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Chapter or Story
Epilogue
Jarod felt the cold feet against his body before he was properly awake and he looked up to find his daughter staring at him before she kissed his nose.
"Hey, gorgeous."
"Daddy, when's Sam coming home?"
"Today, baby. We're going to go and get her this morning."
"And…?"
"Yes, your new brother and sister too."
"And when Sydney comes…"
He sat up in bed and stared at her before his eyes narrowed. "Are you telling me something you shouldn't be again, like with the twins?"
She giggled. "Maybe." Gently the little girl kissed her father's nose. "Mommy said that I could ''cident'lly' tell you."
"And you did 'accidentally' tell me, you're right." He laughed. "We'll have a very nice surprise for him, won't we?"
She nodded and snuggled against him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he leaned back against the bed head. "Will you be okay when I'm in school all day and Sam's at work?"
"Hey, I managed with you two, didn't I?" He laughed. "And if Sydney's coming then I'll have somebody else to help me."
"Daddy?" a new voice asked from the doorway.
Jarod looked around to see his son come into the room. He laughed as the boy scrambled up onto the bed. "Well, we're all up early this morning, aren't we?"
"Breakfast, Daddy?"
"Are you hungry, Jamie?"
The boy nodded, grabbing Jarod's hand and pulling him in the direction of the door. Jarod laughed and, both children clinging to him, got out of bed.
"Hi, sweetheart." He stopped in the doorway. "I know I'm early, but my alarm clock must have been running fast when it dragged me out of bed this morning."
Sam smiled. "It's okay, I got the feeling you'd be here soon." She looked around as he walked in. "Where are the kids?"
"Ruth saw me come in and abducted them. She said she's bring them back in about half an hour."
"We'll never see them again." Sam rolled her eyes and returned Jarod's kiss as he sat on her bed. "Is everything ready at home?"
"It is. I put the last item in the last drawer last night so that it would all be perfect when we brought our latest family members home today."
Jarod walked over and picked up the small babies from the two beds in the corner, carrying them over to their mother and putting the little girl in her mother’s arms.
"And have you heard from Maria recently?" Sam asked.
"Only in an indirect sort of way when Bronwyn 'accidentally' told me this morning that apparently Sydney's coming to visit."
"Oh, really?" She smiled. "When?"
"I didn't get that far, but I'm guessing it'll be soon. Just in time for you to have a few days off and then come back to work."
"While you stay at home and do nothing all day."
He grinned at the expression on her face. "Yeah, just like that."
"Well, he'll get a shock or two."
Looking down at the tiny baby that lay in his arms, Jarod smiled tenderly. "They'll only be little shocks."
Jarod handed the mug to his older son and put the bottle to the lips of the baby boy in his arms.
"Daddy, he's coming," Bronwyn announced.
"Sydney?" Jarod smiled. "Is he coming today?"
She nodded vigorously, scooping the last of the ice cream out of the bowl and putting it into her mouth with a big smile. He laughed and tossed a damp cloth over to her.
"I said a year ago that you'd have to learn to eat ice cream neatly, Bronwyn, so when are you going to?"
"When you do." She giggled. "Last time, you spilled it all down your front."
"That wasn't really his fault." Sam reached over and wiped the little girl's face as she laughed. "I grabbed his hand when the contractions started."
Jarod laughed at her. "And I'll bet you're glad that's over."
"You have no idea." She rolled her eyes. "One day a man is going to have to give birth so that they can design something natural that will take the pain away."
He grinned. "Hmm, design… natural - do you see a problem there?"
She laughed and put her daughter down in the small bassinet, starting it rocking gently underneath the baby. "I knew you'd make a difficulty with that."
"Hey, I was only being logical."
"Well, stop." She reached over and pulled a pile of mail in her direction, glancing through it. "You got a letter."
"I won't sue you if you read it." He picked up the boy and put him over one shoulder, gently patting his back. "My hands are full. Go for it."
She eased open the envelope and pulled out the card it contained, opening it and then glancing at her watch. Jarod watched as she got up and walked over to the sofa, sitting down and opening his computer. He got up with a laugh and carried his new son over to sit beside her.
"Let me guess..."
"You needn't bother, seeing as you're already well aware of who it's from."
Sam handed him the card and he opened it to see the woman’s signature and also a date and time. He looked up with a laugh. "Is she getting better?"
"I'd like to think I am, Jarod, yes." The dead woman smiled. "Happy anniversary and congratulations to the two of you. Sam, you weren't wrong when you said I was trying to play Cupid."
"It worked." Sam leaned back against Jarod's outstretched arm with a smile as she looked at the screen, pulling her older daughter onto her lap.
"I'm glad." Maria smiled again. "And I'm also glad that you provided my children with such lovely siblings."
Jarod rolled his eyes. "Can we get to know them without being told every aspect of their personalities before they're a fortnight old?"
"I'm talking about what they look like, Jarod, not their personalities. But, if you don't want me to tell you…" She trailed off and shrugged.
"Thank you." He grinned. "After all, as you said so well at Christmas time, you wouldn't want to spoil the surprise."
"So you didn't want Bronwyn to tell you that Sydney's coming?"
"We-ell…" Jarod grinned. "Okay, you can tell us the important things."
"I'm glad to hear it." She smiled. "For one thing, you might want to open the door before you say anything else about Sydney. He's standing on the doorstep."
As the screen went blank, Jarod laughed and got to his feet, handing his new son to the boy's mother before walking over to the door. He opened it to find Sydney with his hand raised to knock.
"We've been expecting you," the younger man announced.
"Oh, really?" Sydney stepped into the house, smiling. "For how long?"
Jarod turned to Sam. "How old are the babies again, sweetheart? Is it four days or five since we brought them home?"
She laughed at the look on Sydney's face as he stared at Jarod.
"You what?"
"Hey, if you can try to spring a surprise on us by coming to visit then we can reply in kind." He grinned. "Want to meet the latest arrivals?"
"I can't believe…" His eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"We wanted it to be a surprise."
Sydney took a seat on the sofa and looked down at the small body that was put into his arms before he looked up.
"Which?"
"A boy." Jarod paused. "Jacob."
"You didn't…?" Sydney's eyes glittered suspiciously.
"And why not?" Sam smiled. "Actually, it was also my father's name so that made it seem like a doubly good reason."
He glanced up at Jarod. "Did you say 'babies', as in plural?"
"No, Syd. They changed the rules of English grammar while you weren't paying attention." The new father walked over and picked up his baby daughter. "Yes, I said 'babies', plural. And if you guess twins, I'll even let you hold both at once."
"Does Parker know?" Sydney asked, as he rocked the girl in his arms, smiling at the long dark lashes that swept the round rosy cheeks.
Jarod shook his head as he put his baby son down in the hand-carved wooden cradle. "Not unless her mother told her. We thought we'd keep it a complete surprise. In fact, we only told my parents during the second last month."
Sydney suddenly narrowed his eyes and made an obvious display of counting back the months on the fingers of his free hand. "They weren't premature, were they?"
The younger man grinned as he took his daughter and put her down, covering her with the thick blanket. "No, they weren't."
"So all your convenient little excuses at Christmas about 'long term'..."
"I'm impressed that you remember." Jarod laughed. "Yes, we were planning for the future by then and Sam was actually already four weeks pregnant."
"You knew at four weeks?" Sydney followed Jarod down the hall. "How?"
"Our daughter 'accidentally' used the names Catherine and Jacob in 'casual conversation' and as she had no reason to mention either Sam's parents or your brother and Parker's mother, we guessed. Then she told us."
Sydney nodded and then picked up the boy who threw himself at his legs when the two men appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
"How long are you staying for?" Jarod asked.
"Well, I was only planning to stay for a day or two, but I can easily extend it if you feel like you need a spare pair of hands."
"Hey, I've got two perfectly good ones."
Sydney grabbed his right hand as Jarod was about to walk into the kitchen and looked down at the faint marks on it. "Perfectly good?"
"It's fine, Syd. It healed completely except for a few scars and I hardly remember I even did it anymore."
"I'm glad to hear it."
The little girl threw herself at her father as soon as the front door was open and he picked her up with his free arm, keeping the other firmly around the baby girl in his other arm.
"How was school, sweetie?"
"Good, Daddy." She threw her arms around his neck. "Were you okay here all day without me?"
"I had Sydney to help, didn't I?" He kissed her. "I missed my girl though."
"You mean Sam?"
"No," he laughed. "Try again."
"Catherine?"
"She was here with me, wasn't she?"
"Miss Parker?"
He sat down on the sofa and tickled her. "You're not trying hard enough."
"Me."
"Of course."
"So you didn't miss me at all?" another voice asked.
Jarod looked up to see Sam standing in the doorway and grinned. "One of these days I'm going to learn when to keep my mouth shut."
"No." She came over and kissed him. "You'd never do that."
"Oh, really? Why not?"
"You can't teach an old dog..."
"Are you saying I'm old?" Jarod tried to look indignant. "I've just spent the whole day running - and I do mean running - after three small children and then my wife calls me 'old'."
"Wife?" Sydney looked up sharply. "Is there something else you've forgotten to tell me?"
She curled up beside him and rested her head against his chest, feeling as his hand moved through her hair.
"You still awake?"
"Uh huh." Looking up, she smiled. "Work isn't that tiring."
"Maybe I should try it some time." He tried to stifle a yawn and she smiled.
"It doesn't help when your alarm clock comes in and wakes you up at three."
"How you sleep through her climbing into bed is beyond me."
"She doesn't talk to me, so I ignore it and go back to sleep."
"Want to teach me that skill?"
"Nope." She gently kissed his chest. "She'd be hurt if you didn't talk to her."
"You're right." He tightened his arms around her and she smiled, looking up.
"I've been meaning to ask - your comments earlier today..."
Jarod laughed softly. "I've been wondering when you'd pick up on those."
"Ah, so they were deliberate."
"Of course. Just about everything I say is."
Raising herself on one arm, Sam looked down at him. Gently he reached up and brushed her hair out of her eyes.
"Marry me."
Slowly she lowered herself so that her face was lying on the pillow next to his and he rolled over so that he could look into her eyes. He put both arms around her and pulled her closer to him, kissing her softly at first and then slightly harder, feeling as she relaxed in his hold. Pulling away slightly, Jarod looked down into her eyes again, his thumb gently brushing her lips.
"Well?"
"Yes, Jarod." She nodded and leaned over, kissing him again. "Of course I will."
