serpents?” Ash asks as he joins Ben and me in the nursery at the end of the workday.
My eyes travel over the male perfection of my husband in his bespoke suit, fresh from ruling our court. Today is the first day of my maternity leave.
“What are you talking about?” Ben asks.
“The serpents that must be in this room. Because I know there has to be a very good reason why my able-bodied brother is holding the ladder, while my pregnant mate, who’s about to give birth any day now, is at the top of it.” Ash narrows his eyes at Ben.
Ben shrugs his shoulders in a “what can you do” motion. “You couldn’t stop her from going into battle when she was pregnant. How am I supposed to stop her from climbing a ladder?”
“You may have a point.” Ash crosses the room and plucks me off the ladder. “Come down from there, Princess. It’s too dangerous.”
“I wanted to see what these fabric samples looked like up against the window.” I show him the swatches.
Ash sets me on my feet. “I’ll hold them up. You can judge from the safety of the floor.”
“You can’t stop a pregnant female from nesting. It goes against the laws of mother nature,” I say without heat and adjust the thin straps of my knit maternity jumpsuit.
“I’m certainly not trying to mess with mother nature, but this came for you.” Ash takes the swatches and hands me a letter on official Council of Seven letterhead. “Stewart opened it and thought you’d want to see it right away.”
I waddle into the middle of the room as I read. “It’s from Kyoko,” I say, lifting my eyes to Ash.
“What does it say?” he asks, setting the swatches on the top of a dresser.
I scan the letter. “The council appreciates my bravery and selflessness in saving the girls in the school at the risk of my own line of succession. I passed my probationary period. On behalf of the council, she wants to offer me a permanent seat.”
“Congratulations,” Ash says, pride in me written all over his face.
Lowering the letter, I rest it on my big belly. “She also says that the seat can still be revoked if I don’t show fair and sound judgment, so she’ll be watching me. If I fuck it up, I’m out.”
“I’m sure you’ll win her over. Eventually.” Ash grins at me and then checks his watch. “Let’s get you something to eat before we go meet Sofie and Max to talk about your birth plan.”
“I’m not really hungry, and everybody already knows the plan. I’m delivering naturally.” Ash and I have been meeting with our doctors since I returned to Avalon to talk about what to expect during the delivery. My time in the clutches of Elle and her psychotic doctor gave me PTSD where a C-section is concerned—almost being murdered and having your babies abducted will do that to you. I hyperventilate just thinking about it and curse Elle and Franco for making me terrified of a perfectly valid birthing option.
“We just want to discuss the contingencies.” Ash’s voice is both soothing and firm.
“Sofie and Max both agree that having the twins naturally is perfectly safe as long as there are no complications. So that’s the game plan.” I hand Ash the council letter back.
He tucks it into the breast pocket of his suit coat. “Fair enough. But let’s go get you a snack.”
I’ve been a good sport for months while Ash makes sure I eat and get enough rest. But these last few days, I’m restless, uncomfortable and running out of patience with him and being pregnant in general. “I just said I wasn’t hungry.”
“You’re never hungry until you are, and then we have about two minutes before you turn into a completely different person. Remember our deal? I get to take care of you until the babies are born.”
“I made that deal in haste,” I mumble. A cramp hits hard low in my belly, doubling me over, and Ash is immediately at my side. I’ve had Braxton-Hicks contractions several times in the last month. Sofie says we want to keep the buns in the oven as long as possible, so even though Ash and I are excited to meet the babies, we’re relieved when it turns out to be false labor. The pain passes, and when I straighten up, a gush of warm liquid runs down the inside of my leg and collects on the floor between my feet.
“Nina, have you sprung a leak?” Ben asks, looking shocked.
Ash takes my arm and helps me to a chair before whipping out his phone. “I’m calling Sofie.”
A minute later, Sofie and Max rush into the room, each wearing scrubs and carrying a large medical bag.
“I think her water just broke,” Ben says, pointing at me. “I better take off before I see much more.”
Max sets his doctor’s bag down on the floor. “Giving birth is a beautiful, natural process, Ben.”
Ben hastily backpedals out of the room. “I know you like to tap me in on your adventures, Nina, but I think I’m going to let you and Ash handle this one on your own.”
“I don’t know what I’ll do without your supportive bedside manner,” I call after Ben sarcastically as the door to the bedroom closes after him.
Sofie puts a portable monitor on my stomach, and the babies’ heartbeats fill the room. I never get tired of that sound. A picture of the babies appears on the small screen of the monitor. “This is it, Nina. Today’s the day. Your water has broken, and the babies are both head down. If you want to try a vaginal birth, you can. It’s safe.”
I spend the next few hours laboring in my apartment, where I’m most comfortable, with Ash never more than a few feet away. Max and Sofie bring in a number of machines to monitor the babies. Kat and Gia drop by to check on me and take photos to capture the moment. I’m grateful for Ash’s attentiveness and the girls’ company—they both help distract me through early labor, which is a dull throb in my back and lower abdomen, along with pressure in my pelvis.
“Would you like to walk around some more?” Ash asks, rubbing light circles on my back.
My hands are supporting me as I lean on the breakfast bar, sucking on ice chips. “Not right now, but could you rub my back a little harder.”
Ash places his large, warm hands on my lower back and pushes down with just enough counter pressure to relieve the ache. “How’s this?”
I sigh in relief. “Perfect. You don’t just have a magic dick. You have magic hands, too.”
“My dick is what got us into this situation.” Ash laughs and then becomes serious, “You’re doing awesome, Nina. You’re so strong. But know that if I could take the pain for you, I would.”
“I know you would. And knowing that helps.” I smile at him and concentrate on my breathing. When he starts doing the rhythmic breathing with me, it reaffirms that we’re in this together.
The contractions get stronger into the evening, and the downward pressure increases, so I move to my bed. All the books I read said labor is a good pain—it means the babies are coming—so I should be able to bear it by concentrating on my happy place. The books lied. It feels like an SUV is parked on my middle, and it makes me more than a little grouchy.
Just as I’m catching my breath from the last contraction, a new one rolls from the top of my uterus to the bottom, clenching my abdomen in agony. Without thinking, I grab my husband in a headlock and yell, “I’m never doing this again.”
When the contractions are coming very close together, Sofie asks, “Would you like an epidural for the pain?”
“Hit me, bartender,” I say through clenched teeth. “As a matter of fact, make it a double.” My plan was to try for a drug-free delivery. Plans change.
After Max administers the pain relief, I’m much more comfortable and can relax between the contractions. Only an hour later, I’m fully dilated, and Sofie announces it’s time to push. I’m ready to get these babies born.
Max and Sofie abruptly leave my bedside to confer quietly as they watch the monitoring systems very closely.
“What’s going on?” Ash asks.
“We need to look at the contingencies in your delivery plan,” Sofie says with a solemn expression.
“What? Why? I’m so close.” I look at Sofie.
“Baby A has flipped. It’s breech. Feet first.” Sofie taps the screen of the monitor.
“And their heart rates are dipping. It’s time for a C-section,” Max says.
Ash takes my hand. “I know this isn’t the delivery you hoped for, but it’s the best for the twins. You’re not alone this time. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
As much as the thought of a C-section scares me, I nod at Ash. “Whatever we need to do for the babies.”
Two of Sofie’s most trusted nurses burst into the room with a gurney and bring me down to the operating room. Just outside the doors, Max gives Ash a set of green scrubs.
“I’m not leaving her,” Ash says, handing them back.
“You need to change into sterile scrubs.” Max forces them into Ash’s hands. “Nothing is going to happen until Sofie and I scrub in.”
“It’s okay, Ash. Just hurry,” I say. At one point in my life, I would have put on a fake smile and pretended I didn’t need him, that I would be fine on my own. But I do need him. I can’t do this without him by my side.
“I’ll only be a second.” He squeezes my hand, and the nurses wheel me into the brightly lit operating room.
My heart races, and sweat beads on my forehead when the nurses transfer me to the operating table, and hook me up to heart rate and blood pressure monitoring. Ash appears at my side and takes my hand, instantly calming me.
Sofie and Max enter the room with their hands in the air, and the nurses help them into their gloves. “She already has an epidural, so that saves us time,” Sofie announces. “Everything’s going to be fine, Nina.”
“I don’t want to be strapped down.” A memory of being strapped to the operating table, while Elle, Franco and the doctor stood over me flashes through my mind. For a moment, I’m light-headed with fear.
The two nurses watch the blips on the monitors as my heart rate and blood pressure soar.
Ash puts his face close to mine, Archer’s eyes looking out at me. “I’d like to kill Elle and Franco all over again for what they did to you. I know it’s difficult, but try not to let them ruin this happy day.”
I give Ash a determined smile. He’s right. I’m surrounded by people who love me. There’s nothing to be afraid of.
“We would never restrain you, Nina. We’re going to take very good care of you,” Max says gently.
The nurses drape a blue sheet across my chest so I can’t see what’s happening. Max and Sofie take up position on the other side of the blue sheet, and Ash sits on a stool close to my head. The nurses bustle around the room, preparing for the twins’ delivery.
“We’re going to have some babies here in a moment. Nina, you’re doing great.” Sofie’s eyes meet mine over the blue sheet.
“Can you lower the sheet a little?” I ask. “I want to see them as soon as they come out.”
“Of course.” Max lowers the sheet by half so I can see his and Sofie’s arms working, but not my stomach.
“Nina, you may feel some pressure here. That’s totally normal,” Sofie says. “All right, here we go.”
There is a tugging sensation in my abdomen before Sofie holds up a baby girl covered in white goo and some blood. She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
“We have a girl!” Ash exclaims.
“Ash, do you want to cut the cord?” Max asks.
Keeping one hand in mine, Ash cuts the baby’s cord.
I burst into tears of joy when our little girl lets out an angry cry. There’s a flurry of activity as the nurses swoop in to suction her airways and get her cleaned up.
“Here comes baby number two,” Max says, handing Sofie an instrument.
I brace myself for the tugging and pressure.
Sofie holds up a second goo-covered baby, and my heart expands with love.
“It’s a boy, Nina. One of each.” Ash’s voice is filled with tears as he cuts our son’s cord.
The bleating of newborn babies rings out and I’ve never heard anything more wonderful in my life. Beethoven’s Symphony no. 3 has nothing on the music my twins are making.
Lying on the operating table, my happy tears flow freely. Ash presses his forehead to mine and opens the mate bond so he and Archer can deliver a private message. Thank you. Thank you for giving us our family.
The doctors and nurses call out numbers, bringing my attention back to the room. Our daughter weighs in at five pounds and three ounces. Our son is bigger at six pounds, eight ounces.
Within a few minutes, the nurses bring the crying babies to me and place them on my chest. I lay a hand on each of their tiny backs, and Ash encircles all of us in his arms.
“I love you.” I kiss each of their sweet faces, and the babies stop crying, but Ash and I bawl tears of joy for a long time after.
A week later, Ash is sitting in bed next to me, holding the twins high up on his chest. They look like two burritos, swaddled in their yellow blankets. “Mommy is going to buy you each a pony and teach you how to ride,” he promises in his deep voice and kisses the tops of their hat-covered heads. “Daddy’s going to teach you how to play rugby and take you camping. Maybe we can even convince Mommy to come.” He kisses each of them again.
Watching Ash become a father is the sweetest sight in the universe and makes me fall even more in love with him, but I can’t let the idea of camping go unchallenged. “Have you met me, Ash? I don’t do camping. I don’t even do glamping.” I giggle at the thought.
After a quick knock, Sofie comes into the room, “Nina, how are you feeling today?”
“I’m good.” I smile contentedly at Sofie. “The breastfeeding is getting easier, and Ash giving them a bottle during the night is really helping out.”
Just then, my mother appears in her transcendent form at the side of my bed. Once she found out I was pregnant, she visited often during my final trimester, but this is her first time seeing the babies. She eyes the twins’ pink and blue knit caps and inclines her head in approval. “A girl and a boy. Avalon has never had a prince before. I like the equality. You and Ashton are ushering in a new era, Seraphina. The twins may call me grand-mère,” she announces with a regal wave of her hand.
“We’re not French,” I chuckle.
“That hardly matters. It has a ring to it,” she says without apology. My mother always did live by her own set of rules.
Another knock sounds at the door. Sofie answers it to reveal Reg, Mari and Dahlia. Then she slips quietly out of the room.
“Ash said this was a good time to drop by. We won’t stay long. We’re just so excited to meet our grandchildren.” Mari presses her hands to her heart.
Reg is loaded down with gift bags, wrapped boxes and stuffed animals. “We also picked up a couple of gifts for the babies.” Reg gives Mari a speaking glance before piling the presents on a nearby chair.
Dahlia looks at her big brother. “Ash, can I hold one of Nina’s babies?”
Ash laughs and gives his parents a “you’re going to have to explain this to her” look. No matter how many times we told Dahlia the babies growing in my tummy were mine and Ash’s, her five-year-old mind just couldn’t make the connection. And really, who can blame her?
“Dahlia, jump up here with us.” I pat the bed, and she climbs up to sit between Ash and me. “Ash, give me the twins, please, and then heat up the room.”
Ash’s dragon magic circulates in the bedroom, bringing up the temperature, and he lays the babies in my lap.
As I gently unwrap each baby from their blanket, Dahlia face beams openly at me. “They’re like presents.”
“They are like presents, Dahlia.” A few happy tears leak down my cheeks as I watch the babies stretch their arms above their heads and bring their knees up to their chests, eyes still closed in slumber.
“What are their names?” Mari asks tenderly.
“This is Summer Sophia Katherine Georgia, Princess of Avalon and Westmoreland.” I boop my daughter’s button nose.
“And this is River Bennet Maximilian Lucas, Prince of Avalon and Westmoreland,” Ash says, repeating the nose boop on our son.
We already shared the twins’ names with our friends, and they were all touched, especially Ben, who pledged to devote himself entirely to the role of fun uncle.
With their grandparents and Dalia cooing over how adorable they are, Ash and I gaze down at our children, utterly besotted with them.
Then Ash’s eyes meet mine, and we give each other a secret smile, saying I love you with no words at all.
