Epilogue

Three Years Later

Trenton kicked the soccer ball with huge power to his teammate Anders who faked out a defender and kicked it into the goal. Trenton jumped high into the air in celebration. Mason couldn't have looked more bored. Anthony was playing soccer off to the side with Whitney and Nathan. Zachary and Allie were running around Whitney, Anthony, and Nathan which was aggravating them. Andrew and Michael were sitting in front of Addison and Mark and kept pushing and shoving each other. Bailey Marie sat in Addison's lap. The Montgomery-Sloan triplets were three and so were Zachary and Allie. They had been born on exactly the same day. Callie and Pete sat behind us. Pete and Callie had been married for two years now and Callie was six months pregnant with a baby girl. They were going to name her Abigail Addison Wilder. Addison was a bit beyond stoked to have her name be their baby's middle name. It kind made me laugh how excited she got. Mason and Trenton were sixteen now and Juniors in high school. Nathan, Whitney, and Anthony were seven now and in the second grade. Having five kids was rough but we were doing well. Addison and Mark were struggling a bit with their five. But having all of their kids in pairs I could imagine how things would be harder to manage for them. Mason had braces now, Trenton had contacts, and Anthony had developed type 1 diabetes. Zachary was ADHD, and Allie was shy. Each kid was unique in their own way and Cooper and I couldn't love them more. Trenton and Mason we're both being heavily scouted by college recruiters for their athletic talents. Mason was an awesome Wide Receiver and a First Base man. Trenton was an outstanding right striker and a kicker for the football team. They were both really smart too. Anthony had been accepted into the gifted program at his elementary school as well as Whitney. Nathan wasn't as academically advanced as Whitney and Anthony, but being a boy he didn't mature as fast as Whitney so Addison wasn't worried. Anthony was just abnormally advanced for being seven. We were so proud of our kids. We loved them more than anything. Trenton stole the ball from the opponent and quickly spun the ball to go the other way towards the goal his team was scoring on. He dribbled hard and fast with intense concentration. He saw his opponent sliding in for a side tackle and reacted just in time to dodge it and still maintain possession of the ball. The crowd was on their feet now screaming. Cooper and I had our hands tightly intertwined. Trenton spun out another defender and kicked the ball into the goal. It hit the top post and bounced in. there was no way the goalie could have stopped it. The crowd went nuts and Trenton did a backflip in celebration. After kick off, his friend Anders stole the ball quickly back and dribbled for a few steps before passing it to Trenton's other friend Leo. Leo weaved in and out of defenders before passing to a wide open Trenton. Trenton started to dribble closer to the goal to get a better angle. He was going back to boot it into the goal when an unseen defender side tackled him to the ground. Callie gasped as we watched his foot snap and bend inward in a very bad way. Trenton immediately grabbed his foot and writhed around in pain. Callie shot up out of her seat but Pete stopped her.

"They've got team medics babe. Calm down." Pete told her. I gripped Cooper's hand. This was not good. This was the second time Trenton had been hurt like this. He could lose Scholarships over this. The medics ran out to him and got him to relax and not move around so much. Anthony was beside us now.

"Mommy what's wrong?" He asked.

"Trenton's hurt bad squirt." I told him.

"Oh that's not good." Anthony said worriedly. I ruffled his hair.

"No it's not squirt." I told him nodding. Zachary and Allie appeared next to us now.

"Why is Trenton on the ground mommy?" Allie asked quietly.

"He's hurt baby girl." I said and reached down to pick her up. She wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face in my chest. Allie was a very shy girl, but she was so sweet. I had a special bond with her seeing as she was my only girl. I watched the medics carefully examine Trenton's foot. Trenton was still laying down. They hadn't even tried to get him to sit up which worried me immensely.

"Do they think he's got a concussion too or something?" I asked. Cooper nodded.

"Most likely." He told me. I sighed. This was not good. Trenton had been through a lot as a kid, and the last three years had probably been the most carefree and easy he'd ever gotten to experience. But now all of that was over, he was hurt again. My heart broke for him. He never really truly got to enjoy his adolescence and now his teenage years were starting to crumble. After a few more minutes of painful waiting they got Trenton to sit up. His team doctor Mr. William drove the golf cart over and the other team trainers and medics helped Trenton to the back of it. Cooper and I took that cue to make our way down to the field house where we knew they were taking him.

"Can you guys watch the kids?" Cooper asked Addison, Mark, Callie, and Pete. Pete and Callie nodded.

"We'll take them. Addison and Mark have their hands more than full." Pete said taking Allie from my arms.

"Okay, thanks. We'll come get them after we know Trenton is stable." Cooper told him. Pete and Callie nodded.

"Not a problem. It's great practice." Callie said and rubbed her stomach. Cooper and I smiled and left. When we got to the field house Trenton was in Mr. William's office laying down on the exam table. He was fighting back tears. His face was red and scrunched up with his eyes firmly shut.

"How is he?" I asked quietly. Mr. William looked up from his clipboard.

"We were just about to call you to meet us at the hospital, but if you'd like you can take him yourselves. It looks like a bad break." Mr. William said.

"We'll take him." Cooper said smiling. Mr. William nodded and left the room. Trenton still didn't open his eyes.

"Trenton buddy, can you open your eyes for me?" I asked and moved his bangs off his forehead. Slowly he opened his baby blue eyes. They were red from crying.

"Come on bud. We're going to take you to the ER." Cooper told him and carefully picked him up. "Lord, you're getting too big for this." Cooper joked and carried him out of the field house. Once we got to the hospital we ordered a rush be put on Trenton's x-rays. They gave Trenton a lot of Morphine. About an hour later we got his results. His right ankle had been broken in three places and he required reconstructive surgery, his right foot was also broken in three separate places on the top. Trenton was a mess, this meant no way no how could he get a soccer scholarship now. His foot and ankle wouldn't be a hundred percent again by next year for his Senior season.

"Mom what am I going to do?" Trenton asked once they had casted his foot and ankle and were in the process of discharging him.

"We'll worry about that later." I told him smiling.

Three weeks later

Trenton steadied himself on his crutches and made his way down the stairs carefully. Mason went in front of him to catch him if he fell. Mason had been helping Trenton a lot. It was very brotherly of him. Anthony was mad because now Trenton couldn't practice with him, but in all Anthony was being really helpful as well. Zachary and Allie didn't really get it, though Allie didn't like seeing Trenton in pain. Trenton and Mason sat down at the dinner table with us and smiled.

"Who wants to say grace?" Cooper asked. Zachary's hand shot up.

"I want to daddy!" He said excitedly. Anthony rolled his eyes. Cooper smiled.

"Go for it Zach Attack." Cooper acknowledged. Zachary bowed his head and started to pray. Almost as soon as he said amen my phone went off. Cooper shot me a look. I rolled my eyes and got up from the table to answer Addison's call.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hey Charlotte, we need you at St. Ambrose, Callie's in labor." Addison said.

"Oh wow, that's so exciting. I'm on my way." I told her and hung up. I went back into the dining room.

"Who was that momma?" Mason asked.

"Aunt Addison, apparently Aunt Callie is in labor." I told everyone. Cooper smiled.

"Well go on babe, I'll hold down the fort." Cooper said. I nodded and ran out. I met Addison at the ambulance bay. She greeted me with a coffee.

"Thank you." I said taking a sip. She smiled and led me upstairs to the maternity ward. "How is she?" I asked as we ascended the stairs.

"She's about five centimeters dilated and handling the pain really well actually." Addison said. I nodded.

"That's good. How's Pete holding up?" I asked.

"Uh, well. He absolutely hates seeing her in pain, so I don't know if he'll be any help at all once she starts pushing." Addison laughed. I grinned.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he faints!" I said busting into a fit of laughter. Addison joined in.

"Now that I would like to see!" Addison joked and opened the door into Callie's room. Callie was lying in bed on her side and gripping on to the railing for dear life.

"Callie are you okay?" I asked going over to her. Callie nodded. Her face was scrunched up in pain and red from crying.

"Yeah. Just a really painful contraction. Give me a second." Callie said grimacing. I took her hand and let her squeeze mine until the contraction passed.

"Where's Pete?" I asked when she relaxed, signaling that the contraction was over.

"I sent him to get ice chips. He was on the verge of a panic attack." Callie said. I smiled and glanced at Addison. She stifled a laugh. Callie tensed up unexpectedly and cried out sharply. Addison went on high alert.

"Callie, what's wrong?" Addison asked.

"It's not supposed to hurt like this." She cried, tears fell rapidly from her eyes. I offered her my hand again and she squeezed hard.

"Callie I need you to roll over on your back so I can check your cervix." Addison told Callie as calmly as she could muster, it was evident she was freaking out as much as I was. Callie whimpered and rolled over on her back. Addison checked her cervix. "Damn. The placenta is tearing." Addison said. She glanced at the fetal monitor that was now beeping loudly. "And the baby is in distress. We need to do a c-section now." Addison said and ripped her gloves off. She paged a delivery team and prepped Callie. I paged Pete to meet us in the OR and sent Cooper a quick text to update him. Pete met us in the OR. He held Callie's hand the whole time and whispered encouraging words to her. Callie was scared out of her mind. What seemed like hours passed before Addison pulled out a baby girl. She cried instantly and made her presence known. Callie smiled in relief. Then suddenly Callie's eyes rolled back and her heart monitor went crazy. Addison handed the baby off and frantically worked on Callie.

"Callie! Callie!" Pete yelled.

"Charlotte get him out now!" Addison told me. I grabbed Pete and started to drag him out.

"NO! I'm not leaving my wife!" Pete yelled.

"Pete, listen to me, you can't help her right now. You have to trust Addison." I told him.

"I can't lose her!" He cried.

"Pete listen to me, you won't lose her. Come on now. How about we go sit with your new baby girl?" I suggested as the pediatric team pushed the baby's incubator past us out of the OR. Pete swallowed hard but nodded. I smiled and led him outside of the OR. After thirty minutes of agonizing waiting just staring at Pete hold his daughter, Addison came into the Nursery. Pete's head snapped up and he looked at her with deep anticipation.

"She's going to be fine. I stopped the bleeding without having to remove anything. So she'll make a full recovery and you can still have other kids later if you want." Addison said smiling. Pete grinned.

"Thanks so much Addison. Can I see her?" Pete said standing up with his little girl sound asleep in his arms. Addison nodded.

"You can bring the bundle of joy too." Addison said. Pete grinned and followed Addison out of the nursery. I followed close behind them. When we got to Callie's room she was just opening her eyes. She smiled so wide when she saw Pete and her baby. Pete knelt down by Callie to show her the baby. Callie's face lit up like a candle.

"She's so perfect. Look at what we did." Callie told Pete happily. Pete smiled.

"She's amazing." Pete agreed.

"Piper Addison Wilder." Callie said smiling.