Page 48 of Declan (Gold Team #5)

A year later—Autumn and Declan’s anniversary.

I was on pins and needles waiting for Declan to come in from his shop.

Declan found that he was not the type of man to sit around.

After we’d sorted the house, he’d filled the barn with animals, which now included a third horse, five goats—that I had to admit were really cute—two cats that strictly stayed at the barn because they were not friendly, at all, but they were good hunters and ate the mice, and two mutt dogs we’d rescued.

Those didn’t stay at the barn, they were mostly indoor dogs that thought they were human and were spoiled rotten.

But even with all of that, Declan found he needed something to do but didn’t want a job he’d have to commit to.

So he bought old hot rods that were in disrepair, fixed them up, and sold them.

Word had gotten around and he now had a waitlist full of people wanting restoration work done. Proving that Declan could do anything.

As for me, I found I was happy doing nothing.

Well, not nothing exactly, I’d planted a huge vegetable garden— totally normal, right .

Dec was so impressed with what I’d done, he built me a greenhouse.

Now that we had an abundance of fresh vegetables and herbs, I took what we couldn’t use and donated them to anyone who would take them off my hands.

As a result of that, and so many interested in what I grew, and others wanting to swap, I now ran a small co-op.

There were only twenty-five of us, but I loved it— totally normal .

And of course, with all of Declan’s pets, I always had something to do.

And I’d taken back up cooking. He even taught me to make p?o de queijo .

They were delicious and he let me make them on Violet’s birthday for breakfast. And there were now violets planted around his favorite oak trees in the front yard and sprinkled throughout the back flowerbeds.

Something his sister loved, which I knew because the last time she’d visited, she’d sat under the oaks, stared at the violets, and cried.

This worried me, but when I went out to talk to her, she just hugged me and told me how happy she was that Violet was home, too.

The result of all the cooking I was doing meant that Declan was working out an extra four hours a week and I’d put on fifteen pounds and I wasn’t even a little worried about it.

My weight gain meant I was eating healthy and regularly. I was happy, I was relaxed, and I’d taught myself to be a damn fine cook.

And soon, I hoped I’d gain even more weight, and that’s what had me on pins and needles. My nieces were getting big, Dec’s nephew was a walking, talking, one little boy demolition team, and the rest of our friends had kids.

I was ready.

I’d had almost three years of healing. Great years. Learning years. I was close to my parents and so was Declan. We had a great tight-knit group of friends, both of our sisters were great moms. I had great examples.

I was so ready.

I heard the back door open, my heart leaped into my throat, and I waited for Declan to greet Sasha and Pete. The sound of excited dog nails scratching on the hardwood floor stopped so I knew he was giving them a rub down. Then Sasha ran into the kitchen and I knew he was done.

And just like every day he came in, he walked directly to me, kissed my temple, and muttered, “Hey, babe.”

Damn, I loved hearing that.

“I stopped taking my birth control,” I blurted out and held my breath.

“Say again?” His growl made me shiver.

“After my last period, I didn’t start a new pack of pills. It’s been three weeks,” I elaborated.

“You ready?”

“Yes.”

“Upstairs.” This growl was different than the first. I didn’t shiver—I trembled.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

“Up. Stairs.”

All righty then, I guess that meant he was ready .

I rushed up the stairs with a smile on my face.

Eleven months later, Daphne Emerson was born.

A year after that, we added Madison Violet.

And two years after Madi, we had our boy. And after much debate, arguing, the guys all jockeying to get in there, we decided we’d never make all of the men happy, so we gave him a name that encompassed all of them and we added Jack Valor to our family.

Then I declared I was done having children because I had three horses, seven goats, numerous chickens, a garden, four cats, and three dogs.

That was more normal than any one woman could take.