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Milo had brought my children into this world with a steady hand and if he hadn’t been before, that cemented him as my brother for life.
We were an unbreakable family now.
Milo caught me staring and his grin turned to a frown. He stood up suddenly and headed towards me.
“I don’t wanna switch right now,” I whispered. “Since they’re all sleeping.” I nodded to the children in our arms and then over at Hope. I didn’t know much about babies—okay, I knew shit all about kids, not even how to change a goddamn diaper—but I did know you didn’t wake them once they were asleep.
But Milo just shook his head. “It’s not that,” he whispered, bouncing a little when the baby boy stirred in his arms. My son. My eyes locked on the kid, mesmerized.
He too, was perfect.
And so, so innocent.
Fuck, how was I going to protect them from this cruel fucking world?
“Look, there’s something I need to tell you,” Milo said, voice still a whisper.
I just raised my eyebrows. What could possibly be on his mind at a time like this?
“It was me,” he said like unburdening himself of a confession.
“You who what?” I asked, not following.
He stared at the floor for a long moment, still bouncing my son. “I’m the one who switched the birth control for sugar pills. I knew we needed something to cement us together as a family. I knew you and Janus needed—”
I choked and stepped back from him. He did fucking what?!
And right at that moment, the door shoved open and Janus blew into the room, saying, “I’m here! I’m here!” so loudly that both babies woke up and started wailing.
Chapter 17
LEANDER
“Hurry,” Hope said, grabbing my wrist in one hand, Janus’s in the other, and gesturing at Janus with her head. “They’re both down at the same time. Quick, before one of them wakes up. If we don’t do it now, it’ll never happen.”
She grabbed the back of Milo’s shirt when he didn’t move fast enough. “Up!” He’d just poured himself a bowl of cereal but he hopped up and followed behind her. So did I, along with Janus, all of us hurrying towards the wing of the house opposite of the babies’ room. Towards the theater, maybe? Or the big den?
We were back in LA, six insane weeks from landing in the States after Italy. The twins were eight weeks old.
Milo and I exchanged a quick glance as we followed Hope. Janus let out a quiet huff of excitement from behind us. All of us knew better than to make any noise.
Both babies asleep at once was all but a miracle and it had been since their birth.
Diana was a sweetheart, but Paul was a little menace. He was never pleased. I called him by his nickname because I refused on principal to go around calling a little baby Apollo. I didn’t care how much Janus argued that a pair of girl and boy Greek twins had to be named Diana and Apollo.
Milo glanced away as quickly as our eyes met. Guiltily.
Fuck, I hated that he’d unburdened his secret on me. What the hell was I supposed to do with this knowledge? He was an asshole to give me his secret.
Especially since I couldn’t do anything about it right now.
Hope swore she wouldn’t trust any outside help with the babies. She said there were plenty of hands between her, Milo, and me, especially after Janus was done filming and we all had a short hiatus before the next season of Gemini started filming.
Really, I meant to make Milo tell Hope and Janus what he’d told me.
I really, really meant to. I tried, a bunch of times.
But holy shit, there were the babies to take care of! I’d never taken care of a baby in my life.
How could they just send us home from the hospital with these two tiny little human beings? I mean, what the hell were they thinking? Was it just Italian hospitals?
But once we got to the States it wasn’t like any grownups stepped in to give us a certificate to see if we were qualified for this shit.
I didn’t even know how to change a diaper! I mean, I needed a license to operate a heavy vehicle but they just let any old idiot take home a baby?
Hope hadn’t even really figured out breastfeeding by the time we left the hospital in Italy. And then, Jesus, when we got home, it just all got worse.
In Italy, those first weeks whenever Paul had a rough feeding session, Milo was the only one who had the patience to bounce him in his arms for hours until the baby stopped fussing, burped it all out, and settled.
And even as good as Diana was in comparison to her brother, she was a handful all on her own.
