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His frown deepened. “What—?”

“Time to have the babies, Lan.”

For a second, he just gaped, his eyes wide, and the entire room fell quiet.

But it didn’t last long; everyone sprang into action, and soon, it was utter chaos.

“Push, baby.” Lan held me tight as he whispered in my ear. The doctor had just declared I was fully dilated enough to push. But at his point, I was exhausted. We’d been at this for more than ten hours.

And I have to kind of give birth twice. My mom gave me so many pointers, but all that slipped out of my mind.

“You can do this.” Lan kissed my forehead.

“I don’t think I can,” I gritted through my teeth as another wave of pain broke my entire lower half into two.

“Yes, you can.” He gripped my hand tightly. “You can do anything.”

I nodded, sighing as the contraction waned.

I breathed deeply, knowing another one was going to hit me any second. The gap between my contractions had been growing shorter and shorter, which only meant my babies were going to be with me any minute. But the pain was getting worse and worse too.

This was all I’d ever wanted, but nothing prepared me for the pain of childbirth.

Somehow, the pain made the process more beautiful, but right now, it felt ugly as hell.

Just as that thought left me, another wave of contraction almost knocked me out.

I had to blink back the spots in my vision as I clung onto Lan’s strength and pushed, folding forward as I ground my jaw, and then my back fell to the bed.

Somewhere in the back of my dizzy mind, I heard the doctor say, “There, there, we can see the head. One more push, Katy.”

The word head tugged on my last resolve, and I pushed harder, and something whooshed out of me, and I heard the sound of loud wails fill the room.

My baby was here.

But I was tired, too tired.

“Come on, angel. Just one more and we’ll have our babies,” Lan whispered.

And his words and my baby’s cries were the only thought in my head as I pushed one last time with every ounce of strength in me.

In minutes, Aaron Greige and Astor Greige were a bundle in my arms while his dad and I looked at their soft sleeping faces. They were beautiful, Aaron with his dark brown hair and green eyes, and Astor with blond hair and brown eyes. Like the perfect mix of us.

Luka was the first one to visit us, and the bed soon became crowded.

His eyes filled with awe as he peered at his baby brothers and started mumbling adorably to them.

This moment, right here, with all my boys made every second of my life worth it.

EPILOGUE 2

EIGHT YEARS LATER

“It’s your lucky day, people, because the DeCleres are here,” announced a very familiar boastful voice that hadn’t changed one bit in all these years.

I looked up from setting up the last details to Jaelynn’s pink table to see Mikey and his squad of girls walk into my backyard.

We all moved back to Bellevue a couple of years ago, and we’re all practically neighbors now.