Secret Chapter 7.
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I looked down at my hand feeling Jayden squeeze it like he was being pulled to hell and I was the one thing that could keep him out of it. The grip made me chuckle as I gave his hand a soft, reassuring squeeze but it didn’t make him hold onto me any less. I traced my eyes up to his terrified face as he looked at me.
“What if she wants to be there, as their mother? What if we mess up? What if –”
I cut him off by pressing my finger to his lips.
“There is no way she would. She’s done this before and we can’t mess up with boys.” I said knowing that the instant annoyance he would feel at that last statement would distract him. It worked and he gave a huff turning to face me.
“You keep calling our kids’ boys and –”
“Because they will be.” I cut him off. Jayden and I didn’t know the gender of our kids yet, but we knew we were having two. It was terrifying enough thinking about having two little people to take care of, if we had to have another version of Hayley and Izabella I would die. I knew that I was much less tough to deal with as I grew up than they were.
“Corey.” Jayden frowned at me.
“I feel it, Babe: we’re having boys.” I smiled, but it left me feeling nauseous as I looked back into the room Tiana’s screaming was coming from, it instantly made me look away again seeing just the amount of pain on her face and my head went light as her yelling subsided for a moment just to be replaced by infantile screaming. I could feel Jayden’s shock and excitement in my chest. “Oh my God.” I mumbled suddenly hugging him because I was so nervous it felt like I was swaying on my feet. He gave a chuckle as he returned it.
“Sounds like a girl.” He smirked. I scoffed letting him go to move away but he laughed locking his arms around me to prevent my escape.
“Beta.” I turned to see who had spoken to me and froze seeing the blue blanket in the nurse’s arms as Jayden’s slowly lessened around me. “We have an Alpha…” The nurse grinned at me.
“What?” The question was filled with the shock I clearly felt.
She nodded. I opened my mouth confused because even though Sean’s son had been born Beta, I expected one of his and Izabella’s sons to be the next Alpha. I figured we would have a Delta which would also work towards my generation’s early retirement.
I felt Jayden let go before pushing by me gently so he could take the baby while listening to the nurse as she told him how to hold our child, even though we already knew because our parents had been tutoring us and we had been attending several parenting classes for months. I bit my lip seeing him stare down at the little guy wrapped in a blanket. I could not see the baby yet but Jayden’s face was priceless. He swallowed as he sat down slowly, not moving his eyes from the child and I felt my own eyes tear up as I watched tears run down his face while he gently touched the baby’s face.
“Hi, Eli.” He mumbled. We had thought up names earlier. Eli and Danté. There were some for girls, but I had not really taken that seriously though I remembered the names because it was important to Jayden. I sat down next to my mate and pushed the blanket open a little so that I could see the creature making him cry so happily. I felt my heart skip seeing the now-sleeping bundle.
“Eli,” I repeated his name as I brushed a finger against his soft cheek. He seemed so small and fragile… I felt like we would need to protect and coddle him the rest of his life despite him being an Alpha! At that moment I really dreaded a girl. I gave a chuckle and kissed Jayden’s cheek making him chuckle before he stopped suddenly looking afraid.
“W-where…?” He whispered.
I looked up at the nurse feeling my heart stop.
“Our other boy? Where is he? Is he okay?” My mind was filling with worst-case scenarios as I stood up suddenly feeling panicked. We had never even met the kids before that moment but the thought of something having happened to one of them made my legs turn to jelly.
“Boy?” Another nurse walked in and I felt a quick spell of dizziness as I saw the pink blanket in her arms that suddenly irrupted into screaming.
“That-that’s… Is it a-a girl?” She nodded placing the tiny screaming person into my arms gently while I was too stunned to protest about it probably not being a good idea to let me hold the little being when it felt like I was seconds away from fainting. I glanced at Jayden almost helplessly and he just nodded grinning at me. I slowly turned my attention bad to the light weight in my arms and felt my breath catch. She was so beautiful… I felt more tears wet my face as I rocked her gently trying to calm her down, it seemed to work. Suddenly all the trouble I imagined a girl would come with didn’t matter anymore. I would protect her and Eli with my life. “It’s okay. Papa’s got you, baby… It’s alright, Tamia.” I whispered. Jayden loved that name and I had not seriously thought of any names for a girl.
I kept whispering and rocking her until she fell asleep and then realised Jayden was standing right in front of me. He let out a sob and I broke down crying too with a smile on my face as I stood in front of him holding our little girl beside her brother.
I leaned my forehead against Jayden’s and we just stood staring down at them for a while.
All my worry and panic had disappeared and all I felt was so much contentment. With Jayden and our children I was the happiest I had ever been in my life and what made it better was that he was as well.
“I love you,” I whispered. He tilted his head up automatically nudging against my forehead to cause me to look at him before his lips met mine gently.
“I love you more.”
“Impossible,” I said
He laughed softly. “Let’s just agree to disagree or we might have our first argument in front of them.” He joked. I nodded chuckling and leaning to kiss him again.
—–
“Ah, not again.” I groaned rolling over as crying once again ripped me from my sleep. “Jay, get Eli before he wakes Tam –” The sentence was no longer necessary as more crying broke out. Should I just cover my head with the pillow? No, it would not even help.
“It was your turn.” He mumbled as he kicked my leg under the sheets but followed me out of bed when I got up before we stumbled our way into the twin’s nursery. I yawned lifting Eli from their crib and began trying to sooth him as Jayden did the same with Tamia.
“Well, this really is just pure bliss, isn’t it?” Jayden mumbled, his face reflecting the sound of his fatigued voice as he stared down at Tamia seemingly half-awake. I chuckled and he looked at me almost helplessly. “Why did we have two at once?”
“I have no idea, “They were so much work, “Wouldn’t change it though.” I added smiling.
“No way.” He chuckled looking back down at our girl. “See? We’re not that bad… They’re still completely healthy.”
“It’s only been a few months,” I replied leaning to put Eli down as he had stopped crying but he seemed to sense what I was doing and began bawling again. I stood back up right, hugging him against my chest and listened to his crying subside as I rocked him. “This is our new Alpha,” I mumbled in disdain.
I was on the verge of crying – not even exaggerating. I had literally had no sleep in weeks, neither had Jayden. They were so much work and it was especially frustrating when they cried and I couldn’t figure out what they wanted and all I desperately wanted at the moment was a break. The funny thing was that when I did get to be away from them for a few hours of work, I missed them so much it hurt.
Jayden laughed. “I’m sure you acted the same way at his age, Corey.” He said before cooing at our daughter.
“No, Mom says I was quiet, very happy and easy to handle. The doctors were afraid –”
“When you were born because you didn’t cry, I know the story, weirdo. You brag about it enough. It’s a really odd thing to be so proud of.” I chuckled seeing Jayden narrow his eyes at me before we looked at Tamia, he was trying to get her to sleep but her brown eyes were wide open as she stared up at him.
“She’s quiet.” He sighed, “She’s not falling asleep though.” He frowned before sticking his tongue out causing her to giggle.
“Oh, I wonder why she isn’t.” I rolled my eyes.
“Be quiet,” Jayden said. We chuckled. I looked down at our son happy to see that he was practically sleeping again.
“Should we get a nanny?”
“No.” Jayden’s reply was instant, as it always was when the topic came up.
“You’re starting school tomorrow and I have to go back to working full time soon. We can’t watch them every second of the day.”
“I know, but they’re so small, Corey. Do you really want anyone but us around them right now?” He asked.
“Right… I don’t.” I nodded. “We can handle it.” I smiled at him.
“We can handle anything.” He agreed. “Oh my God, she’s sleeping!” His excitement was caught in a loud hiss.
“Shh.” I chuckled softly, “I think he is too.” I whispered. Figuring it about time to try to put him back again, I leaned to put Eli down and he squirmed in my arms. “Please, please, Eli…” I whispered staying still until he stopped moving.
Jayden chuckled softly having already put Tamia back into the crib without any hassle. I lay Eli down beside her gently, holding my breath before I walked out and only started breathing again in the hallway. Jayden chuckled as he swung his arms around my arms and chest from behind me while he leaned his head on my back.
“Eli’s sleeping is your fault.” He mumbled.
“What?”
“You don’t know how to sleep and now neither does he. If we drop a pin he’ll wake up and it’s your fault.” He pushed me playfully as he moved by me and I laughed softly grabbing his hand to pull him against my chest.
“I’m too tired to deal with you.” He chuckled as I kissed his cheek, “Shh. Let’s get to bed before we wake them, we only have a couple of hours before we have to be up.”
He groaned letting his head fall back against my chest. “Why did you have to remind me of that?” He frowned stepping out of my arms and making his way to our room. I chuckled watching him walk away before I looked back at the twins. They were both sleeping soundly.
I smiled to myself, pulling their door shut as quietly and carefully as possible before breathing in relief as it shut without a sound.
*****
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