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"Ow, ow, ow," Bella's muttering woke me up from a painful half asleep in the chair.
"What's wrong?" I asked as I moved to stand by her side.
She had given birth less than twelve hours ago, and she still looked beautiful, radiant even. Granted, she looked like she'd been pulled through a hedge backward and like she hadn't slept in months, but she was still utterly beautiful to me.
After that cow left the room, muttering about the rudeness of young people, Bella drifted off to sleep, not even bothering to eat what I'd bought her.
"Please go and tell a nurse that I want this catheter out of me, or I'm ripping it out myself," she grumbled as she rolled over painfully to face me.
"Bella, they'll leave it in as long as they have to, I can't just demand that they take it out," I tried to use a soothing voice, but I could have dropped dead with the daggers her eyes were giving me.
"Have you ever had a tube shoved up your dick, Edward? Do you want to know how painful it is, because I could show you!" she snapped as she tried to sit up.
"I'll go and see if there's a nurse about," I mumbled in reply.
When I got back, with the nurse hot on my heels, I found Bella curled up in a ball and crying.
"Bella, what's wrong, baby?" I asked, worried that she was in pain. Fuck, I'd only been out of the room for five minutes, not even that!
"I snapped at you… you hate me," she cried harder into the pillow.
"Oh, honey, I don't hate you, I could never hate you, I love you." There, I'd said it.
I had been dying to say it for weeks and weeks, but there had never been a perfect moment as crazy as life had been with the house and the pregnancy and just all around adjusting.
But saying that, when was there ever a perfect moment for us?
"You love me?" she sniffed as I cradled her gently in my arms.
"Of course, I do, Bella, what's not to love?" I asked, jokingly as the nurse got some stuff ready.
"I love you, too," she cried gently, and I felt like my whole world had lit up.
She loved me too!
"Okay, Bella, can you lay on your back for me?" the nurse asked kindly as I let go of Bella. The nurse helped to move her, so I stepped a little to the side.
"You're not going to watch, are you?" Bella asked with wide eyes.
"I'll just be outside," I kissed the top of her head, and she gripped my hand.
"Don't leave me, just… just turn around and don't look," she mumbled.
"Sure," I said with a smile as I turned around, still keeping a hold of her hand.
"Ow, you mother's fairy garden!" Bella hissed.
"Nice choice of words, baby," I chuckled as her fingers dug into the back of my hand.
"Just be grateful that was all I said."
…
"Will you slow down," I whispered to Natahlia.
She may have been small, but she sounded like a sludge pump working overtime at Bella's breast.
Bella just let out a tired giggle.
"Bella, if it's too much, we can always bottle feed or you can at least pump more," I said seriously as I moved my eyes from our daughter to Bella.
"I know, but I like feeding them," she replied as she gave me a sweet smile.
Emmett had said that they needed to practice with their sucking reflexes, but Bella was adamant about them not having anything but her nipple in their mouths. And boy did she stand her ground about that.
She may have balls of steel, but not when it came to the kids. She was like putty in their little fingers. And talking of little fingers, Ashley was ignoring everyone, including Bella.
Rose and Emmett had said no to the kitten.
She didn't believe us when we said that we didn't know about Natahlia.
…
Bella was due to go home later this afternoon, once Emmett came back from his extended lunch date, and Bella was more than ready to go home.
The babies were just four days old but changing so quickly already. They only needed oxygen for the first twenty-four hours and after that, it had been plain sailing. I was in utter awe of all of them.
Charlotte was the loudest, crying at any given moment while Nicolas was the laid-back one, nothing like me or Bella. Natahlia was the little squeaker. She never actually cried, just whimpered when she was hungry and that was it.
No doubt it would change and change soon, so I was just going to enjoy everything as it happened.
"Mom said that she and Esme had another crib delivered yesterday, and it only took them an hour to put it together. They didn't even read the instructions." Bella grinned at me as I paled.
"It's not my fault every item in that box was labeled 'item B,' it was the factory's fault, not mine," I huffed, but couldn't keep the grin off my face.
"Yes, dear," Bella giggled again as she got up from the bed and walked into the bathroom. Her steps were slow and she was bent over a little, but she was looking far better than she did yesterday. She just had to take it easy.
When she got back out, she was dressed in a pair of maternity jeans that hugged her ass and a breastfeeding top.
She looked sinful, despite the fact that she now hated her body.
"You still look beautiful," I said as I laid Charlotte in her fishbowl of a crib and walked over to Bella.
"I look like a deflated balloon," she pouted, which made me laugh.
"Baby, you've just given birth to three wonderful and beautiful babies, you're allowed to feel like crap for a few days, but after that, that's it. No more making yourself miserable. It takes a lot out of you when you have just one baby, let alone three, so enough, okay?" I said firmly as I leaned forward to kiss her sweet lips.
"When did you get to be all-knowing?" she smiled sweetly as I pulled away.
"Someone in this family had to be smart," I joked with a shrug.
"Rein your head in a little, Prick, we want you to be able to walk through the door when you leave," she smirked at me before going to over to Nicolas, who had started to wake.
…
Bella didn't want any fanfare when we got back from the hospital, but no one listened to her.
As we pulled up to the front of the house, all you could see were pink and blue banners, bunting and balloons.
"It looks like a candy shop," Bella grumbled as I unclicked her seat belt and helped her to get out of the car.
The whole family, including a sulking Ashley, came out a moment later to see us and the babies.
"Dude, you so need a bigger car," Liam announced as he slipped three cigars in the top pocket of my shirt.
I hadn't even thought about the size of the car.
There was no way we could fit them all in the one I had if we were going to take strollers with us and all the other stuff babies needed.
"All in good time, Edward, let's just get in the house first," Bella said softly as she took hold of my hand.
Liam, dad, and I got the babies out of the car while Bella took hold of Ashley's hand.
She was still ignoring us, but you could see the curiosity in her eyes as she looked at the babies in their car seats.
"Do they smell as bad as what Uncle Liam says they do?" she asked quietly as we walked into the house.
"Of course, they do, they're babies, and you were just as bad when you were a baby, I bet," Bella laughed happily as she sat down on the couch and pulled Ashley into her side.
"I did not!" she protested, which made us all laugh.
Suddenly, looking around the food-filled and overly decorated room, seeing my family and babies happy, I felt complete.
Corny, I know, but I couldn't stop the feeling, and I didn't want to.
So, where have I been, what have I been up to, why did I go missing? Well, life is like a bunch of bollocks.
As some of you know, my mum had Covid last year and then they found the beginnings of lung cancer. After that, they found Thyroid cancer. They took out a chunk, thinking it was all okay, but then found more cells, so decided to take the rest out.
Then, my brother got extremely ill. He's only 42 but ended up with 4 strokes and 2 brain bleeds. One was in the brain, the other between the brain and the skull. He had a 15% chance of making it. He did, thank God.
Then (I know), we lost my brother-in-law suddenly to organ failure and Sepsis.
Then (oh, yes), we lost my uncle after a short battle with Ulcerative colitis, Steroid-induced psychosis, and Sepsis.
And to top off this wonderfully shitty 18 months, they've found another bleed on my brother's brain, so he needs another operation ASAP.
To say that life has been crap is really an understatement. If it wasn't for a few close friends, you know who you are, I don't know where I'd be.
I've got 2 chapters left to post on this little story and then I'll be concentrating on getting my older stuff tweaked and back up.
Any prayers and thoughts would be much appreciated, as would spells, chants, and anything magical to get rid of this bad luck thrown on our family.
Much love, Tammy xx