November 29th, 2016
Levi stood at the corner of my postpartum room, staring down at our tiny newborn daughters sleeping peacefully in their bassinettes.
Life. Was. Good.
“How are my daughters?” I asked, and he looked over his shoulder with a smile.
“Perfect and beautiful and sleeping,” he said. “I swear to God, Ivy, they are the most perfect babies I’ve ever seen in my life.”
That urged a big, huge smile to kiss my lips.
Even though I was stuck in this god-awful hospital bed, inside of my postpartum room, I had never been happier.
It’d been a hell of a delivery. And I’d really thought we were going to lose our daughter, but thankfully, Dr. Morrow had been quick to act, and when it was all said and done, both the babies and I were doing just fine.
Now, if only I could get back the feeling in my legs and get out of this fucking bed, that would be icing on the cake.
“How are you feeling?” Levi asked, and even though I was still a little groggy and my body felt like it’d been through the wringer, the answer was instant and easy.
“Perfect.”
He quirked a brow. “Really?”
“Really.”
He grinned. “Strongest woman I know.”
“Happiest woman you know too,” I said and then added, “Also, the hungriest. I could really use a cheeseburger and fries right about now…or pizza…or cookies…or basically, anything would be perfect at the moment.”
He chuckled at that. “The nurse said you could start with some ice chips.”
I pouted.
“Them’s the rules, baby. You just had major surgery. You have to ease yourself back into it.”
“Fucking hell,” I groaned. “Having babies is no joke.”
“The way you have them?” he questioned with a little smirk. “Yeah, it definitely is no joke.”
But then his blue eyes got serious, and he moved away from the two plastic baby bassinettes sitting in the corner of the room and sat down on the edge of my bed. “I was so scared, Ivy,” he whispered and grasped my hand with his. “I was so scared I was going to lose you or one of our girls. I think I aged ten years waiting outside that OR room.”
I lifted my hand and pressed it to his cheek. “I’m okay. The girls are okay. There’s nothing to worry about now.”
He nodded, and his blue eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “Thank fuck for that.”
“We really know how to bring the dramatics, huh?” I questioned to bring some levity to the situation.
“Yeah.” He squinted his eyes in amusement. “But I guess since my wife is a famous actress, I should expect some drama.”
I quirked a brow at that. “Your wife?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “My wife.”
“Maybe I’m a little slow on the uptake, but I don’t remember the wedding. Did Dr. Morrow marry us while she was putting my organs back in their rightful places?”
“Minor details, baby.” Levi smirked and leaned forward to press a soft kiss to my lips. “In my heart, you’re my wife. You’re my whole fucking world.”
“Ditto, honey.”
“I’m your wife too?” he asked, voice teasing, and I grinned.
“Nope, but I’m hoping you’ll be my husband,” I said, and I locked my gaze with his. “Let’s get married, Levi. As soon as we can fit it in, let’s do it.”
“Already planned on it, baby,” he said with a sexy little smirk.
“What do you mean, already planned on it?” I asked and reached out to pinch the skin of his arm. “Like, you already have plans in the works?”
He just shrugged, but his eyes were full-on mischievous. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Levi Fox, have you made wedding plans for us already?”
“I said, don’t worry about it. Let me handle the details.,” he said and stood up from his spot on the bed.
“Oh my God,” I groaned, but I couldn’t hide the delirious amusement in my voice. “You’re lucky my legs are still numb or else…”
“Or else what?”
“Or else I’d be out of this bed and forcing the secrets out of you.”
“That sounds dirty, baby.” He waggled his brows. “Can I get a rain check on that for like six to eight weeks from now?”
“You’re ridiculous.” I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t fight my giggles.
He smirked at me, but the moment didn’t last long because a soft newborn cry started to fill the room. Shortly after that, both girls were crying.
Levi walked over to their bassinettes, and without any hesitation, he picked up both girls in his big, strong arms and started swaying them gently back and forth.
They weren’t having it, though.
Their little cries only grew louder and stronger, and Levi smiled toward me.
“I think they want their beautiful momma,” he said softly, and immediately, I reached out both of my hands.
“Bring them here.”
Gently, he placed them in my arms, and I stared down at their two little faces with more love that I could’ve ever imagined.
“God, they are so beautiful,” I whispered. “I just can’t believe how much I love two tiny little people.”
“I know,” he agreed, and I looked up to find him smiling down at us. “And it looks like they just wanted to be with you.”
I looked back down at the girls, and slowly, their eyes started to flutter closed, their cries softening to silence.
They were such dolls. Even just out of the womb, they were true redheaded beauties.
God, it was so hard to fathom, so hard to wrap my mind around these two little humans Levi and I had created. Instantly, I was near bursting with love for them, and my eyes shone with emotion.
My sweet, beautiful daughters filled me with a sunshine I had never known existed.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than I am right now, Levi.”
“Me either, baby,” he said and sat on the bed beside me. “Me either.”
We stayed like that for a long moment, both of us gazing down at our babies and soaking up every little thing about them.
It wasn’t until Levi’s phone rang from the bedside table that we both broke from our blissful trance.
He grabbed it from the table and checked the screen.
“Looks like Grandpa Sam wants to FaceTime,” he said with a grin. “You feel up to it?”
I nodded.
Levi clicked the green phone icon, and within seconds, Sam’s smiling face filled the screen.
“Are the babies here?” he asked, completely forgoing pleasantries. “Tell me the babies are here, and I finally get to know if my great-grandbabies are girls or boys.”
Great-grandbabies. I couldn’t not smile at his words.
Although there was no familial relation, it felt right.
Sam was an important part of both Levi’s and my lives.
Levi tilted the screen toward the two babies currently sleeping in my arms. “Here they are,” he said, and I watched Sam’s face fill with emotion.
Relief. Joy. And love. So much love.
“Those are girls,” he said, and his voice shook. “I know, without a doubt, those are girls. The most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen in my life.”
I smiled. “Definitely girls.”
“God, they are something,” he said. “Congratulations to both of you. And thank you for bringing these two beauties into my life. I couldn’t be happier right now.”
“Thanks, Sam,” Levi said, and I smiled. “That means a lot.”
“So…do these little ladies have names?”
“Yes,” Levi answered, and his gaze locked with mine. Instantly, emotion and love and joy clogged my throat.
Before I’d gone into labor, we still hadn’t known what we were going to name our babies. We’d tried. God, we’d tried. But we hadn’t really found anything we loved.
But once our daughters made their big entrance into this even bigger world, we knew.
In hindsight, I honestly couldn’t believe we hadn’t known all along.
“Well…” Sam urged. “Are you going to tell me?”
I smiled and couldn’t stop a few bittersweet tears from slipping down my cheeks as I prepared to tell him. “Sam, we’d like to introduce to you our beautiful, perfect daughters, Camilla and Grace.”
Sam’s eyes went wide, and then soon, he also had a few tears of his own streaming down his cheeks. “God, I’m just… I couldn’t think of better names for them,” he said, and his voice shook with his words. “Camilla and Grace. Two perfect names for two perfect girls.”
I couldn’t have agreed more.
The world wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair at all. But sometimes…sometimes, it paid you back.