"How would you even know that?" Sadie asked, as she smacked the back of his head.

"So, it is true?" he asked with a grin.

"That's for me to know, and for you to never find out."

"Just by you saying it that way, now I know you don't." he chucked "Besides, I'm Santa, and Santa knows everything." he winked

Sadie giggled, and began pushing him out of the entryway "You wish, now go say hi to the kids before you see stars."

"It's a good thing that I didn't come down the chimney." Ethan chuckled, as he put his nose up in the air when he smelled a fire going.

"Why is that?"

Ethan chuckled, and leaned closer to her as they walked into the room where the kids were "Because, then I would have to start singing chestnuts roasting on an open fire."

Sadie giggled, and shook her head, quickly walking over to her mom, and giving her a hug "Merry Christmas." she wished her. Ethan sat, talked, and joked around with the kids, letting them sit on his lap, acting like Santa. Sadie realized they didn't have Faith along, and looked at him with a sad look "Where is Faith... is Melissa not letting you have her today?"

Ethan stopped messing around with the triplets, and looked at Sadie "She's having Christmas with her mom first. I do get to pick her up soon, I just wanted to come over, and to bring the kids their gifts, before I brought Faith over to my house, for her to open her gifts." Ethan stood up, and smiled "I'll be right back." He walked back to the front door, grabbing his red sack full of gifts he had sitting outside the door, and walking back into the living room.

Sadie's eyes widened when she saw the bag he was bringing in, and spoke surprised. "Wow Ethan, that's a pretty big sack you have there."

A big grin crept across his face "Why, thanks for noticing." he grinned, holding his laugh back, and wiggling his eyebrows up and down "You know why Santa's sack is so big every year right?"

She shrugged her shoulders, and sat on Antonio's lap "Because he's carrying a lot of gifts?" she asked, as Antonio lowered his head into his hand, covering his eyes.

"No... it's because he only gets to come once a year."

Antonio shook his head "Ethan... the kids." he sighed, trying to hold his laugh back. Ethan laughed, and began handing the gifts out. After they exchanged gifts, and as they were opening the gifts, Antonio brought up the vacation he was planning to Ethan, and Grace, hoping they would like to go.

"We will definitely go." Ethan smiled, as he looked at Grace "Hopefully Melissa will let me bring Faith, if that's alright."

"Of course, it is, I already planned on her coming along. It should be a lot of fun."

"Speaking of Faith, I have to pick her up now, can we talk about this later?" Ethan asked, after noticing the time.

Ethan, and Grace left, and picked up Faith, as they walked inside, Faith ran over to the tree, and sat down, looking at all the gifts displayed under the tree "Daddy, are these all for me?"

"Yes, they are, you can start opening them." Ethan, and Grace sat down to watch her, and he couldn't wait to see her face when she opened her gifts, hoping what he got her was alright. Being this was the first Christmas with her, he felt more excited about her opening the gifts, than Faith did.

Grace looked at Ethan, and handed him an envelope that he received the other day "What's this?" he asked, curiously looking at the envelope she handed him.

"Something you've been waiting for." she smiled, urging him to open it.

He opened the envelope, pulled out a letter, and looked over at Grace when he realized what it was "I'm not sure I can look at this today."

"Yes, you can... would you like me to read it to you?" She took the paper from his hand as he handed it over, and started reading it to him. As she was reading it, she felt her heart beat faster, and looked at him. She leaned forward, kissed his cheek, and whispered in his ear "You are 99.99% the father of Faith."

A happy chill ran throughout his body, making his hair stand up, his nervous smile turned into a smile showing off his teeth, and looked at Faith "I knew it from the moment I saw her, she looks just like me."

Ethan finally felt relieved knowing Faith was his, walked over to her, and sat down next to her. She stood up, and sat on his lap, showing him what she got for Christmas.

"I have another Christmas present for you..." he says, squeezing her tight. "You're going to be a big sister soon."

"I am?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes, you'll be a big sister to six brothers and, or sisters." Ethan chuckled after she stood up, and started jumping.

"Will they get to sleep in my room?"

"No, they will have their own room, just like you." He says, giving her a hug, not wanting to let go. He felt his life was finally complete, Faith being confirmed she was his, with more kids on the way, and Grace, soon to be his wife.

Melissa allowed Ethan to have Faith for the week, he took her sledding, taught her how to ice skate, and was doing everything he could, to spend as much time with her before he had to drop her back off. Once it was time, he delayed bringing her home. He always had a hard time returning her to her mother after what she did to him, and now knowing that she was in fact his, made it even harder for him.

Ethan walked Faith to the door, giving her a hug as Melissa opened the door. "Get in the house, it's cold outside." Melissa said to her sternly when she wouldn't go inside.

"Mommy, I want to stay with daddy." she cried, stomping her feet.

"Another time Hun." Ethan said to her, feeling his heart break while handing Melissa her backpack full of clothes. He sigh heavily, and looked at Melissa "We need to talk."

"What about?" she asked, opening the door wider "Come in."

Ethan took his shoes off, walked with her into the dining room, and sat down at the table. He talked to her about the vacation to Europe, Grace being pregnant, and how he was getting married to Grace, that it was coming up, and how he wanted Faith to be his flower girl.

"Wow Ethan, Grace?" she asked surprised.

"Shocker huh."

"You know, I always wondered about you with her. I always thought when we were together, that the two of you were having an affair."

"What? No, this all just happened between us a few months ago. I never did what you did to me, ever." Ethan sat back in his chair with his arms crossed, surprised at her accusing him of being with Grace when they were together, and gave her a dirty look. He couldn't believe she had the nerve to assume he was cheating on her, when she was the one who was cheating on him.

"I don't know why you're acting so surprised. Why do you think I always tried avoiding going anywhere, whenever I knew she would be there? You always paid more attention to her, and were always making sexual advances towards her, in front of me."

"For one, I was toying with her at the time. Did I have an attraction towards her? Yes, I will admit I always thought she was gorgeous, but I never thought about cheating on you. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be with her, until the night it happened between us a few months back. As for the comments towards her, I made them to Sadie also, and I still do. It's just me. You've never understood my humor, and I take it you still don't. To which reminds me... that Halloween party we were at, and the costume you wore, why did you wear that? That's something you would never wear, that's more like my kind of humor."

Melissa folded her hands, and placed them on the table, while looking at him "I'm surprised you finally asked me that. I wore it knowing you were going to be there. My husband was even shocked I wore something like that, but it was to grab the attention of you, and it worked."

"You tried avoiding me there." he said, furrowing his eyebrows.

She turned her head, and looked away, knowing he was right "Yes, I knew if I wore it, you would be coming on to me, and you did. I wanted to talk to you, and was debating on telling you about Faith that night, but chickened out. You looked like you were having too much fun, and I didn't want to ruin your night. That's when I tried avoiding you, until you caught me off guard in the hallway, and we had the talk... I do want you to know that I'm still sorry about everything."

He shook his head, and sat forward "You make no sense, when Antonio, and I came here to confront you about Faith, you denied everything." he says, raising his voice.

"I told you I chickened out, I knew that you would be upset, I just figured that if you didn't know, I could avoid any more questions that you had for me." she sighed.

Ethan sat quietly for a moment, thinking. He reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a piece of paper, and set it down on the table, sliding it over to her.

She picked it up, and smiled as she looked at it "I knew she was yours, at the time I hoped she was my husband's. But as she started growing, she was looking more, and more like you, and that's when I knew she was for sure yours. You know when Sadie saw me with her at the mall, I got nervous. I knew I was busted by her, and knew I would be getting a visit from you, asking me about her."

"I'm still pissed at you for keeping her from me, but I do thank you for coming clean, and allowing me to have her anytime I want. I just wish I was able to be involved in all of her firsts; her first crawl, steps, tooth, words, and all of the rest."

"I know... hang on a minute, I have something for you." she says standing up. Ethan tilted his head to the side, wondering what she was doing. When she came back into the room, she handed him a few disks "Here, this is for you. It's Faith's life from birth, until now. I made it for you while you had Faith this past week, and knew you would like something like this. It has all her firsts. Consider it a Christmas gift from me, or from her... whichever way you want to look at it."

Ethan's stomach dropped, and stared at the disks "I know you didn't get to witness any of it, but now you can see the missing years of her life. I know it doesn't change anything that I did, and I know you still think terribly of me. But I just want to make it right, somehow... for her sake."

Ethan stood up, thanking her for the disks. Faith ran up to him when she saw that he was leaving, and jumped up into his arms, giving him a hug and kiss.

"As for her being in the wedding, and taking her to Europe, I'm alright with it, just let me know when. As for you being with Grace, I'm happy for you, a little shocked, but not surprised. I'm glad you're getting everything you have always wanted."

Ethan went home, and began watching what Melissa gave him. Grace snuggled up to him, and both sat there for hours, watching the last four years of her life. He was enjoying it, but still hated the fact he couldn't have witnessed it himself. He may have missed the beginning years of her life, but he was happy that he at least got to see what Melissa recorded, and saved, and was in awe.

******

A couple months have gone by, Grace was all moved into Ethan's, and had put her home up for sale. Grace's doctor's appointment was today to find out the sex of the babies. Ethan took the day off work to take her, wanting to find out what they were having, and not wanting to miss this appointment for anything.

Grace laid on the table watching the doctor take measurements of the babies, while Ethan's eyes remained glued to the screen, smiling, and anxiously waiting to hear what they were having.

She chose to have the 3-D ultrasound, wanting to see the babies more clearly, and as the doctor looked at each baby, he snapped a picture. Ethan kept looking over at Grace with a strange look, each time the doctor showed them a baby, she would giggle. "Why are you laughing?" Ethan asked, looking at Grace confused.

"I'm laughing because they all look like you, they have your pointy nose, and I noticed a couple of them had a look that you give, when you're thinking of something naughty to say, or do."

"Well... they are mine, so hopefully they all have my charm, and my sense of humor."

"Lord help us all if they have your naughty sense of humor." Grace giggled "When do we find out what we're having?" she asked the doctor.

"We can find out right now, let's see, shall we?" He moved the wand over each of babies, entered his findings into the computer, and took snapshots of each one. He printed them off, and handed them over to Ethan "Looks like you're having three boys, and three girls."

"Awe." Ethan's heart felt like it grew even bigger, after hearing what they were having, and looked at the pictures with Grace. He stood up, and leaned down kissing her on the forehead "This is perfect, three little boys that I'm sure will be up to no good, and three beautiful innocent little girls, that will be instigators to love. I love it."

Grace was excited to share the news with Sadie, and had gone over to visit with her, greeting Antonio in the driveway. While Grace, Ilona, and Sadie were looking at the pictures, Antonio, and Ethan figured to get themselves into a little trouble, by hanging out downstairs at the bar, playing pool, and sipping on their favorite, bourbon.

"You do realize, that we'll be in trouble for drinking." Antonio chuckled, while pouring them another shot of bourbon.

"We're celebrating..." Ethan laughed, slamming his shot, and holding his glass out for more "I just found out we're having three boys, and three girls, and couldn't be any more excited."

"Sadie won't tell me what we're having, she claims it's a surprise." Antonio sighed, as he held his fingers up doing quotations with his fingers. "It's kind of making me nervous."

"Why?"

"I don't know, it's almost like she's hiding something from me. I've been trying to study her, and you would think I would be able to figure out what we're having, with Brandon being only the single birth, it's hard to tell if she's having a boy, or girl. All I've noticed is, that she is carrying like she was pregnant with Luca, and Lilliana."

Ethan laughed, and couldn't stop laughing "So, what are you saying? That she's having more than one?"

"I don't know, I guess Ilona knows, since she's the one that's been going to the appointments with her. I wish I could be the one going with her, but work has been busy for me. I've tried getting all my cases done, and to not take any more clients on, until after the birth of our child, and our vacation to Europe. It's too bad the girls couldn't go now."

"I know, but right now, Grace's doctor doesn't advise for her to be on a long flight, or any airplane for that matter."

"It's understandable. Either way, it'll be fun once we go."

Grace, and Sadie made their way down to the guys, and both Antonio, and Ethan busted out laughing when they saw the girls standing there, staring at them with their hands on their hips.

"Wow, you two could pass off as twins right now." Ethan says, looking at Sadie's stomach, and walked over to her, placing his hand on her stomach "Are you sure you're only carrying one?"

"Why don't you have another drink, and keep quiet." Sadie smarted off, causing Ethan to chuckle.

"Don't mind if I do, and thanks for offering."

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