Page 65 of Unwrapping Their Christmas Present

Tinsley laughed. “You know Michael was the most ardent when I looked the most pregnant,” she confided. “He just couldnotstop touching me.” She shrugged. “It’s a primal thing, I think. They like seeing the fruits of their labor.”

“And they weren’t... weird about not getting a paternity test?”

“They’re all the father, as far as we act. They each have their own names, and our children will grow up knowing that they are loved by so many people. We’re not overthinking it.”

I would love to not overthink, but it seemed to be all I did nowadays. Jake and Zach were the best at pulling me out of my own head. Thomas was great at making me laugh. They did what they could to reduce the stress in my life. I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that they would love this baby, and they were going to help me raise her in the same no-holds-barred fashion as Tinsley and her family... but the what-ifs scared me.

“Can we talk to you?” Zach broke into my thoughts. He took my hand. “Tinsley, you mind?”

Tinsley shook her head. “I need to go save Ryan from his son, anyway.” She gestured to where the little blond boy was “pretending” to pound on his father, but he had forgotten about the “pretend” part. I was suddenly grateful that I was going to have a girl. A boy would have been lovely, and I knew that girls could roughhouse with the best of them, but I wasn’t sure if I had that “boy mom” energy in the same way that Tinsley did.

Zach led me out to the back porch that overlooked the pool that Jake was building a fence around. I’d tried to tell him that we could do without for a while—the baby wouldn’t be walking for months—but he’d insisted that he wanted everything safe before we brought the baby home from the hospital. That included the pool.

Moving into Jake’s empty family house was a big adjustment. For a few months, Zach and Thomas had kept their condos downtown for emergencies and late nights at the office, but eventually, they gave them up and moved in as well. They didn’t like being away from me, and although they had never told me, they’d been jealous over the amount of time I spent with Jake versus them.

Living with three grown men took some getting used to, but we’d learned how to rotate who slept where and how to keep a modicum of privacy in the chaos of our lives. It worked for us. I never had to sleep alone if I didn’t want to, and the men had gotten over any kind of fuss over sharing a bed.

Out on the porch, Jake and Thomas were already waiting for us. “What are we doing out here?”

Thomas glanced at Jake, who gave me a wobbly smile. “Before we make the big announcement,” he said, “we just wanted to ask you something first.”

Zach led me over to one of the lounge chairs and sat me down, and my heart started pounding in my chest. What was going on? “You all are starting to scare me,” I said.

“I told you this would freak her out,” Thomas said. “We shouldn’t ambush a pregnant lady like this.”

“Shut up, Thomas,” Jake hissed.

“No, no,” I said. “He’s absolutely right. No ambushing the pregnant lady. There are rules.” I tried to push myself out of the chair, but Zach, very gently, pushed me back. “Guys—”

“We love you,” Thomas cut me off. “We love you so much that we’ve altered our entire lives for you.”

“And we would do it again in an instant,” Zach said.

“We never want to be apart from you again,” Jake added.

My breath hitched in my chest. “Really? Never?”

They nodded, and then the three men lowered themselves onto their knees, and my heart stammered again.There’s no way this is real, I thought. “Alex Beechum, love of our life, would you marry us?” Jake asked, and Zach pulled out a ring box.

The band on the inside had three perfect diamonds nestled in it. One for each of my men. Tears blinded me, and I threw myself into Thomas’s arms, sobbing. “Yes,” I said. “Yes,yes!”

Thomas took the ring from the box that Zach was holding and slipped it onto my finger. “You’re ours now, sweetheart,” he said. “Forever.”

I liked the sound of forever. “I love you,” I said and brought my hand down to my baby bump. “Welove you.”

Jake tipped my chin his way and kissed me, and Zach and Thomas both followed suit. I had never felt more loved than in this moment. Our future started unraveling before me, and I could see everything so clearly. They would be the best husbands, the best fathers, and a peace like I’d never known before settled over me. I looked down at my ring and grinned. “I guess we have two announcements to make tonight!”