Page 116 of Broken Bonds

They’re mine.

Now, I just have to get better so I can show them.

* * *

“Here we are, Mama. Three little ones very eager to meet you,” Rion says as he helps me walk over to where the babies are in the NICU.

They’re each in their own bassinets with IVs and tubes in their noses that they said was for feeding right now. Miraculously, they’re all breathing fantastically on their own. The feeding tubes are because they’ve been having a bit of trouble latching and sucking, but if they keep doing as well as they have been, I should be able to try feeding them directly from me soon.

Something I’m really ready for.

There’s a chair nearby that Forde leads me to, helping me get comfortable. A nurse comes over just as I sit, smiling at me, and I smile back at her.

“Good morning Omega Daniels. I’m one of the three nurses that’s been assigned to the triplets today. My name is Cara, and it’s good to finally see you in here. I bet you’re dying to get your hands on them, and I can’t even blame you because they’re the sweetest little beans. They’ve all been doing wonderful, so if they’re lucky, they won’t be in here with us for too long. Everyone’s lungs are working remarkably well, so really, they just need to gain a bit of weight and get latching and sucking down,” she says as she carefully picks one of them up and brings them to me.

“This big, little guy here is Baby A. One of your alphas here said his name is Dawson.”

She sets the tiny bundle in my arms and oh my gods, my heart. Oh, it is so full as I look down at the sweetest little face. He’s so small, but the biggest of the three at three pounds and eleven ounces, and so perfect.

I run my fingers over his downy soft, dark curls before bringing his head up to my nose and inhaling, closing my eyes. He smells so good, that new baby smell with hints of his new little scent of strawberries and cream.

He has big eyes that I can’t wait to see open so I can see what color they might be and plush little rosy lips that sit below the cutest nose. His cheeks are chubby, considering how small he is, and I just want to kiss him all over his face the longer I stare down at him.

“Would you like to try some skin-to-skin contact? It’s really great for them,” Cara says, and I nod excitedly.

Link takes Dawson as I open the front of my gown a bit and he undoes the blanket wrapped around him. When I’m ready, he passes him back over to me, placing him on my chest and covering us both with the small blanket he was swaddled in. I kiss the top of his head when he fusses momentarily, swaying from side to side to get him to settle.

“Shh,” I whisper against his head, running a finger down his back lightly.

Once he settles back down, Cara raises a brow at me.

“Ready for Baby B? Fisher right?”

I nod and she picks him up, already having taken his blanket off, and places him on my chest beside his brother.

My heart is so full, it’s close to bursting when I glance down at Fisher. He has peach fuzz of blonde hair, and it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. A tiny button nose sits above pink bow-shaped lips that curl up on the right side a bit as his eyes flutter behind his lids. Forde told me he weighed three pounds eight ounces, but he doesn’t feel much lighter than Dawson in my hold.

I press my nose to his head as well and smell him, smiling to myself. He smells like night blooming jasmine underneath that newborn scent, and I love it.

“Think you can handle one more?” Cara asks as she holds my last little one in her hands.

“Yes,” I say, shifting Fisher over a little more to make room for my little girl.

Cara sets the copper topped little bundle on the right side of my chest next to Fisher and then covers them all with the blanket Dawson was wrapped in.

“I’ll just be over there, so call out to me if you need me. Congratulations. You have a beautiful family,” Cara says, smiling at Rion, Forde, and Link.

I’m so preoccupied with the babies in my arms that I don’t even bother to correct her.

The little girl on my chest, with her little heart-shaped lips parted and cheek squished against me, has completely melted my heart. Her copper hair is so shiny and soft, sticking up in the front, and when I rub my fingers over it, I find it’s just as soft as Dawson’s and Fisher’s. She’s smaller than her brothers, but not by much, weighing in at three pounds five ounces, and I can’t help but tear up a little as I look down at all three of my little miracles.

Pressing my nose to her head and sniffing her, too, I sigh when her sweet cotton candy scent hits me.

“Forde said you didn’t get to tell him her name before. What is it?” Rion asks excitedly, running the tip of his finger across her cheek.

I smile down at her, kissing her head.

“Birdie. Birdie Celia Rose Daniels,” I say, looking directly at Forde when I tell them her full name.

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