I would laugh at that question if I had an ounce of humor in me. “That’s a discussion for later.”
“Tell me now. Distract me.”
“I told Marcella I knew who she was. I told her I love her and that I was safe. I asked her to choose me because I’m a fool.She didn’t. I was inside of her and begging her, and then she left.”
“Rowan—”
“I have two armed attendants on her room, and tracking on her phone is turned on. I don’t care if it’s a violation of her employee rights or whatever. She can sue me over it.”
“Anything else?”
“Sunday is her day off. If she’s still in the palace by nightfall, I’ll have her detained.”
“If she’s not?”
“The guards will follow her from a distance, and I’ll track her like a bloodhound until I learn each of her secrets. No one will hurt us, Sebastian. Not ever again. Not even now.” I suck in a rush of air and blink twice. “Jesus, the first twin.”
He spins around and races over, his hands planted on the door.
“Coming through.” We jump out of the way as a team of doctors and nurses with two incubators come bustling in. The moment the doors swing shut again, we’re back at the glass.
“There’s the second one. Aleah.”
“What?”
He smiles, his eyes sparkling with tears. “Aleah. Our little girl. I can’t see Joseph.”
“You never told me that’s what you were going to name her, only him.”
“Joseph is for her father. Aleah is after Althea.”
A smile lights up my face. “Does she know?”
He shakes his head. “Not yet. It was going to be a surprise.”
“She’ll love that.”
“They’re working on them. They’re helping them breathe.” His breath hitches high in his throat. “My god, they’re not breathing on their own.”
The doctors are putting tubes down the twins’ throats andpumping air into their lungs while they hook them up to tubes and wires, and what the fuck?
“Rowan…”
“I know. I’m here. They’re alive, Sebastian. Look at them. Your son and daughter were just born.”
He breaks down, grabbing for me and hugging me against him. I hug him back, both of us weeping and not giving a fuck about it. It’s just us out here, somewhere in the darkest depths of the wee hours of the night.
A few minutes later, just as we’re getting our shit back together and wiping our faces, the doors open and there are the twins, tiny little things in incubators. Sebastian sucks in a rush of air.
“They’re doing okay,” the doctor tells him. “They’re a little over one point five kilos each, and the steroids helped their lung function. We need to keep them intubated for at least the next twenty-four hours, but then we’ll evaluate extubating to BiPAPP. They will have trouble controlling their body temperature and functions, so we’ll do that for them.”
Sebastian shakes his head, and the doctor chuckles.
“My apologies, Your Majesty. Your twins need a bit of help from us at the moment, and I can’t guarantee anything, but right now, for thirty-one weekers, they’re looking good, and all appears very promising.”
Sebastian blows out a strained breath, his body sagging. “What about my wife?”
“She’s in good hands, Your Majesty, and her doctor or a nurse will be out shortly to update you.”
