“She’s fine,” Cas murmured and held up our daughter for Seri to see. “Just very placid.” Then he held her out to me. “Here. Take her while I deal with the afterbirth.”
“What?Me?” Panic flooded through me. “I just threw up! Koa should—”
“Ko’s got Seri,” Cas cut me off. “You got our daughter. Just. Do. It. Zane.”
Daughter. The word made my breath hitch. Without further protest, I awkwardly positioned my arms and accepted the little bundle.
She weighed nothing, maybe as much as a bag of flour. I’d once had to explain to our father why his favorite Aston Martin was at the bottom of Long Island Sound, but not even that had terrified me like holding my little girl.
“Support her head,” Ko instructed, watching me over Seri’s shoulder. “Her neck isn’t strong yet.”
Right. Neck support. I knew that. Adjusting my arm, I cradled her head in the crook of my elbow the way I’d seen people do in movies, and something shifted inside me, tectonic plates of identity rearranging to accommodate this new reality.
“Hey, there, tater tot. I’m your pops. One of your fathers. The fun one.”
She didn’t even stir, and I took the opportunity to study her better. She had a little cap of dark hair and skin that was rapidly losing its initial purple hue. Her features were impossibly tiny: Button nose, bow-shaped lips, eyelashes like dark smudges against her cheeks. Even though she was quiet, I gently swayed with her, like my body somehow knew what to do even if my brain was still catching up.
“Maybe this isn’t so bad,” I said more to myself than anyone else. “Maybe wecanhandle this parent thing.”
For months, I’d been frightened of fatherhood. What didIknow about raising a child? Lucian had been distant at best, cruel at worst. Mom had been taken from us when we were still small boys. Mum roared into my life only two or three times a year. What examples did we have to follow? But looking at this peaceful little face, I felt a strange new certainty settling into my bones. My brothers and I wouldgive her everything. Love, security, acceptance. We wouldn’t fuck her up the way we had been.
I was so engrossed in examining her tiny fingers, all ten present and accounted for, that I almost missed Seri’s sudden gasp of pain. My head snapped up to see her face contort and her body tense against Ko.
“Contraction,” Cas assured us. “The body needs to expel the placenta. Situation normal.”
With a nod, I returned to my study of our daughter.
“She’s got your eyes, Ko,” I said, noticing the shape of them, “but I think that little smirk is all me.”
“She’s notsmirking,” he objected, although he craned his neck to see. “She’s not even five minutes old. She doesn’t know how tosmirk.”
“Trust me, I know a smirk when I see one. This one’s going to be trouble. Aren’t you, little girl?”
Seri’s scream cut off my rambling. She doubled over, nearly headbutting Cas in the process.
Holding our daughter closer to my chest and protecting her head with my palm, I peered over Cas’ shoulder to see what was happening and instantly wished I hadn’t.
Two tiny fists stuck out of Seri, like some kind of horror movie where the monster bursts through.
Nope, nope, just no. Baaad analogy. VERY bad analogy. Deep breaths. Don’t throw up again.
“What is it?” Ko demanded.
“Fists.” Swan song filled the air before I knew I was singing, making everyone feel swaddled in down and stardust. “Two little fists.”
“Twins,” Cas whispered. “We’re having twins.”
Twins. Two babies. The words tumbled through my mind, impossible to grasp fully. We’d spent all this time preparing for one child, and now suddenly there weretwo?
“Is thatnormal?” Ko’s eyes were wide. “Coming out fists first?”
“No. It’s a compound presentation.”
“But the ultrasounds,” Seri panted. “They only showed a single baby.”
“One must have been hiding behind the other,” Cas theorized, already shifting back into doctor mode. “It happens sometimes with multiple births. One twin shields the other from detection.”
“Cruor! The one I’m holding is a fang-rotted decoy!” I choked out. “Classic horror movie twist! The one coming now is therealbaby!”
