Chapter Fourteen Where We Begin #6
He remained offended.
Adrian visited every weekend.
Usually with Amelia.
The nice girl had become the girlfriend.
Officially.
Naomi had extracted this information after forty minutes of relentless questioning.
Adrian claimed she was worse than Evelyn.
Naomi considered that a compliment.
Amelia worked in art conservation and had met Adrian through the restitution project after challenging one of his provenance assessments.
Naomi loved that immediately.
Apparently Adrian did too.
One Sunday afternoon, Naomi found him assembling a crib while Amelia sat on the floor reading the instructions.
“You have that backward,” Amelia said.
“I do not.”
“You absolutely do.”
“I have assembled surveillance equipment in darkness.”
“This is a crib.”
“Less complicated.”
“Then why is the mattress support upside down?”
Adrian stared at it.
Naomi leaned against the doorway.
Amelia saw her.
“Don't help him.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
Adrian looked over his shoulder.
“I hate this family.”
Naomi rubbed her growing stomach.
“No, you don't.”
He looked at her belly.
His expression immediately softened.
“No.”
He smiled.
“I really don't.”
One of the babies moved.
Naomi gasped.
Adrian dropped the screwdriver.
“What?”
She grabbed his hand.
“Come here.”
“What happened?”
“Just come here.”
She pressed his palm against the side of her belly.
They waited.
Then—
A kick.
Adrian froze.
His eyes widened.
Another movement.
His mouth opened.
“Was that—”
“Your niece or nephew.”
He looked at Naomi.
Then at her stomach.
His eyes filled.
“Again.”
Naomi laughed.
“I don't control them.”
He kept his hand there.
Amelia came closer.
Adrian looked completely amazed.
“They're really in there.”
Naomi smiled.
“They really are.”
His voice became quiet.
“Two of them.”
“Two.”
Adrian bent toward her stomach.
“Uncle Adrian here.”
Naomi rolled her eyes.
“We've discussed this.”
“I need you both to know I'm the fun one.”
Lucas entered behind them.
“No, you're not.”
Adrian straightened.
“You design nurseries for entertainment.”
“And you read art provenance reports on holiday.”
Amelia raised her hand.
“He does.”
“Betrayal,” Adrian said.
Naomi laughed.
The babies moved again.
And suddenly everyone was reaching for her stomach.
Naomi slapped hands away.
“Back up! Both of them aren't performing on demand.”
Lucas kissed her cheek.
“How are you feeling?”
Naomi considered it.
“Tired.”
He wrapped an arm around her.
“Happy.”
His smile softened.
“Hungry.”
“What do you want?”
Naomi thought.
“Peach cobbler.”
Lucas blinked.
“Where am I getting peach cobbler in London at eight o'clock?”
She stared at him.
He sighed.
“I'll figure it out.”
Adrian laughed.
Lucas pointed at him.
“You're coming.”
“Why?”
“Uncle training.”
Naomi watched the two men leave arguing.
Amelia stood beside her.
“They're ridiculous.”
Naomi smiled.
“Completely.”
Amelia glanced toward the doorway where Adrian had disappeared.
Her expression softened.
Naomi noticed.
“So.”
Amelia immediately looked suspicious.
“No.”
Naomi grinned.
“I haven't asked anything.”
“You have his sister face.”
“My what?”
“The face you make before asking questions about Adrian.”
Naomi laughed.
“I like you.”
“I know.”
Naomi slipped an arm around Amelia's shoulders.
“Good. Because I think you're going to be around awhile.”
Amelia blushed.
Naomi pretended not to notice.
For now.
That night, Naomi lay in bed with Lucas's hand resting over her stomach.
One twin moved beneath his palm.
Lucas smiled in the darkness.
“There.”
“I felt it.”
“They've been active all day.”
“Probably your fault.”
“My fault?”
“You never sit still.”
Naomi looked at him.
“I'm carrying two human beings. I sit constantly.”
Lucas kissed her forehead.
“You're beautiful.”
Naomi smiled.
Her body had changed.
Her belly had rounded dramatically.
Her breasts were fuller.
Her hips seemed even softer.
Some days she looked in the mirror and marveled at herself.
Other days she felt exhausted, swollen, emotional, and completely unlike the woman she had been a year earlier.
Lucas loved her through both kinds of days.
Not with endless compliments when she didn't want them.
Sometimes by rubbing her feet.
Sometimes by bringing food.
Sometimes by listening when she admitted she was frightened.
Naomi covered his hand.
“I still get overwhelmed.”
“I know.”
“What if they're born and I don't immediately know how to be their mother?”
Lucas looked at her.
“Then you'll learn them.”
She became quiet.
“Learn them?”
“Yes.”
He traced his thumb gently over her belly.
“They're going to be two different people. We don't have to know them before they arrive.”
Naomi smiled.
“That was unexpectedly wise.”
“I'm offended by your surprise.”
She laughed.
Lucas kissed her.
Slowly.
Tenderly.
When he pulled away, Naomi rested her forehead against his.
“I’m excited.”
“So am I.”
“Terrified.”
“Completely.”
She smiled.
“We're really doing this.”
“We are.”
Another kick pressed against Lucas's palm.
He looked down.
“Apparently they have opinions.”
“They're related to me.”
“Excellent point.”
Naomi laughed.
Then she imagined what was coming.
Two cribs.
Two tiny bodies sleeping nearby.
Lucas pacing the floor at three in the morning with one baby while she held the other.
Evelyn arriving with food.
Amara sewing tiny clothes Naomi would insist were unnecessary while secretly keeping every one.
Olivia spoiling them.
Hudson pretending not to spoil them while being significantly worse.
Adrian teaching them things Naomi would undoubtedly forbid.
Amelia laughing beside him.
Family photographs where no one was missing because someone had ordered them to disappear.
Birthdays without secrets.
Childhood without assignments.
Home without fear.
Naomi's eyes filled.
Lucas noticed.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“Nothing bad.”
He waited.
Naomi placed both hands over her stomach.
“I was just thinking about how loved they already are.”
Lucas's eyes softened.
He kissed her forehead.
Then bent toward her belly.
“Hello, you two.”
Naomi smiled.
“They still can't understand you.”
“I don't care.”
Lucas continued.
“Your mother is brilliant.”
Naomi laughed.
“She is also stubborn.”
“Lucas.”
“And currently glaring at me.”
“Correct.”
He kissed her stomach gently.
“Your grandmothers are already planning your lives, so we'll have to protect you from that.”
Naomi laughed harder.
“Your grandfathers—”
He paused.
The word carried history.
Hudson.
Joseph in memory.
And another biological grandfather whose consequences remained far beyond this room.
Lucas chose his words carefully.
“You come from people who made mistakes.”
Naomi's laughter faded.
“Some very serious ones.”
He looked up at her.
“But you don't owe those mistakes anything.”
Naomi's throat tightened.
Lucas rested his hand over both of hers.
“You get to be children.”
Tears slipped down Naomi's cheeks.
He kissed her stomach once more.
“And your father and mother are going to love you so much that you'll probably find us embarrassing.”
Naomi wiped her eyes.
“Probably?”
“Definitely.”
She pulled him upward and kissed him.
Lucas settled beside her.
Naomi curled against him.
His hand remained over their babies.
A year earlier, they had stood beside the Thames talking about children as a possibility belonging to some distant future.
Now that future was moving beneath Lucas's palm.
Two lives.
Two beginnings.
Not replacements for what Naomi and Adrian had lost.
Nothing could replace that.
These children were something entirely their own.
Naomi closed her eyes.
She was still nervous.
Still overwhelmed.
Still wondering whether any mother ever truly felt prepared for the moment another human being would depend on her.
But beneath the fear lived something stronger.
Joy.
Her children would arrive surrounded by people already arguing over who loved them most.
Two grandmothers had crossed countries to be near them.
Hudson and Olivia had begun counting weeks.
Adrian was practicing the word uncle as though it were the greatest title anyone had ever given him.
Lucas had already designed a room where morning sunlight would reach both cribs equally.
And Naomi—
Naomi was becoming a mother.
Not because an old bloodline required another generation.
Not because anyone expected an heir.
Not because a family name needed preserving.
Simply because two people had loved each other and one day discovered that love had made room for two more.
Naomi smiled in the darkness.
One baby kicked.
Then the other.
Lucas laughed softly beside her.
And with four heartbeats sharing the quiet room, the Taylor family story began again.
Not with a secret.
Not with a betrayal.
Not with someone being taken away.
With two children already surrounded by people waiting to welcome them home.