He stood facing the newly placed stone. “Nevaeh Adams McLean, Beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend,” it read. He began to cry just as the rain began to fall.

He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this bad. Maybe it was back when he was two and his father had left him and his mother. Then he thought, “No. I’ve never felt the pain of losing someone I love more than life itself.”

He was glad he had left the kids with his mother and uncle. How was he going to get through the rest of his life without Nevaeh? But he had to be strong. He had too; he had his children to think about.

The kids. Poor babies. He didn’t want to think about them growing up without their mother. He knew what it was like growing up without a parent because he had grown up without his father. Sure he was still alive, but it was like he was dead because he hadn’t been around since he was young. He hadn’t even bothered to come to his own son’s wedding.

The only one of his children who would remember their mother was three-year-old Gracie Lynne, and she wouldn’t remember well. And poor little Nevaeh and James would never know what a wonderful person their mother had been.

~FLASHBACK~

He was in the nursery with his newborn son and daughter. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was. Then he turned around and saw his panicked mother.

“Alex you have to get back to Nevaeh, something’s wrong.”

He hadn’t heard the last word because he had broken into a run to get back to his wife.

The doctor had managed to bring her back, although he didn’t know for how long.

She wasn’t well and it showed. “Sweetheart, I love you.” He had said to her.

Her voice was barely a whisper, “Alex you have to promise me that you’re going to be okay and that you’ll take care of the kids.”

“Nevaeh, hon, don’t talk like that you’re going to be fine. I promise…..” he choked and couldn’t finish what he started to say.

“No Alex. You have to listen to me.” He could hear the pain in her voice. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but I don’t think I’m going to leave this hospital alive. I want you to promise me that you’ll be okay, and that you’ll take care of the kids. Please, Alex, please promise me that.”
She was right. He didn’t want to hear what she was saying, didn’t want to think of a life without her.

“Okay, Nevaeh. I promise I’ll be okay. And you know I’ll take care of the kids.” he said to calm her down.

“Alex, I love you.” She said as she closed her eyes and smiled at him one last time.

The doctors and nurses came running at the sound of the flat line. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to help, but he was frozen to the spot. He didn’t want to watch his wife die.

Finally he was able to move. He wanted to run from the room; to run so far and so fast that he could rewind time and Nevaeh would be alive and well.

He heard the doctor say, “Mr. Mclean, I’m so sorry. We couldn’t get your wife to come back this time. There’s nothing more we can do for her. She’s gone.”

He couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. He went to his wife, took her hand and broke down into tears. He couldn’t believe that somebody who had been so full of life, so excited about the prospect of giving birth to twins, was now lying lifeless in front of him.

Suddenly, he couldn’t stand being in the same room as his now deceased wife. He jumped up, and bolted from the room.

He made it to the waiting room, where the rest of BSB was before he collapsed.

Kevin rushed over and asked in a worried voice, “Alex, what’s wrong? What happened?”

He just shook his head thinking, “If I don’t say it, it won’t be true.”

Brian’s wife, Leighanne, came over and sat down next to him and put her arm around his shoulder. She had always been able to get him to spill his guts about anything and everything that bothered him.

“Alex, honey, tell me what happened. You know you can tell me.”

“N…N…Nevaeh. S…S…She’s gone.” He said, once again giving into the tears.

“Oh, honey.” She said, as she took him in her arms.

Soon everyone in the room was crying. Denise walked in from her visit with the twins and burst into tears as soon as she saw what was going on.

“Oh, Alex, honey.” She said as she took her son into her arms.

For a while everyone sat around crying, and then a nurse came into the room and asked to speak with Alex.

She sat down in front of him and his mother and said, “I know you’re going through something horrible, but I need to ask you a few questions about your son and daughter.”

“Yes, yes of course.” He replied.

“The first thing I need to know is if you have decided what you’re going to name them.”

“Yes I have. My son’s name is James Oliver. And my daughter’s name is Nevaeh Bonnie.”

“Okay,” she said writing down their names. “And then the hospital requires that I ask if you would like us to send the birth announcements out to the newspaper.”

“No.”

“Okay that was it. Oh and your son and daughter have to stay here for a few more hours then you’ll be able to take them home.” She said and left the room.

At this point he was glad that his uncle had agreed to baby-sit Gracie. God, how was he going to tell her that mommy was never coming home?

A few hours later he left the hospital with his son and daughter.

His mother stayed with him for the week leading up to the funeral, as did his uncle. His mother had taken care of the funeral arrangements for him and he was glad because he hadn’t wanted to deal with any of it.

He was the last of Nevaeh’s family because her parents and younger brother had died in a car accident not long after Gracie had been born.

“Baby, I love you.” He said as her casket was lowered.

Everyone went back to Alex’s house after the funeral was over and sat around remembering Nevaeh and fawning over baby Nevaeh and James, and Gracie.

An hour after Kevin and Kristin, who were the last to leave, left, Alex left his sleeping children with their grandmother and went back to the cemetery to say his private goodbye.
~ENDFLASHBACK~
“Nevaeh, you always said we’d be together forever. Now that’s not gonna happen. I can’t believe you left me and the kids. I know you had no choice, but it still hurts. I don’t know why this happened to us. I wish I did. God, I miss you so much it hurts and you haven’t been gone very long. I don’t know how I’m going to get through life without you, or how I’m going to raise the kids without you. I love you so much. I always have and always will. I will always remember you and I’ll make sure the kids do too. I’ve got to get home to the kiddos now. I love you.”

As he climbed into his Explorer to go home to his children, he swore he heard Nevaeh say, “I’ll never forget you Alex.”

He could see the kids in the pool from the kitchen window. He could hardly believe that the twins were five-years-old now. It seems like it was just yesterday that he was changing their diapers.

He also couldn’t believe that it had been five years since Nevaeh had passed away. He still missed her like it had happened just yesterday, but he had been getting better steadily and now realized that he wasn’t cheating on her if he started dating again.

“Daddy, come on, everyone’s waiting for the cake.” Gracie said. She had grown up so much these last five years.

“I’m coming Twinkie Pye.” He said using the nickname Nevaeh had given her so long ago.

She held the door open for him and he walked through it to the backyard where Brian, Leighanne, Baylee, Krisanya, Howie, Leigh, Jack, Jennifer, Nick, Ashleigh, their three-month old daughter Savanah, Kevin, Kristin, Nickoli, and their newborn daughter Julia, Nevaeh, and James were waiting for him.

The cake was cute thanks to Ashleigh; leave it to Carter to marry a pastry chef. She had made the cake in the shape of the number five. There were ten candles blazing, five for each twin. When everyone saw him, those who were in the pool jumped out and everyone began singing “Happy Birthday.” The twins’ eyes sparkled as they blew out their candles. They were excited; turning five meant that they could finally go to what they called “Grown-Up School.”

After the party was over and he and they guys were done cleaning up the “War Zone,” they went inside and sat with the girls and the kids.

James came over and climbed into his father’s lap and asked quietly, “Daddy will you tell us a story about mommy?”

They had never really asked about their mother. They knew she had died when they were born but he never really told them much about her. “What kind of story do you wanna hear son?”

“Was mommy happy about me ‘n Vaeh?”

His eyes glistening, he began the story, “Oh yes. She had never been that happy. Except for when Gracie was born. Daddy was away in Europe when she found out she was having a baby. She didn’t tell me right away though. The doctor took a special picture of the baby called a sonogram and mommy put it on her computer and sent it to me.”

He paused remembering the incredible surge of joy he had felt the first time he had seen the sonogram.

“At first I thought she was playing a trick on me. But when I called her she was really excited and said, ‘Nope Ajey, I’m not joking. We’re really going to have another baby.’ Learning she was pregnant made her really happy because when Gracie was born mom’s doctor told us that she might not be able to have any more babies. And that had made her sad because she always told me that she wanted lots and lots of babies.”

He paused again wondering what the guys and their wives thought because he and Nevaeh had never shared that little piece of information with any of them.

“When I got home from touring, (even though the kids were young they knew that their father was a world-famous pop star) I went to the doctor with mommy and that’s when we found out that we were gonna have two babies. Both of us cried when we heard your hearts beat for the first time. When you guys kicked, mommy was happy because she knew she was going to have two wonderful babies. The day you and sissy were born…...”

He paused yet again because he hated talking about the day Nevaeh died even though it was the day the twins were born. Or maybe he hated talking about it because of the fact that it happened the day the twins were born.

“Mommy was kinda scared. We had only had one baby at a time before and she was scared that we wouldn’t be able to manage two babies at one time. Then you guys were born. Mommy was the first person to hold you guys. She kept saying how lucky she was to have two such beautiful babies. But then God decided he needed another angel so he took her to heaven with him. But do you wanna know a secret?”

“Yup, Yup!!” they both said, because Nevaeh had climbed up into her father’s lap to join her twin brother.

“Mommy can see you right now. She’s been watching us all from heaven since the day she got there.”

Nevaeh and James turned their faces toward the ceiling, waved their small hands and said, “Hi Mommy. We love you.” It brought tears to Alex’s eyes.

Later that night after everyone had left and he was putting his children in bed, Nevaeh asked him, “Daddy, isn’t my name heaven only but backwards?”

“Yes it is sweetheart. Infact, you have the same name your mother did.”

“Awesome.” She said as she drifted off to sleep.

He had never been more tired. He had just gotten back from shopping with his kids and that was something he didn’t want to do again anytime soon.

One of the things he still had to go back for were some clothes he had discovered James had thrown out of the shopping cart in the middle of the store for no damn reason at all except that he thought it was funny. He should have known something was up when James and Nevaeh started laughing. The other thing he had to go back for was to see if SHE was there again. He couldn’t believe he was thinking about another woman. His mother and the fellas would say that it was about time. He knew he needed to date again.

He went back to Old Navy two days later, sans his children, whom he had left with his mother. He was beginning to give up hope when he saw her.

She was bent over looking at something and when she stood, their eyes locked and it was like a light turned on in his head. He also noted that she was pushing a very small baby, who looked to be about 5 months old, in a stroller. But she wore no ring so maybe, just maybe he had a chance.

To his surprise, she walked over to him and said, “I’m Morgan, who’re you?”

For a moment he lost the ability to speak. Then he managed to say, “Alexander.” God, he hadn’t said his full first name in so long that it sounded foreign to his ears. “But please call me Alex or Aj.”

“So Alex, what’re you doing here today?”

“Buying clothes that my son thought it funny to drop in the middle of the store the other day.”

“He’s not with you now?”

“No, he’s at his grandmother’s with his sisters.”

“Oh. How many children do you have?”

“Three. Two girls and my son.”

“You and your wife must be proud.”

“I certainly am but I can only hope their mother is. She passed away five years ago.” He said quietly.

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. There isn’t any reason for you to be.”

He smiled at her and she beamed back at him. “How old is your daughter?”

“She’s five and a half months. How old are your kids?”

“Gracie is eight and James and Nevaeh, the twins, are five.”

“Oh, so they’ll be starting kindergarten? What school are they going to?”

“Yeah. They can’t wait actually. Southwest.”


He watched her eyebrows fly up and was amazed at how beautiful she looked. “Do you know who their teacher is yet?”

“Yeah, Ms. Potter.”

If it were possible, her eyebrows would have flown right off her head. “In that case, I look forward to meeting them.”

It took him a few seconds to register what she had said. “You’re a kindergarten teacher?”

“Yeah. I’ve been teaching at Southwest since I graduated from Florida State two years ago.”

He looked at his watch and realized he’d be late for sound check if he didn’t leave now. “I’d love to stay and talk more, but if I don’t get going, I’m going to be late for my sound check. I was wondering though, if you’d go out with me sometime.” God, he sounded like he had never asked a girl out before.

“That’d be great.” Morgan answered. “I’ve actually got to be going too our Devaigh and I are going to be late for her doctor’s appointment.”

She gave him her home and cell numbers and her home address and he asked, “What’s you’re daughter’s name?” just before she walked away.

She turned back and answered, “Devaigh Trinity.”

He paid for the clothing and left the store feeling better than he had in a long time.

"Dude, calm down. You’ll be fine." Nick said.

"No, Nick, I won’t be fine." Alex replied.

Nick had agreed to baby-sit the twins and Gracie for him when he went out with Morgan. He had brought Savannah because Ashleigh was working late.

"Aj, you’ll be fine. The last time I saw you this nervous was the first time you went out with Vaeh."

"Nervous? I wasn’t nervous; I was terrified that her brother was going to kill me."

His kids came up to him and all at once they said, "Have fun daddy." it made him smile and relax.

A few minutes later he was on his way to Morgan’s house.

When he knocked on the door he heard Morgan yell, "Alice that had better be you." before she opened the door.

"Alice, where ha...."she stopped short when she saw who it was.

"What’s wrong?” he asked.

"My babysitter isn’t here yet. She was supposed to be here a half hour ago. "She half screamed as he stepped inside.

"I have an idea."

"What?"

"We can wait here for a while and if Alice doesn’t come then I can call my babysitter and see if he’ll watch Devaigh."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it’s not a problem."

"Thanks."

"You’re welcome."

Then Devaigh started crying, "I’ll be right back."

She soon returned carrying her daughter in such a way that he was reminded of Nevaeh and how she would hold their kids when they were babies.

"Would you hold her for a minute?" Morgan asked.

"Sure."

She handed him the baby and walked off. He looked down at Devaigh and said, "Hi sweetie pie." and she giggled. Hearing the giggle, he was flooded with memories of Gracie and the twins as babies.

A few moments later Morgan came back with a bottle and because of seeing Aj and her daughter she said, "You look comfortable."

"I always loved holding my kids when they were babies. Sometimes I didn’t get to hold them as much as I would have liked to.”

Forty five minutes later after she was done feeding Devaigh, Morgan said, "She is so fired."

Alex picked up his phone and dialed his home number.

"Hello, McLean residence, this is Gracie."

"Grace, where’s Uncle Nick?"

"Umm. He’s on the floor rolling around laughing because he was showing us pictures of you guys performing and he found some really funny ones."

"Can you put him on the phone?"

"Sure daddy."

"Thanks hon."

A few seconds later he heard, "You bombed it already didn’t you?"

"Nice to hear you have faith in me Carter. I need a favor."

"Sure, I owe you one after showing your kids those pictures."

"Would you mind watching one more baby? And what pictures did you show them?"

"No I don’t mind. And you’ll find out when you get here."

"Carter..." He was hung up on.

Turning back to Morgan he asked, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." She replied, picking up Devaigh in her car seat.

A few minutes later they were on their way to Alex’s house.

As they walked up to his front door Morgan was nervous. This was the first time that she had left
her daughter with anyone other than Alice.

Alex turned to her and said, "Don’t worry, Nick’ll take good care of her. She’s the same age as his daughter Savannah."

Almost as soon as Alex walked into the room where Nick and the kids were he was knocked over and greeted with squeals of, "Daddy, Daddy!"

He hugged his kids and realized that Morgan was laughing. He looked up and saw what she was laughing at.

He jumped up and grabbed the picture and threw it at Nick and said, "Carter payback’s a bi..."

"Daddy if you say that you’re gonna have to put a dollar in the swear jar." Nevaeh said.

"Sorry Vaeh."

He said, "Ok guys." to Morgan he said (as he pointed), "This is Nevaeh, James, and Gracie and that is Nick and his daughter Savannah."

To everyone else he said, "This is Morgan and her daughter Devaigh."

Nick said, "That’s the other baby I’m watching? She’s beautiful."

"Thanks." Morgan said blushing.

They began to leave a few minutes later when James said, "Remember that thing Uncle Nick?"

"Oh yeah, Aje, the record you had on the ceiling fell and the glass shattered."

"Did anyone get hurt?"

"We were all in downstairs. I cleaned everything up. Other than that everything’s fine."

"Thanks Carter. I’ll fix it when I get home." and he and Morgan left.

They arrived at the Sea Scape about thirty minutes later and were seated in ten minutes.

While they were waiting for their food to arrive, Alex asked, “Why did you become a kindergarten teacher?”

Smiling she answered, “Because I love kids. Growing up an only child after my brother was…I wasn’t happy. My grandparents on my father’s side are foster parents. They always had a houseful of kids of all ages. As I got older I babysat for them when they wanted to go out. Many of the younger kids were always asking me to help them with their homework. One day my grandfather saw this and told me that I should be a teacher. I thought about it for a long time before I decided it was a good idea.”

“Wow that was a mouth full.”

“Why’d you become who you are?” she countered.

“I love performing. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it is. Knowing that my music and mistakes and triumphs have made differences to people all over the world makes me happy. I just love to make people happy I guess.”

A few minutes later their food came and for a while they ate peacefully, then Alex asked, “You said you grew up as an only child after you brother was…something happened to him, what was it?”

“It’s too long and too complicated to get into right now.”

A while later after they had finished eating dinner and were contemplating whether or not to have dessert Morgan saw someone she thought she’d never see again. “Oh my god no!” she whispered.

“What’s wrong?’

“We have to leave now.”

“But why?”

“I’ll explain later but right now we need to leave quickly.” She said never taking her eyes off the person.

He signaled for the check and while he went to pay, Morgan ran to the bathroom to throw up.

He was waiting for her when she came out, “Are you….”

He was cut off by someone calling, “Morgan Ashleigh!”

Alex watched as a look of complete terror crossed Morgan’s beautiful face. She moved closer to him and silent tears fell down her cheeks and she whispered, “Please go no.”

The woman walked up and said, “Honey it’s been so long since we’ve seen one another.”

“Don’t touch me.” Morgan spat through clenched teeth as she shoved to woman’s hands off her arms.

“Honey what’s the matter, don’t you remember your own mother?” the woman asked.

Morgan screamed, “I don’t have a mother!” before running out of the restaurant crying.

Alex followed her and by the time he caught up, she was on the sand. She had stopped to take her shoes off and instead she fell to her knees and kept crying.

Alex went to her and wrapped his arms around her and let her cry.

After a while when it seemed as if Morgan was calm enough to talk Alex asked, “Who was that?”

Wiping her eyes, Morgan answered bitterly, “My mother.”

“But didn’t you just say you didn’t have one?”

“I don’t.”

“But then how….?”

“That person back there may have given birth to me but she isn’t my mother. And she never will be again.”

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story. It has to do with why I grew up an only child.”

“If you wanna talk about it go ahead, we have all night.”

She took a deep breath before she began her story, “I’ve never told anyone this. The only ones who know the truth about how my brother are my father, grandparents, me, Shannon, and Fred.”

She paused and took another deep breath, “I was only ten when it happened. My mother told me that I was staying home from school that day even though she knew I wanted to go. My father told her, Shannon, Morgan’s going to school. She’s not sick, she doesn’t have an appointment, and there’s nothing else to keep her from going.’ And so he took me to school. I was excited because that day my class was going to see a play that the high school drama department was doing. We went to the high school at three in the afternoon. And the play was like two hours long so we got back to our school at like five-fifteen. Since I lived like only three or four blocks from school I walked home. As I got to my street I saw flashing red and blue lights. There were so many police cars. There was an ambulance and the county medical examiner/coroner’s van.”

She didn’t dare stop. If she did she wouldn’t be able to finish. “I started to think ‘God please don’t let anything be wrong with mommy, daddy, or Jake.’ I was really scared when I saw two stretchers wheeled out the front door. One went into the ambulance and the other to the coroner’s van. I didn’t see who was on either stretcher. I looked into the back of the nearest police cruiser and saw my mother’s lover/boyfriend, or whatever you want to call him sitting in the back. I ran and tried to get into the house, but some lady stopped me. She told me to come with her. I didn’t want to but she didn’t give me a choice. She forced me into her car. She told me she was going to take me to my father, but she didn’t. She took me to a house I had never been to before. The people that lived there told me that I wasn’t going to see my father or grand parents ever again. I wasn’t allowed to go to school, or even outside to play. I was constantly crying and they would hit me because I wouldn’t stop. I was never left alone in the house until one day when they got a phone call. I had been there for three weeks when this happened. When the woman hung up she came to me and said, ‘we have to leave for a while, don’t make any noise, don’t go outside, and don’t eat anything.’ And then they left. When I had been left at the house three weeks earlier I told myself that I needed to remember the address because it might come in useful. I grabbed the phone and called my granma. She cried when she heard my voice. I told her I wanted to come home and I gave her the address to where I was at. I told her she needed to hurry because I didn’t know when they’d be back. Fifteen minutes later I was safe in her arms. The people that were holding me were arrested. When we got home from the hospital, where the police had insisted I go to be checked out, I asked ‘what happened at my house?’ My grandparents have always been bluntly honest with me. My grandfather pulled me into his lap and said, Baby Em, your mother and her boyfriend Fred are in jail. Your father was shot but he’s going to be fine.’ He stopped talking so I asked, ‘where’s Jake?’ That’s the only time I ever saw my grandfather cry, well except for when Devaigh was born. He told me, ‘Honey, Jake died.’ I went hysterical. I ran all over the house calling him, I have never cried that much, not even when Devaigh’s father left me. I missed my brother’s funeral because those people kidnapped me. My grandmother told me that my mother and Fred had done it. They decided that the only way that they could be together, instead of my mother divorcing my father and leaving us, was for all of us to be dead. So Fred told her to keep me home from school and he’d come over and ‘take care of’ me and Jake. And he’d get my father when he came home for lunch. Thank god my father took me to school that day. My father was shot in the back as he tried to save Jake. If the bullet had gone three or four centimeters to the left he would have died too. My own mother tried to have me killed.” She finished talking and began to cry again as Alex tightened his arms around her.

“Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry.” He said as he too began to cry.

A few seconds later, Morgan’s cell rang. Thinking it was Nick to tell her something was wrong with Devaigh she answered, “What’s wrong?”

“Morgan? Its dad, you need to come to grandma’s house right away.”

“If it’s to talk about Shannon being out of prison, I already know.”

“How? Just found out.”

“My date and I had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting her just a few minutes ago as we left the restaurant.”

“Oh? Let me talk to your date.”

“Ok,” to Alex she said, “He wants to talk to you.” and handed him the phone.

“Hello sir.” He said almost immediately after taking the phone.

“Hello to you to. What’s your name?”

“Alexander. But please call me Alex.”

“How m any times have you been out with my daughter?”

“This is the first time we’ve gone out sir.”

“Are you planning on asking her out more than just this once?”

“Assuming she’ll say yes, I plan on it.”

“How old are you Alex?”

“I’ll be twenty-eight in January.”

“Do you have children and/or do you have a problem with people who do?”

“To the first question, yes, three, two girls and a boy. And to the second question, no, I don’t.”

“Ok then, put my daughter back on the phone.”

“Certainly.” He handed the phone to Morgan who giggled almost immediately after taking the phone from him.

“All right daddy, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She hung up and said, “Sorry about that. Dad’s just a little overprotective of me and Devaigh.”

“I can totally understand why. How old are you by-the-way?”

“I’ll be twenty-three next September.”

“When did you graduate high school? You’re only twenty-two and you’ve been teaching for two years already.”

“I was fifteen. I went through about five school years after my baby brother’s death in just a few years. I started high school as a sophomore when I was almost thirteen.”

“Wow.”

“I guess. Anyway, what do you want to do now?”

“Why don’t we take a walk on the beach?”

So they did just that. When he next looked at his watch he was surprised to find that it was nearing midnight, what was going through Nick’s head about how late they were out he didn’t want to know.

“What time is it?” Morgan asked rather sleepily.

“It’s nearing midnight.”

“Wow. We should get going don’t ya think?”

“Yeah.”

They walked back to his car and he drove back to his home so Morgan could get Devaigh and he could take them home.

When they walked into the living room where Nick was, he jumped out of the chair he was sitting in and stood with his hands on his hips, “Where have you two been? Do you know what time it is? You had me worried sick!” He then proceeded to collapse into a fit of giggles.

Alex laugh and he laughed even harder when he saw the puzzled look on Morgan’s face before she too began laughing.

After he regained his composure he told Morgan, “Your daughter was a complete angel.” To Alex he said, “You girls behaved fine, your son on the other hand…”

“What’d the little devil do?”

Nick told him, “James tried to pull all sorts of stuff, none of which he got away with.” He added a look that said, ‘I’ll tell you later.’

“Can you stay until I get back? I’ve got to get Morgan and Devaigh home.”

“No problem.” He said with another look that said, ‘I want details.’

Morgan put her sleeping daughter into her car seat and was ready to go.

“It was nice meeting you Nick. And thank you for babysitting Devaigh.”

“It was nice meeting you too. And it was no problem, like I said, she was an angel.”

Nick sat back down as Alex picked up Devaigh’s diaper bag and he and Morgan left.

A few minutes later they were at Morgan’s door.

“I know it sounds corny, but thank you for a wonderful night. And thanks for listening to my little sob story, I’m sorry about it.”

“No it doesn’t sound corny. And you’re welcome. As for the story, it wasn’t a problem.”

They leaned in for what was the first of many goodnight kisses.

TWO YEARS LATER……………..

“Mommy, I sick.”

“Well Devaigh, you shouldn’t have eaten so many cookies, should you?”

She turned to Alex and James and said, “And you two shouldn’t have given them to her.”

“But she wanted them and she said ‘please.’” James told her.

“Would your father like it if you had eaten fifteen cookies within one hour?”

“No, Morgan.”

“So why would you think it was ok for Devaigh to do it?”

“Sorry.” He said before he left the room.

To Alex she said, “Really Alex, you should have known better than to feed a two year old fifteen cookies in an hour.” But she wasn’t mad at him, not really.

They had all been on edge for the past few days because Nick had told them that he and Ashleigh were getting a divorce and that he had found her cheating on him and she was going to give up her rights to Savannah and Xander.

Morgan had been heartbroken. She knew what it was like to discover someone you loved and thought loved you was cheating on you. She also knew what it felt like to have someone give up the rights to your child.

A little while later Alex took James and Devaigh and left. Shortly after that Nick came over looking for him.

His kids were with his brother Aaron and he looked utterly devastated.

“Nick come here.” she said and pulled him inside.

She made hot chocolate because when she had problems it always helped to soothe her.

He’d been crying again, she could tell. She handed him a mug and took a drink and a deep breath before saying, “Can I tell you a story? And show you something?”

“Yeah, but can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Why’d you give me hot chocolate?”

“Because it always helps me forget my problems, even if it’s just for a little while. I thought it might do the same for you.”

He just smiled at her as she said, “I have to go upstairs to get something, but I’ll be right back.”

She returned a few minutes later with the papers she needed to show him.

First she showed him the copies of the deed to the house she sold shortly after moving in with Alex.

“What’s this?”

“The deed to the house I sold a month after moving here. Devaigh’s father bought it.”

“What?!” She had never volunteered information about Devaigh’s father to anyone, not even Alex.

“I never married him, and I’m glad I didn’t. Please believe me when I say I know exactly what you’re going through. I’ve been in your shoes before. Well, everything except for the divorce.”

“You have? I didn’t know.”

“I was excited when I learned I was pregnant. I was kinda scared to tell Derick though. When I finally did, he was as happy as I was. He told me that we’d get married and raise the baby together. And he bought that house. Then one day I woke up and my world fell apart. He hadn’t been home the night before because he walked out after we fought. I knew where he was though. I drove to his brother’s house. His brother had been sent to Europe for a few weeks because of his job. The house was quiet until I reached the master bedroom. I opened the door and saw what nobody ever needs to see. I screamed and ran out of the house and drove home. A few minutes after I got home, Derick came in. I started screaming and yelling at him. I remember hitting him too. He left but not before telling me that he’d be back the next day.” She paused and drank more of her hot chocolate before continuing. “He came back the next day with the deed to the house signed over to me and with this.” She handed him the other papers she had brought downstairs.

Again he asked, “What’s this?”

“It’s the kind of papers you have to sign when you give up the rights to your kids. Ashleigh will have to sign them for Xander and Savvy.”

She let him ponder that while she got more hot chocolate for both of them.

She continued her story, “He left after handing me the papers and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”

They sat in silence until he finally said, “Wow. Poor Devaigh. Are you ever gonna tell her?”

“If she ever asks, but I don’t think she will.”

“Why not?”

“Because even though Alex isn’t her father, he acts like he is. The first word she ever said was ‘dada’ and she said it when she saw him on t.v. When I told him he was like, ‘well haven’t I been?’ after he tried not to cry. And it’s true. He might not be he father biologically but he is in every other sense.”

“Wow.”

“I know, not many guys would take on the responsibility for another man’s child. But I guess it’s true what they say.”

“What who say?”

“I don’t know ‘they.’ But what they say is that anybody can be a father but it takes a man to be a dad. Or something like that. What I’m trying to say is that if you ever need to talk, I’m here for you.”

“Thanks.”

A short while later he left and two hours later Alex returned with all four kids in tow.

“Why are you so jumpy today Aj?” Kevin asked.

He had been acting strangely for awhile now. The guys were worried about him; they knew something was going to happen, and soon.

Alex had talked to Howie and told him what he was going to do.

Howie said, “Kev, leave him alone. He’s got a lot on is mind right now.”

“That’s all well and good, but he needs to sit still!” their photographer Andre said.

Alex’s mother had recently begun working for the Boys again and had just accepted a package that had been delivered to the warehouse where the photo shoot was located today.

“Alex, your package was just delivered.” She said as she walked onto the set.

He immediately jumped down from the mini-stage and took the package from his mother.

Frustrated, Andre told the rest of the guys, “It’s time for a break.” and walked off in a huff.

The guys jumped down and made their way to Alex who was sitting down on a couch.

“What is that?” Brian asked.

“Hold on and I’ll show you.” Alex had opened the box to reveal an even smaller black box.

As he pulled out the black box everyone was so quiet, and his mother was near tears. Brian said. “Is that a….” but he didn’t finish what he was saying.

Alex had opened the box to reveal what it held. He said, “It’s finished.” To Kevin he said, “This is why I’ve been so weird lately.”

“You’re gonna….?” Kevin asked rather quietly.

“Yeah I am and you guys had better keep your mouths shut about it.”

He had his mother hold onto the little black box while he and the guys finished the photo shoot.

Two hours later he was on his way home to Morgan and their kids.

He kept quiet the entire day. He also kept the black box with him at all times. He and Morgan were going out that night and when they came back she would be in possession of the little black box and its contents.


“Are you ready to go sweetheart?” Morgan asked. The kids were already with his mother and stepfather at the restaurant waiting for them.

“Two minutes.” was his shouted answer. Morgan wondered what was wrong with him. He had been acting strangely for the last two weeks, and she wondered when she would know why. She hoped that nothing was seriously wrong with him.

They left fifteen minutes later. As he drove, she realized that he was taking a very familiar route. One he had taken exactly two years earlier on their very first date.

He pulled into the parking lot of the Sea Scape. They had been here a few ties over the last two years but for some reason Morgan had a funny feeling about tonight. Maybe it was because she was going to spill a secret she had been keeping for a few days.

She knew something was up when they entered the restaurant and saw her father, grandparents, his mother and Tony (Alex’s stepfather) with their kids, Nick and his kids, Kevin and Kristin and their kids, Howie, Leigh and their kids, and Brian, Leighanne and their kids.

She turned to Alex and asked, “What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you after we eat.”

They had the exact same thing for dinner that night that they had had two years ago, in fact it was their two year anniversary. She hoped that they wouldn’t have the unfortunate bad luck to have her mother show up again.

They had made it through dinner and to dessert when she noticed that Alex had become so jumpy that he couldn’t sit still.

“Honey, just tell me what’s wrong. You’re being so jumpy is kinda scaring me.


He smiled and breathed deeply a few times before quietly beginning, “It was two years ago tonight that we came here on our first date. You came into my life at the right time, when I needed you to. You are my angel. I love you so much,” he paused, and she had tears in her eyes as she watched him get down on his knee, “Will you marry me Morgan?”

She didn’t trust her voice because she was crying too much. All she could do was nod her head. She wiped the tears from her eyes as he slid the ring on her finger.

She smiled and said, “Well as long as we’re doing life-changing things tonight, I have something to tell you.”

“What would that be?” Alex asked his new fiancée.

She was scared and took a few deep breaths like he had before going on, “I’m pregnant.” She finished quietly.

The room had gone so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

“Pregnant?”

“Yeah.” She said looking down at her plate. “I am.”

“Then why do you sound so sad?”

“Because I was afraid that you’d be mad.”

“Why would I be mad?”

“Because I….” she was cut off by the music that came out of the banquet hall doors as they opened and two people exited.

Morgan turned and Alex saw the same scared look on her face that he’d seen two years earlier when she learned her mother was out of prison. Again he heard her whisper, Please god no,” as tears fell down her face for an entirely different reason now.

The guy whispered something to the woman and walked over to their table and said, “Hello Morgan.”

“Derick, I would say that I’m happy to see you but I’d rather eat my own toes.”

Alex couldn’t help himself and started laughing at the vision of Morgan eating her toes that popped into his head.

Derick looked like he wanted to hit something, but instead said to Morgan, “I just wanted to tell you that my girlfriend and I just had a baby. It was only her first pregnancy too; tell me how yours went again.”

Morgan tried to keep herself calm from the moment she saw Derick come out of the banquet hall but at the mention of her first pregnancy shoe couldn’t help herself. She stood up, drew her arm back, punched Derick in the face, and knocked him flat on his back before he knew what hit him. Then she turned and ran.

When everyone (her grandma, Denise, Leighanne, Kristin, and Leigh) caught up to her she was in the bathroom sitting on the couch with her legs drawn up and crying into her knees.

Her grandmother came through the crowd of girls who had come to comfort her, and put her arms around her, “Morgan, what’s wrong? Why did you punch Derick?”

“Because he deserved it. He shouldn’t have…. The first baby. No I can’t say it, I can’t.”

“What can’t you say? Honey just tell us.”

Leighanne spoke quietly as she sat down next to her on the couch, “Hon you said, ‘the first baby’ wasn’t Devaigh your first?”

She shook her head and said quietly, “No, she wasn’t.” She couldn’t say anymore and dissolved into tears once more.

Her grandmother began rubbing her back like she had when Morgan had been younger and woken up from a nightmare. “Hon, just tell us.”

Through her tears she said, “Eight months before I got pregnant with Devaigh I had a miscarriage. It was horrible because I was by myself when it happened. Grandma you and dad and grandpa were at Uncle Dan’s wedding in Europe and I don’t know where Derick was. When I told him, he blamed me, that’s why I had Devaigh. I didn’t want to get pregnant again so soon after it happened but he didn’t really give me a choice. Then he went and cheated on me and gave up the rights to his own daughter when I caught his and wouldn’t take it.”

“Honey I’m sorry.” Her grandmother said.


Gracie, who unlike her younger brother and sister had never called Morgan anything close to mother, walked in. When she saw Morgan crying she ran over to her and said, “Mommy, why are you crying?” as she hugged her. “Please don’t cry. Please.”

Morgan hugged her back and stood up, “I’m fine. Wiping her eyes she continued, “Really I am. We’d better get back out there before they send in a search party.”

Everyone walked back into the restaurant and all of the guys had troubled looks on their faces.

Morgan went to Devaigh and wrapped her arms around her little girl, “I love you, Vaigh.”

With a perplexed look on her face the two and a half year old replied, “I wuv you too mommy.”

As she walked by Howie he stopped her and said, “Nice punch. I didn’t think you had it in you. I don’t think I’m ever gonna make you mad.” And it made her laugh.

As she passed Nick he whispered, “That was Devaigh’s….?”

“Yeah.” She whispered back.

She sat back down and was perfectly calm. Alex asked, “Are you okay?”

To which she replied, “I’m perfect.”

“Are you sure?”

In the short time that he had been quiet since her answer and before his second question she had gone back in time in her memories to the point when the doctor from the hospital had told her, “I’m sorry to tell you this but you lost your baby.”

The memories of how awful it had been to tell Derick, how much it hurt when he blamed her, told her that she must have done something to cause it to happen, all came flooding back at the worst time. She whispered through her tears, “No, can we just go home? Please?

"Morgan, lets go, we're gonna be late!" Alex yelled upstairs to his fiancee.

Comming ver slowly MOrgan told him, "You'd think Ii could walk faster wouldn't you?"

She was now six months along in her pregnancy and today she and Alex would find out the sex of their baby.

Nick, Brian, Howie, and Kevin all had a bet going. Nick, Brian, and Howie bet that because of how big her tummy was she was going to have twins. Kevin however, had had a psychotic episode and bet the other three that she was going to have triplets. She was hoping against hope that they were all wrong.

The kids were all at a summer day camp except Gracie who was at summer dance camp. so she and Alex were going to the doctor's office alone.

A few minutes later they were on their way to Dr. Zobe's office.

They sat in the waitting room for about ten to fifteen minutes before they were called back to an examination room.

After Morgan had changed into the gown and been sitting for five minutes, Dr. Zobe came in.

"Miss Morgan. It's good to see you again. And who is this that you've brought wiht you?"

"This is my fiancee Alex, Alex this is Dr. Zobe."

They shook hands and for the first time Morgan was glad she had switched doctors when she found out she was pregnant.

When the doctor turned on the sonogram machine and put it on her belly, they heard three distinct heartbeats.

Inwardly she groaned and mentally she beat the crap out of Kevin for being right.

"Would you like to know the sex of you babies?"

Still shocked at the word 'babies,' Alex asked, "Triplets?"

"Yes." the doctor answered.

Morgan knew that Alex was doing the same thing she had already done, mentally beating the crap out of Kevin for being right. They weren't even supposed to know about the guys' bet. They were gonna get it the next time Morgan saw them.

Morgan took over since Alex's mouth had stopped working, "Yes, please tell us."

Minutes later they were told that they were going to have two boys and a girl.

They were both still in shock when they left the office. As soon as they were in their car Alex said, "They are so dead."

"Oh yeah."

The next day while Aj was out helping Gracie shop for her birthday party, Nick came over with Xander and Savannah.

As soon as Morgan opened the door Savannah grabbed her around the legs and cried, “Auntie Morgan!” Both she and her father looked like they had been crying.
“Come on Sweetie, let’s go sit down.” She backed up so Nick, who was carrying Xander in his car seat, could come in.

They went to the living room before Morgan asked, “What’s going on?”

She sat down and Savannah climbed into what was left of her lap before answering, “My m….” and dissolved into tears and snuggled in closer to Morgan, who had wrapped her arms around the little girl.

All at once Morgan understood. Today was they day that Nick and Ashleigh went to court, “Oh Nicky.” she said before embracing him as well.

Once she had her arm around him he began to cry, and upon hearing and seeing her daddy cry, Savannah cried even louder. And seeing the two of them cry made an already emotional Morgan cry. Meanwhile little Xander sat in his car seat happily playing with his stuffed duck whom was named daddy because that was his first word.

Devaigh, James, and Nevaeh were all with Denise and Morgan was glad about it because they didn’t need to see Nick like this.

Savannah fell asleep crying a few minutes later and Morgan told Nick, “Take her up to Vaigh’s room then come to the kitchen.”

Morgan ran to the bathroom before taking Xander into the kitchen and making hot chocolate even though it was the middle of June.

Nick must have stopped in the bathroom as well because he looked somewhat calm.

“Sit.” she said, handing him his hot chocolate as she lifted seven and a half month old Xander out of his car seat to feed him.

He took a drink and said, “You know what? You’re right about this stuff. It really does help, a little bit anyway.”

“Yeah. It usually does. I’ve used it many times.”

They sat in silence until Nick asked, “Why me?”

Today was the day his divorce was final and the first official day that Ashleigh no longer had “any legal responsibilities” for their two children.

“I don’t know hon, I don’t know.”

“Do you wanna know what she told Savannah? I was so mad I wanted to hit her.” His eyes began to water as he recalled what Ash had done when Morgan nodded her head. “We were finished with the judge and left the courtroom. I was right behind her. Xander and Savvy were outside the courtroom with Aaron and when Savvy saw Ashleigh she ran up to her saying, ‘Mommy, Mommy, I missed you.’ And Ash looked down at her like she was a bug that needed to be squashed. She then told Savvy ‘I’m not your mommy. I never will be again. I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE.’”

Morgan spit out her mouthful of hot chocolate and said, “That bitch! She didn’t!”

“ ‘Fraid so. Savannah cried so much.” Morgan thought, ‘Poor little Savannah. How horrible.”

“She’s in for it the next time I see her.”

“Don’t. She’s not worth it.”

“I’m glad you finally realized that. Do you want to know what my father told me when I told him what Derick did?”

“Sure why not?”

“ ‘He’s not worth it.’ And neither is Ashleigh. If she was too stupid to realize what she had with you, you don’t need her. If she couldn’t stay faithful to you, then to hell with her. Go find someone who loves you and your beautiful children. It happens. It did for me.”

“But even though I don’t need her, Savannah and Xander do.”

“But she did give them up. Yes they need a mother but not one as bad as she was. But think about how she’s going to feel in say twenty years when she picks up a magazine, opens a newspaper, or turns on the television and sees Savannah’s wedding announcement. Or Xander’s when he gets married. Wait until she sees the birth announcements for your grandchildren. She’s gonna start hating herself for what she did to them. She’ll hate herself for missing every special thing about those two. But most of all, she’ll hate herself for making herself miss watching them grow up.”

“True. But it still hurts.”

“Yeah I know it does. It’s supposed to. But you’re going to come out of it stronger than you were before and you’ll find someone better.”

“I know. Everyone keeps telling me that.”

They were interrupted by shouts of, “Uncle Nick, Uncle Nick!”

“Aje and Gracie are back.” Morgan said quietly.

Gracie came running into the kitchen where Nick and Morgan, who was now burping Xander, were sitting.

“Hey Carter what’s new?” Alex asked.

Silently Nick held his left hand, on which he had worn his wedding ring until this morning.

“Oh. I’m sorry. How’re you doing?”

“I’m fine, just a little frazzled. When we go there Savannah cried herself to sleep over what Ashleigh told her this morning.”

“What was that?”

“Daddy, I wanna talk to Uncle Nick!” Gracie complained.

“Gracie Denise.”

“Sorry. I’ll wait.”

“Actually Gracie, would you go to Devaigh’s room and check on Savannah please?”

“Sure Uncle Nick.”

Turning his attention back to Alex he said, “Ash told Savvy, ‘I’m not your mommy. I never will be again. I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE.’”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. Sav and Xan were outside the courtroom with Aaron this morning and Savvy hasn’t seen her mother in six months and was excited to see her, so she ran over to her and said. ‘mommy, mommy I missed you,’ and she was told that her mother doesn’t love her anymore.”

“Damn.”

Gracie came back and reported that Savannah was fine and still asleep. She then proceeded to show Morgan and Nick everything they had bought for her party. She also told them about the fans that they had met. Gracie loved meeting her daddy’s fans.

Nick and his children stayed for lunch and Nick, Aj, and Gracie were grossed out by what Morgan ate, but Savannah joined her, and Xander didn’t care either way.

“Uncle Nick?” Gracie asked quietly.

“Yeah hon?”

“Would you sing at my party, please?”

“I will if it’s okay with your father.”

Gracie looked over at her father and turned on her ‘puppy dog face’ and said, “Please daddy, I’ll love you forever,” and batted her eyelashes at him.

“It’s fine. Nick can sing for you.”

“YES!!” Gracie shouted.

ONE WEEK LATER……

“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” Gracie shouted the morning of her party after bursting into Alex and Morgan’s bedroom.

Alex, Nick, Brian, Kevin, and Howie had decorated the yard the night before after Gracie had fallen asleep.

“Gracie, hon, let everyone rest. Your party will come soon enough.” Alex said as he rolled onto his stomach half asleep and angry at his daughter for waking him up.

Morgan wished she could lie on her stomach again. She couldn’t wait to give birth.

She sat up and asked, “Gracie, what do you want for breakfast?”

“Cake.”

“Gracie, go back to bed or I’m canceling your party.” She ran out of the room and Alex told Morgan, “Lay back down.”

A few hours later, after they had woken up on their own, Alex and Morgan wandered into the kitchen where Gracie sat with Nevaeh, James and Devaigh. They were all eating Frosted Flakes except for Devaigh who was eating her toddler cereal.

Sitting down next to Devaigh, who, it was obvious, was having much fun feeding herself, Alex took over the spoon and managed to get more food into her mouth than she had on her body.

“Gracie, thank you for feeding them,” to Alex she said, “You are so giving her a bath.”

While Alex and Morgan were eating, Gracie helped Nevaeh and James clean up and get dressed.

She bounded back downstairs and asked, “When does it start?”

“Grandma Denise and Grandpa Tony (AJ’s stepfather in real life.) are coming at one. Grandpa Matt and Grandpa Scott and Grandma Emma are all coming at one-fifteen. Your friends should start coming at one-thirty. No go play or you won’t have a party.” Alex said.

A short while later, Nick and his kids, Kevin, Kristin and their kids, Howie, Leigh and their kids, and Brian, Leighanne and their kids came over. Soon after that Denise, Tony, Matt, Scott, and Emma arrived. Ten minutes later, the house was full of running, giggling nine and ten year olds, as well as the running, giggling kids of Backstreet.

The party went as planned, at two thirty, Gracie began opening her presents. Her favorite present was the one Morgan got her. It was a Little Miss makeup set. Alex absolutely “LOVED” it.

The party concluded with a solo performance of Gracie’s favorite Backstreet song, “As long as you love me,” by Nick, as promised. Brian and Leighanne had smiles on their faces throughout the entire song.

All of her school friends were gone by three forty five and peace had once again settled over the house because all of the kids, no matter whose they were, had fallen asleep, even Gracie who had insisted that Morgan give all of her girlfriends a makeover with her makeup before they left.

She was on the couch with her feet up leaning against Alex when gave her a look that clearly said, ‘It’s truth time. We have to tell them.’

She was nervous about telling them, “Guys, can we talk to you? We need to tell you something.”

“What Morgan?” her father asked.

“Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Denise, and Tony, you guys won’t know what this means just yet, but Kevin,” she said turning toward him, “You win the bet.”

Kevin jumped up and started dancing around looking extremely pleased with himself. He shouted, “I told you guys. So where’s my money!”

Howie, Brian, and Nick looked crestfallen. Morgan wondered how much money they had just lost. Kevin got a funny look on his face and said, “Wait a minute how did you and Morgan know about the bet Jay?”

“Kevin, you had a problem boasting that you were gonna win and you have a loud mouth.”

Leigh, Leighanne, and Kristin all said, “What bet?” at the same time with bewildered looks on their faces.

Alex explained for everyone who didn’t know, “D, Brian, and Nicky bet Kevin that Morgan was gonna have twins. Kevin, however bet the three of them that she was gonna have triplets and he won the bet.”

Cleary shocked, Morgan’s grandmother said, “Triplets??”

“Yeah. Two boys and a girl.” Morgan answered her with a smile.

Denise said, “You do realize don’t you that you guys are going to have….”

“Seven kids.” Alex cut her off.

“Wow. Seven kids.” Tony said.

Three months later.....
Morgan and Alex were on their way to Kevin’s because today was Morgan’s baby shower. She still had two and a half weeks to go until her due date.

None of the "BSB" kids were going to be there, seeing as how they were all away with their respective grandparents.

When Tony and Denise had picked up the kids Morgan had been lying down because she hadn’t been feeling well all morning.

They arrived at Kevin’s a short time later and Morgan had a hard time getting out of Alex’s tinny little car. She told him, "You do know that we’re gonna have to buy a new car, don’t you?"

"Yup," he replied as he held his had on her tummy feeling the babies kick.

They walked into the back yard where about twenty-five or so of their friends waited for them. Nick had hand-made the decorations, so naturally they were beautiful.
Kevin had been at the barbecue for about a half hour before they arrived and Morgan began eating.

After he was through eating, Alex wasted no time at all in jumping into the pool, pulling Nick along with him. Morgan couldn’t wait to be able to go swimming again.

About an hour later Morgan stood up and began to walk away from the picnic table she had been sitting at when she felt a really sharp pain. She sat back down as fast as she could manage.

The only one who saw this was Kevin who came rushing over as fast as he could. He asked, "Are you ok?"

Gritting her teeth through the pain she answered, "No, no I’m not."

He got a harried look on his face and asked, "do you think you need to go to the hospital?"

As the pain subsided she answered, "That’d be a good idea."

Kevin whistled and shouted, "Aje!"

He jumped out of the pool and came over, "What’s wrong?"

"You’ve got to get Morgan to the hospital," he said quietly.

"Why? The only reason she would need to go is if she were in......" he muttered some things under his breath.

So many people had left that the only ones who were left were BSB. As soon as the rest of them saw Alex and Kevin help Morgan stand up they knew what was going on.


Since Aj’s car was so little and all nine of them were going to the hospital, they took two separate cars. Aj, Nick and Morgan rode with Kevin and Kristin. Nick sat in the far back while Aj sat up front with Kevin who was driving and Morgan sat in the middle with Kristin.

Howie, Leigh, Brian and Leighanne rode in Howie’s car.
The got to the hospital just as Morgan’s water broke. She couldn’t believe she was going to deliver two and a half weeks early.


After she was checked into her room she and Alex called her father and grandparents and his mother and stepfather to let them know what was going on.


She was in labor fo about ten hours before he doctor told her to get up and walk around to see if it would help progress labor.

She and Alex made it to the waiting room before Morgan needed to sit again. Her father and grandparents, Tony and Denise, who had called a babysitter for the kids, had joined the rest of BSB who had been there the entire ten hours.

About seventeen hours later Morgan gave birth to the first of the triplets. He was 7lbs 15oz, and 20 inches long. They named him Brandon Matthew. An hour later came Antonio Scott who was 18 inches long and weighed 6lbs even. And finally forty-five minutes later Emma Danielle was born. She was 6lbs 5oz and 17 inches long.

She was moved back to her room about and hour later and her and Alex’s families were allowed to come and see her.

"Hey sweetheart," her father said. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I gave birth to a four-year old."

Tony asked, "Where are the beautiful babies?"

"Right here," Alex replied as he came into the room pushing Brandon in his little plastic bassinet. He was quickly followed by two nurses pushing Antonio and Emma.

The nurses left the room and Morgan reached down and lifted Brandon and said, "This is Brandon Matthew."

Denise had picked up the other baby boy and Alex said, "My mother is holding Antonio Scott, and I," he paused to pick up their baby girl. "Am holding Emma Danielle."

"Where did you get the names from?" Morgan’s grandmother Emma asked.

"Well...Brandon because Aj likes the name Brandon. Matthew for my dad. Antonio for you Tony, Scott for grandpa. Emma for you grandma and Danielle because I like the name Danielle," Morgan answered.

They stayed long enough for them to take turns holding each of the triplets and then left.

Moments later, Nick, Brian and Leighanne walked in. Nick was carrying balloons and flowers, Leighanne had three small teddy bears, and Brian had more balloons and flowers.

"Kevin, Kristin, Howie and Leigh had to leave but they sent these," Brian said indicating the flowers and balloons he was holding. "And they said they’re coming to visit tomorrow."

Leighanne had gone over to the babies and laid the teddy bears down beside their respective owners. "Oh they’re gorgeous," she whispered so as not to wake them up. "What are their names?"

This time Alex answered, " Brandon Matthew, Antonio Scott, and Emma Danielle."

"Ohhh. Cute." She was standing there just staring at them. Brian rolled his eyes and looked like he was glad they only had two children.

Nick slipped over to them and said, "They’re so little." Morgan knew he was thinking back to when Savvy and Xander were born and he and Ashleigh had been happy.

They stayed until the babies woke up crying.

Morgan and the triplets were released from the hospital two days later and went home. It was quite an easy process because there was no media frenzy outside.

Gracie, James, Nevaeh, and Devaigh spent the first two weeks after the triplets were born with Morgan’s father.

Morgan woke the day before her wedding very nervous. She was afraid that after they were married she was going to do something to mess it up and she would lose Alex forever.

There was a knock on her bedroom door and Denise walked in, “Hey sweetie, are you okay?”

“I’m just scared.”

“What scares you?”

“Right now everything does. I’m just afraid that after Alex and I get married tomorrow I’m gonna do something dumb and it’ll cause me to lose him forever.”

“That’ll never happen and you know it.” Denise said firmly.

“I know, but I’m still afraid of messing things up, I can’t help it. I look at my parents’ marriage and think, ‘what if that happens to me?’”

“It won’t. You and my son love each other. Nothing can ever come between what the two of you have. Nothing.”

Denise put her arms around her son’s crying fiancée and let her cry.

“I’m sorry. I’m just nervous I guess.”

“Anybody in your position would be.”

“Technically only one other woman has ever been in the exact position that I am now.”

“I know, but I was talking about brides in generally.”

“We’d better get going we’ve got a lot to do today.”

They guys, Alex, Brandon, Antonio, and James were staying over at Tony and Denise’s house until after the wedding. As were the groomsmen. The bridal party was currently residing in Morgan and Alex’s kitchen waiting for her and Denise to start their day.

They all had breakfast together and then talked about the days’ activities. A half hour later they left to go pick up the dresses.

After they had the dresses they went to get manicures, well all of them except for Devaigh and Emma.

Her bridal party was Gracie, Nevaeh, Leighanne Kristin, Leigh and Devaigh.. Gracie was her maid-of-honor, Devaigh was the flowergirl and Nevaeh, Legihanne, Kristin and Leigh were bridesmaids.

Alex’s best man was his son James. The groomsmen were Brian, Kevin, Howie, Nick, and Aaron.

Then the girls went shopping for the clothes they would wear to the rehearsal dinner that night.

Wherever they went they had a few fans stop them. They asked if she and Alex had gotten married yet and if not then when were they going to and all she would answer was, ‘No we haven’t.” Others wanted pictures, autographs or both. Some wanted to see Emma, whom Morgan showed off proudly, but would not let them take pictures of.

After a quick lunch t hey all went to have their hair done. When Morgan’s stylist was halfway done with her hair Em started crying. Morgan knew she was hungry, but they didn’t have any of the extra bottles with them because they had been sent with they guys,. So she would have to be breast-fed which Morgan actually preferred to bottle feeding. She had her stylist stop so she could go feed he daughter.

Two hours later everyone was done, so they headed back to Morgan’s to get dressed.

They left for the Sea Scape at 3:45 pm, and arrived thirty minutes later.

They guys had arrived minutes before and were waiting for the girls when they got out of the cars.

“Sweetheart,” Alex said as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. “You look gorgeous tonight.”

Morgan just nodded her head and said, “You don’t look so bad yourself.” As she smiled.

They went inside and sat down to eat. After everyone was done Alex stood up and said, “I just want to let each of you know what you mean to Morgan and myself. You guys have done so much for us and we’ll never be able to repay you for it. You’ve helped us get to this day. We wouldn’t have been able to do this on our own. And Morgan, “he said turning to face her. “I want you to know how much I truly love you. You mean the world to me. You taught me how to love again. You showed me that there is so much in the world for me. You gave me three beautiful children as well as Devaigh. Thank you. I love you sweetheart.”

Morgan had begun to cry. She wanted to get up and say something but she didn’t trust her voice.

A few minutes later, when she could trust her voice again she stood up and said, “Thank you, all of you. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. I don’t know what there’s left to say that Alex hasn’t said yet except for I love you guys. Alex,” she said turning t him. “You’ve helped me grow in so many ways these past three years that I can’t believe it. You mean so much to me, and I can’t believe how much I love you. You brought Gracie, James and Nevaeh into my life and I’ve been able to watch them grow, and I love them so much. You’ve given Devaigh what I thought she’d never have—a father. And you’ve given me our three beautiful babies as well. I don’t think I can ever thank you for all you’ve done.”

Moments later Alex stood and confirmed, “Tomorrow at the reception Tony and Matt are going to give speeches instead of James and Gracie.”

Morgan’s father and Tony who had been informed of this months ago, nodded in agreement.

Everyone left a short while later but Morgan and Alex stayed behind for a few minutes.

“Hey, hey why are you crying?” Ales whispered as he pulled her into his arms.

“I’m scared.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Something has always happened when we’ve come here for something important. It didn’t this time.”

“It didn’t happen because I rented the entire restaurant for us. Nothing is going to happen. Now go home and get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As she climbed up into her SUV, she turned back to him and said, “I love you Alex.”

He leaned up and kissed her goodnight “I love you too.”

He watched her drive away before heading to his own car. As he got into his car to go back to his step-father’s house he heard a voice he’d last heard five years ago. “Alex be happy. I’ll never forget you.”

THE WEDDING.....

(Morgan’s Morning)

“Morgan honey you have to get up. You have a lot to do today. Let’s go. Come on.”

Morgan rolled over and looked at her alarm clock and groaned. It was 5:00am. The ceremony wasn’t until 1:00pm, so why did she have to get up now?

She crawled out of bed ten minutes later and stumbled into the kitchen.

Everyone was already awake except for Devaigh.

“Good morning.” They all said sleepily.

“It’s not morning. It’s only 5:10am. Morning doesn’t start until nine or later possibly.”

Although she didn’t drink coffee, she poured herself a cup and drank it in five minutes.

They ate breakfast an hour and forty-five minutes later after Devaigh woke up.

Twenty minutes later after everything was cleared off the table Morgan went back upstairs and ran a hot bath (complete with strawberry scented bubbles) for herself. Everyone else was going to use other bathrooms to take showers. Denise was going to give Devaigh a bath and Leighanne was going to give Emma one as soon as she woke up.

Ten minutes after going upstairs she slipped into the tub, sighed, leaned her head back and drifted off to sleep.

(Alex’s Morning)

“Daddy!” James yelled. “It’s time to get up! You hafta get married today!”

Alex threw a pillow at his son and rolled over to look at the alarm clock on his bedside table. “Humph!” he grunted when he saw it read 5:00am. He wondered if Morgan was up yet.

He got up exactly ten minutes later at the exact time Morgan rolled out of bed.

The guys were all up and ready to get started on the day. “Good morning Alex.” Tony said.

“Morning doesn’t start until after 9:00am.”

Alex grabbed a cup of coffee and had it half gone before Antonio and Brandon woke up hungry.

An hour and fifty-five minutes later after everyone had eaten breakfast, they all headed to the showers. Well, three of them anyway, the rest had to wait because his mother’s house only had three bathrooms.

(Morgan and the Girls)

“Come on guys let’s go!” Denise yelled.

Everyone came out of the house carrying their dress and the flowers that had been delivered a half hour earlier.

Morgan walked slowly and was the last to get outside. She was extremely nervous now. They were on their way to the church. It was about an hour and a half to two hours before the ceremony was set to begin.

“Morgan hurry up or we’re gonna be late.” Denise told her.

Morgan closed the door and turned to lock it behind her. It was the last time she would cross the threshold merely being engaged. The next time she walked inside she’d be married.

They got to the church moments after the guys arrived and the girls all made sure that Morgan stayed inside the car so Alex couldn’t see her.

After the guys had entered the church Morgan got out of the car. The stylists had left the house only minutes before they departed for the church after finishing everyone’s hair.

They got to the room where they were to wait for the ceremony to start and began getting dressed. Morgan walked into the little bathroom and locked the door behind her.

She pulled her phone out and flipped it open just as it began ringing.

“Hello?” She answered.

“Hey honey, how’re you doing?”

“Alex,” she sighed. “Tell me again why you thought it was a bad idea to elope? I’m fine, nervous as hell but fine. You?”

“Same. I know you’re in the church but where are you?”

“I’ve locked myself in the bathroom. I’m supposed to be putting my dress on.”

“Well then you’d better get dressed otherwise my mother will yell at you.”

Denise yelled, “Morgan are you dressed yet??”

Giggling, Morgan told Alex, “She just did. I think they really want to see my dress.”


“They haven’t?”

“Nope. I wouldn’t let anyone go with me to my fittings.”

“Well then you’d better put it on. I’ll see you soon.”

“Mmmmm…Okay.”

They hung up and Morgan was somewhat calmer. She unzipped the garment bag that held her dress and stepped back to look at it.

It was floor length. It was white. There was a two inch wide strip around her chest that had been hand-embroidered with crystal beads. After the triplets were born the waist and chest area had been taken out a few inches and aside from more beads being added, she had had very very thin straps added to help hold up the top of the dress just incase she needed it. The veil fell to her waist. Her shoes were white satin ballet slippers. She hated being short but when she was with Alex she didn’t mind being reminded of it.

She undressed and pulled her dress on and went to the door and called someone to help her zip it up.

A few minutes later she walked out and stood in the middle of the room.

Everyone turned around and stared at her.

It was now fifteen minutes until the ceremony started. As her father walked in the room, Denise hurried out with Emma to go and sit down.

Everyone was in place five minutes later and Morgan was the most scared she had ever been in her life.

Alex was nervous too. He had not been this nervous at his first wedding.

He turned to look down the isle as the music started.

First came Baylee and Devaigh. They were so cute in their wedding clothes. Next was Kevin and Leighanne. After them came Nick and Kristin, who were followed by Brian and Leigh. Then came Howie and Nevaeh. Last was Aaron and Gracie. After they were in place at the alter he was finally able to see who he’d been longing to see all day.

The music ended and the Wedding March began. As everyone stood they turned toward the door through which Morgan and her father had walked.

She, Leighanne, Leigh and Kristin had been talking moments before and they had told her, “Just focus on Alex when you walk through the door and everything else will disappear.” So that’s what she did even though what she really wanted to do was turn and run. She kept her eyes on his face and nothing else. She was barely aware of her father kissing her cheek and handing her to Alex.

The minister gave his “Dearly Beloved” speech and then it was time for the vows.

Alex took a deep breath before beginning, “Morgan, you’re my world. Almost from the first moment I saw you I knew that one day we’d be where we are right now. You have taught me so much about life and about love. Without you in my life I don’t know what kind of man I’d be today. We’ve been through so much together. I can’t imagine doing this with anyone else. I love you.”

By the time he was done talking both he and Morgan had tears running down their faces.

Morgan smiled before she began. “Alex there’s no where in the world I’d rather be than where I am right now. You changed me. You showed me that true love really does exist. I wouldn’t be me without you. I love you.”

The minister then asked Alex, “Alexander do you take Morgan to be your lawfully wedded wife in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer ‘til death do you part?”

“I do.”

“And Morgan do you take Alex to be your lawfully wedded husband in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer ‘til death do you part?”

“I do.”

“By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Alex you may kiss your bride.”

Alex and Morgan then shared their first kiss as husband and wife.

In the limo on the way to the Sea Scape Morgan couldn’t stop smiling. She also couldn’t stop staring at her husband.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

“Nothing, it’s just…..”

“Just what?”

“We’re actually married!”

“Yeah I know.” He said pulling her in for yet another kiss.

“Well it’s just that I never thought I’d be getting married. Now that I have it’s surreal.”

“Yeah well,” he said smiling as they pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. “Now you’re stuck with me for the rest of your life.”

When they walked inside, the dj, who was a friend of hers and Alex’s, said, “Ladies and gentlemen it gives me great pleasure to be able to do this. May I introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. McLean.” And everyone cheered.

As soon as they sat down and had a drink in their hands Morgan’s cousin Holly ran over to hug her. “Morgie (a nickname Morgan hated because to her it sounded like something you would throw up) you’re married. You’re really married!!”

“Yeah I know, crazy huh?”

“Sure is. Remember when we were little and always planned to have a double wedding when we married twins?” Holly added laughing.

“Of course how could I forget that. We had everything planned. Then you went and got married first.”

“Wish I wouldn’t have though. What were my parents thinking. Who in their right mind would let their seventeen year old daughter get married??”

“You got married when you were seventeen?” Nick half yelled from his seat next to Morgan.

“Yeah. I got divorced two weeks later.” She turned to Morgan and asked, “Who is that?”

“Sorry Hol. Holly this is my friend Nick Carter. Nick this is my cousin Holly McAlistar.”

Holly and Nick exchanged “Hellos.”

Two minutes later the dj announced that it was time for the bride and groom’s first dance as husband and wife.

A few months ago when Alex and Morgan were still trying to decide on a song for this dance Morgan had heard a song called, “Ready to Fall.” She fell in love with the song. She found out who had recorded it and went to the person and got him to agree to perform it for her and Alex.

When Joey Fatone stepped up to the microphone, a few people audibly groaned.

The band (they had the BSB band there as well as a dj) began the music just as Alex and Morgan stepped onto the dance floor. Moments later Joey began to sing:

I get a feeling
I can’t explain
Whenever your eyes meet mine
My heart spins in circles
And I lose all space and time
And now that we’re standing face to face
Somethin’ tells me
It’s gonna be okay

And I’m ready to fall in love tonight
Ready to hold my heart open wide
I can’t promise forever but baby I’ll try
Yes, I’m ready to fall in love tonight

I know you been watching
Choosin’ your moment
I’ve been dreaming of that day
No one before you has gotten to me this way
And now that we’re standing face to face
There’s something that I need to say

And I’m ready to fall in love tonight
Ready to hold my heart open wide
I can’t promise forever but baby I’ll try
Yes, I’m ready to fall in love tonight

Nothing is certain this I know
Wherever we’re headed I’m ready to go
I can’t promise forever but baby I’ll try
Yes, I’m ready to fall in love tonight
Yes, I’m ready to fall in love tonight
Yes, I’m ready to fall in love tonight

A few hours later at midnight, Alex and Morgan said goodbye to everyone and left for the airport.

They were on the plane waiting for it to take off when Alex told Morgan, “I think Nick likes Holly.”

“Then the feeling’s mutual. Holly told me she likes him.” Morgan said.

They both smiled as they kissed, and Morgan knew they were both thinking the same thing. They were both thinking about what could happen if Nick and Holly…………

Moments later the ‘fasten your seatbelts’ sign came on and Alex clicked Morgan’s seatbelt closed as he leaned over to kiss her.

As the plane took off Morgan whispered, “Nothing is certain this I know. Wherever we’re headed, I’m ready to go.”