Page 87

Tuesday, July 10, 2029

“ J ust a few more pushes and they’ll be out of there! Come on, you’ve got this!” Giuliana, the physician assistant, chants, encouraging her the entire way through.

“You’re doing incredible; you’ve got this!” I tell her. I’m so damn proud .

“Get them out of me!” she screeches through the pain.

“Baby A’s head is out! Give me another strong push. Come on!” the PA says. The RNs gathered in the room are waiting to collect the babies one by one, ensuring their safety with each step.

She takes a deep, steadying breath and shoots me a death glare as she starts the last push. “Fuck yes, you’ve got this! Almost there!” I’m yelling, cheering her on the way I would someone on my hockey team. I feel like a douche, but it seems to be working.

Their whole body nearly flies out, and that’s the moment the waterworks hit me.

“Dad, do you wanna do the honors?” the PA asks excitedly, nodding down to our son or daughter. We waited till this very moment to find out the sexes, and I couldn’t be more happy we did.

Emotion wells in my chest. “It’s a boy,” I say, my voice cracking. I turn away, clutching my heart as a sob wracks through me. My cheeks tighten, and I can’t help the tears that spill over uncontrollably. My eyes burn, but Samara’s steady hand brings me back to reality.

She’s sitting beside Arielle in her own hospital gown, waiting to do skin-to-skin.

“It’s a boy,” she says to me in a small voice, her eyes brimming with tears. She’s wearing a smile that has me bursting with joy.

“It’s a boy,” I whisper back to her. “One more to go.” God, I hope it’s a girl. I won’t hear the end of it from Gia if we don’t manage at least one girl, and frankly, raising her has been the most incredible experience of my life. I’d be more than happy to do it all over again.

The nurse brings our son over to us and places him directly on Samara’s waiting chest for skin-to-skin.

“This is so surreal,” she says, holding him tightly against her.

The nurse looks to me and asks, “Do you want to do skin-to-skin for baby B?”

My eyes immediately swing to Samara. She’s waited countless years for this moment. I would never want to take it from her, but I’d give nearly anything to get to hold our next baby in my arms for a moment like this.

“Would that be okay?” I ask my gorgeous wife. Somehow, she’s even more stunning with our handsome little guy perched on her chest, nuzzling himself further into her.

“Of course, baby. This is as much your moment as it is mine.” She smiles at me, and it strangles my heart.

“Then fuck yeah, I’d love that!” I tell the nurse excitedly, pulling my shirt off over my head immediately.

Samara releases a loud cackle. “I don’t think you need to get shirtless just yet.”

“Am I distracting you?” I wink at her, and I earn one of her signature eye rolls.

“Always,” she says with a smirk.

I turn my attention back to Arielle, who’s lying in a position I was certain I’d never see, nor had I wanted to, but fuck, am I grateful for her.

“I get that these are your kids, but if you could stop staring at my wife’s pussy, I’d appreciate it,” Dante grits out as he catches me staring. Though there’s absolutely nothing sexual about this. I’m just fucking amazed at what the human body can do, and getting to see my children born is astonishing. It’s something I missed with Gia and I’m so thankful I get to experience this time.

I chuckle at his brashness. “I’m not looking at her vagina ; I’m just checking to see if the next one’s ready to make their appearance.”

“Giuliana will tell you when they are, so stop fucking looking,” he tells me, and immediately, I avert my gaze back to Samara, who’s sucking her cheeks in, holding back her laughter.

“Will you two just shut the fuck up?” Arielle grits out, and when I look back over my shoulder at her, I swear I see steam pluming out of her ears.

“Giuliana, please don’t let me miss anything, okay?”

She nods, and I crouch down in front of Samara and our son. I rest my hand on the back of his head, his soft brown curls tickling my fingertips.

“What should we name him?” I ask her, my eyes welling with more tears.

She may not have gotten to grow these little guys in her belly, but she’s finally able to have this moment.

I’d have done anything to give her this.

I know she adores Gia, and they share the most special bond that will never cease to amaze me, but this part is just so freaking cool. It’s a first for us both.

“Ajani. It means ‘noble birth’ and is a traditional Jamaican boy’s name,” she tells me.

“Ajani,” I repeat, letting the letters roll around in my mouth. We’ve written a very long list of names but couldn’t settle on anything until we actually met them. Plus, not knowing if we were having two boys, two girls, or one of each made it even more difficult. “Something tells me you’d already decided on this name a while ago,” I tell her, my lips curving in a lopsided grin. “Ajani it is,” I say.

She smiles at me before looking down at him. “Happy birthday, Ajani,” she whispers to our son.

“I should’ve had another fucking water birth,” Arielle screams beside us. She had one with a doula and midwife for all of her other pregnancies, which we were totally on board for, but with the increased risk of complications and there being two of them, she said she wanted the epidural. Ultimately, it was her decision to make, as it’s her birthing experience, not ours.

“You’re almost there, Arielle. You’re so close; their head is right there , just give me another big push!”

I stand to let her squeeze my hand, and the RN comes around to take Ajani from us so the neonatologist can check him out under the warmer. Samara stands beside me, placing a cool cloth on Arielle’s forehead. “Come on, Arielle, you’ve got this. Get them out of there, and I swear to god, I’ll send you and D on the cruise of a lifetime,” Samara tells her.

Arielle’s eyes cut straight to her. “As soon as my coochie is back in working order, you are watching all of the children so I can get dicked down by my husband,” she growls.

I can tell Giuliana is doing her best to hide her laugh but is failing miserably. Her face contorts, and her shoulders are shaking with the repressed laughter.

I look down and see the head poking through. My eyes are wide as realization cuts through me. “So much hair!” I practically screech, and Samara smacks the back of my head. Then Arielle grabs my hand and squeezes it so tightly I think she might have actually fractured something as pain sears up my arm, but I ignore it. She’s doing the hard part here. A few broken fingers are a small price to pay.

She screams as everyone in the room is cheering her on, and finally, the head is out. “Arielle, don’t push. We’ve got a nuchal cord,” Giuliana announces to the RN, who starts typing in the chart.

“What’s that?” I ask, feeling frantic, my heart rate bounding.

“Calm down, it’s alright. The cord is just wrapped around their neck. It happens all the time,” Samara assures me.

Giuliana nods her head, keeping her eyes trained on our kid. “Babies have a tendency to get a little tangled in there, but like Momma said, it’s completely fine.”

I watch as Giuliana skillfully slips her finger under the cord and reduces it before repositioning, placing her hands on either side of their head and curling her fingers under their jaw. “Alright, Arielle, one last big push and you’re all done!”

Arielle’s face turns bright red as she pushes our baby out, and the moment they burst through, the waterworks are back. “It’s a girl!” Samara shouts, turning her wide eyes on mine.

“Either of you wanna cut the cord?”

I press a kiss to Samara’s cheek. “Your turn, princess,” I tell her, and she gladly does after we wait for the delayed cord clamping—the same as we had with Ajani moments ago.

Once our little girl is all cleaned off, she’s in my arms and on my chest. I hold her snug to me as she wriggles around.

“Welcome to the world, Chiara,” I whisper to her and realize my mistake immediately.

“Chiara, huh?” Samara asks, a brow quirked at me, but there’s no bite to her tone. She’s fully smirking. “When did you plan to tell me you’d officially decided on a name?”

“Uh, right now?” I ask, giving her an apologetic smile as my cheeks burn.

“You’re lucky I’d decided on Chiara already too.” She laughs, and the sound fills my chest with those familiar butterflies I’ve grown accustomed to.

Samara wraps her arms around me from behind, resting her chin on my shoulder.

“I love you, Luca,” she whispers into my ear.

“I love you more, principessa .”

And I mean it. There’s not a chance in hell that this woman could love me more than what I feel for her. Some days, it feels like I’m overflowing with affection for her, and it threatens to choke the life out of me when I imagine a world without her in it.

That’s a world I never want to be a part of.

Because, for me, this is my world. Samara, Gia, and now Chiara and Ajani too. Just like Chiara’s name suggests, they’re the light of my life.

And what an incredible life it is.