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Thirty-Nine
DELILAH
I woke up to the sound of the twins cooing into the monitor, talking to each other as they did most mornings. Sometimes I liked to lay there and listen. Their giggles and babbles were almost coherent at times, as I tried to decipher that adorable baby-speak that only toddlers can understand.
But this morning was different, because I woke up alone.
“Liam?”
He’d been next to me a few hours ago. He’d snuck into my bed after Duncan had left, and we’d screwed around until about two in the morning. On nights like this he would usually stay. I’d break free of his warm, wonderful spooning when the monitor made noise, and leave him slumbering as I went to get Jace and Courtney.
“Duncan? Julius?”
The hallway was empty, and so were the guys’ rooms. I backtracked into the nursery and four little arms went up at once. The children’s happy smiles melted my heart. But then came the hard part, because whoever I didn’t pick up first would start to cry as I went to the other.
“Be there in a minute, baby.”
It was Courtney’s turn to go first, and the look on Jace’s face as I picked her up was totally heartbreaking! How could these little faces be so expressive? And how could they make you feel so badly so quickly!?
Jace cried as I changed Courtney’s diaper, the little tears streaking down his cheeks as he bawled away. Very quickly I got Courtney all cleaned up and changed, then put her down in Jace’s crib while lifting him out.
“There there, honey!”
I rubbed his back for a moment, absorbing the pure unbridled, unadulterated, one-thousand percent innocent unconditional love that radiated from his little body, straight into my open heart. I felt like I would burst from happiness! If only they could bottle this feeling—
“Di-lah!”
Courtney’s face contorted into a heartbreaking frown, and thenhertears began to flow. Her little arms were held out to me. The fingers on her little hands clenching and unclenching…
“One sec—”
Where were the others? Usually one or more of them would’ve shown up by now. They’d hold one twin while I fixed up the other, then vice-versa. Afterwards we’d all head into the kitchen for breakfast.
“DI-LAH! Me! Me!”
Eventually I had both of them in my arms, and the crying finally stopped. As we made our way down the hallway together, I thought about the all new respect I’d gained for the parents of twins.
The kitchen was empty, the coffee pot all clean and washed out. There was no sign of anyone. The whole thing was just strange.
“Is anyone—”
“Down here!”
Julius’s booming voice carried itself down one of the unfinished hallways, and through one of the plastic curtains. He entered the room as I was still loading the twins into their highchairs.
“Morning everyone,” he said, reaching for the coffee pot.
“Good morn—”
I glanced up casually and my breath caught in my throat. Julius looked like a cut marble statue of some Roman God! He was shirtless and pumped all over; every muscle on his body stood out in stark, sweat-soaked relief. The workout towel thrown over both shoulders told me he’d obviously just come from lifting weights. Long before I’d gotten here, the guys had built a makeshift gymnasium at the opposite end of the mansion.
“You can put in a workout before coffee?” I asked incredulously.
“Always do.”
“That’s savage talk,” I said, shaking my head. “Kids, don’t pay any attention to that,” I teased him, glancing at the twins. “That’s bad.”
“BAD!” Jace said, pointing a spoon at his father. “Bad bad!”
