LOGINAnd then it was just us. Our family. I picked up Arianna while Tristan got Adrian, and we carried them upstairs to their nursery. The room had been redecorated twice as they'd grown—first to accommodate their crawling, then again when they started pulling up on furniture. Now it was a mix of cribs
Chapter 214 Athena I looked at Adrian in my arms, then at Arianna in Tristan's. They'd grown so much—both walking now (well, Arianna walked, Adrian preferred to crawl at high speed). Both babbling constantly in their own twin language that we couldn't quite decipher. Both showing more personality
Chapter 213 Athena The backyard was full of chaos—the beautiful, loud, messy kind of chaos that came from having a joint first birthday party for twins. I stood on the back porch, watching the scene unfold before me with a smile that felt permanently fixed on my face. Colorful balloons bobbed
Chapter 212 "Mama's sorry," I soothed, bouncing her gently. "But we need to figure this out before you touch any more plants, okay?" "Can I see?" Lily asked, pushing past the adults to get closer to the plant. "Wow, it's so pretty! And it smells good too." She was right. The plant was giving off
Chapter 211 Athena "The plant," I said, knowing I wasn't making sense but unable to form coherent thoughts. "The dying plant in the living room. She touched it. Tristan, she touched it and it came back to life." Silence. All three men just stared at me. "What?" Orion finally asked. "The plant
Chapter 210 Athena Six months. Six months since Adrian and Arianna had come home from the NICU, and I still sometimes woke up in the middle of the night to check that they were breathing. The monitors helped, their steady beeping had become the soundtrack of our lives, but the fear never comple
The space was dimly lit and quiet except for the beeping of monitors. Tiny isolettes lined the walls, each one holding a precious baby. A nurse approached us, smiling. "You must be the Hayes twins' parents. Come on, they're waiting for you." She led us to two isolettes side by side. And there they
Tristan Athena's hand tightened in mine so hard I felt bones grind. "But they're not ready. They need more time..." "Athena, if we wait, we risk the abruption getting worse. That could cut off blood supply to the babies. It could cause severe bleeding for you. At thirty-three weeks with twins, th
Chapter 206 Tristan We spent another hour at the NICU before Orion said they needed to get the kids home for lunch and naps. Hugs were exchanged, promises to visit again tomorrow were made, and then it was just me and Athena again. "Your brother was crying," I observed as we sat between the isol
Chapter 208 Tristan Three weeks had passed since Adrian and Arianna were born, and every single day felt like a small miracle. I stood at Adrian's isolette, watching him sleep without any wires attached except for the monitoring leads. No feeding tube. No oxygen support. Just my son, breathing o







