Chapter 40

Rook stayed a couple of nights with us. I answered anything he wanted to know, but because I did lie to him; I know we will always be close, but there is a wall there now. He grew attached to Harmione and loved talking to her more than he did me while he was with us, it seemed. When he left he said he'd drop by every now and again just to see how we were. He still wasn't completely trusting of Hope, like most of my family and friends are; but he was willing to try and give her a chance. I had to come to honest terms with myself that perhaps now everything could be laid to rest in the past, and we could move on.

We would be able to start with the birth of my boys. Hope wrote up a lesson plan of her magic skills to teach them, just in case one of them or both had powers like she and Harmione did. Hope gained a little over 25 pounds and even though she hadn't reached her full term yet, she was already bigger than she was with Harmione. We we're also thinking about moving. Our two bedroom, one bathroom house just wasn't gonna cut it. Though moving right now would be a little hard with Hope this far into her pregnancy. I did all I could to keep her from any unnecessary stress. I think stress and being overworked may have caused her to miscarry.

It was Christmas Eve, and we had dinner at my parents house. Gwen, Kevin, and Genesis came; as well as, oddly enough Julie and Herve. Grampa Max stopped by dressed as Santa Claus, and we even had presents for one another. We must have left around 7:30-8:00 o'clock that night. I carried Harmione in her new Christmas pajamas to her room and put her in bed. I tucked her in and kissed her head.

"Goodnight Har." I whispered softly and kissed her again. As soon as I finished putting a few extra presents under the tree I went to bed myself. It must have been at least midnight. Our clock chimmed in the hallway and the heat kicked on. The smell of something burning could be smelt about the house and the warmth was far more comforting than any blanket.

I lied down next to Hope she was already asleep. She had a body pillow between her legs and two pillows under her head. As I lay there, I kept thinking about the past and how far I've come. I thought what if I saved Hope then, but didn't marry her, would I still be this happy? You know they say that if you could go back and change one thing it might change everything that came after it and alter your present. Most believe its better not to change a thing.

In my case I don't think that's true. I don't think neither one would be alive today if something didn't change. Sure, we've had trouble along the way but I can't help but to feel grateful in some sense for that trouble. I mean its life right? You're supposed to fight to stay alive no matter what that means. It's just better now that I have someone to fight for.

Living means nothing without having someone to live for. And in a way I'm glad Hope has shown me how to also live for myself. You can't love someone else without loving yourself first. I don't know maybe I'm stupid. Maybe I've been a fool all these years to question things so much.

I think I question it because like Hope I'm not sure sometimes if I deserve it. Though I owe a lot of my life to Paradox for showing me the truth. He opened my eyes to something bigger than myself and I'm forever grateful. Instead of questioning it, I do try to just accept and enjoy it. And I do, every second and not just on the easy days.

My life is the greatest Christmas present I could ever receive. I rolled over on my side away from Hope and smiled shyly. If I could tell 16 year old me about his future he'd laugh in my face.

Harmione would be turning 7 in 15 days. It seems like yesterday I brought her home from the hospital. My memory began to drift to that day back in the winter of 2018. Hope was staying with me and my parents and Harmione had to stay at the hospital for a few weeks because she caught pneumonia. I remember when I went to pick her up. She weighed about 7 pounds. I remember walking up to the nurses station to sign some papers, Harmione was in a baby carrier at my feet.

"She's just the sweetest little girl we've ever had." The nurse said.

"Thanks." I replied back with a smile. I finished up the paper work and kneeled down in front of her.

"Hey baby, are you ready to go home with Daddy?"

She just stared up at me and her tiny fingers grasped at the air. I smiled as if she understood me and we left the hospital. That first night we had her home I never left her side. I remember Hope slept a lot but she needed the rest, I didn't mind staying up with the baby. I looked forward to it every night. I swayed with her, talked to her, and rocked her. The more I thought about it, the more I thought about my Harmione. I began to feel as if I've neglected some of that love I originally had, and split it between her and Hope. I'll have to split it even more when the boys get here.

It was almost 1:00 am and I got out of bed and went into Harmione's room. She was fast asleep and was holding on tight to her favorite stuffed cat. I quietly and gently got in bed next to her and just held her close. She slowly awakened and looked at me. Her hair was bushy, and her eyes were dreary. She just pulled up her princess quilt and covered me up then laid back down. I smiled. She nuzzled closer to me.

"I love you Daddy." She whispered.

"I love you too." I whispered back.

When Harmione's birthday came around we had lots of snow. Not a storm or a blizzard, just some nice snow. Harmione loves the snow. Ever since she was born during that snow storm she's always loved it. During her birthday party, we played in it a little bit.

Harmione and Gwen were on one team, and me and Kevin on the other during a snowball fight. It wasn't your typical snowball brawl.

Gwen used her mana to create shields over her and Harmione; sometimes it was hard for us to get a decent snowball shot in.

Kevin absorbed the concrete on our patio to have a stronger throwing arm. I rapidly changed from alien to alien to throw snowballs. Eventually I found that Four Arms was the best to use.

Harmione used her powers for the first time in a while. She found a way to melt the snow and reheat it by touch. Kevin and I began to slip and slide about the ice whenever she did that.

Gwen laughed and gave Harmione a high five.

"If you boys are keeping score I think Harmione and I have got you way more than you got us."

"Did not." Kevin retorted. "Hey Harmione how about you switch sides for a while?"

"No, I like being with Gwen!" She shouted and gave Gwen a huge hug. Gwen laughed and hugged her back tightly.

"Okay but how about you ease up on us." I said.

"Aww...you boys can't handle a little 7 year old?"

"It's not that, we just can't hit a little girl." Kevin replied.

"Harmione!" My mom yelled from the patio door. "Ben, Gwen, Kevin, you all ready for cake?!"

We stopped our little battle and went in for cake and hot chocolate. Harmione smiled as a ring of chocolate appeared at her lips. I sat next to Hope on the couch with my hand on her knee. Genesis who was now old enough to at least crawl made her way over to Grampa Max. Genesis still didn't have any signs of powers. She didn't have Gwen's spark or Kevin's...whatever Kevin has. Though she was beautiful. I knew Genesis would grown up to be like a little bit of both her parents.

When the birthday party was over, Harmione helped me straighten up the house. Hope was lying in bed. She turned in early.

"Hey Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"What are my brother's names?"

"We haven't really decided yet."

"Can I name them?"

"You?"

She nodded.

"Mommy would have to okay it I think, but go ahead sweetheart, what would you name your brother's?"

"I want their names to be Justice and Jace."

I smiled shyly.

"Why those names?"

"Because then you'll have Hope, Harmione, and Justice!" She replied back with a grin.

"And Jace?"

"It's just another J name so he can share that with his brother."

"Well that's sweet I'll ask your mom about it."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

As it turns out Hope actually liked the idea, but naming a kid 'Justice' to her was like asking bullies to pick on him. She and Harmione made a compromise and changed it to Justin instead. Once we settled on that we decided to start our search for our new house. Hope was okay with at least looking around.

The week after Harmione's birthday I drove her to school and stopped at a local restaurant for breakfast. I picked up something for Hope and took it home to her.

"Hope, I got you some eggs and a cup of coffee!"

I put down the cup and placed the bag on the counter.

"Angel!" I shouted. I opened the top of her coffee cup and put in a packet of sugar.

"Babe!" I shouted again. I thought to myself that she must still be asleep. She couldn't get comfortable the night before. I left the kitchen and entered our bedroom. She was lying on her side clenching the pillow and blanket tightly.

"Brought you some breakfast."

"I heard."

"Yeah...you okay?"

She nodded and sighed heavily. I walked over to her and scooted her feet over a tad and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Just tired?"

I stroked her thigh.

"Ben..."

"Yeah?"

"Can you lay down with me?"

"Of course I can."

"Will you?"

"You don't have to ask me twice Angel."

I took off my jacket and crawled into bed beside her.

"Can you...hold me too?"

"Yeah..."

I brushed my arm under her head behind the pillow and she placed her head on it, and then I wrapped my other arm around her stomach. I spooned her carefully; gently rubbing her stomach. I heard a sniffle. I don't know why, but she began to cry. I nuzzled her cheek and pecked her neck. She held her hand to her face and sobbed softly. I kissed her cheek and inched closer to her ear.

"What's the matter Hope?" I whispered.

She continued to cry as she moved her hand to my face. She brushed her fingers through my hair, and scratched the top of my head. She then mumbled something I didn't understand.

"Hm?" I asked softly and kissed the side of her head. "Talk to me..."

She trembled.

"It's not supposed to hurt this bad right now." She finally replied in tears.

"What hurts Angel?"

"I'm cramping so bad Ben."

"You want to go to the hospital?"

She mumbled again.

"Huh?"

She continued to cry.

"What?" I sweetly replied.

She only nodded. She was only 28 weeks pregnant, I wasn't sure what could be causing the pain this early on either, but I took her to the hospital as fast as I could. As she sat in the car she moaned softly to herself. She was hurting, but it wasn't the same labor pain she had with Harmione. Something was different. I had to place a small trash can at her feet because she said she also felt nauseous.

"Hope?" I said and moved my hand from the wheel to the top of the gear shift. "Are you okay?"

"My side hurts really bad."

I reached for her selt belt as I drove and unlatched it. She exhaled furiously and painfully out her mouth in one blow. She whimpered and trembled as she rubbed her side.

"Oh, I'm going to be sick."

"That's okay."

Before I got the words out she leaned forward and vomited violently. I rubbed her back with my right hand as I drove with my left. She cried to herself and vomited again. She gagged and coughed a few times. This seemed different than her morning sickness. I noticed her hands and feet were a bit swollen and they trembled and shook with pain. She sat back up and leaned on the window. Her breath was heavy but shallow. I rested my wrist on the gear shift. She leisurely reached for my hand and grabbed it. I held her hand all the way to the hospital, except for when I had to let go to switch gears. At the hospital, she was actually placed in a room. Her condition was noted as severe. We were told that she was suffering from gestational hypertension. At the rate of her condition, they informed me that if they don't take the babies now she could die, but if they do take the babies, they would be premature and there was a chance they could die. Not doing anything meant I could lose them both. I was going to have to make a choice. Hope or my boys.