by L. A. Casey
This fear, I felt was warranted, so I didn’t feel any guilt for it.
During all the commotion, I took out my phone and began recording. I made sure to get the full view of Branna as she gave birth, and I noted that I would instantly delete it if she didn’t want to keep it, but since no one else thought to record the moment, and I was doing nothing but hyperventilating, I figured I’d make myself useful and capture the once in a lifetime memory.
“He’s crownin’,” the doctor announced after minutes of pushing. Once the head was out, Branna screamed to the high heavens. “Shoulders, chest … penis, thighs … and Baby A is here.”
Branna cried with relief as her son was placed on her chest, Ryder was completely in awe as he stared down at his firstborn son, and Bronagh, she was silently crying. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as a smile stretched across her lips.
“You did it, Bran,” Bronagh gushed and kissed her sister’s head. “You did it!”
“Thank you,” Ryder said to Branna before kissing her face. “Thank you for making me a daddy. I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” Branna sobbed.
Together, she and Ryder stared down at her baby while Taylor silently wiped him off with a towel. Ryder kissed his son’s head, and Branna quickly followed suit.
“He’s perfect,” Branna said in wonder. “And he looks just like you!”
“Are you kidding?” Ryder replied, his eyes glazed over with unshed tears. “He’s beautiful. That’s all you, sweetness.”
I stared at the baby. “Am I seein’ things, or does the child have white blond hair?”
“You aren’t seein’ things,” Bronagh laughed. “Damien isn’t the only fair haired lad anymore.”
I got a lump in my throat as emotion overcame me, but I kept my hand steady, making sure the video I was recording wouldn’t be messed up. Seven minutes later, Branna groaned in pain, and Baby A was taken to the side by Sally where he could get cleaned up, weighed, and checked over properly. I desperately wanted to go and see him, but I stayed rooted to the spot. Things then went from calm to insanity in seconds. Branna was contracting once more, and she began to push her second son out.
My vagina was in agony just looking at her, my legs were so tightly crossed I knew Damien would need to be awarded a medal if he ever managed to pry them open again.
I found myself pushing right along with Branna, as if trying to help her. Baby B, who had white blond hair also, took ten minutes longer to make his appearance into the world, making his brother seventeen minutes older, but when he did, it was with a whooping scream.
Everyone cried, mainly Branna, and a part of me thought it was because she didn’t have to push another kid out at that moment. After Baby B spent a few minutes with his mammy and daddy, he was taken aside to be cleaned, weighed, and checked over just like his brother. Both babies were returned to Branna once she delivered the afterbirth, got cleaned up with a wash cloth and got settled into bed.
I had stopped recording by the time that happened, but I was taking lots of pictures, just in case Branna and Ryder wanted me to delete the video. I moved over to the twins after they were bundled in blue blankets and had tiny white hats on their heads. I gushed over them, and when Bronagh came to join me, we both hugged each other with excitement.
After the babies were handed back to Branna, Sally said, “Baby A is five pounds ten ounces and twenty inches long, and Baby B is five pounds even and twenty inches long, too. Good job, sweetie.”
Branna beamed then turned her head and kissed Ryder, who was wiping tears from his cheeks. He spent minutes gazing down at the twins, then kissing Branna and thanking her for giving them to him once again. He carefully took one twin from her and cuddled him against his chest. My heart squeezed as I watched him. He was a mountain of a man, super tall, lean with muscle, and here he was, completely at the mercy of the tiny bundle in his arms.
“Pictures,” I announced.
Ryder beamed at me as I took a picture of him and his son, Branna mimicked him as I snapped one of her and their other son. Ryder leaned in closer, so I could get the first photo together of them as a family.
“Can we hear their names now?” I asked, lowering my device. “I think I’m about to collapse from all the excitement; give me somethin’ good to go out on.”
The new parents grinned at me.
“This little man, Baby A,” Branna beamed, “is Nixon Joe Slater.”
Ryder partly sat on the side of Branna’s bed.
“This little dude, Baby B.” He smiled down at his son as he yawned, “is Jules Alec Slater.”
I clutched my free hand to my chest. “Alec is gonna cry when he finds out.”
“Definitely.” Bronagh echoed, then to her sister, she said, “You gave Nixon his middle name after Da?”
“Of course.” Branna smiled tiredly. “He’s the greatest man, besides Ry, that I’ve ever known.”
Bronagh walked over to her sister and kissed her cheek; she then silently cried again as Branna offered her Nixon to hold for the first time. Bronagh sat down on the chair provided, and when Ryder rounded the bed and handed Jules to her, too, a little sob burst free.
“Smile, Bee,” I said and waited until she did as I asked before I took a picture of them.
Ryder and Branna hugged and kissed some more, but when he turned to me, he grinned. I was bouncing from foot to foot. I was so proud of them both, and I was so happy for them that I could have burst.
“You’re a daddy!” I squealed and launched myself at Ryder, who caught me, laughed and hugged me so tight, I could have sworn I heard my bones crunch.
“I’m a daddy.”
“Congratulations, I’m so happy for you both, Ry.”
I scrabbled for my phone once more when he released me.
“I have to update everyone,” I announced. “They’ll kill me otherwise.”
Ryder snorted, then moved over to Branna, who was now nibbling on a slice of toast and sipping a cup of tea Sally brought her. She didn’t look like she wanted either of them, but from the look Sally shot her way, she knew arguing against it was futile.
I focused on my phone and dialled Damien’s number. He answered on the second ring.
“How is she?”
“She is fabulous,” I squealed, “and so are our nephews!”
“What?” Damien shouted. “She had them already?”
“Yup!”
“Branna had the twins!” He screamed so loudly, I had to pull my phone away from my ear, laughing. “She had them!”
“Two boys for definite,” I said. “Both perfectly healthy.”
Damien repeated the information I fed him, and cheers sounded in the background.
“And Branna?” he asked.
“She’s brilliant,” I gushed. “You should have seen ’er; she was like superwoman. I’m not even jokin’; she is literally me hero after seein’ ’er go through that twice in the space of a few minutes.”
Damien laughed. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I answered instantly. “I thought I was about to faint five or six times, and me legs may permanently remain crossed forever after what I just witnessed.”
Damien sucked in a breath. “You don’t mean that.”
“I just saw a woman push not one, but two humans out of ‘er vagina,” I said with a shake of my head. “I’m never havin’ sex again. I’m sorry, it’s just not happenin’.”
“Alannah,” Damien said … or did he whimper. “Don’t make any rash decisions, just … just put sex from your mind and focus on those babies and Branna, okay?”
“Okay.” I nodded. “Still not havin’ sex, though.”
“Fuck!”
“You’re such a man.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down,” Damien snapped to someone in the background. “She just said she’s never having sex with me because she watched Branna give birth! How would you feel if Keela said that to you? … Exactly! You’d fucking cry!”
A
lec.
I laughed so hard everyone looked at me, so I waved them off and turned my back, trying to focus on Damien.
“I have to go,” I said to him. “I’ll see you later.”
I hung up, noting he was still arguing with his brother to even hear me say goodbye. I jumped when my phone rang before I put it into my pocket; at first, I thought Damien was calling me back, but when a different name shot across the screen, I smiled and clicked answer.
“Hey, Morgan,” I beamed.
“Hey, Alannah,” came his response. “I’m just checkin’ in that we’re still good for me startin’ tomorrow? I’ve logged your address into my sat-nav, so I’ll make it there no problem.”
“We’re still on for tomorrow,” I said, glancing at my friends. “I still haven’t got the spare bedroom switched around yet, but we’ll manage with the desk and setup I have for the time being.
“Brilliant,” Morgan answered. “I’ve a schedule done out, and I’m buzzin’ to get started.”
“Well, it seems I made the right choice in hirin’ you. You sound more than ready to get to work.
His chuckle practically rumbled through the receiver of my phone.
“Born ready, boss.”
It was seven p.m. when we prepared to leave the hospital so Branna and Ryder could have one-on-one time with their sons and get some well-deserved rest. Bronagh and I stayed the entire time; the rest of the tribe showed up one hour after she gave birth, and by then, she was settled in a large private room with no distractions. All of us stared at the babies in complete awe. Georgie and Jax looked at them but weren’t all that bothered; the only time they showed any interest was when their parents held the twins. They didn’t like that very much, and they didn’t like when I held them either.
“I told you she was their favourite,” Keela scowled. “They didn’t cry when the rest of us held the babies.”
I grinned, taking Jax from Kane after I carefully handed Jules back to his father. Jax snuggled against my chest and placed his hand on my breast. He began to play with it, and this was how I knew he was tired and that Aideen would have to nurse him soon. I glanced at his younger brother, and my lips twitched. Locke slept nearly the entire time he was in the hospital. He was brilliant at two things, eating and sleeping.
“Am I the only one seeing him openly play with her tit?”
I rolled my eyes at Alec.
“Am I also the only one seeing Damien openly glare at the boy for it?”
I looked at Damien, and sure enough, his grey eyes were locked on his first-born nephew, and they were narrowed.
“I don’t even think I’m allowed to freely play with them,” Damien said, not taking his eyes off Jax. “Why should he be allowed?”
“Because he is a baby.”
Damien flicked his gaze to mine. “That’s no excuse.”
Jax locked eyes on Damien then fully rested his hand on my breast, his palm flattened, and it caused Damien to hiss at him.
“You know damn well what you’re doing, kid. I know you do.”
I couldn’t believe it when Jax tiredly chuckled.
“See!” Damien pointed at him. “I told you. He knows she’s mine, and that touching her pisses me off.”
The playful show of dominance caused a pulse to grow between my thighs.
“Stop cussing,” Kane said to Damien. “He’s nearly one; he’ll learn the words easier if they’re spoken often.”
“Is damn a curse word?” Bronagh mumbled to her sister.
Branna smiled, tiredly. “Not to us, but in America? Yeah.”
“What about hell?”
“It’s a cuss,” Nico answered his fiancée.
“That’s stupid. How can it be a curse word when it’s a place?”
“We didn’t make up the rules, baby.” Nico chuckled, cuddling Georgie to his chest. “We’ve just been raised to know they’re cuss words.”
“Curse, not cuss.”
I rolled my eyes. “Let them have their way of sayin’ it; we’ve a shiteload of words they have to deal with daily, and you don’t hear them complain about it.”
Every male in the room said, “Thank you.”
I smiled and kissed Jax’s head, gaining his attention.
“Do you want to have a sleepover, little man?” I cooed. “With Auntie Alannah?”
“And Uncle Damien.”
I smiled, not taking my eyes off my nephew. “If one of you are stayin’ in me bed, it’s Jax.”
“Damn, kid.”
“Damien!”
“What? Shit, sorry.”
“Don’t say shit either!”
“I can’t remember all these rules, Kane!”
I laughed. “I’ll remind you, big man.”
Damien’s attention zeroed in on me. “Is that a promise, gorgeous?”
I swallowed.
“Oh.” Bronagh sighed. “I can feel the sexual tension between you both.”
Instantly, my face reddened.
“Bronagh!”
“What?” She smiled, fluttering her eyelashes. “What’d I do?”
She knew bloody well what she did.
“Stop talkin’, please.”
She made the motion that her lips were sealed with her fingers, but she had a shit-eating grin on her face, which caused me to shake my head as I fought off a grin of my own. I focused on Aideen and Kane, then with a nod down to Jax, I asked, “Can he sleep over?”
“Yes,” they answered in unison.
Damien snorted. “Locke doesn’t wake up at night; I wonder what you’ll both get up to.”
Kane smirked; Aideen deadpanned.
“We’ll be sleepin’,” she said with authority. “Don’t let ’im fool you either. He’ll be out cold before I am.”
Kane shrugged, not denying the charges against him, which made the rest of us chuckle. We all kissed and hugged Branna and Ryder, congratulating them once again. Each of us cooed over the sleeping twins once more and mentioned how much they looked like Ryder. Everyone agreed they had to keep the different coloured bands on their ankles because none of us could tell them apart.
They were identical.
Kane and Aideen took both the kids in their car because it seemed pointless to put Jax’s car seat in my car when we’d all be driving to the same building. Bronagh went home with Nico and Georgie and Alec left with Keela, which left just me and Damien to climb into my car. I was buckled up before I realised that he was in the driver’s seat.
“Is this a thing now?” I said. “When did you take me keys?”
“They were hangin from your back pocket. I picked them easily.”
I shook my head, smiling. “I’m datin’ a thief.”
“I walk on the wild side, freckles.”
I tiredly chuckled, before I yawned.
“Why did you suggest taking Jax if you’re tired?”
“Because I love ’im,” I answered. “And he goes asleep pretty easily for me.”
“Does he fall asleep on your chest?”
“Yeah, why?”
Damien grunted. “I’d be snug enough to sleep if I was lying on your chest for a while, too.”
I snickered as he backed out of the car park. Damien beeped as we passed Nico, who was loading Georgie into her car seat. He looked over his shoulder, waved at me, then stuck his middle finger up at Damien. Damien returned the gesture without blinking.
“You’re not the only twins in the family now,” I said as we merged into the traffic. “How do you feel about that?”
“Awesome because they aren’t mine.”
My lips twitched. “Could be one day.”
“Then I feel sorry for you since you’ll be the one carrying them.”
My heart stopped, and so did the conversation.
“Lana,” Damien said, giving my knee a pinch. “Don’t freak out on me, please? I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
I looked at him. “But you meant it either way?”
He glanced at me, the
n the road.
“We shouldn’t talk about this,” he said. “It’s way too early for that. I don’t want you any warier than you already are about us.”
“Damien,” I said, tilting my head as I looked at him. “You just said I’ll be carrying your babies … that’s not somethin’ we should sweep under the carpet.”
Damien swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bobbed.
“Okay.” He licked his lips. “When I think of having kids, you’re automatically the person I picture as their mother.”
My stomach fluttered with butterflies.
“Really?”
Damien nodded, his hands tightening on the steering wheel. “Are you freaked out?”
“No,” I answered honestly. “I’m pretty touched, though, that you’d see me in such an important role.”
Damien shrugged. “I told you that I want to do this for real with you. I’m not looking for a fling, or a half ass relationship. I’m looking for my wife, Alannah, and I know that’s going to be you someday.”
My mouth dried.
“Damien.”
“It’s crazy, I know,” he said. “But don’t you think that we could get there, even a little?”
I pondered this, but only for a moment because the answer was a no-brainer.
“I envisioned meself marryin’ you a few seconds after I clapped eyes on you in school, so what d’you think?”
Damien looked at me, to the road, back to me, then back to the road.
“Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack,” I answered.
“Fuck, baby, you’ve made an already incredible day so much sweeter by telling me that.”
I lifted my hand, ran it up his arm, and rested it behind his neck as he drove.
“We’ll get there,” I said. “I know we will.”
“Slowly, but surely?”
I smiled and looked out the window, the city passing by in a blur of activity.
“Slowly, but surely.”
“Babe?”
I looked up from changing Jax’s nappy, and just for a moment, I had to remind myself that Damien was talking to me. Hearing him refer to me as a pet name was still very surreal, and I couldn’t imagine myself getting used to it.