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But I don’t feel like playing referee this morning. Time to de-escalate before it gets worse. “Yeah, he fucked us over, Isa, but he’s trying to make up for it. I’m willing to give him a chance. After all, what choice do we have?”
Drex shoots me a grateful look while Isa frowns and returns her attention to Azel. “Yeah, you’re right,” she mutters. “Sorry, Drex. I didn’t mean to imply that he was a liar or a bad person or anything like that.”
“Look, I get it,” Drex says placatingly. “If I was you, I wouldn’t trust him, either. But do you trust me?”
Isa smirks, about to make another jab, but I shake my head. Now’s not the time to be a smartass. She deflates. “Yeah, I do trust you, Drex.”
He smiles at that. “Thanks, Isa. That means a lot.”
I finish my breakfast and put the plate in the sink to be washed later. On my way back, I pick up a giggling Azel off the floor and bounce him in my arms. “No matter what happens, we’ll be okay as long as we have each other.”
When I sit beside Drex again, he presses a kiss to my cheek. In our arms, Azel and Bianca reach for one another, making their usual baby coos. I pass Azel to him, allowing the twins to be closer to one another and then lean against his arm.
While he rocks them, I hum the melody my mom used to sing. Soon, Isa joins in with the lyrics: “Hushaby dreamer, go to your rest. You’ve played all day and done your best. Now curl up in bed and rest your weary head. Hushaby dreamer, go to your rest.”
My heart flutters with joy. The lyrics to that song weren’t lost after all. “How do you know that?” I ask.
Isa smiles sadly. “Do you remember those awful nightmares I used to have after getting caught in that blast?” She rubs at the burned skin underneath her long-sleeved shirt.
I nod.
“Some nights, those nights when I really missed my own mom, I’d come to yours. She used to sing that lullaby until I fell back asleep.” Her voice catches at the memory.
“How did I not know that?” I ask.
Isa’s smile is watery as her eyes fill with tears. “I was embarrassed, but your mom never judged. Bianca always understood what you needed without you ever having to tell her.”
I open my arms, inviting her to our family group cuddle. She takes a seat beside me on the couch and leans against me. We stay like this, just enjoying each other’s company.
We’re together. This is all that matters.
26
DREX
“Mwuh, mwuuhh, mwuuhhh!”
The strange, burbling noises are getting progressively louder with each pass. I sit up immediately, thankful once again for the years of combat training and experience that have honed my instincts. However, they’ve been put to a much different use these past couple of weeks.
As strange as it was feeling like my world shifted when I met Sophia, this new dynamic feels even stranger still. Strange yet wonderful. Although I didn’t think my world could get fuller after meeting my fated one, Sophia has proven me wrong again by giving birth to our twins.
I am a father now. Although I had imagined I would inherit that title one day, it seemed more like a distant, intangible dream. Now that dream is my whole reality, and I have never felt more complete – even including the day I married sweet Sophia.
I also feel a plethora of other things. Like exhaustion. Azel and Bianca are both strong and energetic despite only being a couple of weeks old, with an impressive level of developing intelligence that keeps us both on our toes. I imagine they will keep us active and anxious well into adulthood.
“Hmm, mm-hmm, hmm-mm.” Sohpia’s soft tones break up and settle the baby’s cries before they reach a more impressive decibel. I can barely comprehend how creatures so small can be so powerfully loud, even though I’ve witnessed it several times at this point.
She hums an old human tune, and it never fails to amaze me how they respond to their mother’s voice. Twins through and through, they will often mimic each other – which means when one starts to cry, the other will shortly follow. Yet Sophia always manages to calm them down by singing old Earth songs into their ears.
“Are they alright?” I ask quietly, not wanting to interrupt the peace she has created. I’ve already swung off the bed to head towards her.
“They’re fine,” she mutters, smiling up at me as she cradles both of our children expertly. “Azel was just starting to get hungry, that’s all.”
“He’s always hungry,” I murmur back, coming to stand behind the tiny trio. I gaze down at the family we’ve created, and it feels like a thousand birds are trying to break out of my chest. My heart swells with the love I have for my new family, and I find myself silently reaffirming that there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to make all of them happy.
Sophia is tired as well, and it shows a little, yet she is still more beautiful than anything else I have seen in this galaxy. Although my worry often extends to her, she laughs it off, saying it’s perfectly normal for human women to take time to recover and heal after childbirth – yet she is a natural mother.
“It’s not too much, is it?” It’s a question I’ve asked her many times since we’ve reunited, and she knows exactly what I mean. Although we were separated for half a year, we fell back into understanding as if a single day never parted between us.
