Page 244 of Branded
“It’s going to be okay.”
“Right.” Less whisper and more a quiet word.
But…progress.
“Good?”
I nibbled my lip but nodded. “Good.”
Then he was carrying me, ignoring my protests, setting me on the bed and getting me into the outfit I’d set out to wear to the hospital in case something like this happened (I was either very prepared or had ESP). He changed as I phoned Pru.
Another contraction hit mid-call, so he took over, relaying the info, promising to meet them at the hospital.
Because he was Raph.
Because he was mine.
“Right,” I whispered when it was done. “I think it’s go time.”
He kissed my forehead. “You got this.”
A breath. My hand tight in his. “I know I do.” I smiled. “Because you’re here.”
“Fuck, I love you.”
“I love?—”
Another contraction hit.
And then it really was go time.
Epilogue
Raph
She’d been magnificent.
She was still magnificent, hair a mess, lipstick chewed off, head pressed back into the pillows, eyes closed.
Her fingers were still wrapped tightly around mine, even as she took a much-deserved nap.
A breast pump sat on the rolling table, because of course, my woman was going to try to do that for the babies.
Catherine Hazelbeth and Leonardo Oliver Aubert had made their entrance healthy, albeit a bit on the small side. Mom and Dad were currently with them in the NICU for some precautionary testing, but the doctors didn’t expect it to take longer than an hour or two.
And Beth, who’d just pushed out two babies, had cried when she heard the names.
Then cried some more when she had watched Pru and Marcel holding them.
But her tears had dried when she held them, softly brushing her finger over their downy cheeks. “I’m going to be your favorite auntie,” she whispered. “We’re going to have all the fun and give your mommy and daddy all the gray hairs.”
Then she looked at me. “Can you take them? My arms—” She’d been tired, so tired she could barely hold them. And I knew that while she knew they weren’t her babies, they also were, would always be in many ways.
I felt the same.
The babies were mine, but not.
So, I held them before their parents had reclaimed them, and then I held her hand, read up on pumping breastmilk, and stayed with Beth while she slept.
