Epilogue - Tess's Secret: A McGregor Christmas

Chapter 3

"I don't believe this."

"Oh relax," Tess whispered. "They don't know the genders."

"Yeah? Neither do I!"

"I do."

Everyone looked at Tess' father.

"Of course you do, dad. I would never not tell you."

"I know, sweetheart," he chuckled.

Zane rubbed his head.

"Okay! I have an announcement. All the ladies here already know, and my dad, that Zane and I are pregnant with...triplets! Again!"

The cheering and claps were so loud anyone would have thought there was twenty people over at the house. Tess held up her hands.

"Now for the fun part. I'm going to pass out truffles which, by the way, is just one part of dessert. I also have pie. Anyway, three of the truffles contain the genders of the babies."

"Ooh! That's fun!" Marlie clapped.

Karrie rubbed her hands together when Tess placed a truffle down in front of her.

"Okay. Everyone have one? Dig in!" Tess bit her lip instead of the chocolate.

"Oh! Mine's pink! A little girl!" Evelyn laughed with tears in her eyes.

Tess' eyes went to Zane who had a little smile on his face.

"Pink! I got pink too!" Robert held up his truffle.

Zane's smile faltered, Tess could see. She stifled her laugh when Zane picked up his chocolate and bit into it revealing only chocolate filling.

"Daddy," Mia's little hand gripped onto Zane's arm as she climbed her way up onto his lap with chocolate stained lips. "See," she held her truffle up. "Pink," her little voice chirped.

This time, Tess couldn't stifle her laugh. The look on Zane's face was priceless. Absolute horror.

"No. No, no. Tess, you passed out too many pink desserts. Right? Is this even pink?" Zane took the chocolate from his daughter and held it up.

"It's right, babe. We're having girls. All. Girls!" Tess squealed.

The cheering resumed, along with laughter.

"Ha! Big bad biker over there gonna have four girls. Serves ya right, Zane!" Karrie howled. "This is the greatest day of my life!"

"I'm hoping it's gonna be the greatest day of my life too."

Karrie glanced over at Robert, the amusement dying from her face at the man on bent knee. "What the...,"

The room quieted down to stunned silence. Robert had kept his secret better than Tess managed to keep hers.

"Karrie, never in a million years did I ever think I would have met someone like you. Marry me, sexy!" Robert held up the ring in hope.

"Hmm. The proposal was weak, except for the sexy part, buuut the ring definitely makes up for it. Okay. You've convinced me. I'll marry ya. Wouldn't want my baby to be born fatherless," she sniffed rubbing her belly.

"What?!"

The collective yell rang out startling the three year olds.

"I'm pregnant!" Karrie screamed.

"Oh! Me too!" Marlie held up her hand.

"I'm gonna kill you," Zane jumped up, reaching across the table at Brian who held up his hands in surrender nearly falling out of his chair.

"No! Zane! I'm kidding!" Marlie screeched. "Don't kill him! I love him!"

"You what?! That's worse!" Zane yelled back.

"I love your sister, brother!"

"Don't call me brother! That's a title you earn, ass wipe," Zane growled.

"Stop swearing in front of the children. For heaven's sake," Tess' father admonished.

"He swears all the time, grandpa," Cole laughed.

Shane and Evelyn exchanged exasperated looks.

"Ass wipe, ass wipe!" Alex marched around the table.

"Ass pipe, ass pipe!" Mia sang.

"Ass, ass, ass," Lee danced.

"Present time!" Tess announced and the children took off running for the Christmas tree forgetting the foul language.

After an hour of tearing gifts open, and cleaning up paper, the children were all tuckered out and asleep on the floor. It was the first time the house was silent with the adults enjoying coffee and having decent conversation. Tess sat on Zane's lap hoping she wasn't crushing him. If she was, he didn't seem to notice.

A smile spread her lips. It was hard not to get choked up. Her best friend was engaged and pregnant, her sister-in-law was in love for the first time and everyone was all together.

She chanced a look up at Zane who was laughing at something Robert was saying. His deep voice rumbled into her body, causing her to shiver from the comfort of it. He looked down catching her eyes, and gave a soft smile before placing a gentle kiss to her lips.

In that very moment, in the warmth of their home with a fire blazing, surrounded by people she loved, was the happiest Tess had ever been in the entirety of her life. It was sappy, but she couldn't help it. She had to blink away her happy tears.

Life was good.

The End.