Chapter Fifteen
Scarlett
Seven months later
I’d read so many stories about giving birth by the time it was my turn; my head was full of information that didn’t help at all. Other women’s stories, learning what they had gone through, hadn’t prepared me at all.
Labor was brutal. I endured eighteen hours of it before baby number one decided to make an appearance. And let me tell you, squeezing a baby out of your lady bits was no joke. Even if the babies were slightly smaller because there were three of them inside me.
I was on the bed, grasping sheets and Evan’s hand, my legs open wide with doctors assisting in getting the children out. All sense of embarrassment had left the room a long time ago. I just wanted this over and done with.
“Just one more push,” Monroe said. She had been great all the way through, but at this moment, I hated her. I did as she asked and felt the relief of the first child leaving my body. A moment later, the strangled cry of a newborn filled the room. I lifted my head, trying to see.
“We’re ready for the second one,” Monroe said. I groaned. This wasn’t over, yet.
I went through the process again, pushing when Monroe asked me to, waiting when she told me to take a breather. It felt like it took forever. Finally, baby number two was out. I heard the cry, and the sound triggered my maternal instinct.
“One more time, honey,” Evan said next to me. I must have cut off the circulation to his hand with how hard I was squeezing, but he didn’t complain once.
I went through the process a third time, and finally, the babies were born. They took the children to the station behind Dr. Monroe to weigh and measure them while Dr. Monroe helped me take care of the afterbirth. When it was all over, she smiled.
“Congratulations, you two,” she said with a big grin. “Two healthy baby girls, and a baby boy.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks. I couldn’t help it. Evan hugged and kissed me, and he looked like he was going to cry, too. But he bit back the emotions. A man like Evan didn’t cry. A man like Evan was bigger than anything that came his way. But God, he was damn close to breaking that wall down and being a blubbering mess, just like me.
They cleaned me up, unhitched my legs from the stirrups that held them open, and pulled a blanket over my legs. They brought our babies to us. It was hard holding all three of them. Evan held the little boy. A moment later, Lily came in.
She looked emotional, too. “Let me help,” she said. “It looks like you need an extra pair of arms.”
I laughed and nodded, handing her one of the babies.
“Oh, my God, Scar, they’re beautiful,” Lily said, looking down at them.
They really were beautiful. I looked at Evan who was beaming down at the boy he was holding. He had wanted a son from the start, and now, his dream had come true. We had gotten three times what we’d bargained for at first, but looking at them now, it had all been worth it–the difficult pregnancy because of how big I’d been, how little space had been left for my organs after the babies had taken up all the space, and the labor I’d had to endure.
Everything had been worth it now that I looked at their perfect little faces and their delicate, perfect fingers. I had never thought that motherhood would be this overwhelming. To think that I–we–had created this was almost impossible.
“Have you thought about names?” Lily asked me.
I glanced at Evan. We’d spoken about it.
“We were thinking of keeping the flower streak going that your mother had started,” I said. “We’ll name the two girls Rose and Jasmin.”
Lily smiled. She hadn’t known her mother–Clara had died before Lily had been able to remember her–but I knew it meant something to her.
“And the boy?” she asked softly.
“Evan, Jr.,” Evan said with a grin.
Lily laughed. “That’s perfect,” she said, looking down at the baby in her arms.
“That’s baby Rose,” I said to her, and she stroked a finger along the cheek of the sleeping baby.
“Rose,” Lily said. “I have three little siblings now.”
Evan got up and put Evan Jr. in one of the basinets the nurses had provided for the babies.
“We’re going to be a great family, princess,” he said, kissing me. I nodded, smiling. We were doing so well now. “Which is why I want you to be a permanent part of it.”
I frowned at him. “I thought I was?”
Evan nodded. “You are, but…”
He kneeled next to the bed, and Lily and I gasped at the same time.
“When I’d started out with this idea, I didn’t want a wife. I wanted children without all the complications of falling in love, marrying, and suffering heartache again. I hadn’t bargained on you walking through that door the first day, but I’m so glad it was you. Scarlett, my princess, mother of at least seventy-five perfect of my children, will you be my queen? Will you marry me?”
I was crying again.
“Oh, my God, Evan,” I said through my tears. “Yes.”
He dug in his pocket and produced a ring. He’d planned this. I’d thought it was an impulse thing. Evan opened the box and produced a ring with a diamond bigger than anything I’d seen before. I was getting used to living a life of luxury and riches–I’d been a part of Evan’s life for a while now–but I still wasn’t used to this much money and being showered with this much love. Expensive love.
Evan took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto my finger. I held up my hand and looked at it.
Evan stood up and kissed me again.
“I want to get married to you as soon as you’re ready.”
“Just let me get rid of the baby weight,” I said, laughing and crying all at the same time.
I wanted to look the best I could if I was going to marry the man I had fallen head over heels for. I hadn’t gained too much weight to get rid of, but I was a little plumper than I’d been.
“My love, you look beautiful just a you are,” Evan said and kissed me again. He sat down on the chair he’d vacated and turned his attention back to the baby he’d put down. I looked at Lily. She sat next to me, holding the baby, beaming.
“Congratulations, Scar,” she said and leaned down to hug me. The two babies made small sounds when they were close to each other, and we both looked at them and smiled.
“I can’t believe you’re my step mom,” Lily said.
I laughed. It was weird. I was her age, and we’d been friends for almost two decades.
“A wicked stepmother,” I said with a grin. “And two very little sisters to join in on the fun.”
Lily giggled. “This is so weird.”
I nodded. “Weird, for sure,” I said. “But perfect.”
Lily smiled and agreed.
I looked at Evan again, who was cooing to the baby in the basinet. He felt my eyes on him, and when he looked up, his eyes were filled with so much love and adoration.
When we’d started out, I was broke and willing to have a baby for the sake of having money. In nine months, so much had changed. I was a loving girlfriend–no, fiancée—of one of the wealthiest men in town with three beautiful babies that I’d just given birth to. And my best friend was family now. She’d always felt like a sister to me, but now, it was even closer to reality.
It was insane how in less than a year, everything had changed. Insane and beautiful.
I looked from Lily to Evan to our three children together.
Insane and beautiful and just the beginning.
THE END
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