Meeting Her Nieces

He nodded. "Fair enough." he said. "I texted him about the twins since we're still pretty okay friends...that's okay with you, right?"

"Oh yeah, that's fine." she said. "It's not awkward or anything." she chuckled.

"Just making sure." he smiled. "Maddie..you want to hold your other cousin so your mom could hold AkiAnne?"

"Oh okay." she grinned. Candice took AkiAnne and held her, so Ellie could situate Ruby with Maddie. She then took AkiAnne. "Guh, you guys make adorable babies."

"Oh well, I know that." Candice joked.

"Of course we make adorable babies." he chuckled.

"Just saying." she chuckled. "So, speaking of just saying, I have to tell you guys something."

"Okay..." he said, looking at her. "What's up?"

"Well...I uh...I'm engaged."

He blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm engaged." she told him.

Candice looked over at Jeff, then at Maddie. "Come Maddie. You can help me change Ruby and AkiAnne into their pajamas." she told her as she took Ruby and AkiAnne.

"Kay!" Maddie said as she followed her.

He watched Candice take the kids into another room and just looked at his sister. "You're engaged? Ellie, are you sure you want to get married again this soon? I mean I know it's been a while but I figured you'd want some more time before you went for it again."

"I thought about it, Jeff and I thought so too...but I'm ready to do this again. He makes me so happy and the kids love him. Scott does so much for me and I love him. I believe that he's the one."

"I see that you're happy and that makes me thrilled for you...but didn't you say the same thing about AJ when you two were going to get married?" he asked her. "I don't mean to put a damper on things, but I don't want to see you go through all that again."

"I know." She said. "But I just have this gut feeling that this is it for me and that everything will work out for me."

"Alright...then I'm happy for you, little sister." he said with a genuine smile.

"Thanks." she said. "Maybe one day, you can meet him when you're in town...and get to know him."

He nodded. "Yeah...I'd like that, actually."

She nodded. "Then when you're in Chicago, we'll meet up."

"Sounds good." he nodded with a smile. "So...can we please talk some more about how cute and beautiful my girls are?" he gushed. He couldn't help himself though. Everyone told him he was a fuck up...that he wouldn't be able to keep it together...but here he was...married and with two kids...no relapses or anything for over a year.

"They're very beautiful, Jeff." she chuckled. "I can't wait until they get a little older. You'll think time flew by."

"That's what everyone tells me." he chuckled. "Candice, you guys can come back if you want." he called out. "And the dogs love the kids...it's so cute."

"We're changing the babiessss." Maddie giggled from the room, helping Candice.

"I guess they'll come back later." she chuckled. "Ah so the dogs are good with them?"

He nodded. "Very...if we lay them down somewhere to change them, the dogs are right there to make sure they don't fall. When we give them a bath, she show up to make sure they don't drown or something." he chuckled.

"Hey so I have to ask...because I figured you and Scott might talk about it at some point...Maddie and Ajay were kind of miracle kids." he brought up since he and AJ talked about it before. "Does Scott know about all that?"

"Aw, that's so cute." she laughed. "I mentioned it to him briefly, but if we want to have kids and start talking about it, then I'll make sure to mention it again."

He nodded. "Good enough." he smiled. "Yeah, I'm serious...watch...follow me." he said, knowing where the girls were. He pointed at them and sure enough...the dogs were both right there by Candice and Maddie watching the babies getting changed.