“They’re so different already,” Seri murmured as Zane sobbed. “Like night and day.”
“Balance,” I corrected. “Harmony.”
Cas lifted our finally quiet son from Seri’s breast, and I did the same with our sleeping daughter. She fit just right in the center of my chest, hardly a weight at all, and yet the heaviest responsibility I’d ever carried. I hummed softly, an old lullaby my mother learned from her mother, passed down like breath between generations.
I was only six when I last heard Mom’s voice, but now I swear I felt her. Standing behind me. Watching over us. Not as a ghost, but as a presence. Warm, loving, approving. Not memory, but reality. One of the?aumakua, walking behind us, beside us. I could feel her joy, her pride, her blessing flowing through the room like gentle waves lapping at the shore.
“Aloha, keiki,” I breathed into our daughter’s hair as she curled in the cradle of my palm like she’d always been there.
#
Seri
My husbands were fussing. No surprise there. They’d been fussing over me from the moment I arrived at Evermere, half-starved and terrified. But now, at least some of that anxious energy was diluted and redirected toward our children.
Our children.
The words echoed in my mind like a beautiful song I couldn’t stop replaying. Two tiny, perfect souls that hadn’t existed in the world until a few hours ago, yet already held all our hearts in their teeny hands.
Even in my exhausted state, I smiled as I remembered the absolute panic that had flashed across Casimir’s face when he’d realized a second baby was coming. I’d have to get the full story from Koa later. I’d been a little too busy pushing and trying not to scream to pay much attention to anything beyond the steady, calming voices of my husbands guiding me through.
Now, I watched through heavy-lidded eyes as Casimir and Koa cuddled them with gentle hands and soft murmurs while Zane’s chest shuddered with sobs against my back, his tears soaking my already damp hair.
I shifted slightly and winced. Despite the healing potion, which had saved me from eight stitches according to Casimir, my muscles ached in places I hadn’t known could ache, I was sweaty and exhausted, and the tile floor wasn’t helping any of that.
“What are their names, my love?” Casimir asked.
The three of them had trusted me to choose something meaningful and strong for our child, and I was so glad I’d prepared options for each gender. Our little boy had been the best kind of surprise, and I couldn’t wait to call Papa and Kaori, Doria and Caelyr, Sebastian and Foster and Mrs. Wentzel…
Other things had priority at the moment, however.
“I have conditions for revealing that top secret intel.”
“Special requests, hmm, starlight?” Zane teased with a sniff, wiping his nose on my shoulder.
“Demands, snot monster, not requests.” I tilted my chin up. “One of you will help me take a shower. One of you will bring me popcorn and hot chocolate. Oh, and Brummy. The third one of you will clean my children and swaddle them.”
“Are you blackmailing us?” Koa asked with an indulgent chuckle. “Names in exchange for meeting your demands?”
“Is it working?”
“Absolutely.” He smiled that smile that always made my heart skip. “But I would have given you anything, anyway, beloved.”
I knew that. It was one of the countless reasons I loved them all so fiercely. They’d never once made me feel anything less than cherished, from the moment I’d stumbled into their lives.
“You need to rest—”
“After my shower,” I interrupted Casimir. “And popcorn. And hot chocolate. And Brummy.”
“But not your bestie?” Zane teased, and I couldhearthe smirk in his voice.
“Foster can meet them later. Right now, just us,” I said, still staring down Casimir, who finally let out a little sigh of resignation.
“Aquickshower. And Zane helps.”
I would have preferred him or Koa to help. Zane’s hands had a notorious mind of their own, which was usually very pleasurable, but definitely not something I wanted now. Thankfully, he for once was serious and handled me with reverence and care. He didn’t hurry, but his touches were practical rather than suggestive and, in that moment, I fell in love with him all over again.
“Thank you, Zoodle.”
