I was sure she was. She would definitely be part of their lives.
Kade rocked back and forth as he stared at the baby in his arms. “She’s so fucking beautiful. They’re all beautiful.”
Becca giggled. “I’m so glad I was on duty.” She straightened as tears pooled in her eyes. “This experience has been amazing, more so than others since I got to see my BFF give birth.”
I held out my hand as I kept a strong hold on my firstborn. “Come here, girl.”
Becca sidled up to the other side of the bed opposite the cribs. “I love you.” She squeezed my hand.
“Ditto, girl,” I said, wanting to bawl my eyes out for some reason. “You will be a big part of their lives.”
She swiped a tear off her cheek. “I’m so in love with them. I feel like I gave birth too.” She giggled through a sniffle as she eyed Kade. “Oh, I meant to tell you guys. Kade’s parents are in the waiting room. I’ll go get them.”
Kade’s mom was going to spoil these girls rotten. Well, Kade might beat her to it. I suspected the entire family would spoil them, just like they had Kross’s two girls.
Becca crossed the room. “Oh, and let me know when you’ve decided on the names. We’ll want to get the birth certificates completed.” Then she breezed out of the room.
“So who will be Julie?” Kade asked.
I giggled as a light and airy feeling floated in my chest. I felt as though my sister, Julie, were there with us.
I lifted a shoulder as I kissed my baby’s head. “I don’t know that it matters. Maybe we name the oldest Julie?” My reasoning behind that was simple. We’d picked the name Julie at our wedding. So it seemed appropriate to name the firstborn Julie.
He nodded. “And this one in my arms, I say we name her Jazlyn or maybe Jordan.”
We wanted each of the girls’ names to start with the letter J. We felt it was a tradition in the Maxwell family since each of the Maxwell brothers’ names began with K. With Kross and Ruby, their daughters were Raven and Reaghan. So since we were naming one of our girls Julie, we wanted to keep the Js going.
“We also have Jade, Jillian, and Josie on the list,” I said.
Kade set the baby back in her crib then returned to my bedside. “They all look the same. Until they mature a bit, we’ll need to keep name tags on them. That’s what Mom did with my brothers.”
I remembered Eleanor mentioning that. “We can have their names stitched on their beanies.” Then again, they wouldn’t be wearing beanies all the time.
“Mom had engraved silver bracelets for Kelton, Kross, and Kody until she could tell them apart.”
At the mention of his mom, Eleanor practically flew into the room, all smiles, and her blue eyes glimmered. Martin was on her heels.
Eleanor wasted no time in walking over to the cribs.
I smiled at Kade.
He shook his head.
Normally, Eleanor would give her full attention to Kade, but with more grandchildren, he was slowly dropping down on her list. Judging by the grin on his face, he didn’t mind in the least.
Martin, a Kade lookalike, hugged his son. “Congratulations.”
“Oh my,” Eleanor cooed. “They’re beautiful.”
My girls were more than beautiful if that were possible.
“Did you call my dad?” I asked Kade while Eleanor lifted up one baby.
“He’s flying home next week, and he wants you to call him when you can,” Kade said.
Dad was a traveling man as of late. He was knee-deep in signing new bands to his record label, so he was constantly in Los Angeles or some big city around the world.
As much as I wanted to see my dad, I had three little ones who needed my attention.
“Who’s who?” Martin asked as he joined his wife, ogling one of the girls.
“This one is Julie,” I said as I handed Julie to Kade.
He had a permanent grin as he cradled Julie in his arms. “Hey, baby girl.”
I placed a hand over my heart, trying to reel in my emotions. Seeing Kade and how happy he was made my heart burst.
“The other two, we’re not sure yet,” I said as I slumped back in the bed, not taking my eyes off my handsome husband.
My body was tired, my brain was slowly shutting down, and suddenly, I wanted to sleep. “But we’ll decide before we take them home.”
Home. I couldn’t wait to get all three of them into the amazing nursery we had set up. I couldn’t wait to spend my days rocking them to sleep. I couldn’t wait to curl up next to my husband and snuggle with the babies beside us.
Life was perfect.
Chapter 19
Kade
The last few months had been exhausting. Since bringing the girls home, we’d been going nonstop like the Energizer bunny. There was three of everything. Three diaper changes. Three bottles or rounds of breastfeeding if Lacey could do it. She was on a revolving schedule of pumping her breasts since she couldn’t feed all three girls back to back. So she had some breast milk ready for the two who lost out on feeding directly from her. She would switch up, making sure each of the girls got a chance to feed from her. We had three baths, three loads of laundry, and the list went on.
To say we were worn out was an understatement. We barely had time to sleep, relax, or even eat half the time.
Kody had taken my spot as manager at The Cave for a few months because I wanted to stay home and help Lacey. As far as baseball was concerned, Lacey wasn’t ready to return yet. However, Tara had informed her that the Sea Dogs had drafted a contract for her to sign for next season. Even if she wanted to play, it would be hard considering she was breastfeeding, and with only two months left in the season, it didn’t make sense for her to return to the team.
Despite that, I’d thought Lacey would be more driven to get back to the team and playing, but giving birth seemed to have put things in perspective according to my wife.
“I do want to play again, but you and the girls come first,” she’d said after we had had a long and in-depth conversation about her career. “I know I was worried about whether any team would sign me if I took time off, but family comes first.”
And now that the Sea Dogs had a contract waiting for her, she didn’t have to worry about her career.
Mom was at the house every day, helping us with cooking, cleaning, and washing clothes. Hell, the whole family seemed to be living with us. Kelton’s girl, Lizzie, was there any chance she had. The woman was dying to get married and have kids.
We didn’t see Ruby and Kross much, but I hadn’t expected to either since they had their hands full with their own girls.
Lacey rubbed her eyes as she came into the nursery. “You look sexy sitting in that rocker with Jazlyn cuddled up to you.” She stepped deeper into the yellow-and-pink room, which was big enough to hold six babies if need be. She peeked into Julie’s crib and then Jordan’s.
We settled on the names before we’d left the hospital four months ago.
“Did you get a good nap?” I asked as I rocked Jazlyn. She was our second born, and we’d decided on the name after watching her in the hospital nursery. She seemed to always have a smile on her face when she was sleeping, so Lacey and I thought the name just fit her.
“I did, but I would sleep better if you were in bed with me.” She waggled her eyebrows.
I raked my gaze up and down her gorgeous body. She was wearing a Sea Dogs T-shirt and sleep shorts that showed off her toned legs. Lacey was almost back to her pre-pregnancy shape, except for her tits, which were huge now and would be as long as she kept breastfeeding.
She sashayed her sweet body over to a rocking chair beside me. We had three in the room. “You know, maybe we can go out to dinner next weekend. Your mom and Lizzy offered to take care of the girls. We could get a hotel room for a few hours too.”
I eased up and onto my feet, careful not to wake Jazlyn. She’d just fallen asleep before Lacey came in. Once she was in her crib, I tugged Lacey out of her chair. “Come here,
baby.”
She giggled. “Careful of the boobs. They’re painful right now. I’m either going to have to feed the girls or pump.”
I chuckled as I glanced down at her tits. I was getting hard thinking about the things I would like to do to my wife that I hadn’t been able to do in months.
“I’m always gentle,” I whispered in her ear before planting my lips on hers.
She moaned, pushing her hips into my groin as our tongues touched for the first time in forever. “Mr. Steel is ready.”
“He’s been ready,” I teased. Actually, I wasn’t teasing. My balls were blue.
She flattened her hands on my bare chest. “I think it’s time for you to get three more hearts tattooed on your chest.”
“I was thinking that very thing yesterday.” I wanted to have three small hearts surrounding the one I had with Lacey’s name on it.
She dragged her nails down my abs.
I snaked my arms around her waist until I was grabbing her ass and pressing her into me so hard, I let out a groan.
As if the girls knew what we were doing, one of them started crying.
Lacey and I both sagged against each other, huffing out a breath.
So much for an intimate moment or making love to my gorgeous wife.
“I got her,” Lacey said as she found Julie crying. “After they’re fed, we can pick up where we left off.”
“I’m going to take a cold shower.” I wasn’t kidding.
She giggled. “We’ll have our time.”
My bare feet sank into the plush carpet as I checked on Jordan and Jazlyn, who were sleeping soundly. Then I kissed Lacey on the neck before she settled in one of the rockers. “I know we will. We have a lifetime together. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
And I couldn’t. I had a beautiful wife, three adorable girls, a home that was big enough to have more kids, and years upon years to make love and plenty of memories.
The end
More Maxwells
Would you like to read more about the Maxwell Family? Start the brand new series featuring the Maxwell cousins.
My Heart to Keep - Book 1
The shy ones are diamonds in the rough.
QUINN THOMPSON
When I walk into a room, the popular kids whisper about me. I don't own designer clothes or name-brand shoes. I don't wear low-cut shirts or tons of makeup either. I'm as plain Jane as a girl can get. I live on a farm, where the uniform of the day is boots, jeans, and a T-shirt unless it's winter; then I trade my T-shirts for heavy sweaters and a parka. Baggy is my style.
But I'm considered one of the nerds in school for reasons besides my wardrobe. I have my nose in books while the popular girls have their noses up jocks' butts. I do everything I can to avoid the in crowd at Kensington High--until a new boy waltzes in. He's tall like my brothers, handsome like Zac Efron, and disrupts my belief that boys only want one thing. My only problem is he'll never notice me, not if my arch-nemesis has any say.
MAIKEN MAXWELL
Basketball has been my life until my dad died. I'm trying not to get depressed, but it's hard to breathe sometimes. He'll never cheer from the stands at any of my basketball games or shout at me to shoot that three-pointer. I promised him I would step up if anything happened to him, and now it's time to be the man of the house.
Only I'm torn between playing for the Kensington High basketball team and finding a job--until the girl with butterscotch hair snags my attention. She's pretty, quirky, and her presence takes my mind off my troubles. Above all else, she makes me feel things that I've never felt before. In my mind, girls are just a distraction. They're nice to look at, they talk too much, and they're extremely pushy. Yet Quinn Thompson might change my opinion that all girls are created equal.
My Heart to Touch - Book 1
My Heart to Hold - Book 2
My Heart to Give - Book 3
My Heart to Keep - Book 4*
*Coming in 2020
S.B. Alexander
Bestselling author S.B. Alexander writes young adult and new adult romances that span the sub-categories of coming of age, sports, paranormal, suspense, and military fiction. Her writing is emotional, angsty, and character driven. She’s best known for The Maxwell and The Maxwell Family Saga series.
S.B. or Susan as she likes to be called is a navy veteran, former high school teacher, and former corporate sales executive. She’s a lover of sports, especially baseball, although nowadays you can find her glued to the TV during football season.
When she’s not writing, she’s a full-time caregiver to her soul mate of twenty-one years who got a bad deal in life when he was diagnosed with ALS. Her motto: “Life is too short to waste. So live every moment like it’s your last.”
You can connect with S.B. Alexander in the following ways:
Author Website: http://sbalexander.com
Newsletter: http://sbalexander.com/newsletter
Email: [email protected]
Reader Group: http://sbalexander.com/sbareaderroom
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Also by S.B. Alexander
THE MAXWELL SERIES
Upper Young Adult/New Adult Contemporary Romance
Dare to Kiss
Dare to Dream
Dare to Love
Dare to Dance
Dare to Live
Dare to Breathe
The Maxwell Series Boxed Set 1
The Maxwell Series Boxed Set 2
Dare to Kiss Coloring Book Companion
Dare to Embrace^
THE MAXWELL FAMILY SAGA SERIES
Young Adult Contemporary Romance
My Heart to Touch
My Heart to Hold
My Heart to Give
My Heart to Keep*
STANDALONES
New Adult Contemporary Romance
Unforgettable
Breaking Rules
Rescuing Riley
Holding On To Forever
THE HART SERIES
New Adult Romantic Suspense
Hart of Darkness
Hart of Vengeance*
Hart of Redemption*
THE VAMPIRE SEAL SERIES
Young Adult Paranormal Romance
On the Edge of Humanity
On the Edge of Eternity
On the Edge of Destiny
On the Edge of Misery
On the Edge of Infinity
The Vampire SEAL Collection
^Releasing 2019
*Coming 2020.
Visit http://sbalexander.com for all future release dates. Please note release dates are subject to change based on reader demand and the author’s schedule. Subscribing to the author’s newsletter or following her on Facebook is the best way to stay updated with planned new releases.
Dare to Embrace: The Maxwell Series Book 7 Page 11