My dear little broccolis💚💚💚
💚 I know, you thought I forgot, but I didn't. Enjoy and don't mind my own mistakes.
💚 Also, if you want pictures of the story, just check out my Facebook group, Mina's Broccolis, and you will find pictures as the story unveils. And a few sneak-peeks here and there as well.
Love, Mina💚💚💚
💚 The Mobster's Wife 💚
Chapter 19: My Happy Ending ~ by Avril Lavigne (3,2K)
With a satisfied smile, Ana looked at her daughters sleeping by her side, unable to stop her heart from swelling. She was exhausted but beyond happy and nothing would ever be able to top that. She barely heard Christian talking with her father in the corridor, caring very little about what they we talking about.
Her babies were fine and so was she. It was all that mattered. The nurses had just left an hour ago, saying that she would still need to see a doctor in the morning to check on her daughters and make sure was as good as it seemed. And if she was honest with herself, she was quite proud of herself.
She never thought that she would be able to push not one, but two babies without the assistance of drugs, and now that she was reflecting on it, she couldn't eve recall that it hurt that much. But then again, she had read in several prenatal books that the brain released hormones that made women forget about the pain of labour.
She was not going to lie, she had the scare of her life as she was pushing her second child into this world, but now, it seemed rather foggy and a distant dream. She remembered how one of the nurses was insisting that she should breathe, how Christian's face fell as he held their first daughter, and how exhausted she had been. She even remembered fainting for a moment because she focused more on pushing than breathing, but it all felt like a hazy memory, not as something that just happened an hour ago.
Christian did not say a single word ever since the girls were born. He did briefly kiss her forehead as one of the nurses taught her how to breastfeed correctly, but then he remained silent, listening to the nurses, and then Raymond marvel on his grandchildren.
Ana didn't hold it against her husband, she knew how he was and she knew that whatever he was feeling, he didn't want the world to see. One might think that it was cold of him, but she knew that it was his way to be special with her. Only she would see his emotions at their rawest, and no one else.
She started dozing off, slightly startled to sleep in a guest room, but they couldn't decently sleep in the bed where she had just given birth to their children. She was sure it looked like a horror movie scene and that Christian didn't necessarily want for either of them to see that again.
She blinked a little, trying to stay awake until Christian would come to bed and she caressed with love the cheeks of her daughters. They were the most beautiful babies in the world. Kate's daughter had been cute, but hers were cuter. They were worthy of a Pampers' ad.
Like most twins, they look a lot alike, though one seemed fairer in hair than the other. But their nose, their ridiculously light weight, their tiny little limbs, all the rest was the same. And what made Ana's heart melt, even more, was the fact that as soon as they finished nursing, they subconsciously reached for one another and were now holding hands.
And in her eyes, there was nothing more precious than this moment. In fact, if she wasn't so tired, she would cry of happiness.
"They're not ogres after all," Christian said from behind her, startling her, though she did not look away from her babies. Ana smiled with contentment as Christian undressed to get in his pyjamas.
"No, they're not. They're angels."
"Just like their mother," He assured and Ana smiled at him, finally seeing in his eyes the emotions he had been holding on. Pure love and delight.
He startled her again by taking his phone and snapping a picture of her and the girls, making her grimace. She was all for pictures, but not when she probably looked as appealing as Big Foot,
"Christian," She whined. "I look terrible."
He rolled his eyes and sat by her side so he could kiss her with love. "You look beautiful. and brave. and amazing. And I love you."
She smiled at his love declaration and gave him back his kiss before he made his way into bed, taking the same position as Ana and looking at their beautiful daughters with utter adoration.
"We need to name them, now." He said, not taking his eyes off of his daughters and Ana did the same.
They had been postponing finding a name, mostly because Ana was not comfortable with the idea of looking for names for their daughters as long as they weren't born. This time around, she did everything she could to avoid anything that could jinx their prances, even though she knew that Christian thought it was ridiculous to think that there were such things as jinxes.
"I don't have any names," She confessed. She had a few, but she didn't settle on any as a first name, though she had an idea for a second name for one of her daughters. Though it seemed Christian was thinking similar,
"I have no idea for first names, but … I was thinking of something like a second name for one of them."
"Oh, me too." He gave her a look for her to continue and so she said, "I was thinking of Ryan." Christian rose an eyebrow and so Ana explained, "It's just that he is really close to you and … well, Jose doesn't fit for a girl. I know how you feel about your parents, Christian, but Ryan, Jose and Mia are your real family. And I would feel terrible to not include them in our family just because they're not blood. But Ethan already plans on calling his kid with some variant of Mia."
Christian didn't say anything straight away before a small smile crept on his face as he gave his opinion on the matter, "Jose doesn't want his name to live on. That's why he didn't hyphenate his name and took Ethan's name when they got married. So I don't think he'd like any of our kid named after him. Even as a second name."
"Oh … But what about Ryan?"
"Oh, Ryan is definitely going to cry and be a pain in my ass about it. That's definitely the kind of things he is into."
Ana smiled, glad that one of Christian's close friends would have such a strong connection with their children. Kate and Elliott were already designed as Godparents, but she wanted the small family that Christian had made himself to truly feel apart of their family.
"What about you? What name did you think of?"
"I was thinking of … Carla."
Ana repressed her tears, touched beyond words by Christian's thoughts and he explained, "I know how much you wish she was with you, but … that's all I can give you."
She upped herself on her elbow and kissed the man she loved and who loved her so much. His eyes lovingly looked at her before shifting to their sleeping daughters, now shining with even more emotions.
"They're perfect, aren't they?"
Ana grinned, looking at the girls who were still holding hands as they tiny little chests were going up and down at a rapid rhythm. She felt his eyes on her and looked back up, seeing that he was worriedly looking at her, his Adam's apple seemingly blocked in his throat.
"We are getting a nurse, next time, Ana."
"Yes."
"I really thought …" He couldn't even finish his sentence, overwhelmed by his emotions and Ana reached to lovingly caress his cheek. He leaned into it, closing his eyes as he tried to reign in his emotions.
From what she understood, the umbilical cord was wrapped around their second daughter's neck and it was too tight to pass it around. If the emergencies hadn't been there, both the girl and the mother could have died.
"Everything is well now, Christian. Stop thinking about it. We have two beautiful daughters who are healthy and adorable."
"We do. Thanks to you. Do you want resembling names for them?"
She looked at her daughters, thinking about it before she shook her head, "They look alike already. I've heard that twins like to have their own identities, no matter how much they love their sibling."
Christian nodded as his fingers caressed the cheek of their daughter closer to him and he said, "Then how about Kathy Ryan Steele for her and … Marion Carla Steele for her sister?"
Ana beamed at her husband, touched beyond words by this. She had highlighted those names amongst a few others in a book in case she would pass away and he would need to know what kind of names she liked for their daughters. And though he always made a point to refuse to talk about her possible demise, this was the proof that he still took into consideration her worries and looked at what she did.
.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.
Over the past few months after the birth of Kathy and Marion, Ana had found a routine that was made so much easier thanks to Christian and her father. Raymond was over the moon at the birth of his granddaughters and was very present in their lives. He still gave Christian and Ana the space to be parents, without being overbearing, but he was the first one to volunteer to take care of the little ones.
In fact, between he and Christian, Ana barely ever had to take care of her daughters when they cried. Even when it was to feed them in the middle of the night, Christian was up in no time to change them and bring them to Ana so she could feed them.
The first few days were a bit difficult because they wouldn't stop crying, until Mrs Jones, who had experience with twins, suggested that they kept the girls together, even when they would put them to bed. And it was exactly what they needed, the measuring presence of the other. After all, they spent nine months together, they weren't ready to be separated yet.
Everyone was in awe at the girls and promised to spoil them crazy, starting with Mia and Jose. Elena did it too, but it touched Ana more to know that Christian's new family was so invested in his forming family. She had expected no less from her godmother.
The Greys also visited and Christian had an agreement with them so they would visit once a month and spend time with the girls. He was always present, but in the background, and it seemed that Carrick and Grace understood that they had lost their son forever, resigned to make it up with their granddaughters.
Ana thought it was sad that their relationship was so broken beyond repair, but she had learned that it wasn't in Christian's character to either forget or forgive. Still, she appreciated that he never made his grudge clear to the Greys when they visited, for his daughters' sake.
Reverend Crowley also came once a month to keep their coupe therapy. As she had discussed with Christian, they didn't plan to baptise the girls until they would be old enough to make their own decision, just like it had been the case for her. And she was grateful that her preacher was an openminded religious man because when she started talking about the possibility of opening her daughters to other religions as well, so they could make the most educated choice, he told her that he would put her in relation with other preachers he knew from other faiths.
Christian didn't oppose to any of that, though he rarely talked religion with either Ana or the Reverend. Ana knew his position on the matter and she knew that it would take a miracle to make him change his mind. Maybe he would find religion through his children.
After all, if there was one thing that Christian turned out to be, it was a Papa bear. He was very present and very hands-on compared to other fathers Ana had heard about. He didn't mind a dirty diaper or one of the girls vomiting on him just as he was about to leave or freshly out of the shower. He didn't mind spending hours on the floor with them, listening to their incoherent blabbers.
In fact, Christian was the first one who had both smiles. He was the one who immortalised with his phone the girl holding their heads on their own. He was the only one who could soothe their tantrums as well, singing to the girls Take Me Home, Country Roads on his guitar.
He had confessed to Ana that his biggest fear was to miss out on important things with them as her father had done with her and her brother; but Ana assured him that, though Raymond did miss on many things, she never felt unloved or resentful because of it. She understood from a young age that her father was a busy man and that it meant that he could always be with her. And most importantly, she always knew that he would always be there for her if she needed him or insisted.
But no matter how crazy Christian was over his daughter, he still took the time to make sure Ana did not lose her identity to solely be a mother. Every Saturday night, he would take her on a date and he would always make a point to never talk about their daughter during those few hours between just the two of them.
Raymond always liked those Saturday because he got the girl just to himself, and though neither men said it, Ana knew that it affected their relationship on a deeper level. It showed that Christian had complete trust in her father and that no matter what happened outside of their house, he still respected the man as a mentor and as the father of his wife and grandfather of his daughters.
Still, Christian did his best to stay in town or travel within a day when he had to go out of state. Ana had to have Ryan and Jose force him out so he could resume his life as before. She loved that he cared so much, but just like he didn't want her to lose her identity to just be a mother, she didn't want him to lose his identity to just be a father.
She was thinking of all those things as she picked up something from the floor when she startled at the sound of her loving husband's voice,
"That's a view I love coming home to," He said with a luscious smile.
Ana scowled because no matter how much she trained with her personal trainer and how much she stuck to the list of foods her dietician had given her, she still hadn't lost all her pregnancy weight. Both her trainer and dietician said that it was normal, that mothers rarely lost all their weight, and that she shouldn't worry that much about it because, in addition of being completely healthy, she was still nursing, but it still bothered her. Probably because Kate was as slim as she was before when Ana was up a size in trousers.
Of course, Christian did anything but complain about this. He even had the cheek to grin like an idiot every time she complained about this, but then again, Christian never made it a secret that he liked her ass best. In fact, he showed her more than once how much he loved her body post-pregnancy, not caring for her bigger ass, her stretch marks or her slightly less toned stomach.
So she ignored him and showed him the two silver anklets she had received today for the girls, I saw Mrs Parvati, today. She's threatening to curse you for the rest of your days if you don't go visit her."
Christian looked at the anklet with a smile as he nodded, promising to pay her a visit the next day. Since she knew how much Christian loved the woman's food, she always ordered once a week from there, giving an extra evening off to Mrs Jones. She knew that Christian never really told the woman how much she meant to him, how much the fact that she fed him when he had nothing marked him to this day, but he still took the time to send James to India to oversee the construction of her house that he paid for as soon as he heard that she wanted to retire there. Mrs Parvati cried for hours when he gave her the keys.
Though he never said a word against James, Ana knew that Christian still wasn't necessarily fond of him but they both knew that he was just a friend. She didn't think that Christian would ever stat liking James, but now, he tolerated him and trusted him enough to do this thing that mattered to him.
As he kissed her with love, Christian took Ana's face in his hands and look deep in her blue eyes as he told her with seriousness,
"I have to go to Cuba, next week. But Ryan is staying behind…"
This was the major thing that changed after their daughters' birth, Ana had decided to be more implicated in Christian's work. She always made a point to ignore that issue with her father and to never show up when he was with Christian, but she didn't like the idea of her daughters growing up in a world she knew so little about.
So, just like Christian invested in her religious life, she insisted in his criminal life. She told him upfront that she would never kill someone and that she would always preach compassion and benevolence, but she wanted to know this world her daughters were going to grow up in.
Though Christian always said he would never impose this life on their children, he was not going to lie either. And she wanted to know as much as they would.
So when Christian told her about Ryan staying behind, Ana knew that he was actually asking her if she wanted to supplement him by Ryan's side. He knew Ryan probably understood Ana better than anyone else and knew which topic to breach with her and which topics would make her uncomfortable.
"Is Dad coming with you?"
"I can make it happen," Christian confidently said, his eyes full of love and understanding. No matter what, even though she knew her father was aware of her implication in Christian's world, she couldn't bare lose this relationship she had with him her whole life. She would lose more than her father, she would lose her daddy, the once source of comfort and innocence she had known all her life.
So she smiled back at her husband, pecking his lips and taking him to the bathroom so he could have his ritual purifying shower and she agreed, "Well, we will have to see if Jose and Mia are up to babysit our girls."
.~°~. .~°~. .~°~.
💚Your thoughts and opinions are always welcomed💚
💚 So it was the final chapter. Finally. I hope you enjoyed this story. I will make a separate note later on for all of that ^^
💚 Anyway, E L James owns the names of the characters from the Fifty Shades franchise, everything else is mine.
Love, Mina 💚💚💚
