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“You got this, babe!”
“Oh, fuck off, Halle, this is your fault!” Lydia was puce and currently grinding Halle’s metacarpals to dust.
“All my fault, honey, got it! Now push.”
“You push!” Lydia growled.
“I would if I could, sweetheart.”
“I can’t do this, Halle.” Tears streamed down Lydia’s face.
“Yes, you can. You’re almost there.”
The wailing cries of their third baby echoed through the delivery suite. Lydia fell back exhausted, crying, and happy. “And here’s baby number three,” Elise laughed, handing the infant over to a nurse. “Let’s get you cleaned up, Lydia.”
Halle stood staring at her wriggling kids. It had shocked both of them to learn Lydia followed in Fe’s footsteps and conceived triplets. They’d been warned that multiple babies were a possibility, but they’d never really worried about it. Until Elise showed them three heartbeats, of course, and Halle nearly passed out.
“Are they okay?” Lydia asked, exhausted.
“They’re perfect. Oh, honey, you did so good.”
“Ready for some skin-on-skin?” One of the four nurses asked. Lydia nodded, beaming as their first girl was laid on her chest. Girl number two was shortly put on the other side.
Shedding her t-shirt, Halle happily accepted their little boy onto her body. “Oh, wow. You are the cutest thing, little man.”
“He looks like you. They all do.” Lydia kissed the top of her daughters’ heads.
“They have your eyes, babe, and your lips,” Halle answered. The triplets had Halle’s bronze skin, but there was no doubt in her mind who they looked like. “They’re gorgeous.”
“Mmm,” Lydia mumbled, already close to sleep.
* * *
“They look like squished pigs,” Joey commented, peering down into the triplets’ cot.
“Smell like them, too,” Jenny replied.
“You guys were the same when you were babies,” Lydia laughed quietly.
“And you were super stinky,” Halle added, making them laugh.
“Come on you three, let’s leave the little ones to sleep,” Lydia whispered.
Joey, Jenny, and Jack ran out of the room already over the excitement of having new cousins. Halle and Lydia chuckled when they heard Fe trying to wrangle her kids. It was getting late in the day, and everyone was ready for sleep. Lydia had been home for a week, and she was knackered. Three babies were a lot!
“Grab a shower, babe, I’ll make you a cup of tea.” Halle kissed Lydia’s temple, ushering her out of the kids’ room. Lydia couldn’t believe how hard it was to leave her children, even just to go shower. Halle was just as bad. They’d caught one another several times sneaking into the triplets’ room when they were supposed to be doing something else.
Shedding her clothes, Lydia happily stood under the shower spray for ten minutes. It was only when she started falling asleep and her head butted the wall; she knew it was time to get out.
Drying off, Lydia’s eyes caught her reflection. Instead of lingering, she lifted her gaze to the framed note above the mirror that Halle had given to her on that night she’d stupidly suggested an open marriage.
Looking back at herself, she studied her stomach, letting her hands drift over her still swollen belly and stretch marks. “Perfectly imperfect,” she whispered to herself, smiling.
“Perfect,” Halle echoed from the door.
“Broken parts included,” Lydia smiled.
