Four years later....

"Jackson! Get back here!" I shouted as I ran/waddled down the hallway waving a little boy's jacket from my hand. Lexine appeared in line of sight. She held up a hand to me and said, "Hey mom, take it easy. No running for you. I'll catch him." I leaned against the wall breathing hard. I was just days away from giving birth to my third child with them. My daughter took off after her little brother and managed to catch him by vaulting over the coffee table and grabbing the back of his shirt. She effortlessly wrapped her arms around him and carried him over to me where she helped me wrestle him into this jacket. For an nine year old girl she was a great help with her brother. Jackson giggled and squirmed, "I don't wanna wear a jacket!" Lexine frowned and said sternly, "It's cold outside. You aren't going to be allowed to come with us if you don't listen." That made him hold still while he got zipped up. He smiled up at me angelically which made me smile back. Jackson was a little duplicate of Jake with his blonde hair and eyes which had stayed blue.

Brady came downstairs holding his two year old daughter Bailey. She was built like me and her facial features like mine but she had her dad's coloring. Bailey's temperament was as sweet as Brady's even though he attributed it to me. Her hair was starting to curl like my hair too and the whole family doted on her. Their matching brown eyes met mine as I straightened up. I gave Bailey a kiss on her cheek and received a sloppy one in return from her. "Are we all ready to go?" Brady asked me. I nodded and went to get my shoes on. It was a struggle but thankfully they were only ballet slippers. As we got into the car, Brady had to help me which made him grin and he stole a kiss before shutting the door for me. "Mommy and Daddy sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G!" Jackson chanted out loud which made all of us laugh. He definitely had Jake's personality. We were headed to a impromptu family lunch at Bob's Diner. Everyone had a couple of hours free, so we figured why not?

I relaxed back into the seat and caressed my belly, thinking back to when this little bundle of joy was created. Preston had deposits of his sperm frozen at the hospital and accompanied me to the visit to get inseminated. It was a interesting process and I was nervous about it. Preston stayed with me and held my hand while it was being done. Thankfully it had only taken the one visit to get pregnant and I teased him about having super sperm. He took it good naturedly since he was overjoyed about having another baby in the family. Our newest jellybean was a boy and we had decided that his name was going to be Parker James Kingsley. James was for Preston's late father and I had kept the tradition of the first name starting with the same letter as the biological fathers.

Last year before I got pregnant again, we had taken a weeklong trip to England together and met with his uncle and cousins there. They were nice to me and found my American accent interesting. In turn I was fascinated with their British accents and fell in love with the fact there was curry in abundance to be eaten there. Preston laughed at me during the car rides because they drove on the other side and I was convinced that we were going to crash. The business aspect of our trip went well and a high end, exclusive boutique bought some of my designs and commissioned some future ones. Preston acted as my agent as usual so I felt secured that all the details were covered. It was a wonderful time spent together and it brought us closer. Needless to say, the sex was incredible and we enjoyed our trip overall.

I had taken long weekend trips with the other guys one on one. When it had come time for Brady to impregnate me, he took me to New Orleans for four days while I was ovulating. He was convinced that I would be pregnant by the time that our trip was over. Brady's method was to do me constantly and I wasn't complaining! We didn't get to sightsee the whole time since he kept me naked quite a bit of the time. When the trip was over with, I could hardly walk and Brady had a big grin on his face. Well, it had worked, I skipped my next period and Chase confirmed my pregnancy. Bailey was born 9 months later and the birth had been routine and drama free. Everyone in the family had been thrilled with another little girl.

I was brought out of my reminiscing by Brady pulling into the parking lot of Bob's Diner. Preston, Wyatt and Chase approached our car and helped us get the kids out. Each one grabbed a kid except for Chase who walked slowly with me. "How are you feeling sweetheart?" he asked me. I smiled and answered, "I'm just a little tired. Jackson tried to give me a run for my money  when I tried to get him to put his jacket on." He frowned, "I'll have a talk with our son, but please don't try running anytime soon." I laughed as he opened the front door for me, "Oh, don't worry, Lexine put a stop to that." We made our way to the table where everyone else was at. We all ordered and ate our lunch. I opted for a salad because I wasn't feeling very hungry. I had a dull ache starting at the base of my back. I wondered it was Braxton-Hicks or the real thing. I shifted in my seat to take the pressure off my back and vowed to get through this lunch.

Chase looked up and waved a hand in greeting to someone. I looked over and saw that it was some of the Blackbourne family at a table nearby. I smiled and waved at Sang who was sitting next to Sean. Chase and Sean had decided to open a small practice together a couple of years ago. They spent Monday through Friday at their office seeing patients and one Saturday a month at the hospital. Of course if there were large scale accidents, they were called in to come and help. I had to say that the both of them seem more rested and happy these past few years. Our families were friendly with each other but the age differences between us prevented us from being on a "bestie" status with them.

 I went back to rearranging and picking at my salad. Looking around the table, I admired my family who were all talking to each other and eating. I started to feel a slow pressure in my pelvis and I frowned a little. I tapped at Chase's arm to get his attention and he threw me a distracted smile before answering a question that Wyatt was asking him. I huffed in annoyance. If I sneezed too hard, they were all over me but now that I thought that I'm might be in labor? I cleared my throat in a bid for attention from anyone at this point but nobody was paying any attention. The pressure that I had been feeling intensified as I sat there perplexed on how to make my point without yelling. So I did the unthinkable and picked up a crouton from my salad and threw it in Preston's face. I watched as it hit his cheek leaving a splotch of ranch dressing behind and then it fell to his plate. Shocked silence came over the table. Preston turned to look at me in surprise, "Delphine? Did you just throw food at me?"

All eyes were on me and I gave them a tight smile, "Yes, I did...." Before I could continue Wyatt spoke up, "Darling, we're in a public setting. Are you trying to show the kids that starting a food fight is ok?" Jake's hand shot out and immediately covered Jackson's hands, lest he get a brilliant idea from my example. Lexine stared at me in fascination and Bailey was not paying attention while she stole a French fry off of someone else's plate. Preston wiped off his cheek and eyeballed me, "You've never done anything like that before. Why did you?" I let out an long suffering sigh and said, "Well, I've been trying get everyone's attention. It seems that your son would like to meet you today." He froze and his eyes widened as I clenched my teeth and breathed through a small contraction. "Why didn't you say anything?" Brady asked.

I heard Dr. Green's cheerful voice over my shoulder, "I've been watching her trying to get your attention and I must say that she found a very effective way." The contraction passed and Chase wanted to examine me. The two doctors helped me up and slowly led me over to the conference room that was unused at the moment. Since it was too hard for me to get down on the floor, I was laid down on a table instead. Dr. Green respectfully stood by my shoulder taking my pulse while Chase took a quick peek downstairs. Another contraction hit me and fluid gushed out. Chase let out an expletive, "Fuck! There's no time to get to the hospital. Let's grab our bags and scrub up!" They rushed out of the room with Chase barking orders at people. In less than five minutes, the two doctors were scrubbed and donned gloves. Some kind of padding was shoved under my bottom and a rolled up sweatshirt under my head. All my guys came in also, assuring me that the kids were being watched by Sang with some help by Luke and Victor. The pressure that I was feeling was growing more intense and I gritted my teeth so that I wouldn't yell and scare the kids. Chase told me that I was already at a ten and that it was time to push. Wyatt was holding up a cell phone to Dr. Green's ear, letting him talk to the hospital and getting them to send an ambulance with supplies for this event.

Preston was holding my hand and letting me squeeze it as hard as I wanted. A sudden thought occurred to me and I tugged on his hand until he came closer. "I have to apologize to Uncle. I'm making a mess in his restaurant. Can you tell him how sorry I am, please?" Preston kissed my forehead and said, "Don't even think about it my dear. Uncle is more worried about you right now. Just concentrate on having the baby. Everything will be fine." Chase sat in a chair and instructed me to push along with the contractions. For the next ten minutes, that's exactly what I did. The ambulance arrived bringing an assortment of things needed on top of the gurney. The paramedics got busy setting out the things that the doctors were asking for. There was a flurry of activity as the baby's head came out and I hated that part where the shoulders and body were still in me while I waited for Chase to clear out the baby's nose and mouth. I felt the relief as the baby slipped out of me all the way. The cord was clamped and Preston got to cut it. Dr. Green took over the baby as Chase took care of me. A few seconds later the baby started to cry and cheers rang out. They wrapped up little Parker as Chase dealt with the afterbirth. When Chase gave the ok, I was lifted onto the gurney, covered up and they handed me my baby to hold. We were wheeled out to the ambulance and Chase hopped in with us. The others would join us at the hospital, driving in their own cars.

I kissed Parker's forehead while Chase smiled at us, "You know, if you were that dead set on having me deliver our baby again, all you had to do was ask and forget the drama." That made me giggle and Chase laugh too. "You didn't have to deliver Bailey. My doctor was there that time." I reminded him. The medic in the back of the ambulance with us took my blood pressure again while Chase checked on Parker. When we arrived at the hospital, we were put into a room quickly with a Pediatrician examining Parker to make sure that everything was ok. Since my doctor hadn't arrived yet, Chase took care of me. Luckily, since I had two doctors help deliver, there wasn't a blessed thing wrong with either one of us and we were quickly tagged with the matching bracelets.

"I had no idea that I could go into labor and deliver so fast." I said to Chase as he held Parker. He nodded at me saying, "Sometimes it happens that way. Especially after having a couple of children already. They say that each one comes faster than the one before." Parker yawned and Chase grinned at him. The rest of the family arrived and came in. Lexine, Jackson and Bailey looked interested in the newest addition to the family. They gathered around him and Jackson innocently asked if he could order a baby at the diner which made us all laugh. Jake explained that no you couldn't order a baby at the diner, that Parker was ready to come out while we were there. Bailey, the sweet girl that she is , gave Jackson a kiss on his chubby cheek. As Preston held his little boy, I couldn't help but notice that he was a little carbon copy of his father. I smiled contently as I fell asleep, exhausted from all my exertions of the day.

Author's Note

The dreaded words are here. It's time for this story to come to an end. I have to say that so much has changed since I first started writing this story. I had no idea that it would take me over a year and what a year it's been! Everything from getting rid of a truly horrible boss, moving, having a daughter enter her tweens and just recently dealing with the first time a man (Not my husband!) has made a pass at me. Awkward..... All the characters in here have become so real to me and I will miss writing about them. However, I will be able to concentrate on Phaedra and her men now and the other short story with Sang that I will publish when it's fully written. The next chapter will be the last one, the epilogue...