Page 74 of His Daggered Heart

“Twins,” Kohen says.

“Yeah. Twins.”

“Okay, I… We…”

“We got this, handsome, we can do this. We won’t fuck it up because we know what it’s like to have a shitty parent.”

“You’re right.” He smiles. “We got this. I have to text Cora.” He pulls out his phone and begins to type out a text to her and I laugh. “Oh and, angel?”

“Yes, handsome?” I say, pulling on my underwear and yoga pants.

“I am so fucking happy.” He steps into my space, pulling me into his chest for a hug. “And I fucking love you.” He kisses me, and I feel his hands move down my back, and to the mounds of my ass. “You are so fucking sexy,” he adds. “Yeah, yeah that’s how we got here.”

Chapter 49

Kohen

Four weeks later

It’sagirl!Correction,it’s girls! We have identical twin girls on the way. Or at least that’s what the gender reveal confetti and balloons say. I am going to be the father of two mini Alex Ventura’s.

Fuck me, what did I ever do in life to deserve this?

My gorgeous wife has a beautiful little bump and we are celebrating the gender reveal of our daughters and Cora is next. If this is any indication of how the rest of our lives will go, this is it. A house full of friends and family, and because Cora and Alex got pregnant a few weeks apart, that means all our kids will have birthdays around the same time. It’s going to be a madhouse. Who am I kidding? I wouldn’t trade this life for anything.

The party planner sets Cora’s balloons and confetti cannons up and I start to record. She pokes the huge black balloon at the same time that Alex and Levi pop their cannons. Blue smoke and confetti explode before our eyes and Cora cries, hugging a crying Alex and it’s a whole thing. I don’t know what else the future holds but it looks so fucking bright.

Alex

I’m the mother of twin girls, holy shit! Kohen better be ready! I also can’t believe Cora is having a boy. I guess the plans we made for having girls who were best friends like us are shot to hell. It’s okay, I’ll take a miniature Levi any day. He will raise that boy right.

Cora and I have been taking extra classes to make sure that we are almost done before the babies are born. We are going to finish college and I am lucky that Krista opened a dance studio. She says I can train there and teach if I want, and honestly, it sounds perfect.

Kohen has to tour for a while but he will also be done by the time the babies are born and he is almost done with his business degree. He decided to open a gym here in town that specializes in training Olympic athletes. Levi will be a co-owner with him. I don’t think I will ever believe that this is more than some hallucination or fever dream that I will wake up from. Until then, I’m going to keep living my best fucking life.

I have come so far from being that broken girl. Love healed me and then love hurt him. We both picked up the pieces of the other one’s heart. We are equal parts poison and antidote, and that is how we survived.

Epilogue

Alex

It was hard, watching a heart shatter

But nothing good comes from standing there staring at the broken pieces on the floor

You need to pick them up with bloody hands and put them back together

They may not fit the same way, but you can be proud of the way they fit now…

?

One year later

It’sAlexa’sandKarina’sfirst birthday and our house has just finished being built. Thankfully, Cora decided to go into party planning herself after the party planner we had ruined not only our baby showers but also her wedding.

Since it’s the girls’ first birthday, we decided to do it separately from Little Levi’s.“Too much pink,”the guys said. I didn’t think it had to be pink. We could have done something neutral but Cora insisted on all the shades of pink that exist being pumped into a pretty princess party.

So here we are. The girls are dressed in fluffy pink tulle dresses. The entire yard is full of ponies and a tea party with three different bounce houses because we needed one for every age group. Cora also rented a carousel and a miniature Ferris wheel. I think she was meant to have girls because this seems like overkill and they are my actual daughters. She and Levi are the godparents, so I guess if they want to they can. The more people who love our daughters, the better. It takes a village and we have a great one.

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