The Slade Brothers: A Complete Small Town Contemporary Romance Collection

by Alexis Winter

  “Let’s go check out the inside,” I say, taking her hand and helping her to the door.

  I put the key in and the door opens easily. She goes to take a step, but I stop her. “Wait! We have to do this right.” I pick her up against me and she squeals. I grunt, nearly throwing out my back, but I walk her over the threshold and set her back on her feet inside.

  I place my hands on my knees and bend over to breathe. “I think I gave myself a hernia.”

  She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, you just picked up four humans and enough water to bathe an elephant. Jack ass,” she mumbles as she walks through the house. She stops at the bottom of the stairs. “No way am I getting up these any time soon.”

  “That’s fine. We’ll sleep in the guest bedroom until after the babies are born,” I tell her, pulling her toward the room that’s off the kitchen and dining room.

  The bed is already set up and looking comfy as possible. “I think I’ll take a nap while you two move everything in and get ready for the party.” She sits down and kicks off her shoes.

  “Alright. Yell if you need anything,” I tell her, giving her a kiss on the head before closing the door between us. As I’m walking out the door, Drake walks in with his arms loaded with stuff.

  “Just throw it anywhere. I’ll sort through it all later,” I tell him, going for a box of my own.

  A couple hours pass, and both vehicles are unloaded while Drake and I sit out on the back porch drinking a beer.

  “We probably need to fire the grill up,” Drake says, looking at his watch.

  “Nah, I’m having the party catered.”

  He looks over at me. “Really?”

  I nod. “Hell yeah. I wanted to enjoy today and not have to worry about cooking and cleaning up. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Deven can barely stand up long enough to change, let alone, help cook and clean. And I can’t do the grill and the outside stuff at the same time. I’m amazing, but I’m not miracle worker.”

  He laughs loud. “Right, I must have gotten those two things confused.”

  Before I know it, the catering company is arriving and setting everything up. One person gets to work on the grill while three people work in the kitchen. There’s one person who works on snacks and sets them out on all the tables for the guests. Another person starts cooking for dinner while one cleans up. Our families start to arrive soon after.

  Colton, Brennan, and the kids arrive. Milly goes out to the yard to play while they sit at the patio table, bouncing the twins on their lap. Celeste comes in with Tyler, and she hands Drake the baby the moment she walks out, going for a glass of wine.

  I laugh, but Drake points at me.

  “Just wait. You’re going to have three of these.”

  I look at Colton and Brennan. They’re the only ones who have the slightest idea what we’re in for.

  “Yeah, at least with us, we’re one on one. You guys are already outnumbered,” Brennan says.

  Next to arrive is Destiny, Wyatt, Clay, and Autumn with all their kids. The place is crawling with children already, and I can’t wait until I have mine here to play with them. I go and help Deven up out of bed and to the bathroom before bringing her out of the porch to sit with the rest of us.

  She greets everyone and has little polite chit-chat before pulling over the tray of appetizers all for herself. “Sorry, guys, I’m eating for four here.” She laughs out as she pops a nacho into her mouth. Just as the food is getting done, Brad and their mom make it over. Brad goes straight for the food while their mom heads straight for the kids and babies. She’s come a long way these last few months. She’s managed to get the manager position at the local grocery store, and she’s making enough money to provide for herself. She got an apartment in the same building as Brad, giving Brad back his personal space, which is a good thing since Brad and Abby seem to be getting more and more serious. I’m actually surprised that he didn’t bring her with him today.

  I walk over to the buffet to stand next to him and pat him on the back. “Where’s Abby?” I ask, making a plate for Deven.

  “Oh, she had plans today. Virginia is back to visit, and she didn’t want to leave her alone. I didn’t want to take it upon myself to invite her, given your history.”

  I laugh. “What history? We had one date that went nowhere.”

  “Well, you guys got along really well and you kissed.”

  My mouth drops open. “I didn’t kiss her,” I admit, confused as to why he would think that.

  “Yes, you did. She told Abby that you kissed her when you were dancing.”

  “I didn’t dance with her. She danced with some guy at the bar who bought her six tequila shots.” I laugh. I specifically remember because I was so torn up over Deven that I barely even talked to her all night. She got annoyed with me and left me to go find a man that would talk to her.

  He shrugs. “Huh, guess she got drunk and mixed you two up. Either way, I didn’t want my extremely pregnant sister to kick me in the balls for bringing her here.”

  I laugh. “Yeah, probably for the best.”

  The party goes smoothly, and everyone hangs out, eating, talking, and drinking until the sun goes down and the field around us grows dark. When everyone leaves, I take Deven to the guest bedroom and we lay down to go to sleep. I hold her against my chest.

  “Did you enjoy the party?”

  “I would’ve been able to enjoy it more if I could move.”

  I laugh. “Soon enough,” I promise. “We have six more weeks until your due date.”

  “Six weeks is a lifetime, Hudson. Hell, we didn’t even date six week before we got engaged.”

  “We did too,” I argue.

  “No, it would’ve been six weeks, but we broke up for those two weeks, remember?”

  I shake my head. “I only remember the parts of my life that had you next to me.”

  She laughs. “Such a suck up.” Her hand flies to her stomach and she gasps in pain.

  “What? What is it?” I ask, fear consuming me.

  Her body relaxes. “I shouldn’t have eaten those jalapeño poppers. They are making the babies crazy in there.”

  “You want some something for your stomach?” I ask.

  “No, I think it’s fine.”

  I wrap my arm around her stomach and one of the babies kick at it. “Man, I think that one is going to be a soccer player.” I laugh.

  “Tell me about it. They’ve been kicking the shit out of me all day.” She jumps again, this time letting out a painful cry.

  “Are you sure it’s just indigestion?”

  She shakes her head. “Nope, not anymore. I think we should go to the hospital.”

  “Okay, let’s go.” I rush from bed and slide my feet into a pair of shoes before moving around the bed to help her up. She stands up, takes two steps and then I hear a gush of water hitting the floor. I turn around to see her scared expression.

  “Come on. You’re in labor.”

  “No,” she shakes her head. “It’s too early.”

  I nod. “I know, but remember the doctor said that triplets like to come early. There isn’t enough room in there for all three of them. It’ll be okay. Let’s just get to the hospital. The sooner the better.”

  I get her loaded up into the SUV and race around to the driver’s side, climbing behind the wheel. She’s hit with a contraction just as I’m backing out. Her screaming scares the shit out of me, and I stomp on the brakes. She catches herself on the dash.

  “What the hell, Hudson?”

  “Sorry, baby. You just scared me,” I say, finishing backing up the drive.

  Finally, we’re on the road. As I drive, I make sure to call everyone in the family. After they’ve all been informed, I take her hand in mine and let her squeeze it as I breathe along with her, hoping to help her through as much as possible.

  It feels like it takes forever to get to the hospital, but we finally make it and I wheel her through the front doors.

  “We’re in labor. Six
weeks early,” I add on.

  “Okay, let’s get you back, honey,” the nurse says, taking the wheelchair from me. As we ride up the elevator to the maternity ward, all she does is cry and moan and cuss at me loud enough for God to hear. I feel angry for doing this to her, scared that she’s never going to let me touch her again, and happy to become a father soon.

  “Don’t worry, honey. She doesn’t mean anything that leaves her mouth right now,” the nurse reminds me. I feel a little better, but fear still consumes me when I think about how early these babies are.

  We’re taken to a room, and I help her strip down into a gown and get into bed. She’s hooked up to monitors and tubes and wires, and as she’s breaking my hand, the doctor walks into the room.

  “Has your water already broken?” he asks, pulling on a glove.

  “Yes, and the contractions are two minutes apart,” I tell him.

  He sticks his hand where the sun don’t shine and says, “Yep, you’re fully dilated and ready to start pushing.” He removes his hand and pulls off his glove. “Nurse, ready to go to delivery!” He looks back at us with a smile. “I’ll see you up there.” He leaves without another word.

  The next thing I know, I’m given some kind of gown, shoe covers, and a cap to put on, and we’re taken to another room that has a bright light hanging from the ceiling. The doctor walks in, barking orders to the nurses and snapping his gloves into place.

  He sits between her parted legs, which are draped over with a blanket, and levels his eyes on us. “You do know that with the babies being this early that there’s a chance they will have to be incubated, right?”

  She nods. “I know. Just get them out and make sure they’re safe, please,” she cries, big tears rolling down her cheeks.

  “I’ll do my best,” he promises.

  Time seems to go so fast but stand so still all at the same time. I don’t know how it’s possible, but before I know it, there’s a baby’s cry filling the room.

  “Baby number one: boy,” the doctor announces, handing the baby off. “Okay, Deven. Come on. Two more. You can do this,” he cheers her on.

  Deven’s face is covered in sweat, her dark hair lining to her cheeks as she bears down to push again. She screams and yells and cusses me out all while breaking my hand, but after only a few minutes, another cry fills the room.

  “Baby number two: boy,” the doctor says. “One more time, Deven. You can do this.”

  She lays back, shaking her head. “I can’t. I can’t do it again. I’m so tired. Hudson, please. I can’t.” She’s completely exhausted, barely even able to hold her eyes open.

  I place my hands on either side of her face and force her eyes to mine. “Look at me, Deven. You’re the strong fucking woman I know. You can do this, baby. You have to. You hear me? Reach deep down inside of you and find the strength you need. I’ll be right here, baby. If I could do it for you, I would. But only you can do this. Come on, give our boys a sister to protect. Give me a daughter.” I kiss her lips and she nods.

  “Alright, let’s go,” the doctor says.

  The room is only growing more and more loud with the boys already crying and Deven screaming out in pain. The doctor is cheering her on.

  Deven pushes for ten minutes before finally, the doctor says, “Deven, come on. One more big push. I can see the head. Ready? One, two, three.”

  Deven bears down and squeezes my hand as she cries and yells, but then I hear the most beautiful sound in the world. The sound of my daughter crying.

  “Baby number three: girl!” The doctor passes her off and gets to work on getting Deven cleaned up.

  She falls back flat on the bed and her eyes close. I run my hand over her hair and kiss her forehead. “Sleep, baby. You’re done,” I whisper.

  I cut my daughter’s umbilical cord and follow the nurses around the room as they weigh and measure each of the babies. I get a nice long look at each one before moving onto the next. I’m so lost in the beauty of the babies that I don’t even notice when something goes wrong.

  “We’re losing her. She’s bleeding out,” I hear someone say, and I spin around to see what the fuck they’re talking about.

  “What’s going on?” I ask, rushing back over to her. She looks dead already. Her skin is pale, and she has dark circles under her eyes. She seems so small and weak lying there with her eyes closed. Her once dark, tanned skin almost seems gray. Her lips are turning blue.

  “Cardiac arrest. Get the paddles,” someone else yells.

  “What’s going on?” I demand yet again, getting in their way.

  “Get him out of here,” the doctor yells, and a nurse pushes me backward out the door. I move around to the glass windows, but the blinds are quickly shut. I collapse, sliding down the wall and into a heap in the floor, wondering what happened, what went wrong, or if she’ll be okay.

  Sixteen

  Deven

  My eyelids feel so heavy, I can’t even keep them open long enough to see my babies. I’m tired and dizzy, and I can’t fight against this tug that keeps trying to take over. I’ve fought too long now. I fought to bring each baby into the world. I have nothing left in me to fight for myself. Darkness pulls at me, then swallows me up altogether.

  I wake sometime later, feeling sore, tired, and groggy. It’s like when you wake up in the middle of the night after you’d spent the evening drinking entirely way too much. You know you’ll just be pulled under again, but that doesn’t stop you from waking in the first place. I feel something move beside me, and I look to find Hudson’s head on my bed. He’s dead asleep. I lift my hand, even though it feels twice as heavy as normal, and run it through his hair. His head pops up, and his eyes are full of surprise and relief.

  “Deven?” he whispers my name. “Oh, thank God. They said you’d wake up any time now, but fuck, you scared the shit out of me.” He stands up and presses kisses to my head, hair, and face.

  “What…what happened?” I ask. My memory is fuzzy.

  He sits back down and take my hand in his. “You did it, babe. You delivered all the babies and they’re beautiful, Deven. They really are. And just like we were told, there are two boys and a girl.”

  I smile weakly, happy that they’re here and all okay and healthy.

  “After the last one though, you lost a lot of blood. And you lost it fast. They ended up having to give you two units of blood, and you’ve been unconscious since yesterday, but they said that you’d wake up. They said that you just needed to rest and let your body heal from the trauma that having three babies took on your little body. And here you are. You’re here with me and the babies, and they’re here and healthy. I think they miss you. They miss hearing your heart and your laugh and being all warm inside of you.” He kisses my hand.

  “Where are they? Can I see them?”

  “Of course. I’ll ask the nurse to bring them in. They’re in the nursery. They said we both needed the rest.” He stands up and leaves the room, coming back within minutes. “They’ll be here in a couple minutes,” he says, taking the empty chair beside the bed and taking my hand in his once again. “You did so good, baby. Everyone has been here to see the babies, all my family and yours. They’ll be glad to hear that you’ve woken up.”

  “I wish I hadn’t been out so long. They’re already a day old.” Tears sting my eyes at the thought of missing my first day with the babies.

  “It’s okay,” he assures me. “They haven’t done anything but poop and cry anyway,” he jokes as the nurse comes wheeling them into the room.

  She puts them at the foot of my bed, and Hudson picks up one and brings him over. “This is baby boy number one,” he says, placing him in my arms. “And baby boy number two,” he says, placing him on the other side. “And here, we have baby girl.” He holds her against his chest, showing me her face.

  “They’re all so perfect,” I say, staring at them all in awe.

  He smiles and nods. “I know. They all have my blue eyes and your dark skin and hair. They
’re gorgeous.”

  “You haven’t given them their names yet?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “No. I didn’t know which baby boy you wanted to name which. Thought maybe it was a mom thing, like you’d hold them and be able to tell which is which.” He laughs out.

  I look down at baby boy number one. “This is Axle, after your grandpa,” I say, thinking about my dad. Then I look at baby boy number two. “And this is Aiden, and that is Adrienne. Our three As.” I smile up at Hudson.

  He returns my smile. “Want to trade?” he asks.

  “Yes,” I reply, giving up one of the boys to hold my daughter.

  It’s four weeks before we get to leave the hospital, but with the babies being born so early, they wanted to keep a close eye on them and me since I lost so lost so much blood. The first few days were rough, but as time passed, I felt better. Other than the extra weight I’m still sporting, I feel back to my normal self. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been. The day comes when we finally get to take the babies home, and excitement surges through me at the thought of having them home and all in their cribs.

  Hudson and I are finally able to sleep in our room, and I’m finally able to take in the upstairs of my own home. Everything is perfect and beautiful, just like I knew it would be, and having everyone under one roof is just how it’s meant to be.

  We get guest after guest when we get home, and everyone brings over food and gifts. Nobody stays too long, knowing that we need to rest and get settled. By the time the sun is going down, I’m completely exhausted. Hudson pulls me in for a long kiss that makes my toes curl. I’m not even healed from having the babies yet, but already, I’m excited for him to touch me.

  With his lips on mine, he picks me up against him and carries me to the bedroom, where we fall onto our brand new, fluffy bed, He wraps his arms around me and kisses me breathless.

  “I love you, Deven,” he whispers as that fire in his blue eyes ignites.