about to react, telling them how special their gift is to me, but Ro pulls back the painting and sets it behind him.
Both men move to one knee on the bed and produce a diamond the size of a small island. “Avery, our toy maker, our baby, and our future—will you do the honor of becoming our wife?”
I turn to Ro first, his black-rimmed glasses and the deepest brunette hair—almost black, then to Knox with his blond hair cut shorter, both waiting on my answer. I don’t have to think. I knew they were the ones the first time I saw them. I never thought it could end like this, the three of us together, but it has, and I realize that this was a gift from my mom. Without her words and her encouragement from the grave, I don’t know how I could embrace this—but as always, my mother is looking down at both of her girls, happy for the life we’ve chosen for ourselves. And in all of it, I know without a shadow of a doubt that she’d adore both men just like I do.
21
A year later
Rowan
“Only one person is allowed back with her.” The nurse is as mean as a rattlesnake. “The father can go back.” The Christmas music is just the backdrop to the scene playing out in front of us, but this woman isn’t in the Christmas spirit.
“You don’t understand. We’re both married to her. She’s our wife. The babies are ours—both of ours,” I insist, the calm in this apparent hurricane as Knox is too close to wringing her neck.
She sits with a blank look on her face when the familiar smile of Avery’s midwife appears behind the counter.
“The mom is asking for her husbands. We’ve made special arrangements for both the dads to be with her during the C-section. It was in her chart.”
“See, we told you, lady,” Knox blurts out, and I swing my eyes to him.
“You’re not helping.” And he throws his hands up.
The mean as a rattlesnake nurse twists her head to the midwife. “This is against our policy,” she explains.
We had understood when they told us Ave was carrying triplets that her midwife would not be able to birth the babies, but she’s been with our little toy maker every step of the way. And we love her because she doesn’t take shit from anyone.
“And that is why we got permission.” The midwife turns to us, a broad smile peeking through her face. “Come on, guys. If I don’t get you back to your wife, she’s going to come out here, raising hell, and she’s already in the operating room.”
The nurse is still droning on about their policy when she blurts out, “Two husbands, that’s illegal.”
Knox, who has been on the brink of losing it on the nurse, has misplaced his holiday cheer. “And a fucking Merry Christmas to you.” He flips her off, just in time for the midwife to collect us from the waiting room.
“Thanks for your help, and Merry Christmas!” I add for good measure, and I can barely keep up with my man, who is following our wife’s scream. After a year with this woman, we know her screams very well.
“Toy maker, we’re here,” Knox calls before he’s through the door.
“Where the fuck have you been?” We know it’s a serious thing when Ave swears, especially when she insisted she’d remain in her state of Zen as she was bringing our children into this world.
“Sorry, baby. The nurse was naming every rule we’re breaking before letting the both of us back here.”
“Fucking bitch!” Avery shouts, and I think the nurse in the waiting room can hear our darling wife. “And if one person would like to tell me to stop swearing, they can birth these three babies.”
No one replies to her, and with my husband on one end, I fall to the other side of her. “We got you, Ave. Aren’t you ready to meet our babies?”
She’s been nervous about the C-section from the very beginning, stating she wanted to birth our babies naturally. But we couldn’t find a doctor willing to do it for liability reasons, along with safety concerns for the triplets.
She pulls my arm, gripping it hard. The anesthesia has kicked in, and we’re guaranteed she’s not in pain. “Boy genius.” She’s called me this from the day Whitney named both Knox and me. “Promise me that the babies will be okay. Promise me.”
I shield her face from all the chaos