Page 52 of Ivy

“Hey, will I be a big brother, and will Luke be my new dad?” Carter’s voice rises when no one answers his question.

“Yeah, kiddo, you’ll be a big brother to the baby. It’s up to your mum if you can call me Dad.” His words shock me. My gaze bounces between the people in the room. Dex and Jay are smiling at us, Carter looks at me with hope, and Luke… Luke is looking at me with so much love in his eyes it’s hard to deny the man anything he wants.

“I’m okay with the dad thing.” I smile, moving my hands to my stomach. Twelve weeks along. How did I miss that?

“Things happen for a reason. This,” Luke places his hand over mine, “happened because we happened. Love happened. I’m going to be the best fucking dad our kids will ever have. I love you so fucking much, Ivy Bilson-soon-to-be-Baker.” He winks at me and Carter jumps up and down.

“Kiss her, Dad.” Luke obeys the kid and leans in and kisses me. He takes everything that I have to offer him. This is my life now.

Castle Ink saved my life.

Carter saved my life.

Luke Baker saved my life.

Leaving Tim was the best decision I could have ever made. It brought me the family and love I deserved. I will forever be grateful to the people who helped me become the woman, the mother, the sister, and the girlfriend I am today.

I now have the rest of my life to make it up to them, and I plan on making it epic.

Epilogue

Luke

The past few years have been a fucking rollercoaster. I moved back home and found the perfect job for me. Castle Ink was my saviour. Then, like a kick to the balls, a woman walks into the studio and captures my heart. So does her son, who is now our son. The day I found out that Tim had taken them, I thought my world was coming to an end. For a few hours I truly believed he would kill them. But then that phone call came through and we got to the hospital, and I could breathe again.

Ivy and Carter made my life complete.

My Peaches. My son.

And now my daughter.

I look down at the baby girl in my arms and smile at her. She’s a spitting image of her mother, but with my eyes.Heterochromia runs in the family, and clearly Bailie Baker, aka BB for short, has it, just like her dad. Well, I call her BB; Ivy calls her Bailie.

BB is nine months old, crawling, and trying to walk and shit. The damn kid can’t stay a baby for a tad longer. Ivy was a champ during labour. She swore black and blue that she was going to throat punch me and staple my balls to the nearest wall. That was my cue to leave the room and have Addy and Penny take care of her.

Bailie Baker came into the world at two-thirty-one a.m., weighing in at six-pounds and three ounces. Peaches was in labour for eight hours, and she was a fucking Goddess throughout it all.

I lay BB down in her travel cot that we keep in the staff lounge. She grips her blankie that Cassie bought for her. It has Batgirl logos on it. I smile over at Cassie, who is actually sitting on the sofa feeding her and Jay’s baby boy. Cassie and Jay found out she was pregnant a few weeks after us. Remy is three months old and is a Castle boy through and through, with his jet-black hair and green eyes. He was named after the character Gambit from the X-Men.

“You good? Do you need anything?” Cassie is breastfeeding, so we all help her out when she’s feeding Remy.

“I’m good, thanks, Luke. How’s the little Miss?” She tips her head towards Bailie. BB has been teething and has been grouchy.

“The tooth should break through soon. I hope, anyways. Okay, I’m going to go out front. I have a client due in soon. Call if you need anything?” She nods and adjusts Remy on the boob.

It’s one of the most beautiful things to see—a woman feeding her child from the breast. Ivy did it for a few months, but BB became a very hungry baby.

I leave Cassie to her feeding and make my way over to Ivy, who is reading on her kindle at the front desk. My woman loves her romance books.

“Hey, babe. BB is down for her nap. She should sleep for an hour or two.” I kiss her head and lean over her shoulder to see what she’s reading.

“No, Luke. You know I hate it when you read over my shoulder. It creeps me out.” I chuckle and flick through the bookings book. We’re pretty much fully-booked these days. Between the four of us and Addy doing the piercing, Castle Ink is always busy.

Cleo walks down to us, her smile brightening up the room. She has done so fucking well since she has been here. She’s growing in confidence and strength, becoming the woman she should have always been before her wanker of an uncle damaged her.

“Hey, you two. How’s things?” her soft voice asks.

“We’re good. How’s the sketching going for the Army vet?” Ivy asks.

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