Christmas Eve. Santa would come tonight. The very first time to our home. Sure, the babies were only four months old and probably wouldn’t remember it but we would. There would be video and pictures aplenty. And gifts. I opened the front door and called, “I’m home, everyone. Let the festivities begin!”

  As the door clicked closed, I paused in the foyer to take off my shoes and outer clothing. No need to carry snow into the living room. A little surprised nobody, not even the dog, had answered my call, I slipped my feet into my pair of the sheepskin-lined slippers we all kept there. Even the babies had theirs, not that they would be walking for quite some time.

  But where was my family? Emerging into the living area, I saw the big, comfy couches empty of occupants. There were two clear-glass mugs etched with holly berries on the coffee table, though, a ring of chocolate foam on each, and when I touched them, they were still warm.

  I took a moment to pile the gifts under the tree, with all the others. We might have gone a bit overboard with the gifts as well as the big tree, but who could blame us? We had so much to celebrate. The fire in the fireplace blazed, crackling merrily, but I wanted to see all my people before I could settle down. Even my single night away felt like an eternity.

  I heard the pumps kick on in the fish tanks, Blubby’s and the saltwater one. Both bigger than I’d had at my apartment, taking up almost the whole back wall of the living area. The goldfish my mates and I had won at the fair when we were teenagers, and had no idea we’d end up together, had grown so big I was tempted to check in with the Guinness Book of World Records, and he was like a talisman for the three of us, a symbol of our past and present. The babies...they were the future.

  “Hey,” I called again. “Where are you all?” I didn’t like the silence. With four-month-old twins, the house was never quiet. They had the gift of sleeping in shifts, making sure never to be down for long at the same time. In some ways that was great because we got to give them lots of individual attention, but I worried Brian never got more than an hour or two of sleep at a time. Sure, we did our part, Houston and I, but only one of us was nursing them, and somehow between our jobs, getting the house finalized, and everything else, Brian was doing far more than his share.

  And, I decided, that was over. I hadn’t liked the shadows under his eyes lately, and he seemed a little pale and might be losing weight despite the fact he ate enough for two omegas...or to feed two babies. Edgy for almost no reason, after all, it wasn’t like I smelled fire, or the babies were screeching from starvation, I took the stairs two at a time.

  “Guys, it’s not funny.” I raised my voice this time, wanting to be heard for sure. “Where are you?”

  They always met me at the door when I’d been away…

  As I reached the top landing, the bedroom door opened and Houston stood there. He looked worried. Now we both were worried.

  “What’s going on? Are the babies okay?” I strode toward him, trying to prepare myself for whatever was wrong. Because something was.

  “It’s not the babies. It’s Brian. You’d better come in.”

  Chapter Two

  Brian

  Death.

  Death was coming for me. I just knew it. I could feel it in my bones. Normally I felt things in my gut, but it was good and empty, the dry heaves paired with light-headedness, leaving only my bones to feel my imminent demise.

  “He’s been like this for an hour.” Houston sounded a block away, but his scent was close, soothing me. So was Dante’s. My alphas were both there.

  “Hey.” Houston’s hand settled on my lower back. “What can we do?”

  I had a feeling kill me was not an option.

  “Cool rag?” I’d slowly started to feel better as both their scents surrounded me. And that was when it hit me. I wasn’t dying. No. Death wasn’t relieved by the scent of your mates. Only one thing was.

  Pregnancy.

  But that was impossible. I had itty-bitty twins and was still nursing. Heck, we’d only knotted a few times out of fear I’d be knotted just as one of the babes decided they were hungry. One of them was always hungry, so knotting was good and skipped, except the handful of times it wasn’t.

  It only takes once. My high school health teacher’s lecture echoed in my head.

  “Here.” A cool rag found my hand, and I rubbed my face, the cool refreshing feeling easing my physical distress a tiny bit more.

  “Help me up?” So much zoomed through my head, but my body was a thousand times better. I was no longer hoping for death, no, death would need to fight me tooth and nail if they wanted to get me away from my husbands and kids.

  Dante offered his arm, and I accepted. I got up and padded to the sink to rinse out my mouth. My husbands’ worried eyes staring back at me via the mirror. The last thing I wanted to do was worry them.

  Which was why I couldn’t tell them what I suspected until I knew. Which, come to think about it, was ironic since last time they told me, and we had it verified by a knickknack.

  “I think I just need to eat.” I tried to pacify their worry with something they could actually do to help.

  Just then Salome began her feed me wail.

  “As does Salome. Want me to get her while Houston whips up something to eat?” Dante was already out the door. His asking was not information seeking, more of a statement of what was to come. Silly alpha.

  Houston stayed by my side, helping me to the rocker as if I were a frail freak, and honestly, I had felt like one earlier so I couldn’t blame him.

  “I wish I could help more with the babies.” He kneeled beside me, his hand on my knee. How could he not see the magnificent father and spouse that he was, that they both were.

  “You wash their diapers more often than anyone else in the house, you get up in the middle of the night when one of them is fussy, and you make them laugh. You do more than most alphas do.” In my experience, anyway.

  “But you are the one who has to feed them, even when you are too tired to open your eyes.” He squeezed my knee as Dante came in with our sweet baby girl.

  “They are already begging for real food. Soon I will not be the one they are asking for. They are going to want your heavenly scrambled eggs or your pancakes.” My stomach grumbled in response. He made such good breakfasts. “It is just the season.”

  Salome nestled in my arms, grabbing at my shirt and going after what she wanted, my response obviously too slow for her.

  “She looks so much like you.” Dante smiled at me. “And like Sal, too.”

  When we named her after Sal, we had no idea she was going to be the spitting image of him. We’d found some baby pictures in his belongings when we packed up for the renovations, and if it weren’t for the clothing time stamp, you’d have sworn they were the same baby. Even now, as she started to grow some hair and grow into her personality, the resemblance hone through.

  I fed her, changed her, and rocked her to sleep just as baby Bryce decided it was his turn. I had to laugh at the way they seemed to have mastered the tag-team thing even from separate rooms.

  “You look better.” Dante took Bryce from me as Houston called from the kitchen that food was on the table.

  “Perfect timing.” I tapped my sweet baby boy on the nose in the way that never failed to make him giggle. Baby giggles were the best. “And I do feel better. Thanks.”

  I almost added it was just a twenty-four-hour thing, but I didn’t want to lie to him, and with every second I was surer that I was once again expecting. My time feeding the babies gave me the perfect idea for how to tell them.

  I just needed to figure out a way to get to the pharmacy without raising suspicions or my pancakes. The snowfall outside was easing, and the drugstore would be open late for those last-minute shoppers.

  Chapter Three

  Houston

  Brian was antsy. I thought it was probably the throwing up, or maybe he was coming down with a fever, so when he said he needed a break from the house and being cooped up with the babies, I firmly protested.

  He needed to be home with us.

  But then again, he had been taking care of twins day and night for four months. Yes, Dante and I did our fair share and tried to do more since even our share couldn’t ever cover nursing twins, but I understood that sometimes a person just needed a minute alone.

  “We have plenty of frozen milk.” Dante put a hand on my arm as I watched outside the front window as Brian got into my truck and slowly drove away. Despite the weather report, the snow had lightened up, and he drove in it all the time, so he should be okay.

  “I know. I’m not worried about that. Our omega was extra fidgety today. I think something is up with him. Maybe I’m imagining things.”

  Dante came to stand beside me. “No, I think you’re right, but I’m chalking it up to a bit of cabin fever.”

  I took my mate’s word for it and went to cleaning up the bathroom and changing the sheets in the event that Brian had something contagious. The last thing we needed was three sick papas and sick twins. Not a good combination.

  As I poured the detergent into the washer, I heard our boy babe wail out. He must’ve felt a disturbance in the force when his milk-giving papa left the house. It was a little soon for him to eat, but babies didn’t have watches.

  I rushed up the stairs and waved down to Dante, who was attempting to pick Bryce up, baby girl in hand.

  “Bryce, my man. What is happening?” This wasn’t just a little cry. This was legs-kicking, red-faced, stiff-armed, all-out crying. I took him to the changing table, and he was soaked, but changing his diaper sent his bellows over-the-top. He was not a happy boy.

  “I’ve got the bottle in the warmer,” Dante said from downstairs as I attempted and failed the swaddle wrap with Bryce’s favorite blanket.

  I remembered Brian holding the babes upside down on my arm, like a sloth hanging from a tree limb, and sat down to finagle him into that position. Brian had said something about it relieving a tummy ache. Who knew?

  I kept him like that while going down the stairs slowly, still not so steady in my handling of the infants. I got down to the last step and was still patting Bryce on the back when he let out a fart worthy of a grizzly.

  “Was that you or him?” Dante asked, testing the milk temperature on his wrist.

  “Definitely him. Look at the smile. All proud of himself.” I turned Bryce up to show Dante his face. The tiny man was proud as a peacock.

  “Maybe Brian should lay off the garlic chicken. I think it gives both of them gas.”

  More things I had no clue about.

  “Maybe so. We’ll talk to him when he gets back. In the meantime, how about snuggle time on the couch with our babes?”

  “Sounds almost perfect,” Dante said, looking out the window. I followed his gaze to see the snow had dwindled to light flakes. We had a white Christmas, but if it continued to not blizzard, we could go into town tomorrow and enjoy the Christmas Day festivities.

  I fed Bryce while Dante did Salome’s little exercises, something else they’d read about in the baby books then we switched when Dante thought Bryce needed a little yoga baby magic as well.

  The fire went from a roar to a tremble and as I added logs, I heard someone coming up the drive.

  “There he is,” I said with a sigh, trying like hell to pretend I wasn’t completely relieved.

  “I can breathe now. Don’t pretend you weren’t worried, too.”

  We both laughed, the worry gone.

  I watched Brian climb out of the truck with a familiar bag in one hand and a green milkshake in the other, green like the Grinch, so his favorite, mint chocolate chip.

  Salome had enough with being awake, and her beautiful eyes were drooping as Brian came in the door. When he called out, her eyes flew open, and she got jumpy again.

  “This one heard you, Daddy,” I called out.

  “I’m on my way.”

  Brian had a grin on his face. “I have something for you two. Had to pay double, but worth it.”

  He put the bag between us, and we looked at each other, clearly confused.

  “What is it?” I asked as he took our baby girl from me and nuzzled her neck.

  “Open it.”

  Dante put Bryce in the cradle, and we each took out an object wrapped in tissue paper with birthday balloons all over it.

  “It’s not my birthday,” I said, picking on our omega.

  “It’s the only tissue paper they had. It’s almost Christmas. Give me a break.” He shrugged and whispered something in Salome’s ear, but she was already out cold.

  As we peeled back the paper, I knew what I was holding and glanced up at its twin on the wall.

  Brian had been sick to his stomach.

  His scent had changed again.

  His energy was low.

  Good grief.

  “Already?” Dante asked, his voice teetering between shock and awe.

  “Already. This cabin is magic.”

  I jumped up and wrapped my arms around my omega. He was the one who was magic. Dante joined us and Bryce, missing the party, started to fuss again.

  “There’s gonna be six of us soon,” Dante said, still a little shocked and white as a ghost.

  Epilogue

  Sal

  “Seven.” There would soon be seven of them, but if they knew they’d have two sets of twins, it might scare them too much to enjoy Christmas. “I know you boys can’t hear me, but you’ve done me proud.” And more than proud. They’d fulfilled the future I’d seen when they were just kids. Grown up to be strong men and great husbands and fathers. I hovered in the corner near the gigantic fish tanks—I hadn’t foreseen that one small goldfish becoming a whale and the interest in tropicals Dante would develop, but no matter. They sure made the cabin look nice, the subtle lighting and pretty colors swimming all around.

  My nephew, Brian, and his husbands, Dante and Houston were cuddled on the couch now with their babes sleeping in the cradle nearby. Soft Christmas carols played from one of their phone speakers, and the firelight cast shadows in the corners. It wasn’t exactly my cabin, no, it was much grander after all their remodeling, but it was hard to mind when they’d made it such a home.

  I’d stuck around for a while, over a year, to watch this all come to pass, but my time was running out. I’d spend this Christmas on the other side, in the light, with my parents, my friends, and the man who hadn’t lived long enough to be my mate. They waited for me, but I was still torn, not wanting to say goodbye to those who still dwelled here. I’d done my job, lived my mortal life, but I loved these men and their children so much.

  The moonlight filtered through the last of the clouds shone onto them through a side window, like a blessing, on this holiest of nights. “May you have long, happy lives until we meet again,” I murmured, still not quite ready to shut out the sight of their joy and comfort. They had the biggest Christmas tree I’d ever seen, with so many presents underneath, but that wasn’t the real gift they gave each other.

  The babes, both those in the cradles and those cradled beneath my nephew’s heart, and their love for one another...those were their Christmas presents.

  “It’s time, Sal.” A touch on my arm and I turned to see him sitting there. “It’s our time now.”

  I nodded, and with a final look at the scene below, three heads close together, soft voices talking about their future, I took his hand. “I guess it is, finally. You’ve been waiting a long time.”

  “You were worth the wait.”

  “And so were you. Nobody on earth could have taken your place.”

  We moved through the wall, leaving behind my family, for now. Someday they would all join us, but first they had things to do in this place. And so much joy.

  From those of us who write as Lorelei M. Hart, Kate Richards, Delphina Miyares, and Ophelia Heart, we wish you the happiest of Holiday and all blessings in the New Year.

  About the Author

  Lorelei M. Hart is the cowriting team of USA Today Bestselling Authors Kate Richards and Ever Coming now joined by their friend, Ophelia Heart. Friends for years, the three decided to come together and write one of their favorite guilty pleasures: Mpreg. There is something that just does it for them about smexy men who love each other enough to start a family together in a world where they can do it the old-fashioned way ;).

  Three Roses Book Three

  By Alice Shaw

  Copyright © 2018 Alice Shaw

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Your non-refundable purchase allows you to one legal copy of this work for your own personal use. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload, or for a fee.

  Blurb

  'Tis the season to be naughty...

  ...well, as long as it's the baby's nap time!

  Chapter One

  Tommy

  “Look, I’m telling you the truth, sheriff. You don’t have to believe us, but I saw it with my own eyes. You jumped right off the peak of the mountain!” Aidrick shouted.

 

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