Her grin split wide, eyes shimmering with radiance. “Yes, Iwould love to be your wife, Arkin. I would love to be yours forever.”
I clasped her face in my hands, and freezing cold on our knees, we kissed passionately.
“Forever,Peaches.”
F I R S T E P I L O G U E
Daphne – Three Years Later
“I
can’t take another round of this, Arkin,” I said, my voice shaky as I tried to hold my tears at bay. For the last two years, we’d been trying to conceive a baby without any success. We’d done two rounds of IVF that had been failures, and now we were waiting for the results of our third and final round. I had three viable eggs left, and the doctor had planted them all in hopes that one of them would take.
“We can always adopt. There are kids out there who need a loving home, and we have love in spades,” he said, bringing a hand to his lips and placing a gentle kiss on my palm. I knew that he wanted children more than anything. The funny thing was that I never wanted any until he came into my life. Now, with this man by my side, I wanted it all.
“Mr. And Mrs. Broderick, the doctor will see you now,” the nurse said.
We followed her down a sterile, white hallway to the very last room on the right.
“Arkin, Daphne, it’s wonderful to see you again.” Dr. Keven Richards gestured to the seats in front of his large mahoganydesk.
I looked around the room at all the happy couples holding beautiful infants, all proof of the miraculous work the good doctor had done through the years.
“Well,” he said with a somewhat dramatic pause.
Arkin and I squeezed each other’s hands, waiting for the fate of our lives to be laid before us.
“The embryos took. Congratulations,'' he finally said with a giant smile on his face.
Relief flooded through me. I felt completely floored at the revelations. Never in a million years did I think those words would be the ones I would hear.
“We’re going to have a baby.” I looked at Arkin, “You’re going to be the best daddy,” I said, leaping into his arms.
“Three, actually,” the doctor said as I put my head on my husband’s shoulders, now cradled in his arms.
“Pardon?” both Arkin and I said at the same time.
“Triplets. All three eggs took. You’re having triplets.” The doctor smiled.
“Well, looks like that love may be spread a little thin,” Arkin joked, kissing me right there, completely forgetting that Dr. Richardson was still in the room with us.
“Arkin,” I said with an embarrassed laugh, gesturing toward the doctor.
Dr. Richardson just smiled and waved my concern away.
“Don’t worry about it. You two are tame compared to some of the joy these walls have seen. I’m just going to step out and give you a minute,” he said before standing and heading to the door.
Once he’d shut the door behind him, I turned back to my husband. “Arkin,” I said, my voice laced with trepidation.
“What is it, baby?” He moved a loose strand of hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear.
“I still want to adopt. I know with three kids it will be crazy, butI had a bad childhood, and if we can give a kid like me a home, a safe haven, then I want to try,” I said, searching his eyes to really gauge what he thought.
“Okay,” he said softly, wrapping me tighter in his arms. “Let’s adopt a couple. All of these kids will be lucky to have you in their lives. I know I sure as fuck am. I want a fucking football team of little Brodericks running around.”
“I love you, Arkin,” I whispered.
“I love you, Peaches.”
