Page 93 of Rowdy & Kat

“Go look for her,” Maria insisted and took Kat’s hand. “I want to stick close to my sister.”

Farley smiled at how she understood what he needed. He kissed her softly before heading upstairs.

“Should you go?” Kat asked, clearly hoping I’d say no.

“Clint’s stressed about Tricky and Goldie. He needs me to protect Ivy,” I explained and glanced at the Chihuahuas watching me from the corner. “Besides, my sisters expect me to watch out for their dogs. I have responsibilities.”

Kat gave me a tight smile. She so clearly wanted to cry. Even more so, she was dying to check on the boys. I heard her every thought, but she didn’t dare say anything out loud. We were part of the Crimson Guard family, which meant we didn’t tuck tail and run away when our people needed us.

Though Kat would never be a tough fox like my sisters, she was no weakling. She understood the dangers and darkness in my life. As she hugged me, I felt her accepting how the good in my life greatly outweighed the bad.

Katarina Darville might have left me twice before, but she was never walking away again.

KAT’S EPILOGUE

The twins were six months old when I became Rowdy’s official wife. The double wedding was put together rather quickly. The mid-summer heat inspired us to marry at the Sleepy Eye Community’s meeting hall rather than the repaired Sorority House.

Maria and I couldn’t help choosing matching wedding dresses. Once we saw the V-neck wedding dress with lacy sleeves, we knew we’d found the right one. We gave our guests a break by styling our hair differently. Mine was in a loose bun while Maria’s was tied half up. That way, people could tell us apart.

Rowdy and Farley wore black jeans, buttoned-up shirts, and their club vests. Pax was dressed like his son when he walked Maria and me down the aisle.

My boys were in a nearby room with Sabrina, Moe, and Xandy. Cavan had become very clingy, and Colson wanted to do whatever his brother did. So, if they saw me walking down the aisle, they’d want me to pick them up.

Between the twins and Elle’s son, Sabrina had gotten over her baby horror. She was even cool with trying for a baby with her girlfriends. So far, they were still negotiating who would face pregnancy.

Maria also had babies on the brain. Two months after the wedding, she was pregnant. By then, Lula was in her final trimester with her son, Paxton, while Ivy and Nova were hitting the midway point of their pregnancies. The Crimson Guard family was expanding fast.

“We need a play set at the condos,” Rowdy insisted to Rock.

“If you want that shit, move your ass to the suburbs.”

“I’ll rally the troops,” Rowdy warned. “We’ll outvote your fat ass.”

“Don’t body shame me, asshole.”

Despite Rock’s unwillingness to bend, he had a point about the suburbs. The condo was already packed with the boys’ stuff. Double high chairs, jumpers, and so many toys had swallowed up the downstairs space.

By then, our forever house was in the early building stages. Sabrina had offered her lot to Maria and Farley so my sister and I could be next door to each other.

“I like living in the Sorority House,” she assured Farley. “As everyone keeps getting married and moving to Sleepy Eye, we’ll have more of the house to ourselves.”

Excited after learning his twins were girls, Farley threw a party at the Sorority House to announce the news. Skylar and Lyric kept dancing around in celebration.

“Our baby is a girl,” Skylar told Maria, who sat next to Nova and Ivy. “Girls are the best.”

By then, Trent was walking, and my twins were threatening to do the same. Skylar and Lyric had become even more concerned about being outnumbered.

Maria chose names to honor our mother and her twin along with Farley’s two moms. Laurel Bay and Lydia Pepper were born a month early when my sister went into labor weeks before her scheduled C-section.

Her pregnancy had been troubled by high blood pressure. Everyone rallied to help her during the pregnancy and after delivery. Zadie even moved into the condo’s nursery to help Farley and Maria with the girls.

Maria decided she wanted her tubes tied during the C-section. I chose to do the same with my last pregnancy. Carrying twins was much harder the second time around. My toddlers wanted me to run and play. My nieces were also walking by then. Everyone was on the move, yet I was trapped in bed.

Rowdy was great throughout my pregnancy. He kept the boys busy and pampered me for the entire eight months.

Despite missing the condo, our forever house quickly felt like home. I often sat in our backyard and watched Rowdy roughhouse with his wild boys and Goblin.

Wicked and Witchy ended up living with me, having become too attached to Goblin to live elsewhere. Farley and Maria planned to adopt feline sisters once their daughters were less prone to yanking on tails.