“Oh thank God!” I gasp out as more tears spill down my cheeks.

"They are transporting her right now to the hospital..."

"What happened, is she ok?" Chris cut him off.

"I think it's just a precaution but we are supposed to meet them there so let's head out vou two." He says to Chris and I. My dad comes over to hug me.

"We’ll stay with the boys, don't worry about them." He gestures to Mr Bob and Ms Racheal. 

Running to the door. I grab her blanket on my way out with Chris right behind me. The drive to the hospital is a blur. So many questions are running through my head but I just keep trying to focus on getting to see Vivienne. The car pulls to a stop out front and Detective Summers is waiting for us. 

I practically leap from the car heading over to him, he leads Chris and I through the hospital halls to the private room where she is being looked at. We can hear her cries from outside the room and I can't breathe, I don't hesitate to barge inside. I rush over to her, her little body shaking with sobs, lifting her to my chest, holding her tight, and breathing her in. Chris wraps his arms around both of us kissing me and then her. She takes a deep shuddering breath and starts to calm down. The doctors said she is dehydrated and hungry but she wouldn't feed from a bottle when they tried before we got here. Finding a chair in the corner I quickly settle in and start to feed her, both of us relaxing more and more the longer we are together.

"What happened?" Chris finally asks after it's clear she is eating with no problems.

"It was Hope.” Detective Summers says. I feel like the floor has opened up beneath me. Hope, my soul sister, has hurt me in every possible way a person could be hurt. I feel sick to my stomach. Looking up at Chris I see the color has drained from his face. Then another horrible thought crosses my mind. They followed Eric to Hope. Eric helped her. Eric helped her kidnap my baby.

"Was Eric working with her?' I asked, my voice deadpanned. Chris looked at me surprised, I don't think he got that far yet while processing everything.

"At the moment it doesn't look like it. He seemed very surprised that she actually had the baby. Eric claims that she called him and said that she could make them a new family. Seems they had stopped talking a few days before he was arrested in the hospital. She didn't take it well and came up with this plan to kidnap Vivienne to get Eric back. He says he didn't believe her at first when she called but then he heard Vivienne crying in the background and agreed to meet up with her. When we stormed in she was in the middle of explaining how she had set them up to leave the country and start fresh with the 3 of them. We found fake travel documents in her car with new identities for all of them." He explains. My breath hitches in my chest. I was so close to never seeing her again.

"Hope will be in jail for a long time, Eric is in custody for now because as I explained, I don't think he had a part in planning the get away or had prior knowledge of the abduction. However, he was under directions to inform us of any communication with Hope which he failed to do. As well as the fact that when he found out she had his daughter he didn't say anything to the police sitting right outside.” He finishes rolling his eyes at how stupid my ex-husband has been.

Summers stays with us until Vivienne is released from the hospital a couple of hours later, we excitedly head home to her brothers and our parents. Once we have shared everything we learned about what happened here today, Ms Racheal burst into sobs, burying her face in her hands.

"It's ok mom, I know this is hard." Chris says softly trying to hug her but she rushes out of the room, Mr Bob excuses himself and follows her out. I know she is shocked and hurt by Hope's actions just like I am, and while I'm happy to hear she will be in jail for the foreseeable future, as a mom I can't imagine knowing my daughter will be spending time behind bars. We all decide shortly after to call it a night. It's been a very stressful day and we are all ready to crash.

Looking at the boys I decide that I want all the kids to sleep in our room. At least for tonight, I'm not ready for any of them to be even in the next room right now. Chris and I give all the kids a bath in our bathroom and we set up the air mattress at the foot of our bed for the boys. I put cartoons on mute for now as they start to settle for the night. Connor keeps poking his head up to look at me from the bottom of my bed, I smile at him and he settles back in next to Noah. I'm leaning against the head board with Vivienne sleeping on my chest. I can not believe the day we have had. I've never been that scared in all my life, Chris gets out of the bathroom, being the last one to shower for the night. He climbs up the bed next to me and wraps his arm around my shoulder.

"Are you doing ok?" He asks, kissing the side of my forehead.

"Yes, as long as we are all together I'll be ok," I answer him. He leans in and kisses me so softly on the lips. I return the kiss and melt into his embrace a bit more.

"I love you Chris, thank you so much for taking on me and the kids, we couldn't have gotten through any of this without you." I whisper to him.

"I love you too, Larkin, and them," he says nodding to the kids without breaking eye contact. I look down at the bottom of the bed and both boys have their little faces peeking over the edge of the mattress. I laugh out loud at how cute they both are.

"So I had a different plan for how I wanted to do this, but after the day we have all had I couldn' t agree more that as long as we are all together we'll be ok." As he's speaking he pulls out a small box, my heart rate doubles in my chest. The boys have crawled up to sit on the bed with us and they have a box as well. All 5 of us are sitting in a small circle and Noah is about to vibrate out of his skin. He looks so excited.

"Open this first!" He excitedly thrust the box Connor was holding in my lap. Both boys are smiling ear to ear.

"The boys wanted to get you something special for when their sister was born..." Chris started to explain as I opened their gift, inside was a beautiful necklace with all 3 of my kids' birthstones woven into the gold chain.

"We thought we had a little more time,” he said laughing with the kids

"They wanted to give it to you in the hospital when she was born but it wasn't ready yet." 

It was so dainty and sweet. I pulled it from the box and admired it between my fingers, the light catching all three of their stones was so pretty. I pulled my hair over my shoulder so he could fasten it around my neck.

"I absolutely love it! Thank you both so much!" I tell Connor and Noah hugging and kissing them both.

"Chris got you something too!" Noah tells me looking at Chris expectantly. Turning to Chris he's holding up his little box, open to the most beautiful ring. The band is gold and thin with a simple oval diamond. I love it, it's classic and simple, it's what I would have picked out for myself.

"Larkin being with you and the kids has changed my entire life for the better. I'm sorry it took so much happening to you for me to get you," he says chuckling to himself, “but I'm never letting you go now.” He says slipping the ring out of its velvet holder.

"When we are all together," he looks around at all of us, "There is nothing we can't get through. I promise to love all of you for the rest of my life" he slides the ring on my finger. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" I say crying. I can't believe he asked me to marry him, I can't believe that this amazing man, this amazing relationship was right in front of me almost my entire life. I'm happier than I was even at my best moments with Eric. I can honestly say going into this that Chris knows me completely and there are no secrets. We love each other for who we are, I can completely be myself and he is the same.

All of us pile in for a big hug. I agree with Chris' sentiment that getting here was much rougher than either of us would have liked, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I love him so much and I can't wait to take on the future. Together.

Eventually we all settle on to a much deserved sleep.