Epilogue
“T wins!” the doctor announced. “Yes, most certainly twins.”
The second baby came as rapidly as the first but was quite a surprise. To everyone but Mercy.
Somehow, Mercy had known that she was carrying twin hearts inside her, but she had not confessed it because she did not want to seem a complete and total fool. But she had dreamed of two little boys in her last months of being with child.
They had already become known to her.
Oh dear heaven, her heart was so full!
Months ago, Mercy could never have imagined having twins to take care of. But as the doctor and the nurse took care of the babies, wiping them clean and wrapping them in swaddling, she could not wait for them to be placed in her arms.
Tears of joy slipped down her cheeks, and her heart all but burst. Leander stood beside her, watching her face, holding her hand, and then he gently helped her adjust on the bed so she could rest and feel at ease against the pillows.
With so much care, he gave her sips of water and stroked her hair back from her face. He was transfixed, staring at her as if he had been afraid that perhaps she might be taken from him. But now that they had come to the other side of the birth and both children were crying loudly as they should, he let out a laugh of sheer joy.
“I love you,” he declared passionately. “I’m so very proud of you, my love,” he whispered against her cheek.
Leander kissed her lips softly, a whisper of a touch. And yet it was pure love.
“And I you,” she murmured against his lips. “I couldn’t have done this without you,” she returned.
“Oh, yes, you could,” he countered, taking her hand in his. “My mighty Mercy, you could do anything, but I will always walk by your side.”
“And that is what matters,” she replied.
Then the doctor and nurse, both beaming, came and placed a babe in each of her arms. Two perfect pink faces with shockingly wide blue eyes stared up at her.
She looked at her sons and the duke, the great duke, the great powerful man? He sat gently beside them and looked completely undone by the two small bundles.
Then for a single moment, his brow furrowed.
“What is it?” she asked softly. “Something has happened. I can see it.”
“What if,” he whispered softly, “they’re like me?”
She was surprised that this had suddenly come up, but she shouldn’t have been.
While neither of them would ever be controlled by fear again, fear was a normal part of life. To wonder, to be curious, to anticipate—that was human.
Mercy lifted her gaze to her wonderful husband and said honestly, “Then they will be the most marvelous men, for they shall care more than others do. They shall work harder than others do, and they shall make the world far greater than others would. And the world will be so desperately lucky to have them.”
Tears filled Leander’s eyes, and he laid down on the bed beside her and his sons. All the rest vanished, and there was nothing but the world of love that they had chosen.
The End