Page 145 of The Road Less Traveled By

“Yeah, dude, say something!” Harry says. The three of them—Dom, Ethan, and Harry—joined us around breakfast time. It’s been a lot of nonstop glory days stories, alongside lots of nervous pacing and leg shaking.

Tristan stands in the middle of the waiting room, looking like he just saw sunlight for the first time. “It’s a boy!”

All of us cheer, and hugs are given all around.

“And a girl!”

What did he just say?

“What the fuck?” Dom says. “Two?”

“Surprise!” Tristan says with a huge smirk on his face. “God, that was so hard to keep a secret. I almost blurted it out a million times.”

“Are you kidding me?” I attack Tristan in a hug.

“Leave it to you guys to only have to do this once,” Teags says, smiling at her brother like I’ve never seen her. “Congrats, Tris. I’m going to go call Theo!”

Tristan takes turns hugging his friends, Vince giving him a pat on the back while Tristan whispers something into his ear. God, I love how close they are. It makes Liv and I ridiculously happy that they’re such good friends.

We’ve truly created the life we both wanted, our own little family that loves us as much as we do them.

“Do you guys want to see them?”

I hang back with Vince while Tristan’s friends head in first, no doubt getting the lecture from Tristan about washing their hands. Those guys have been friends since college, and this isn't the last time they’ll all be in a waiting room. Harry’s wife is pregnant—around six months—so they’ll be back soon.

From the good days in college to the good days as an adult.

How beautiful a sentiment like that is. I never went to college to be able to have people around me like that, but Tristan’s friends always make me feel welcome no matter what. And sometimes, they too feel like older brothers to me, and it makes me laugh anytime the three of them are protective of me.

Vince steps up behind me, his hand rubbing up and down my back as I look up at him.

“Hi, baby.”

“Hi, angel,” he says as he kisses me. “How are you feeling?”

“Elated. Scared. Excited. Proud. Yeah, that about sums it up.”

“You’ll be fine holding the baby, Bree. You’re not going to drop it,” he says as he escorts me to the room.

“Well, now that's all I’m going to think about!”

He only laughs as we head into the room, the joy and company spreading around the room, filling it with light.

“Can you guys give us a second?” Tristan says to his friends, and they all disperse into the hallway.

“Was it something I said?” I joke, my emotions getting the better of me as I see my sister holding one of her babies. “Oh my goodness, Liv.”

I notice the other baby in the bassinet the hospital provided, and Vince goes over to him and Tristan, the two of them hugging again.

“Come here, sis. I want you to meet someone.” Liv says, her smile bursting from her face. She holds her daughter in her arms, and tears fall from my eyes even before I’ve properly met the new addition to our family. “This is Tahlia Bree West.”

Sobs burst from my chest. “Bree?” I ask, making sure I heard her correctly.

“Well, we wanted to continue with the T tradition for Tabitha and his dad,” Liv says as she hands me her daughter. “But I wanted her namesake to be someone strong, fierce, resilient, and beautiful, like you.”

“Hi, Tahlia,” I say as I look at Tristan and Vince, my eyes so blurry that I can barely see them. God, she’s so fucking tiny. I’ve never seen a more beautiful baby. “What’s the boy’s name?”

Tristan takes a deep breath before he speaks. “Tobias Daniel West. The second, technically, but that just sounds like a mouthful.” He takes another shaky breath. “After my brother.”

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