, “Hey, track star,” and just kept walking. I don’t remember if she was alone or what she was wearing. I just remember that everything changed, and my heart became hers that day.

Waiting was painful. It ached more than any injury I’d ever had. I wouldn’t recommend anyone hold on the way I did. If things hadn’t turned out the way they had, they’d call me delusional.

But I can tell them to love. Without question and without promise. If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t be here in this hospital room. Two children, a marriage, and a love beyond most people’s comprehension.

“What are you staring at?” she asks.

I grab the end of her bed to steady myself. We’re exhausted, and our lives have changed in an incomprehensible way. It’s all too much. It’s too beautiful to remain with my feet on the ground. I need my head in the clouds. “Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?”

Lily smiles. “So many times.”

I nod once. “Good.”

“But I don’t think I’ve ever told you just how beautiful you are, Jackson.”

Our eyes lock.

Lily lifts her chin. “You’re beautiful. You always have been.”

If I could go back and tell that boy walking down the hall that it would all work out, I wouldn’t.

Because then he’d never get to feel as beautiful as I do right now.

Thank you for reading Billionaire's Surprise. If you loved this book you will also enjoy Reunited With My Billionaire .

Reunited With My Billionaire is a Second Chance Brother's Best Friend Romance.

He broke my heart into a million pieces when I was 18. Now I’m his live-in nurse and all I can think about is undressing him.

When I showed up on my first day at the new job and realized my patient was Liam, I wanted to hightail it out of his luxury penthouse ASAP. But that wasn’t an option.

Liam Kaminsky was my first love. He’s also my overly protective brother’s best friend. I wanted him to be my first for everything, and practically begged him, but my brother made sure that would never happen.

Helping him regain his strength after a ski accident is what I’ve been hired to do. But I can’t focus. His chiseled body and gorgeous face still take my breath away after all these years.

Our chemistry is still undeniable, and I can’t hold back much longer.

But he stomped on my heart before and that still stings. He needs to prove to me that this time will be different…