Page 7

Serenia

I can’t help but smile as I hear Jasmine and Duncan’s conversation as he tucks our little girl into bed. This day started as incredible and now…it’s almost as shocking as that day eight years ago when Aphrodite’s gift gave us legs. I still can’t quite believe that Melodia’s actually pregnant. We all have beautiful our little girls, born nine months after our birthday, bonding us with our men in even deeper ways.

I think we’ve all loved our little families, but more than once over the years, each of us has expressed a wish that we’d have been able to have more than one baby. Especially when we see our men with our little girls. Duncan is incredible with Jasmine, our amazing little girl that has the gift to turn the air around you into the sweetest scent ever. He’s patient and kind and loving, and not just with Jasmine.

We each take turns watching the girls, letting them have sleepovers while the other two couples get to spend the night entirely alone. When it’s our turn, there’s no difference in how he treats Madeleine, Melodia and Dylan’s little girl, from Hazel, Celestia and Dane’s little one, or our sweet Jasmine. If one of them scrape their knee, he’s right there making sure they’re okay, and gods I’ve wanted to give him another baby so he can have more of that.

He’s done so well dealing with the girls’ powers, so I know he’d be able to handle more. Madeleine’s powers occasionally seep through her cooking making everything taste like heaven. While Hazel’s energizing ability occasionally hits when she’s happiest and it makes one forget the need to sleep. He’s never complained even when it means he wakes exhausted for work the next morning, or with a stomachache because Madeleine’s cooking can sometimes miss the edible mark since she’s only seven.

Now, with this newest information from Aphrodite that a siren can have more than one baby, it’s running through me so deep that it’s hard to contain it. Even more so after listening to Jasmine’s sweet little plea for a little baby sister—or brother since that’s a new little gift Aphrodite’s put into existence with help from the fates.

“Someone swam a little too much today I think,” I tease as my two loves quiet when I slip into our girl’s room. Jasmine lets out a yawn confirming my suspicions and I grin when she lifts her arms up for a hug.

“Happy birthday, Mommy,” she sighs, filling my heart with love and happiness, and I smile seeing the look in Duncan’s eyes as he watches us. He gets more protective of us every year, but I love it. Love that he’s still concerned even though he knows we’re immortal. That even though we were disowned by our mothers and the rest of the Lycophron, it couldn’t undo the bloodline connection that kept us from getting sick or dying.

That day on the beach, telling our mothers that we weren’t coming back was the last day of true worry that I felt. Yes, there’ve been times when I’ve been concerned about Jasmine or wondering where Duncan was when he wasn’t home at normal time, but the depth of fear and worry I had back then is gone.

It soothed me to know that just as no other woman could turn our men’s heads, none of the other sirens could put them under their spell. Duncan teased me that night that I’d already ensnared him, wrapped myself around his heart like vines do on a trellis, so no one else could begin to override my hold on him, and he never wanted anyone else to begin to try. Hearing our mothers shouting that we’d regret our decisions, that our men would betray us, made it crystal clear that none of them ever felt an ounce of love—not even towards us—or they’d know what’s between Duncan and me, Dylan and Melodia, and Dane and Celestia is true. It’s a gods given gift that we all cherish.

“Thank you, baby,” I whisper back to her, giving her a kiss to the cheek as her eyes flutter shut, and she’s out before we’re even at the door.

“How much did you overhear?” Duncan asks, his arms wrapping around my waist, pulling me back into his strong hold. He may be forty-four now, but he’s even stronger thanks to the bond and his hold floods me with love, longing, and desire.

“Jasmine asking for a baby sister—or brother,” I muse, my breath hitching when his mouth trails down my neck as his hands move quickly to pick me up, carrying me into our bedroom.

“And what do you think about that idea? Another little girl for us, or a little boy we can name after your dad,” he suggests as he lays me onto the bed, and no words are needed, just kisses and touches, until stars are right before my eyes without needing to manipulate any mountain to take me closer to them.

“Do you mean it?” I ask as breath returns, my lips teasing his skin, tasting the delightful saltiness on it now. It just makes me want him again and I slip over his hardened length, looking down into his eyes as he simply lays there grinning.

“Always honey. If you want another baby I’m more than okay with it, but if you don’t want another, or don’t want another now, I’ll be okay with just having you like this,” he states, and I lick up his neck, delighting in the taste, before meeting his lips in another kiss that sends us straight back to the stars.

It’s so hard to say what I want more. Another little girl like our Jasmine because I know how much Duncan would love another little girl, or a little boy that’s definitely making me yearn, but I know I want it. With everything I am, I want it. So, I’m not at all shocked, as I was when Melodia told us she was pregnant on our birthday, a few weeks later when I feel the difference inside my body. The same warmth that settled in my belly when I was pregnant with Jasmine is there and I move into Duncan’s arms as I slip into the kitchen where he already has our breakfast ready and put his hand on my belly.

“Little girl or little boy, I’ll love either,” Duncan says drawing a full squeal from Jasmine when she realizes what that means.

It’s not shocking when a couple of weeks later Celestia also admits she’s pregnant too, and we enjoy growing big with our babies together again. Although I grow bigger than even Melodia who’s at least a month or more ahead of me. We tend to avoid doctors. It’s not needed for us health wise and there’s no telling if something in our blood would give us away, so there’s no one to ask about it.

I don’t feel any different than when I was carrying Jasmine other than being twice the size, so I try not to worry about it as the months progress. I’m around six months when it really becomes noticeable. My belly is even bigger than when I was due with Jasmine, bigger than Melodia is still, and I fret about it while Duncan takes Jasmine over to Celestia’s for a sleepover.

“What’s wrong, my child?” a voice questions, surprising me and I turn, finding Nina there, but it’s not the normal Nina. At least, not the one I’m used to seeing. She’s almost glowing with the light coming into the room behind her, and she’s wearing her hair down when it’s usually up out of the way.

“Nina?” I query because the words she used are definitely not normal. Yes, we’ve become friends over the years. She’s one of the only other humans outside of our men that know what we are, but she’s never called me ‘my child’ like that before and her voice is a little different as well.

“Not quite,” she says confusing me more. “Unlike Aphrodite, I don’t like traveling down to the human world. Instead, I momentarily inhabit willing beings while staying on Mount Olympus. They don’t always recall the conversations later, though your friend here normally does.”

“Who are you?” I ask, covering my belly as I breathe in deeply, concern turning towards worry quickly and I hate that feeling.

“I’m Hera, goddess of childbirth amongst others,” she answers, and my eyes widen completely, unsure why she’d inhabit Nina before now, come here now, when she was one of the goddesses that caused the sirens to be cast into the ocean as well. “When I became aware of not one, but three sirens that were able to receive Aphrodite’s gift to come onto mortal land again, I was concerned. I hovered, watching you all, then came down through Nina to see how your man would react to someone suggesting that you might not truly love them, was only with them for money perhaps. His response told me that he was true in his love and that you had never lured a man before, because if you had, you would not have been a virgin in your human form.”

“Is that why Nina kept asking us questions, certain we weren’t just from some weird religious group as the guys told everyone?”

“Yes, as I said, most don’t recall the conversations or being inhabited, but your friend is different. I suspect she has some minute trace of god’s blood in her family line. She is not the reason I’m here right now though, you are, my child,” she says, and I relax a bit as I rub my stomach, the baby incredibly active right now.

“Is everything alright with the baby?” I ask, needing to know that more than anything else.

“They are both perfectly fine,” she replies, and my jaw drops as I stare at her in shock.

“Did you say both ?” I question on a bit of a gasping laugh.

“You couldn’t decide if you’d rather have another girl that you knew your husband wanted in his heart, or the little boy he mentioned that you wanted, so fate stepped in and gave a helping hand. They are both growing fine and will be healthy, happy babies because they’re adored by their parents. Their hearts as pure as the love they come from,” she states, and I blink in silent shock for a few moments. “Stop worrying, my child. Enjoy,” she adds and before I can say a word, she’s gone, leaving me standing there, my hands on my belly, a smile on my lips as Duncan comes into the house.

“Was that Nina leaving?” he asks, pulling me into his arms and hesitate for a moment. “Serenia?”

“It was Hera via Nina,” I admit, explaining it to him and he just laughs, shaking his head a bit at that news.

“I knew there was something weird about her questions that day. I just didn’t know if it was because she’d never seen us with a woman before or what, but it makes sense now. As does her pushing for answers as to where you lived before you came to town. So why was she here?” he adds, and I move his hands to my belly as his eyes widen a bit. “It’s about the baby?”

“She reminded me that she’s also the goddess of childbirth and knew I was concerned about my size this time. She was here to reassure me that our babies are just fine,” I say quickly when his face pales a bit at the mention of childbirth and my concern.

“Babies?” he repeats much as I did with Hera, and I nod.

“A little girl that your heart desired and a little boy that mine did because I couldn’t begin to think which I wanted most at that moment,” I tell him, letting out a huge laugh when he picks me up, taking us upstairs to our bed.

“You’re all good then?” he asks as he strips me bare, his lips pressing kisses to my stomach.

“Perfect according to Hera,” I assure him, smiling beneath his kiss as he shows me how thrilled he is to know that. I am too and sink into the heavens with him over and over while our little girl enjoys time with her friends. My life out of the water far exceeds the one in it. I can’t imagine how any of them would begin to prefer it if they really knew how this felt because it’s pure bliss. Especially wrapped in my loves arms, ensnared in our shared warmth.