Final chapter! Hope you enjoyed this story!
Three Years Later…
Nicole Galassini watched her baby girls run around in the backyard while their brother toddled behind them on his chubby little legs. Nicole had given birth to the couple's son, Cody Austin Galassini-Mayfield, eighteen months earlier. Nicole had been very unaccepting of the idea at first but Charlie had insisted as she always does, that it would be all worth it. Though Nicole had no idea what Charlie had been talking about while she spent the entire first trimester puking (How had she been the one in the hospital for severe morning sickness when Charlie was the one who carried two babies?) and when she was dealing with all of the other discomforts of pregnancy, holding her son in her arms had made it all worth it. He had been worth the pain of every contraction and that was when she realized what Charlie had gone through two and half years earlier. The Burtons were the Godparents of all three of their children, though it had been a while since Nicole had been PCS to Fort Hamilton six months ago. She became the first female Major who was out of the closet for the post, while Charlie had gotten a job at the local youth center. They had made some friends and rarely were discriminated over their sexual orientation anymore. Overall, it had been a good change so far.
"Hey Niki?" asked Charlie as she entered the backyard.
"Yeah?" asked Nicole taking her hand when she reached.
"How are they?" asked Charlie gesturing towards their children,
"I'm trying to tire them out so they sleep well tonight," chuckled Nicole.
Charlie wrapped her arm around Nicole and kissed her on her temple. And just like any other time she did so, the couple heard little feet running towards them.
"Me too Mommy!" shouted Alyssa reaching up for Charlie and Hannah towards Nicole. Hannah and Alyssa had always been more attached to Nicole and Charlie respectively.
Nicole chuckled and scooped her baby girl into her arms. She kissed both hannanh and Alyssa on the cheeks.
"Momma!" mumbled Cody.
Charlie crouched down and set Alyssa down before kissing her son on the forehead, "How's Mommy's little man?"
"Mommy, when are Grandma Lorraine and Grandma Anna and Grandpa Zack coming?" asked Hannah.
"Yeah when do our parents get in?" asked Nicole.
"I think about noon," said Charlie, "And trust me, I'm sure my parents will spoil these three the way they spoil our niece." Mason and Mikayla Davis nee Mayfield had married when the twins were a year old and they had a three month old baby girl, Courtney Janessa Davis.
Nicole saw a cab pull up out front, "Babe, I think they're here."
"Well then we better go greet them shouldn't we?" questioned Charlie, "Come on girls. Come say hello with Mommy."
Nicole watched Hannah and Alyssa follow Charlie into the house. She felt someone on her leg and looked down to find her son wrapping his arms around it. She smiled and picked him up and kissed, "Well little man? Shall we join our family?" Cody babbled 'Momma' in response. After all of this time, five years with Charlie, three years with kids, she finally realized it didn't matter if what race you were, what gender you were, or anything in between. She loved her family and that was all that mattered.