SWNOVELS Chapter Chased: Epilogue
Six months later…
I’ve seen a lot of gory shit in my day, but as I peek over the blue sheet draped across my wife, blocking the view of her rounded belly and the doctors and nurses working over it, I think this might take the cake.
Even though blood wells up under the scalpel as a doctor slices into her abdomen, I can’t look away. Her hand is gripped in mine, and she’s squeezing my fingers so tightly that I lost all feeling in my hand a while ago.
She’s a fucking warrior, and if she needs to squeeze the fuck out of my hand or even rip it off to make herself feel better, I’ve got no problems letting her.
I glance down, and Montana stares up toward the ceiling with glassy eyes that are slightly unfocused. I don’t know if it’s a mix of the pain medication that they gave her for the three days that she spent in labor just to end up here on this table, or the shock of what her body’s going through. All I know is that we’re meeting our babies today, no matter how they get here. No doubt, a monumental shift is about to happen in the universe.
It feels like the purpose of my entire existence has been for this one single moment right here, right now.
‘Can you see anything?’ Montana’s soft voice carries up from the operating table she’s sprawled on, and I tear my eyes away from the sight in front of me to look down at her.
‘Not yet, Spitfire.’ I brush the damp strands of hair away from her forehead and press a kiss to her flushed skin.
I know this isn’t how she wanted this to happen. My wife spent months pouring over every birth option and, being the planner that she is, creating an entire outline for how she wanted this moment to go. Unfortunately, life doesn’t give a fuck about our plans. When you’re too exhausted to push two babies out safely, your agenda flies out the window.
‘You’re going to feel some pressure and some tugging, but it should be over soon,’ the doctor warns, and I straighten back up and return my attention to the birth of my children.
The doctor’s got his hand inside of Montana’s stomach twisting and pulling, and it only must’ve been seconds, but I swear it happens in slow motion as the first baby is pulled free of her body. A nurse passes the doctor a tool to cut my baby free and then announces, ‘It’s a boy!’
The happiness filling my heart at this moment is almost too much, like it might shatter and then be forged back together even stronger than before, more complete and whole than it has ever been. There’s an ache inside my chest, a need to reach out and pull my baby boy into my arms and protect him from this world.
But we aren’t done yet.
The doctor repeated the same steps he did with our first baby—our son—finally pulling baby number two free from his or her mother.
‘Baby number two is also a boy!’
Ho-ly. Fuck. Two sons.
I can’t remember the last time I cried, yet standing here watching my two sons, my eyes sting. I lean down to Montana and kiss her right on the mouth, the taste salty from the tears streaming down her face—or maybe it’s a mixture of both of our tears.
‘You did it, baby. We’ve got two healthy sons. I love you so much.’ I’m kissing her in between my words, murmuring my love and affection for this woman. I don’t think I’ve ever been so grateful in my entire life.
When the nurse comes over, she hands me one of my sons and holds the other close to Montana so she can look at them both. Both boys have little tufts of red hair and dark eyes, a perfect combination.
While they finish putting Montana back together, I hold my boys. When we’re finally back in a regular room where Montana can sleep and recover, and we can bond with our sons, I climb into the bed with her.
She looks exhausted, but she still takes my breath away with how beautiful she is.
Each of us holds one of the boys. They’re identical, and if they’re anything like their mother, we’re going to have our hands full. I can’t wait.
‘What should we name them?’ she whispers, so we don’t wake the boys up.
‘Everything we talked about just doesn’t feel right, does it?’ I whisper back. We spent months compiling a list of names, but now that the babies are here and we’re looking into their faces, none of them feel quite right.
‘Of all the names on the list, did you have any favorites?’ I ask, keeping my voice as low as possible.
‘Would I be one of those clichéd twin moms if I wanted their names to match?’
I chuckled quietly. ‘Do you really give a shit if you are?’
She shrugs. ‘I’ve got an image to maintain, big guy. I’m going to be a cool mom. At least take me out back and shoot me if I ever buy a minivan, will you?’
‘I wouldn’t shoot you even if you decide you want to buy a school bus and go on tour as a family band or become the most obnoxious soccer mom of all time. But that’s not going to help us name our boys.’
‘Hayes and Hudson,’ she says suddenly, like the names were on the tip of her tongue.
I roll the names around in my mind, say them out loud and look at my boys. ‘I like those.’
She brightens and gives me a smile that captivates me. I’d give her anything when she looks at me the way she is now, and after what she just went through, there’s almost no name that I would veto if she wanted it. ‘Really?’
‘Yes, really. But which one is which?’ I looked down at my son sleeping in my arms, looking so fragile. His tiny body fits right in the crook of my elbow, and I think if I tried, I could hold him in the palm of my hand.
Montana bites her lip and readjusts her hold on our other son, resting him on her thighs and looking down into his tiny face. ‘This one is Hudson.’
I look back down at the baby in my arms. ‘Happy birthday, Hayes,’ I whisper before kissing him on the forehead and breathing in his new baby scent.
Wrapping my arm around Montana’s shoulders and tucking her into my side, it’s still surreal that I’m here with her like this. There was a time when I thought I didn’t want a family, would sure as hell never be a father, and looking back at that, I realize just how delusional I really was.
Because staring down into the perfect faces of these lives that my wife and I created, I realize there was no other path for my life to take than to end up here, at this moment, with this woman, and our future stretching out before us.
I don’t know if it’s sleep deprivation that makes the time feel like it’s going by so fast or the fact that every day something new happens with the twins, but either Montana and I have adjusted to our new reality, or we’ve learned to live on coffee IVs and five-minute showers.
My wife is a fucking rock star, and breastfeeding two babies is no joke. The other day, she smacked me and called me a kinky fucker when I tried her breast milk straight from the source, but I couldn’t help myself. A six-week medically ordered hiatus from sliding inside the best place on earth will make a man desperate for whatever he can get.
Now, the fact I liked it definitely makes the title fit, and I’ll happily let her call me that as long as she doesn’t push me away next time.
There will definitely be a next time.
With everything Montana’s gone through, the least I could do is middle-of-the-night diaper changes and feeding the boys the bottles of milk that she’s pumped during the day. It’s while I’m having one of these such moments at three a.m., rocking Hudson against my bare chest that my phone goes off.
Holding the screen away from Hudson’s face, so it doesn’t wake him up, I glance down at it. In the business that I’m in, a three a.m. text is never anything good.
It looks like my paternity leave is up with the mandatory call into the office I just got for six a.m.
As much as a three a.m. text is never good, a six a.m. office meeting is usually worse.
I set my phone down and ease myself up out of the rocker, holding my breath as I set Hudson in his crib. This was a good night, one where Hayes didn’t also wake up at the same time screaming. When Hudson has settled in and not woken up, I release the breath I’ve been holding and tiptoe out of the room.
I debate whether there’s time to get a couple hours of sleep before I have to head to the office, and I decide to take whatever I can get. I don’t want to wake Montana up, though, so I move toward the couch instead of our bed.
Three hours later, I’m gripping my iced coffee while I step through the doors of the Hollywood Guardians office.
‘Why the fuck are we here this early?’ Asher bitches as he steps through the doors behind me. We both head for the conference room, and I fall into a chair toward the middle of the long table while he takes one next to me.
‘No idea.’
Asher looks me over with a knowing grin. ‘You look like shit.’
‘Yeah, having newborn twins will do that to you.’ I sip my coffee, not awake enough to care about his insult.
‘I thought you still had time left on your vacation.’
‘It’s not a vacation, dumbass. It’s paternity leave, and when the boss texts, we all come running.’ So far, Ash and I are the only two here.
That quickly changes when Connor storms into the room, followed by Indy, Sebastian, and Elias. Julian comes in a few minutes later with his head buried in his phone, but he slips it into his pocket as he takes the seat beside Connor near the head of the table.
‘Good, you’re all here,’ Connor starts. Ryan is still out on maternity leave, and honestly, I would be surprised if she comes back. We’ll see.
‘What was so important that you needed us here at the ass crack of dawn, boss?’ Indy asks, his jaw cracking as he yawns.
Everyone’s attention turns to Connor for an explanation. He gestures to Sebastian, who whips out his laptop and wastes no time projecting a news story up on the back wall.
HOSTILE TAKEOVER ATTEMPT AT DRISCOLL TECHNOLOGIES
Indy tenses in the chair on my other side.
‘I don’t know how much any of you know about what goes on at Driscoll Technologies. Their owner and CEO, Penelope Driscoll, called me in the middle of the night when she got word not only that Fields AI is attempting a hostile takeover, but that Driscoll’s board is planning a coup. She can’t trust anyone in the organization. Her competition is circling her like sharks that’ve scented blood in the water. She needs help making sure when she blocks the attempt to take over her family’s business, none of the board members get any ideas about turning to unsavory methods of removing her as an obstacle.’
The like murder or kidnapping is left unsaid, but we all know how these things work.
‘For now, I’m sending two of you in to get the lay of the land, but I have a feeling for a job this size, we’ll need most of the team to sort shit out.’
The words are barely out of Connor’s mouth before Indy is volunteering. ‘I’m going.’ His tone leaves no room for argument, and I know I’m not the only one in the room wondering what the hell has gotten into him.
This seems like a Sebastian job through and through, but Indy knows Penelope, so maybe that’s where his concern is coming from. When the four of us were in Bali, I was so wrapped up in Montana, I didn’t pay attention to what Indy and Penelope got up to, but based on his reaction now, there’s something there.
‘Fine,’ Connor agrees. ‘Sebastian is going with you. The rest of you, stay on standby. Once we figure out what the hell is going on, we’ll get down to business. Dismissed.’
Whatever Driscoll Technologies has coming, if Indy gets tangled up in it without anyone to rein him in, one thing is for sure—Penelope Driscoll is in for one hell of a wild ride.