Page 63 of My Ex-Best Men (Ex Marks the Spot #4)
Epilogue
T wo Years Later
I rested between Will’s legs with my back against his chest. My swollen stomach stuck out in front of me, glowing in the bright sun from all the sunscreen Anthony had rubbed into it. “Who thought it would be a good idea to take two massively pregnant women out on a boat?”
Sophia sat across from us, her own stomach just as swollen as mine.
We were both eight months pregnant and stuck that way in the middle of the summer.
One of the two of us had decided being on the water was a great plan, forgetting completely about how the boat trip out might make us feel. Bad. It’d made us feel bad.
Uncle Sal pranced down the middle of the boat, his new boyfriend following him to keep the sweeping duster he wore from catching on something and taking the old man out. “The worst of it’s over now, honey.”
“There’s still the trip back.” I pouted and looked over my shoulder at Will. “Think I could convince Anthony to get his helicopter pilot to pick me up from here?”
Anthony swept by me with a gentle kiss to my forehead. “The helicopter makes you feel sick, too, sweetheart.”
Sophia stood up and waddled over to me. “Fuck it. Let’s get in the water and let whatever happens happen. If a shark eats my big ass, I’m not going to complain.”
Jake winced and moved behind Sophia not completely unlike Uncle Sal’s boyfriend had to Uncle Sal. “Please don’t hope to be eaten by a shark, babe.”
“I’m not hoping, Jake. I’m just saying, if it happens, I’m not going to fight it. Your kid is stomping on my spleen or something in there and it’s miserable.” She held out her hand to me. “Come on. We’re in this together.”
I shrugged and took her hand. “I don’t want to be eaten by a shark but I get the sentiment.”
Zane helped me up and then hesitated to help me into the water. “Your bestie is sounding a little crazy. Are you sure you want to be in the open ocean with her?”
“No shark is going to come near the gas twins.” Uncle Sal perched at the end of the boat and crossed his legs. “Before you two I was under the impression that pregnancy was a beautiful event.”
Anthony growled at him as he came to help Zane lower me into the water. “My wife is a beautiful pregnant woman and we don’t talk about the gas.”
I looked over at Sophia and sighed. “You let one little toot out and suddenly you’re one half of the gas twins.”
As if it was written into a scene, a group of bubbles came up from behind Sophia. “Oops.”
I giggled. “It’s shark repellant. You’re doing a good thing.”
Zane’s face was red from holding in a laugh. “Who let these two get pregnant at the same time?”
Will jumped into the water behind me and then came up to help me ease my way into the water. “God, Soph. What the hell did you eat?”
Jake sighed. “Don’t bring up food, man.”
Uncle Sal leaned forward so he could smirk at me. “Imagine the hell these men would go through if I yelled ‘shark’ right now? They’ve taken fifteen minutes to get you in the water.”
“Not funny, Sal.” Anthony glanced around, always on the lookout for sharks or other ocean creatures.
Once we were in the water, Sophia and I floated next to each other, our fingers linked to keep each other close. Lowering her voice, she informed me of what she’d found out at the beauty salon the day before. “Steve left Madeline.”
I squeezed her fingers. “No!”
She sounded gleeful. “Yep. Steve’s mom was getting a perm while I was getting my nails done. She said he found out that Madeline was cheating and left her ass. They had a prenup, too. She’s not getting shit from him.”
I couldn’t find it in me to feel bad for her. “She’ll find someone else to latch onto soon. That’s one thing I’ll say about her; she’s determined.”
“Determined to ruin her life and everyone else’s, too.” Grunting, Sophia moved on. “Do you want to come over and help me with the nursery this week? Since you finished your book early and hopefully have the time to help a lady who stupidly married one man instead of three?”
“It has been handy to have three men around. Although, I thought they were going to come to blows over building the crib.” I gasped when hands grabbed my ass from below and then swore when Will’s face popped out of the water next to me.
“William! Don’t scare a pregnant woman! This is not the water birth I want! ”
He pulled me into his arms and pushed Sophia towards the boat. “Scram, brat.”
She splashed us but spotted Jake and swam over to him.
“You look so beautiful.” Will gently kissed me. “How are my girls?”
I smiled at the mention of our daughter. “We’re good. She likes the water. I swear it’s the only time she stops kicking me these days.”
“Shark!” Uncle Sal’s voice rang out, loud and clear, but Will and I just rolled our eyes.
“He’s a pain. I think we should prank him after-”
“Get the fuck out of the water! Now!” Anthony took a running leap off the boat and we watched in horror as it looked as if he was immediately trying to fist fight the water.
Will dragged me to the boat and all but threw me aboard before doing the same to Sophia.
Uncle Sal helped us both up and we all stood there watching as Anthony swam back to the boat.
Zane and Will dragged him up and I watched with tears in my eyes as they both quickly hugged Anthony before shoving him towards me.
He was pale and looked freaked out but there was a boyish smile on his lips. “I fought a shark for you.”
“There was a real shark?!” I was screeching. Full on screeching. “Anthony! No! You dove into the water to fight a shark?! What the hell?!”
Uncle Sal sank heavily into his chair. “Well, hell. That was enough excitement for this old man.”
I jabbed my finger in his direction. “This is why you shouldn’t cry wolf!”
“Goddammit.” Jake groaned. “I already lose because there’s only one of me to do shit around our house and now you just fucking fought a shark for your woman.”
Zane looked a little shaken himself as he gripped Anthony’s shoulder. “Shit.”
“I need to sit down.” I found myself immediately being carried to the bench seat.
Anthony curled his big body around mine and held me tight.
I could feel a tremor go through him every few seconds.
“Thank you. Never do that again, though. If something happened to you… Just no more fighting sharks, okay?”
He let go of me and twisted around to throw up over the side of the boat. After he was done he wiped his mouth and let out a shaky laugh. “When we tell our grandchildren this story, we’ll leave that part out.”
I rested my head on his shoulder and took a deep breath. “That’s fair. Um… Guys?”
Everyone looked at me expectantly.
“I think our daughter got a little excited about the idea of seeing a shark…” I took another deep breath. “My water broke.”
All hell broke loose.
Ten hours later we welcomed our first daughter to the world and despite being a little early, she was perfectly healthy. Sophia couldn’t be bested, however, and that same day she went into labor and gave birth to her son.
By the end of the day no one remembered Anthony threw up. Especially not when Jake passed out at the sight of his son coming into the world.