Tears filled my eyes. “You had them! I knew it!”
“I had them four days ago, a healthy girl and a healthy boy.” She adjusted the video comm to reveal the cradle behind her that held two sleeping babies swaddled in blankets. “I can’t believe we’re both mommies!”
Brutus stuck his head in the room. “Is that Candy? Did she have her babies?”
I smiled at him. “Yes and yes. Come say hi.”
He rushed toward the video comm and placed a hand on my shoulder as he peered at the screen. “Congratulations,” he said. “The Great Spirit has blessed you doubly.”
On Candy’s screen, I noticed a big, green-eyed Vaxxlian enter the room. He approached the video comm with slow steps, presumably not to startle the babies.
“It’s nice to see you again, Tarall,” I said. “Your twins are beautiful.”
“It is a pleasure to see you, Hailey,” he whispered with a nod, “and you as well, Chief Brutus.”
Candy aimed a loving look at her Vaxxlian husband. “They are sound sleepers. You don’t have to keep whispering and tiptoeing around.”
Tarall returned her affectionate gaze, and my heart did a little dance to see my best friend so happily mated to a huge Vaxxlian warrior. “Are you certain they won’t awake if I talk in a normal voice?” he whispered. “My voice is deeper than yours.”
“I am certain. Go ahead. Try it. Say something.” Candy shot him a look of challenge.
“Hello, my name is Tarall,” he said.
A second later, the twins woke up crying. Candy winced and scrubbed a hand down her face. “Well, crap, it would appear I was wrong.”
Tarall kissed her cheek then went to the cradle, lifting a baby in each arm. They instantly ceased crying, and he brought them closer to the screen, allowing us to get a better look.
“Foona,” Loshha said, pointing at the screen all on her own.
Brutus and I gasped at the same time.
“Her first word!” I said with a laugh. “I can’t believe it!”
“What does ‘foona’ mean?” Candy asked.
“It’s Montikaan for ‘baby,’” I explained. Studying Brutus’s native tongue wasn’t easy, but I could recall a handful of words and phrases thus far. Perhaps Loshha and I would end up learning together.
“Awww,” Candy said, beaming. “I love that she waited to say her first word in front of her favorite aunt.”
We talked for a few more minutes before all three babies became fussy, then we said our farewells and promised to chat again soon. Brutus lifted Loshha from my lap and rocked her in his arms. She instantly quieted.
“I think she likes me,” he said with a tender gleam in his eyes.
My heart swelled at the sight of him rocking her and cooing to her as she stared at him completely transfixed. “You’re her daddy. She adores you, Brutus, and so do I.”
