JACK
　　Two months later, they held a very intimate wedding on Rebecca’s farm. It was a perfectday.
　　It took a while to explain to Zach and Chloë about the misunderstanding.
　　Jack wanted to adopt them, and Becky loved the idea, though both agreed that it would be best to give the twins a few months to get accustomed to their new situation before hitting them with a big decision like that.
　　The twins remained skeptical and only relented when Adrian showed up—indisputable proof of the hoax. Jack was forgiven.
　　Adrian and Anna had decided to stay, not just for the wedding, but all the way up until the babies were born. As both had telecommuting jobs, it worked, and everyone knew theserare visits would get a lot harder when Bea started school in a few years.
　　The wedding announcement was huge—as in, cover of Us Weeklyhuge. Jack’s face was plastered everywhere. Newspapers, magazines, and, as Chloë and Zach were happy to show him, Facebook newsfeeds, Twitter trending topics, Buzzfeedarticles packed with over-the-top gifs, and all that jazz.
　　He shook his head at the splashy teaser on the cover of Us Weekly: From a Jack to a King. So corny. But he’d laughed his ass off at a copy of Becky’s latest book that she’d self-published mere days ago.
　　It bore the same title.
　　From a Jack to a Kingby Rebecca Finlay.
　　Of course, she didn’t change her name when they got married; neither of them wanted that, and it would have been a horrible branding move for her career.
　　The book had sold an unsurmountable amount of copies already.
　　Becky was happy and that was what counted. Her happiness, her twins’ happiness, and their twins’ happiness.
　　He knew he’d made it into this latest book of hers, as she’d already admitted it was based on a true story. But he’d never dreamed that that many pages could be filled with anything pertaining to him.
　　“My mother cannot read this one.”
　　“I dedicated it to her—my way of apologizing. It’s funny. She’ll live.”
　　He shook his head and set the book on the nightstand. They climbed into bed and snuggled close.
　　“Besides, I’m up for an award with this one.”
　　“Yeah? How big?”
　　“Massive. I want you to be there.”
　　“Do I have to?” he whined.
　　“Yes, I’m six months pregnant, Jack. These babies could come at any time. Dr. Grimes said I have an increased chance of—”
　　“Oh, fine,” he grunted. Although he was thrilled to be in her life now, he still couldn’t handle most of her events. It was hard getting used to the paparazzi snapping photos incessantly.
　　He still felt uncomfortable when a snapshot of him popped up unexpectedly whenever she did something remotely interesting.
　　His mother, on the other hand, was gleefully putting together a scrapbook, of all things.
　　She still treated Rebecca like her favorite author—even more so now that she was her daughter-in-law.
　　But life was good. No, life was great, fucking perfect. He was up to his elbows with renovations on the second yacht he bought, after securing a spot in the harbor. He hopedhe would make a huge success of the second Boathouse as he had with the first one.
　　The night of her award ceremony was upon them.
　　Jack had been hiding out in the bathroom. When Adrian popped his head around the door, Jack felt a rush of gratitude that he’d decided to stick around.
　　“You pregnant?” Adrian asked.
　　Jack chuckled. “If fucking only. I hate these functions.”
　　“Then tell her.”
　　“I can’t. She’ll be so disappointed.”
　　“Fine. I’ll go.”
　　“What?”
　　“I’ll pretend to be you. Just pretend to be me, and give a five-star performance, willyou? You usually fuck it up.”
　　He got up and hugged his brother, patting him on the back. “Thank you.”
　　“No problem, bro.”
　　He slipped with ease into Adrian’s more gregarious demeanor. Adrian grew more serious,exactly how Jack would have acted.
　　“I usually don’t act overexcited about any of this. Remember that.”
　　“Got it.”
　　He watched Adrian get ready.
　　He’d regret this if she won and he wasn’t by her side. She’d worked hard on her novel.She deserved this award.
　　If being in the spotlight didn’t make him wish he could just melt into the floor and stop existing, he would have gone with her.
　　Adrian would have to pull it off.
　　The rest of his family was enjoying an extended post-wedding stay on the farm; he’d been wishing for them to all go back home for a couple of days now.
　　He acted Adrian’s character out well, joking and doting in equal measure. It was fun tolive in his jovial shoes for a while, nice to shed the mantle of his own personality.
　　The awards was livestreamed. His mother and sisters were glued to the screen. The twins weren’t home; Chloë was at a friend’s sweet sixteen sleepover party, and Zach had beeninvited to spend the weekend at a lake house with his best friend and parents.
　　Cass took a much deserved night off.
　　“Babe,” Anna said. “Come watch.”
　　“Jack is right. You guys need to get used to her eventually.”
　　“Sure. Come watch Jack fall on his face.”
　　He laughed heartily and sat on the couch. Anna curled into him. His brother had better get back before his wife tried to jump his bones.
　　The cameras were on the red carpet, greeting celebs as they arrived. A limo pulled up and they got out. Adrian played the perfect gentleman, kissing her hand.
　　That had better be all you kiss tonight.
　　Adrian lurked in the background as people bombarded Becky with questions, wanting to know who she was wearing, if she knew if she was having boys, girls, or one of each, and how did it feel being a newlywed. He wanted to reach through the screen and throttle them.
　　Becky handled them with pure grace. She was vivacious but not too perky, her responses reticent yet friendly. And she was radiant, of course.
　　Seeing it like this, removed from the hot flashing bulbs and shouted questions…was different. He wanted Adrian to go and stand beside her. He wanted him—himself, really—to stand proudly beside the incredible woman who was his wife.
　　Maddison interjected, “You guys think the sex scenes in From a Jack to a Kingare real?”
　　“I don’t want to hear this,” his mother said firmly.
　　“Maybe my brother is really a racehorse,” Jack-as-Adrian said.
　　“Oh, please, you can’t even last twenty minutes,” Anna said, pinching him. “I’m sure she took a few poetic liberties with those scenes.”
　　He smiled again.
　　“What, no clever comeback? Not even an ‘I’m so tired’?”
　　“No,” he backpedaled with a chuckle. Shit, be Adrian. “But it’s true. I work my ass off and your timing sometimes sucks. You should catch me when I’m not tired. I can last as long as they do in some of those scenes.” He gave her an exaggerated wink.
　　“Yeah? We’ll see about that tonight, big mouth.”
　　“Deal,” he put his hand out.
　　“Oh, I’m taking this bet.” They shook on it.
　　All the attendees had arrived now, and the cameras were panning the packed arena. He never watched the Grammys, even when his favorite artists were nominated—for exactly this reason.
　　The night dragged on and on as people received many awards and accepted with eloquent speeches—they were a bunch of writers, so he supposed at least this was to be expected.The wait felt interminable.
　　At long last, the big one came. Rebecca’s favorite author—her idol, he knew—went onstage to talk about the importance of the award and the importance of literature. Thenhe opened the envelope with much flair. “I’m overjoyed that,” he announced in a tremulous voice, “the award goes to…Rebecca Finlay!”
　　Everyone in the living room cheered—him the loudest—when the first syllable in her name was uttered.
　　Adrian gave Becky a quick kiss on the lips.
　　“Seriously, he is so unromantic. She writes a fucking bestseller about him and he kisses her like that?” Debs remarked.
　　“What, you want him to take her right there on the table?” Jack-as-Adrian asked.
　　“The Jack in the book would.”
　　Anna held her hand up for a high five; Deborah obliged with gusto.
　　“Shush, you two.” His mother was rapt with emotion. Tears glistened in her eyes, whichnever strayed from the screen for one second.
　　Jack shook his head.
　　Adrian walked with Becky all the way to the podium, where she accepted her award.
　　During her acceptance speech, she made a few wisecracks about her pregnancy. His mother basked in the reflected glory, fixated on Rebecca.
　　“I’m so honored to receive this award tonight. It’s been a lifelong dream of mine. Ifanyone out there is contemplating stealing it, now is your time. I’m pregnant and a little less agile on my feet these days.” She gave the crowd a meaningful look. “I guess I don’t have elaborate on how thathappened.”
　　Everyone roared with laughter.
　　“But truly. I would like to thank my amazing husband, who was the inspiration for the novel.” She didn’t even look at Adrian, who waited at the steps for the stage. The camera showed his face.
　　Look away, idiot,Jack thought. But he waved, instead. Not a very Jack move.
　　The camera cut back to Becky. None of his family members commented.
　　“His family, who all have cameos in this book. Adrian, for almost giving me a heart attack the day Jack revealed he had an identical twin.” More laughter. “I always hear what big fans of mine they are, especially his mother.”
　　As one, all those in attendance said, “Aww.” His mother was so overjoyed, she might aswell have been sitting in a beam of heavenly light.
　　Becky continued. “I doubt they’ll ever get over the fact that I’m a part of their family now, but the truth is, I’m a huge fan of theirs, too. They have fulfilled my life—and as a bonus, helped me write a bestselling novel. My favorite. So, I love you all.”
　　“Love you, too.” His mother sent kisses to the TV.
　　Jack shook his head. Everyone started to applaud as Becky turned sideways and leaned into the mic again, a mischievous smirk on her face.
　　“And Anna, my dear sister-in-law. Just to let you know, I have your husband. No funny business.” The crowd burst into laughter.
　　Anna punched Jack. “You asshole. What are you doing here?”
　　“Ow, ow, ow.” He jumped over the back of the couch.
　　“Jack!” his mother scolded.
　　“I’m not great with these things. Jeez. I married the woman. Give me a fucking break.”
　　“Well, at least one of us can tell the two of you apart. I’m so grinding Adrian’s balls tonight.”
　　“Stop it, Anna. He’s with Becky.”
　　“Exactly! You’d better hope he doesn’t try take advantage of her, bump an’ all.”
　　“She wouldn’t.” His smile faltered.
　　Everyone chortled.
　　“So, Jack, tell us…are the bedroom scenes true?” Debs asked.
　　“Deborah!”
　　“What, Mom? I’m curious.”
　　“No comment.” Jack went to the kitchen and started pulling random ingredients out of the cupboards. He was nervous. Cooking helped.
　　At eleven that evening, the limo returned with Adrian and Rebecca.
　　Jack was watching TV.
　　His brother and wife walked into the house as his mother came out from her bedroom to greet them, wrapped in a terry cloth robe, a mud mask on her face.
　　“Congratulations, darling!” She hugged Becky.
　　“Thank you. I’m pooped, though.”
　　“You looked so beautiful tonight. And you, your wife is waiting for you.”
　　“Sorry. He freaked out. C’mon. What is a twin supposed to do?”
　　“Let him freak out,” both women said between giggles.
　　Jack got up from the couch. “I’m so sorry, but I’m beyond elated and proud you won.” He went to hug his very pregnant wife.
　　“I should make you sleep right there for the night.”
　　He shrugged. “Everyone lives like fucking kings in this place. Even on the sofa.”
　　“If I weren’t so damn tired, I’d beat your ass.”
　　“You love me, admit it.” He grabbed Becky and kissed her neck. Then added, “Mother, you can go to bed now.”
　　“You be nice to her, Jack.” Blushing, she walked back to her room, quickly.
　　Jack and Becky laughed.
　　“What gave it away?”
　　“Everything. Your brother is made for that kind of thing. When I won, the true Adrian came out.”
　　“Idiot.” He kissed her.
　　He lifted her up and carried her to bed.
　　She weighed more than she used to, but he would rather break his back than hurt her feelings.
　　In their bedroom, he helped her take off her fancy clothes and get into her pajamas.
　　Yawning hugely after completing her nightly skin care routine, she climbed into bed.
　　Jack followed. He talked for a while to his two little girls in the love of his life’s belly. He was over the moon—with all the women in his life.
　　Here on the farm, his entire life was now surrounded by the opposite sex, apart from Zach.
　　Becky laughed at what he said to her belly. She yawned again with a smile.
　　“Okay, I’m done. Up for a quickie?”
　　“Jack, I’m tired.” She laughed.
　　“Just joking, but the boys are getting blue, Becks.”
　　“Tomorrow morning, I promise. Right now, I can’t even think straight.”
　　He chuckled as she curled into him, drifting away with her head on his chest. He stared at the ceiling.
　　His life was perfect.
　　Never in a million years had he thought he would have agreed with how fitting the title of her award-winning novel was. But it fit the bill.
　　Before he met Becky, he was only Jack.
　　Now?
　　Now, he was a king.