Page 47 of Secret Twins for the Alien Dad

“I’m back,” Zair calls out.

“And I came with!” Eva adds.

I smile and poke my head out the door to the nursery. Both Eva and Zair are carrying my duffel bags. In her other hand, Eva is holding a container of fresh cookies. They’re definitely homemade, and my mouth begins watering just thinking about them.

Zair’s brows furrow.Uh oh. Busted.“Myra, what are you doing out of bed?”

I grin at him sheepishly. “Well, I was feeling really good, so I thought I’d get a head start on the nursery, and –”

“You know you’re supposed to be in bed!”

Eva sets down the duffel bag to swat him on the arm. “Relax, big guy. Myra knows her limits. Right, hon?”

“Right,” I reply, flashing her a grateful smile for backing me up. When has she not been my hero?

He glowers at us and takes the bags to the bedroom. As soon as he’s gone, Eva squeals and rushes over to the nursery. “Show me everything!” she exclaims.

So, I give her a tour of the room. She oohs and ahs at the baby clothes and the adorable decorations.

Zair has surprisingly cute taste in baby supplies. After the monster killing music box, I had my doubts, but everything he picked is adorable and age appropriate.

Which makes me realize that he probably meant for the box to be more of a gift for me than for the babies. He just used the babies as plausible deniability if I balked at it. Sometimes, I want to smack myself in the forehead for missing how obvious it was that he cared about me as much as he cared for the babies.

Eva spots the music box on the dresser and opens it, letting the tinkling tune play while the Nerei automaton battles monsters. She raises her eyebrows. “So, this is what you were listening to while he was gone.”

I blush and snatch it back, which only seems to prove whatever point she was trying to make.

Eva snickers. “I’m so glad you two crazy kids finally figured it out. I was about to go insane from all that tension and dancing around from you both.”

My heart skips a beat as I set the music box back on the shelf. “You knew this whole time?”

Eva shrugs. “I mean, obviously, I didn’t see the whole fated mate thing coming, but anyone with eyes can tell that he’s head over heels for you… and that you feel the same.”

I can’t help the small, girlish giggle the bubbles up from my chest. Because Eva is right, I am in love with Zair. And it feels good to have it all in the open. No more secrets, no more running, no more fear.

“I’m so happy for you,” Eva says, picking up a onesie, folding it with obviously practiced motions, and then putting it in a drawer. “After everything that you’ve been through, you deserve for things to go right for once –”

“Fuck, don’t say that, Eva!” I snap, the icy stab of fear disproportionate to her words. The thing is, though, that nothing in my life has ever gone right. I may have worked in a casino, but none of that luck ever flowed my way.

It seems ridiculous to think of her as jinxing me, but the idea that saying that life is going well for me feels like tempting the universe for something to go horribly wrong. Because right now, my life is perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing.

But sometimes, the quiet eye of the storm is far more terrifying than the howling winds and driving rain.

Her eyes widen in understanding. “Right, sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Laughing sheepishly, I shake my head. “No, I overreacted. Blame it on the pregnancy hormones making me superstitious.”

With a sigh, I lean against the crib. “I just – it feels like I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know? Like everything is perfect and easy, but nothing in my life haseverbeen perfect or easy before.”

She squeezes my shoulder. “That’s life, though, isn’t it? Just a series of challenges thrown at you until you meet one you can’t beat, and then you die.”

I snort. “Great pep talk.”

She gives me her stern teacher look, the kind reserved for students talking out of turn. “I wasn’t finished. It’s a series of challenges, yes, but you don’t have to face them alone. Sometimes, the hardest lesson you have to learn is how to trust that others will be there for you when you need them.”

A lump forms in my throat as tears prickle in my eyes. “Thank you, Eva. For everything.”

She wraps her arms around me in a hug made awkward by my very pregnant belly. “Of course. I’m so happy to have gotten to know you, Myra.”

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