EPILOGUE
CLIFF
The doctor’s hand shakes as he reaches for Sophie’s chart.
I keep my sight laser-focused on him while he stumbles over the questions that have become standard since we arrived at the hospital early this morning.
“You’re a brave lady.” He tilts his head at the chart. “Most moms of twins schedule a C-section. Especially at your age.”
I grit my teeth together. “You told us it was safe.”
“I—I did. It is. Just as long as Mom and the kids are all doing okay. Which they are. They are.” He gulps loudly and faces Sophie. “Wha—how far apart are your contractions?”
Sophie rubs a hand over her smocked belly. “Maybe every three or four minutes or so.”
“Three minutes and twenty-nine seconds,” I say, sparing a glance at my watch to confirm.
He nods, and spares me a glance, before turning back to the chart. “And when—wh—how long are they lasting?”
“They’re not too bad.”
I clear my throat, but the words still come out sharp. “The last one was forty-four seconds.”
“H—how would you rate your pain?”
“How many times are you going to ask these damn questions?” I pound my fist on the overbed table, rattling Sophie’s oversized cup of ice. “Can’t you see that she’s in a lot of pain and you’re doing nothing to help her?”
“Cliff,” Sophie says sternly, but gently.
I look at her tired, but still breathtakingly beautiful face, and that all-too-familiar jolt of panic flares inside of me.
Damn, but I love this woman. More than I ever thought I could love another person.
Seeing her like this as she brings our children into the world…
If I could trade places with her and take all of the pain and discomfort, I’d do it. It wouldn’t even take a heartbeat.
But right now the love of my life is giving me a silent—but unmistakable—look saying I need to stop acting like an ogre and let the doctor finish the exam.
So I do. Only because it’s what she wants.
Still flustered as he finishes, the doctor checks in with the nurse, and promises to return shortly with the anesthesiologist. He practically makes the roadrunner sound as he disappears out of the room.
Sophie sighs and shakes her head. “You really have to stop doing that.”
“I know, I know.” I run a hand over my beard. “You can answer the questions yourself. You don’t need me to do it.”
“Very true.” She reaches for my free hand and gives it a squeeze. “But you also need to stop scaring the poor guy.”
My brow knits together. “I’m not doing anything to scare him.”
“Right, I’m sure scowling at him and practically growling every time he’s in the room is doing wonders to keep him calm, cool, and collected.” She rolls her eyes. “Need I remind you that he’s here to help bring our babies into the world? It might be good to have him in his best fighting condition.”
“Sorry.” I clamp my lips together and give her hand a squeeze. “I just want to make sure the three of you are getting the best care possible.”
“We are.” The smile she gives pierces through my fears and fills me with a bright warmth, like the way it feels when the sun shines down on you on a beach.
I raise our linked hands to my lips and kiss the back of her smooth skin. “Maybe, when the twins are a little bit older, we can take a family vacation somewhere warm.”
She blinks at me in confusion. “That’s random. But, I wouldn’t say no to a week or two on the beach.”
My lips curl against her skin. She probably wouldn’t think my suggestion was so random if she knew what other hopes and plans I have in store for us.
Still clutching her hand, I lean forward to capture her lips in a searing kiss. She gives a light gasp but returns the kiss with equal fervor.
We’re both more than a little breathless, and my heart is practically bursting when I end the kiss. Both of us are still panting, I rest my forehead against hers.
“Do you have any idea of how much I love you?”
She gives a light laugh. “I’d say your demonstration just now gave me a pretty good idea.”
“We barely tapped the surface there.” I rub my nose against hers, press a kiss to it, and lean back so I can look into her dark blue eyes. “If you weren’t in the process of having our babies, I’d be happy to give you a more thorough demonstration.”
She snorts. “I’m sure. With every part of my body from my nose to my toes swelling, I bet I look pretty sexy right about now.”
I cup her cheek tenderly. “You’ve never looked more beautiful than you do right now.”
The skepticism eases from her expression. The sultry look she’s giving is all too tempting to resist. So I lean forward for one more kiss.
My lips brush against hers and she yelps.
And not the good kind.
I recoil. “What? What did I do?”
“You didn’t do anything.” She takes several gasping breaths and her grip on my hand tightens until her knuckles grow white and mine become red.
“Are you having another contraction?” I lower myself so my elbows are resting next to her, ready to help her through the pain, even as I glance at my watch.
“Yes,” she hisses through gritted teeth. “But that’s not all?”
“What? Can you feel one of the heads coming out?”
I know it’s a stupid question as soon as I ask. If I didn’t, the annoyed look Sophie gives me would be telling enough.
“Sorry.” I adjust my grip on her hand, clasping it between both of mine. I try to keep my voice as calm as possible. “What’s going on? What do you need?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.” The panic in her voice slices through me like a knife to the heart. “I’m… I’m…”
“Oh!” The nurse smiles pleasantly as she strides into the room. “It looks like your water has broken. Things will hopefully start moving along.”
It takes several seconds for my heart to start beating again. But when it does, I stare deeply into Sophie’s eyes. In them, I see excitement, joy, and fear. No doubt, she sees the same in mine.
“You can do this.” I kiss the back of her hand. “I’ll be right here with you for every second of it.”
The nurse is mostly right. Things do start to pick up from here. The contractions are faster and longer, not to mention intense enough to have Sophie making sounds I’ve never heard before.
I almost kiss the anesthesiologist when they give her the epidural.
After that, everything else is a blur. As promised, I don’t act like an asshole to any of the hospital workers. Not even the doctor when he makes a dumbass comment about the first baby having a hairy head like their dad.
It doesn’t matter. Not when I hear our little girl cry for the first time. Still gripping Sophie’s hand and stroking her forehead, I crane my look.
“Oh, honey.” My voice cracks. “She’s beautiful.”
As much as I want to take a closer look at her, I don’t leave Sophie’s side until our son makes his appearance several minutes later.
By the time the babies are cleaned, wrapped in blankets, and tucked into our arms, my heart feels like it’s going to burst.
Sophie kisses each of our children’s cheeks then rests her head against my shoulder.
“You did so good, babe.” My voice shakes more than I care to admit. “We’re a family.”
I can feel her lips curve against me. “We are.”
“I love you all so much.” I rub my cheek against the top of her head.
Later, back in Sophie’s room, we sit in happy silence for long minutes. There’s still one more thing I want to do, but I’m content to wait while we bask.
But soon, my heart is pounding again, and my stomach is churning with nerves. Carefully easing Sophie from my shoulder, our daughter still curled up in my arm, I straighten and reach a hand into my pocket.
“You know I love you. More than anything.”
She arches an eyebrow but smiles. “I do know. You just told me five seconds ago.”
“It’s been more than five seconds. And you can never hear it too often. But we’ll let that go for the moment.” I swallow past a lump that’s suddenly forming in my throat. “You’ve given me everything good in my life. And I… I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Her eyes crease around the edges. “I know. We will.”
“I know this is all out of order in the way people are supposed to do these things. But…” I pull a velvet box out of my pocket and flip it open. “Will you marry me?”
She gasps as she stares at the sapphire ring inside of it. “You want to get married?”
I can’t help but smile at how stunned she seems. “This can’t be that much of a surprise.”
“But… I thought you weren’t interested in marriage. I thought—”
“A year ago—less than a year ago—I had a lot of really dumb ideas about my life.” I pull the ring out with one hand, managing not to jostle my daughter too much in the process. “It’s a good thing I had you to show me the way. So… What do you think? Will you make an honest man of me?”
Her eyes brim with unshed tears. “Yes, of course. I’ll marry you, yes.”
I slide the ring onto Sophie’s finger and wrap my arm around her, pulling her close. One of the babies coos. We’re both smiling when we kiss again. This one is soft and tender.
“This is what I’ve always wanted.” Sophie smiles happily at me. “No, it’s better than I ever hoped it would be. Because it’s you and me.”
I know what she means. It’s hard to believe where we were a year ago. I was hiding out in a cabin determined to never let my heart be hurt again. She was making plans to have a baby.
I’m glad those plans changed to include me. My whole life has changed for the better because of it. And we’re only getting started.