Do we think they're ready for 'twins?' ;)
Waves of Hope
Chapter Twenty-three
Edward
As it happens, twins?
Much harder than one baby.
"Holy shit, I'm tired," I groan, scrubbing my face with my hands and leaning on the bathroom counter for much-needed support.
Who'd have thought two infants could wipe me out this much after just one night?
Bella echoes my sentiments as she hurries into the bathroom, swiping her toothbrush off the counter and dashing back out again.
Frowning, I eye her hairbrush for a second before picking it up and stepping out into our bedroom. Bella is already on her way back, sheepish smile in place.
"Trade?" I tease as we swap brushes. "I'm glad I'm not the only one feelin' the late night."
"You're definitely not the only—yawn—one. God, I'm so tired."
By the time we're both washed and somewhat presentable, both sitting on the couch with a baby in our arms while they chug their breakfast, Sullivan is just sauntering into the living area.
Scratching his stomach before raking a hand through his hair, he grins. "Man, that bed rocks. I need to find out where Charlie gets those, 'cause man, I haven't slept that good in years." His smile falls when he sees our less-than-impressed scowls. "What? What did I say?"
"I don't like you," Bella mumbles.
I can't help but chuckle; her scowl shifts into a faint smile as she strokes Rylee's cheek before smothering a yawn into her shoulder.
Dropping down beside me, Sullivan shrugs when I ask if he wants to finish feeding River while I get some coffee going, so I hand my son over and beeline for the coffee machine. When I get there, I'm surprised to see that it's already full and piping hot.
Renee.
She appears like my realization summoned her, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed like she got a full night sleep and wasn't up every forty-five minutes throughout the night with a fussy baby or two.
Oh, wait…
"What time did they finally drop off?" she asks, the tiniest of smirks just dying to be set free.
If it weren't for the fact that she's saved me a good five minutes of waiting for the coffee to brew and even put a Milky Way by my cup, she'd be on my shitlist.
"Five, maybe?" I admit, rubbing my neck as I watch her pour four steaming cups of the caffeine I'm going to rely on to get me through the day.
And the next eighteen years, probably. Fuck.
"Every time River cried, Rylee went off, and vice versa. Half the time they were just fussy, they didn't seem to really want anything."
Renee hums. "They're just settling in. It's a lot different from the NICU and they're getting used to everything, just like you're getting used to handling the whole day-to-day routine by yourselves without the nurses on hand to help. It'll take time but it won't be long before you've got it all ironed out."
Guiding me over to one of the comfy armchairs, Renee presses the Milky Way bar into one of my hands and the coffee into the other, then she steals Rylee from Bella's arms when it becomes clear she's not actually hungry, she's just whiny.
"Go have something to eat and drink, sweetheart," Renee tells her with a smile, swaying around the room with Rylee cradled in the crook of her arm. "You're going to be on your feet at the hospital all day, you need some proper sustenance," she adds when Bella reaches for the cereal bars on the coffee table.
Smiling into my caffeine fix, I sit back in the chair and force myself to keep my eyes open so I don't doze off…
Which is exactly what I do.
When I wake up from my impromptu nap, my coffee is cold on the table, my candy bar is all squidgy in my hand, and I'm alone. Stretching my arms above my head, I feel like a new man. That nap worked wonders.
"Uh, hello?"
Sullivan's head pops up from behind the couch. "Down here."
Scrubbing sleep from my eyes, I dump my uneaten candy bar on the table beside my coffee—which I guess Sullivan or Renee took from me when I fell asleep—and head around to see what my brother is up to. A grin stretches across my face when I find River and Rylee side by side in their rocking bassinets. We hadn't bothered to put them up yet because we only have two babies out of the hospital and they fit comfortably in the twin bassinet, but…
I manage to shake off the last of my brain fog as my eyes land on the empty bassinet standing next to Rylee's.
"Wait…"
Sullivan smirks. "Bella called a little while ago. Oakley passed his test this morning."
"Holy shit, no way!"
Pride and excitement and sheer fucking terror almost cripple me. Three babies.
And this morning?
"What time is it?"
Sullivan answers just as I find the clock across the room. "It's almost lunch time. It's about time you woke up 'cause I'm fuckin' starvin' and Renee went to the hospital with Bella, so I couldn't go get anythin'. You want to come with or stay here with the groms?"
"Uh, I'll stay here, I guess. Bella has the Jeep." My hands dive into my hair as I sink down to sit on the floor with Sullivan. "Fuck."
"What?"
"Three babies...we're gonna run out of room in the Jeep."
Sullivan doesn't react how I expected him to. Instead of commiserating with me, he grins and hops up. "I forgot, I need to make a phone call."
Watching him disappear down the hall to his room with a frown, I shake off my worry for the moment, adjusting River's blanket and popping Rylee's binky back into her mouth when she spits it out and starts rooting around for it.
"What are gonna do, Sis?" I whisper as she gives me a few sleepy blinks before dropping off to sleep.
Pulling my cell from the pocket of my sweats, I open up the tab I was looking at yesterday when I was bus shopping. I've narrowed it down to two models thanks to guidance from other high-order multiple families, but both come with price tags that make me wince. Both have twelve seats and similar technical specs, but one has much better ratings for maneuverability. With a busy schedule and three older boys who will still need driving around, we need that quality in whatever vehicle we choose.
"All right, change of plan," Sullivan declares, strolling back into the room with his cap on his head and car keys in hand. "Get those babies loaded up, we're goin' for a drive."
"Uh, why?"
He smirks, grabbing the car seats and carrying them over to me. "Because, that's why. Do we need to change these two or anything before we go?"
Stuck somewhere between confused and amused, I tell him they'll need fresh diapers and bottles made up if we're going to be longer than an hour, because that's when they're due their next feed. "Wait...did you feed them by yourself while I was asleep?"
My brother shrugs, already on his way to the refrigerator to get a couple of bottles. "It was no sweat. I used that pillow thingy."
"The boppy," I murmur, grinning at my soft-as-shit little brother. For someone who just last night confided in me he's not sad his sort-of girlfriend broke up with him because he doesn't think he's family-man material anyway, he sure is good with babies. One day, he's going to find a good woman who makes him happy and they've gonna give me a bunch of nephews and nieces. "Thanks for lettin' me sleep, little brother."
"Don't worry about it. Take the naps when you can, bro. You're gonna need 'em." When he returns, now with two bottles and the portable warmer thing we haven't had to use yet, he frowns at me still sitting on the floor in spit-up stained sweats and a threadbare tee. "Dude, what are you doin'? I'm not goin' anywhere with you lookin' like roadkill. Go shower and get changed."
"Right, right."
By the time I get back out there, freshly showered and in clean clothes, Sullivan is moving River from our makeshift changing table—aka a console table repurposed with a changing pad and a lazy susan full of diapers—to his car seat. Rylee is cooing to herself in her seat, all strapped in like we showed him with her binky clipped to a fresh onesie and a blanket tucked over her legs.
Eyeing my brother with a shit-eating grin, I watch as he chats away to River while buckling him in, swiping his binky from his bassinet before laying a blanket over him. He spots me then, shooting me a matching grin.
"You look like a human again. Way to go, bro."
"Yeah, yeah. Get used to seeing zombie Edward. It's only gonna get harder and more exhausting from here on out."
Sullivan snorts as he grabs an overstuffed changing bag and River, leaving me to pick up the handle of Rylee's seat as we head out. My wallet and keys are on the nightstand we're using in the entryway since we've stolen the console table from beside the door, so I grab those and stuff them into one of my pockets on the way to the elevators.
"Mind telling me where we're going?" I wonder once we're on our way down.
Zipping his lips, Sullivan shakes his head. "Nope, actually I don't. It'll be more fun if you don't know 'til we get there."
"Hmm."
He's having way too much fun with his secret, so I decide to let him have it. Besides, it's nice to get out of the hotel with the babies. The fresh air will do us all good after last night.
Once the seats are all strapped in on the backseat in Sullivan's truck, we head away from the hotel. It doesn't take long for me to realize that we're not leaving Tampa. In fact, we're heading further into the center of the city. Still, Sullivan is enjoying his little game, so I tip my head back against the headrest, roll down the window, and enjoy the breeze rushing through the cab. It's a beautiful day out, hot but not scorching, and the sun feels great on my face as we cruise through the midday traffic.
Finally, just when I'm considering trying to guess where we're going, we turn off the main highway and take a series of smaller roads until we pull over toward a smattering of what look like storage units and a...
Sitting up straight, I flick a glance over at Sullivan. "A garage?"
He nods, popping the 'p' when he says, "Yup. You guys need a bus to cart your litter around once they're all out of the pound—"
I cut him off by cracking up, knowing he wouldn't be saying that if Bella were here to beat him for it.
"As I was sayin'..." he grins. "You guys need a friggin' bus now. The Jeep is cool but it's not gonna cut it, sooo, here we are."
I didn't think to bring a stroller, so we each carry a baby in their car seat after finding a spot to park.
"The offices are over there."
It doesn't occur to me right away that it's odd Sullivan knows exactly where the office is even though it's tucked behind a fleet of vans. It hits me just as we step through the door of said office and the woman behind the desk jumps up to greet us like we're old friends or...celebrities.
"Oh, these must be two of the famous babies!" She rushes over, all bouncy blonde curls and a megawatt smile. Thankfully, she takes note of the little signs hanging over the babies and doesn't touch them. She does yank me into a hug, though. I set Rylee's seat down before I can drop it and pat her back, wide-eyed over her shoulder as Sullivan muffles his laughter with his fist. "It's so nice to finally meet you after hearing so much about you and your family!"
"Uh, thanks?"
She doesn't seem to notice my discomfort as she grabs Sullivan in a hug that's just as hearty as the one she gave me. He's expecting it, so he grins and drapes his arm around her shoulders once she's done.
"Bro, this is Lauren. Lauren, this is Edward Cullen, and these two groms are River and Rylee."
Lauren squeaks, bouncing on her heels. "I can't believe y'all are here. I mean, you called ahead so I knew you would be, but it's just so cool." Her eyes go wide before she darts out from under Sullivan's arm, rounding the counter to fish something out of a drawer. "Look! I still have the copy of People that you were in!"
I can't help but grin when she rushes back over, opening the magazine up to our full-page spread. Right in the center is a big picture of me, Bella, the boys, and the babies in a semi-circle of pods. We got May to take the photo because we didn't want cameramen traipsing through the NICU disturbing the other parents, but she did a great job. It feels like such a long time ago already, especially when I look down at River and Rylee sleeping contentedly at my feet, free of incubators and wires and monitors.
"Would you sign it?"
Unable to refuse when she's staring at me with big, pleading blue eyes, I chuckle and take the pen she pulls from behind her ear, scrawling 'Thanks for supporting our family, Lauren. Take care!' under my signature.
Full of giddy smiles, she seems to have forgotten that we're here for a reason until Sullivan pointedly clears his throat.
"Oh! I'm so sorry," she giggles, rushing back around behind the desk. She disappears, crouching down for a moment.
I take the opportunity to mouth 'what the fuck?' at Sullivan. He offers me a wide smile and a wink as Lauren pops back up again. Dangling a set of keys between her fingers, her eyes flit between the two of us. "Do you want to take it for a test drive first? I can send one of our mechanics out to come with you in case you have any questions."
Oh, I have plenty questions.
"That'd be great, thanks," Sullivan says, taking the keys and asking where it is.
"Right out the front, just around to the right. You can't really miss it," Lauren giggles again, eyes on Sullivan as he wraps his hand around River's seat handle and motions for me to follow him.
My brain can't keep up, so I just grab Rylee, murmur my thanks to Lauren, and follow my brother back out into the sunshine. He's already rounding the corner so I quicken my step and catch up with him just around the bend. My feet come to an abrupt stop when I spot him leaning against the side of a gleaming blue Nissan NV Passenger van.
The exact kind of vehicle I'm ninety-nine percent sure we'll end up buying.
"How did you…?"
"You know when I upgraded my truck last month?"
I rake a hand through my hair, turning Rylee away from the sun. "Uh, yes?"
"I couldn't get the model and color I wanted in Jacksonville, so I shopped around. I found this place online and, would you believe it, they had exactly what I wanted."
My eyes slide over to his truck across the lot, the matt black paint not catching the light like the cars alongside it.
"All right…"
His grin widens. He's loving this, the little shit. "So anyway, it got me thinkin'. I spoke to Charlie and we came back here a couple of weeks ago to talk to the owner…" he trails off, his eyes somewhere over my shoulder. Turning, I spot a gray-haired man jogging over with a younger guy beside him. They're both wearing smiles and are obviously related. "Speaking of the devil. Hi, Randy. Hey, Harry. This is my brother, Edward Cullen."
Randy, the older guy, and Harry, the younger, shake my hand and smile at the babies. Their polos both bear the logo that was above the office door.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. Sullivan here came out to see us with your father-in-law and explained the situation. I've gotta say, I didn't believe him at first," Randy chuckles, looking at the babies again. "Six babies, huh?"
Smiling faintly, I nod and acknowledge that it's still kind of surreal for us, too, and we're living the reality. "Yeah, six babies. It's still sinkin' in for us."
Randy laughs again. "I just bet. Well, we're a family run business here and we like to do what we can to help out those in need." His crows feet deepen as Sullivan raises the keys, jingling them in front of my face until I snatch them out of his hand. There's a fob on here, but there's also a keyring. My throat closes up and my heart thumps hard when I flip it over and see the picture in the small plastic frame.
"It's us?"
"It sure is. And this beauty is yours," Randy grins, slapping a hand on my shoulder. "It's not new, mind, but she runs great and it'll be perfect for what you need, I reckon. C'mon, let me show you around."
I can't…
"Wait, what?"
Randy glances at me and Sullivan, murmuring that he and Harry will give us a second. They step away as Sullivan moves to stand in front of me. Grasping my shoulders in his hands, he purses his lips in a poor attempt at stifling his smile.
"You…you got us a van?"
"No, bro. We were going to, but when Randy heard your story and we told him all about you guys, he wanted to give it to you, no strings attached." His eyes flare with mischief. "Well, I had to promise to comp their food at Burger Co. if they ever come to Jackson Bay, but you can take that outta my paycheck."
An unexpected rush of tears hits me out of nowhere and for the second time today, I have to put Rylee's seat down before I drop her.
Sullivan's amusement softens as he grabs me in a hug. "We've got your back, man. When are you gonna realize that y'all don't have to do all this on your own?"
Pulling myself together, I shake my head and huff a laugh through my nose. "I can't...I can't believe this."
"Well believe it, brother. Now, can you pull up your big boy pants so we can give this bad boy a road test? I've been dyin' to get behind the wheel."
With a soft chuckle, I nod and reach for the car seat at my feet. "I guess we better had, huh?"
~ oOo ~
"Bella's gonna freak, isn't she?" Sullivan grins gleefully as we turn into the hospital parking lot.
"Probably," I admit, turning toward the entrance. We're not going to park, we're just here to collect Bella and Oakley. Renee had to split to go pick Rosalie up, so Sullivan thought it would be a great idea to surprise Bella with Big Blue.
We hadn't even finished our test drive before Sullivan had named the van.
I have to admit, Big Blue does kinda suit it.
Bella is already out front, but there's no missing us as we roll to a stop right by her and May, who has Oakley's car seat resting on a cart.
I see Bella mouth 'oh my God' and grin ruefully as I switch on the hazard lights and hop out.
"What did you do?" she laughs, gawping at Big Blue, thankfully less mad than I expected.
"I didn't do anything. Blame your dad and Sully," I tell her, winding an arm around her shoulders and peeking at Oakley as Sullivan rounds the hood.
"You did this?" Bella frowns, looking as confused as I was.
As Sullivan tells Bella and May about Randy's generosity, I hone in on my adorable son as he opens his eyes, blinking and adjusting to the light. It's evening now, much less bright than even just a couple of hours ago. Turning his seat a little on top of the cart, I aim him toward the sunset and grin at the swaths of orange, red, and gold painting the sky. "You're free, buddy."
"Three out of six. You're fifty percent there," May says, familiar grin in place. "Bella said the R twins were little nightmares last night."
"The R twins," I laugh, nodding. "'Nightmares' is about right, yeah. They just didn't want to sleep."
"That's normal for babies when they go home. They'll settle." Adjusting Oakley's blanket, she adds, "Utilize all the help you've got around you. You'll need it if you want to stay sane."
Snorting, I nod again. "I know. It's...hard, but it's starting to sink in that we can't do this by ourselves."
May reaches over to squeeze my hand. "You're right. It takes a village to raise one baby. It'll take a city to raise six."
~ oOo ~
"Do you remember when we talked about how hard it would be when we had three babies home?" Bella murmurs hours later, flopping down on the bed beside me as I yawn hard enough to make my eyes water.
"I remember." I grin, reaching for my cell to make sure I've silenced it except for favorited numbers; the hospital is the only number on that list. I learned my lesson about having it on the loud setting when it rang earlier and scared Oakley so much he screamed for a solid ten minutes. "You were worried we'd struggle when the babies outnumbered our sets of arms."
She laughs, shuffling her pillows around to get comfy. "It's not been too bad so far, has it?"
"Actually, no, it hasn't."
Apart from the phone incident with Oakley, it's been a peaceful, relaxed evening with three adults versus three babies. Renee never came back after going to get Rosalie. I haven't asked too many questions but Bella seemed okay when she got off the phone with her mom. From the little I heard I'm guessing she's broken up with Clarke or something. That's not my business so I'm not going to put my nose where it's not wanted or needed.
Between Bella, Sullivan, and me, we've managed well. We're not outnumbered while Sullivan is here, but we will be when he splits to go back to Jackson Bay tomorrow morning, at least until Brody arrives with the boys in the evening.
There'll be three adults wrangling the three big boys and three infants.
It'll be...interesting.
River, Oakley, and Rylee coo and grunt in their sleep, content in their bassinets at the foot of the bed. We've got all six set up now, but the unoccupied three are against the wall awaiting Asher, Mackenzie, and Caben.
May doesn't expect us to get any of them over the weekend, but things could change.
Personally? I think a few days coming to grips with having these three babies would be good for all of us before the baby count doubles.
It's been a long time since I've had a newborn, which is what these babies are developmentally.
Once we're both settled on our sides, our faces turned toward each other and the low glow of the lamp illuminating the silver in Bella's eyes, I breathe a content sigh. I'm tired, my body weary and my mind exhausted.
But I've never been happier.
"I still can't get over Big Blue."
I snort. "I still can't believe you're on board with that name."
She grins, teeth flashing. "I think it suits her."
Her.
If someone had told me five years ago that in five years I'd have nine children, a crazy bear of a dog, a beautiful fiancée, and an apparently female twelve seat passenger van called Big Blue, I'd have said they'd lost it.
Yet, here I am.
Happy as a pig in shit.
"Did you test the strollers out to see if they fit?"
"Nah, not today. We just drove it around a little and then came back here so we could feed the babies. I couldn't figure out that warmer thing," I admit with a frown, shaking it off when she quietly laughs.
"My dear, sweet, technologically challenged Easy," she sighs, stroking my beard with the tips of her fingers. "You just have to make sure it's got water in it and switch it on. I left it charged up for you just in case."
"Oh." I frown again. "I didn't realize it was supposed to have water in it. It kept beeping at me but I wasn't sure why."
That's hilarious, apparently. She has to laugh into her pillow to keep herself from waking the babies. Grinning ruefully, I roll over on top of her, pinning her legs under me and twisting my fingers around hers. She doesn't quit laughing until I lean down, running my nose from her sternum to her cheek.
Her breath stutters, rushing over my face as I pull back to stare into those stunning gray eyes I can't stop falling in love with.
"You're so pretty," I whisper softly, honestly.
Her amusement melts away, affection smoothing the curves of her wide grin until she's wearing the smallest of bashful smiles, running her fingers through my hair. "You're so handsome," she whispers back. "I have to pinch myself at least twenty times a day. Teenage me still can't believe that you're mine."
"Teenage you, huh? What about present day Bella? Is she over me and my technologically challenged ways yet?"
Crinkling with her smile, her eyes shine like stars. "Not even a little. I've got years and years to teach you how to work the twenty-first century. I keep telling you, I'm all for helping the aged—ah!"
I muffle her yelp of surprise by slanting my mouth over hers in a hungry kiss, my fingers digging into her sides and tickling right where I know she can't handle it. She creases up like an accordion, laughing into my neck as she burrows into me at the same time as she tries to squirm out of my grip.
Laughter turns into a breathy groan when my tickling fingers become soft, my hands shamelessly roaming the skin bared by her cotton shorts and tank top. She shivers when my fingertips dance over the new scar stretching across her abdomen. She's been applying a special lotion to it everyday to help it heal and fade and it's definitely working.
Between kisses that steal breath, clothes are slowly removed. Her tank top, my tee. Her shorts, my briefs. When she's left in just panties, I take my sweet time pulling them over her legs, kissing my way down. When the tip of my aching dick presses against her hot, wet center, I pause for maybe a second before I remember I don't need to.
There's a flash of something in her eyes and I know she's thinking of it too, of the hysterectomy I gave the doctor the okay to perform. She knows it was necessary. She knows it saved her life.
But I know she's still struggling with it.
"Bella—"
She cuts me off with a lift of her hips, pleasure robbing me of the words I was about to speak…
Then the sudden wail of a baby slices right through the fog of mindless abandon.
Shit.
Bella scrambles down the bed, yanking her tank top off the floor on her way. I slip off the bed and head to the bathroom to cool my head and by the time I return, she's cradling Oakley at her breast and her shorts are back on.
My smile is half-hearted as I pick up my sweat shorts and pull them on, tying the string so they rest on my hips.
"Guess we're gonna have to get used to being cockblocked, huh?" I murmur, my gaze finding Rylee as she starts to fuss.
"Uh-huh," Bella confirms with a rueful little sigh. "We've gotten complacent with the big boys."
"That's true."
Before we got pregnant with the sixers, we had months of not needing to worry about the boys coming into our bed in the night. The boys stopped crawling in with us what feels like forever ago. Cockblocking aside, I do miss it sometimes, although I guess the sixers are going to solve that.
"We need to get a bigger bed for back home, don't we?" I...well, I meant it as a joke, but I quickly realize it wasn't a good one. "Shit. We're actually gonna need a bigger bed."
"Probably," Bella admits, holding out her free arm for Rylee as I scoop her from the bassinet. "It's okay," she smiles at me when I raise my eyebrows in question. "I don't mind tandem feeding sometimes, I just don't want to do it every time."
"Okay."
Once she's settled with a pillow supporting Oakley and Rylee, I glance at River and decide I've probably got enough time to run out and get his bottle ready before he's screeching the hotel down for it. Luckily, I'm right. I make it back just in time to swoop River up before his fussing turns into real cries. His green eyes—my green eyes—peer up at me as I slip the nipple into his mouth and carefully settle on the bed beside Bella.
Not for the first time, as my eyes flit between River and Bella with both Rylee and Oakley, I wonder how we're going to manage this when we have three more babies.
"You're getting too caught up in your head," she whispers.
Shaking my head, I lean back against the headboard, eyes following the coffers in the ceiling. "We don't have enough hands."
Snorting, she agrees. "But we'll be fine, handsome. We'll manage one way or another."
"You think?"
Her gaze is soft when I roll my head to look at her. She's mirroring me, her smile relaxed. "I know. We didn't go through all this to get our babies here and fall at the first real hurdle. This is going to be hard, we know that, we've known that, but I have every faith in us." Rylee unlatches, so she adjusts her a little and smiles proudly at our daughter when she gets back to it.
My heart squeezes, my worry evaporating because, with this incredible woman at my side, how can I not be sure of us, sure of her? She's the most amazing mother and I know I can't fail all the time I'm following her lead.
Sorry for the longer gap between updates! The rest of this story is written and edited now so it's just a case of posting, but it's been a hectic week. I plan to keep to the schedule I had going, posting every three/four days, until we hit the end. I have a few futuretakes that were either hotly requested or ones I wanted to write anyway, so those aren't counted in the chapter count—after this one there are six more regular chapters and an epilogue, then the futuretakes.
Hope that clears things up, I've had a few questions about it recently.
Huge thanks to annaharding and maplestyle for being their awesome selves and working hard with me to make my writing the best it can be! And of course hugs to all of you for taking the time to read and review. It's hard to explain just how lovely it is to get those review alerts and know that, in a time when social interaction is hard and emotions are high, there are people out there.
Oh, and y'all should start to keep your eyes peeled in my writing group soon so you don't miss the announcement coming your way. Happy hump day, everybody! xo