Chapter 126

Epilogue ~Poppy: Age 22~ I stared at myself in the full length mirror, smoothing down my sundress. It wasn't that noticeable, was it? It couldn't be, not yet. "Flower?!" Grayson called from outside the bedroom. "Are you almost done? Ryder's getting impatient here!" I sighed before walking out of the bedroom. "I'm ready," I said. "Finally," Grayson said. "I thought I'd have to carry you out myself." I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't taking that long." "Sure you weren't," Grayson said. "Ryder, you ready to go?" "Yup!" Ryder said happily, jumping off the couch and hurrying to the front door. He put on his shoes and began jumping up and down. "Hurry, Mommy and Daddy!" "I told you he was impatient," Grayson told me as we went to the front door. Once we were all ready to leave, we left the apartment and went to the car in the underground parking. Grayson helped Ryder into the backseat as I loaded the trunk with the picnic basket and blanket. I was so happy Grayson and I graduated from university last month. Now, we could give Ryder all our focus. Well, not just Ryder... ... I still had to tell Grayson. Grayson drove us to the beach and basically the whole way there, Ryder went on and on about how he couldn't wait to see otters, even though Grayson told him there wasn't otters at the beach. Ryder was just as obsessed with otters as Grayson was. Grayson pulled into the parking lot and we got out of the car. Grayson carried the picnic basket and I carried the blanket as Ryder walked between us, holding both of our hands. "Can we get ice cream?!" Ryder asked. "Later," Grayson promised. "We have to eat the picnic first before we get ice cream?" "Why?" Ryder asked. "Ice cream can be lunch." "No, it can't," Grayson said. "But it's food," Ryder said. "We shouldn't discriminate food." Grayson gave Ryder a weird look. "How do you know what that word means? You're three." "I'm awesome," Ryder said. Yup, he totally had Grayson's arrogant genes. We ended up finding a place at the beach that wasn't near anybody else. Not that I minded being near people. Sometimes, I liked it when it was just me, my boyfriend, and our son without people nearby. It was relaxing. I set up the picnic blanket and we all sat down on it. Grayson opened the picnic basket and handed Ryder his favorite sandwich --Nutella. Ryder thanked Grayson before he began shoving his face with the sandwich. I sighed. "Ryder, eat slowly, please." "But it's Nutella." "I know, but you shouldn't eat too fast," I said. "Yes, Mommy," Ryder said before he began eating at a regular pace. "Wake me up in an hour," Grayson said before he laid down on the blanket, resting his arm over his eyes. Ryder immediately frowned. "But Daddy, we're at the beach. You can't sleep. What if there's an otter and you miss it?" "Then I miss it," Grayson said. "Goodnight." Ryder sighed and looked at me. I shrugged before I began eating my sandwich. When Ryder finished eating, he began digging through the picnic basket before coming up with a water bottle. He smiled deviously before making his way to Grayson. I chuckled, not even bothering stopping him. Ryder opened the water bottle and dumped the water on Grayson. Grayson immediately sat up, wiping the water from his face. He then looked at Ryder. "Did you just dump water on me?" he asked. "Yup!" Ryder said proudly. "Now you're awake!" Grayson sighed and shook his head. "I can never nap around you, Ryder." Ryder smiled at Grayson. "I know! Daddy, are we going to ask her now?" I furrowed my eyebrows. "Ask who what?" Grayson ignored me. "Not yet, Ryder. Soon." "Again, ask who what?" I asked. "Want a can of soda, Flower?" Grayson asked. I sighed, knowing he wasn't going to answer my question. "Sure." He handed me a can of soda. I loved spending time at the beach together. It was always so relaxing, and it was entertaining watching Ryder make a sand castle, only to pretend to be a dragon and destroy it. He was so weird at times, but it was adorable. After we finished eating, Grayson said he was going to drop the picnic basket and blanket into the car so we could walk around afterwards without having to carry it. In the meantime, Ryder and I went to the ice cream shop and waited in the long line. Grayson and I came to use while we were still in the line. Ryder immediately begged Grayson to put him on his shoulders, so he did. When we got to the counter, I told the worker what flavor I wanted, as did Grayson. Then when it came to Ryder, he couldn't decided. At first, he wanted chocolate, then vanilla, then bubblegum, then cotton candy, then cookie dough, then chocolate again, then rocky road. In the end, Grayson suggested that Ryder get vanilla, and he did. When we got our ice cream, we began walking down the beach with Ryder now in between us so he wouldn't spill ice cream on Grayson's head. After we all finished our ice cream, Grayson stopped walking. There wasn't anybody around, so we didn't have to worry about people being in our way. "Flower, there's been something I've been meaning to ask you," Grayson said. "And Ryder wants to ask to." Oh, so I was that person that wanted to ask something to. "What is it?" "Well," Grayson said slowly. "First off, I just wanted to say how much I love you. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me and quite frankly I wouldn't be..." He stopped and looked at Ryder before looking back at me. "A-L-I-V-E if it weren't for you. Can you look at your hand?" "I have two hands, Grayson." Grayson sighed. "You're making this hard, Flower. Look at both of them, then. What do you see on one of them?" I looked at my hands, smiling slightly at the promise ring he gave me for my eighteenth birthday four years ago. "The promise ring." "And do you remember what that promise was?" Grayson asked. "Yeah, of course," I said. I would never forget that he promised me that he would ask me to marry him one day. "Because I'm cashing in that promise now," Grayson said. "... Wait, what?" "Ready, Ryder?" Grayson asked. "Ready!" Ryder said. My heart nearly stopped when both Grayson and Ryder got down on one knee. Grayson then pulled something out of his pocket and when I saw what it was, I almost started crying. It was a ring box. Grayson opened the box, revealing the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. "Will you marry Daddy?" Ryder asked. "Yeah, will you marry me, Poppy Orchid McCormick?" Grayson asked. I couldn't even speak. Grayson, my boyfriend of five years, was asking me to marry him. I wanted to marry him for so long, and now, he was asking me. Finally, I felt like I could talk. I nodded, wiping some tears from my eyes. "Yes. Of course I'll marry you, Grayson." Grayson gave me a big smile before standing up and putting the engagement ring on my finger. He then pulled me in for a kiss and it was one of the most magical kisses we had ever shared. Grayson was now my fiance and was going to be my husband. I was going to be his wife. I was going to be Poppy Orchid Prince. When I pulled away, I wiped a few tears from Grayson's eyes, since he was crying as much as I was. "I love you, Grayson." "I love you too, Poppy," Grayson said. "And there's actually something I have to tell you," I said. "And I guess now is the perfect time to do it." "What?" Grayson asked. "Well, I think it's time we move into a bigger house," I said. Grayson furrowed his eyebrows. "A bigger house? But we just moved into a bigger apartment." "I know," I said. "But what if we have another baby?" "Then they'll share a room with Ryder," Grayson said. He was not getting it at all. "But what if we have more than one more?" I asked. "Poppy, we'll move into a bigger house when we need it," Grayson said. "And what if we need it now?" I asked. "We don't," Grayson said. "It's just me you and Ryder." Holy crap. He had never been this stupid before. I couldn't even drop anymore hints. "Grayson, I'm pregnant, alright?" Grayson blinked a few times. "Wait, what?" I sighed. "I'm pregnant, Grayson. Surprise?" "You... You're pregnant again?" Grayson said. I nodded and he slowly began to smile. "You're pregnant again! Yes!" He pulled me into a hug and spun me around. He then put me down. "So we're having another baby?" "Uh... Not quite," I said. Grayson furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean not quite? You're pregnant, that would mean we're having another baby." "Yeah, but we're not having one more," I said. "We're kind of having three more." "What?" "I'm pregnant with triplets," I said. "We're having three more babies." "Really?" Grayson asked, smiling again. I nodded. "Yeah, really." Ryder tugged on Grayson's hand to get his attention. "What babies, Daddy?" Grayson picked him up. "Well, you're going to be getting three brothers or sisters." Ryder smiled. "I'm going to be a big brother?" "You are," Grayson said. "Yay!" Ryder cheered. "We're going to be a big, happy family!" Ryder was right. Grayson and I were finally going to get married and we were having three more babies. We were going to be a happy family.