Unfinished Ex (Calloway Brothers, #2)(102)

I gaze at my beautiful baby. My miracle. And instantly, I know that no discussion is necessary.

“Aurora,” I say. “It means—”

“I know what it means.” He blinks tears out of his eyes. “My wife is a meteorologist, you know.

And I can’t think of a more fitting name.” He places a kiss on her tiny knit cap. “Welcome to the world, Aurora Calloway.”

The next thing I know, it’s dark out and I’m waking up, looking at Jaxon on the couch admiring our daughter in the bassinet next to him. If Aurora only knew how lucky she is to have him as her father. There’s no better man. He’s not perfect, by any means, and we’ve both made mistakes along the way, but somehow I feel if it weren’t for those mistakes, we wouldn’t be right here right now.

“What time is it?” I ask sleepily.

“Almost one a.m. Yesterday really wiped it out of you. You’ve been sleeping for hours.” Aurora cries and he stands. It’s when he rises that I see he’s holding a baby. Another baby.

My heart races. “Jaxon?”

“Calista was rushed in a few hours ago. She had an emergency C-section. She’s going to be fine.

She’s in recovery. Eric is with her.” He pushes the bassinet over by my bed and sits on the edge. “I was just introducing Aurora to her sister, Ashley.”

Tears stream down my face. “Another girl? You always thought you’d have two girls.”

“That’s not all,” he says. He motions to the clock. “She was born at 11:59 p.m.”

My jaw drops. “On the same day?” I shake my head at the unbelievability of it all. Then something occurs to me. “Oh my gosh, Jaxon. Does this mean the girls are half twins?”

The two of us look between them, stunned. “Is that even a thing?” he says.

“You have two daughters born on the same day. What would you call it?”

“Half twins,” he says, musing over the term. “I think I like it. Although poor Aurora and Ashley will have some major explaining to do.”

I laugh. “We all will.”

We stare at the girls, both knowing our lives have forever changed.

“Nine months ago, I was lost,” he says. “I never thought I’d find love again, let alone with the only woman I could ever love. I thought my dream of having children was gone. And now I sit here with the love of my life and the daughters who I already love so fiercely. I pity any boy that even comes near them.” I giggle and capture one of his tears with my thumb. He looks into my eyes. “How did I ever get this lucky?”

I pull his head toward mine. “No,” I say. “How did I?”





Epilogue



Jaxon




Five years later…




How I love the first few weeks of summer break. I have unlimited time with the kids, football conditioning hasn’t started yet, and I get to watch Nicky on television every morning.

“Daddy!” Ashley calls from the backyard.

Heisman darts through the open slider, going to her before I do. Apparently, he thinks his name is Daddy.

“What is it, sweetie?”

“Watch me!”

She hangs upside down from the trapeze bar on the massive play structure we installed last year.

“Look at you.”

“Daddy!” Aurora shouts. “I can do it too.”

“Let’s see.”

Heisman licks her from below, making her giggle endlessly.

“Me, me, me, me,” Ashley’s two-year-old brother says as he toddles over.

Calista and Eric adopted Matthew as a baby. He was the perfect addition to their family and has become like a son to Nic and me.

I run over and pick him up. “Not quite yet, little buddy.” I walk him over to Eric, who’s supervising as he does some gardening. “Maybe help your pop pull some weeds.”

“Gee, thanks,” Eric says.

“Just trying to catch the last hour of Nic’s show.”

Nicky has been co-hosting the third morning hour for years. She’s so good that I sometimes forget she got hired as a meteorologist instead of a news anchor.

Back inside, it’s a commercial, so I stare out the window and watch the girls. They’re not only half twins; they’re also best friends. Technically, they are half-siblings who happened to be born on the same day. But they certainly look like they could be twins, both of them resembling me with their dark, wavy hair, blue eyes, and propensity toward athletics. The only difference between the two is that Aurora has Ashley by two whole inches—something she gets from Nicky, for sure.

Shortly after the girls were born, we removed the fence separating our two yards. Half of it got destroyed by the tree falling that Christmas, so it only made sense to remove the rest. Besides, it makes it much easier to go back and forth. And we do. Often.

Calista never went back to teaching. She’s not only a stay-at-home mom but also Aurora’s nanny.

We’re one big happy family. My focus goes back to the TV when the show comes back on. And our family is about to get bigger.

Seven and a half months ago, Heisman alerted us to the fact that Nicky was expecting. We weren’t necessarily trying, but we weren’t preventing it from happening. Nicky let her viewers in on the pregnancy right after the first trimester. She even told them the name we picked. Autumn. Actually, it’s the name Aurora and Ashley chose. After Nic’s surgery to remove the scar tissue three years ago, this pregnancy has been nothing if not uneventful, for which I’m eternally grateful.