Chapter 81 – Happy Anniversary

Edward

It had been one whole year since Bella and I had gotten married. Today was our first anniversary, but we were a little too busy at this moment to celebrate it with anything other than an epidural. My beautiful wife was giving me the most amazing anniversary gift of all. Twins!

"You're doing fine, Bella, I've just about got him," Dr. Stevens assured my wife, and then the second round of crying started. I looked over to see the nurses cleaning off my pink and screaming baby girl, while another team of nurses surrounded the other station where my son, who had just made his grand entrance into the world, was now squalling loudly. "Good call, Bella," the doctor chuckled. "You've got one of each."

Every time they had attempted to see the sex of the babies, the little rascals wouldn't cooperate and unfold their legs to let us have a peek, so the doctor hadn't been certain of their gender. Bella, however, had known from the moment we had seen two pink lines that we had one of each coming.

"I told you I had it on good authority, but you wouldn't believe me," she laughed back. Epidurals were amazing things. The nurses brought the babies over, so Bella and I could give them kisses before they were taken to the nursery for evaluation. Dr. Stevens finished closing Bella's C-section, as I held my wife's hand.

"You were amazing, and they're absolutely beautiful," I said through my tears.

"They look just like their daddy," she whispered, "although Andrew has a bit of his Grandpa Charlie in him. He's stubborn."

Little Andrew was the reason for the C-Section. Everything had been set for a normal delivery of the twins until he had decided to flip over and turn sideways, blocking the birth canal, and he had refused to turn back around or be moved. They were both now in basinets, having turned bright red from flailing and screaming loudly. They were healthy, over six pounds each, and absolutely the most miraculous things I had ever seen, besides their mother.

Bella was cleaned up and taken to a recovery room, where she was very quickly sound asleep. I sat there watching her for a while, counting my blessings, before I took a moment to say a prayer and thanked God for her and my healthy children. I had been blessed so greatly by having Bella in my life, and now, I was a dad to two little people God had sent to me. I promised Him I would do my absolute best to teach them about Him and to raise them to love and believe in Him as much as me and their mother did. I knew that would be the best thing I could give my children that would serve them the greatest throughout their lives.

I kissed Bella's forehead gently and slipped out to tell everyone the good news. The whole gang was waiting, and when I walked in grinning, I was surely glowing like a light bulb because they all cheered.

"We have a healthy pair of new Masens, a boy and a girl!" I announced proudly, and I might have puffed out my chest just a little bit.

Rose and Emmett were in the middle of a diaper change with their son, Gabriel, and Emmett forgot to block and cover, so his distraction earned him a wet shirt. Alice was leaned back in Jasper's arms nursing, while he read softly to her and Lilly. Esme and Carlisle greeted me with excited hugs and a huge bouquet of pink and blue carnations for Bella, and then Charlie and Renee did the same, carrying a cluster of pink and blue balloons and two teddy bears.

I was still grinning like an idiot, as I led them to the nursery window. I went inside and cleaned up before coming to the window and holding up my two new little miracles for my family and friends to see. Andrew Charles Masen and Annabella Renee Masen. The two best souvenirs of our honeymoon trip to Fiji we could have brought back.

After everyone left, I slipped into bed next to Bella, who was still sound asleep. I closed my eyes and allowed my mind to wander back to the three weeks we had spent enjoying our honeymoon on a private beach, wearing little more than sunblock. We had definitely made up for the lack of a proper honeymoon the first time. Remembering some of the things we had done on the beach and back at our bungalow made me smile.

I opened my eyes to find my wife grinning at me. She knew me well enough by now to know exactly where my mind had gone.

"You do remember we're on hiatus for the next six weeks, right?" I felt like a jerk for thinking about doing that again right now, with her just having given birth, but she just pulled me to her and kissed me, letting her hand wander in the process. I probably should have stopped her, seeing as how she had an abdomen full of staples and should have been resting, but the smirk on her face as she watched me trying not to make any noise told me she was enjoying what she was doing to me. Hey, it had been a while, and I had been used to regular attention, so I couldn't help but let her continue.

I was really getting into it and was about to need to change clothes when the nurse walked in to check on Bella. We both grinned at her, and she turned around and walked out, shaking her head and laughing, muttering under her breath, "Better enjoy it now."

"Well, I was," I muttered, and Bella laughed at me. "Thank you, Mrs. Masen. I love you."

"I love you, too, Mr. Masen, and don't worry. We'll have time to pick up where we left off when we get home. I'll make sure of it. You know, you're always welcome to come find me anytime," she whispered through her yawn and smiled sweetly at me, closing her eyes. She needed to rest, so I softly hummed the song I had written for her until she drifted off.

I smiled and kissed her forehead softly, as I whispered back to her, "I'll hold you to that, Bella. Forever."