Page 153 of Delirium
“Well,” the doctor exclaimed just as Cillian moved backward, standing next to me on one side, while Storm stood on the other one. “Who’s ready to meet the kids?”
Regardless of all the heartache, all the pain we went through over the last couple of days, happiness slowly appeared in the center of my body, spreading through every vein, every artery and organ, filling me with light once again.
Storm grabbed a hold of my hand as the doctor brought in a wheelchair, and with their help, I managed to get off of the bed, slowly lowering myself down into the cushioned seat. The uncomfortable tug in my stomach made me wince, and I bit down on my lower lip, stopping the whimpers from erupting from my lungs. Storm would never let me get out of here if he knew how much it hurt just trying to move, but I had to go. I had to see them. I was more than ready to meet my kids, to see them, to tell them how much I loved them.
* * *
Sterile white walls,machines beeping all over the place as Storm wheeled me toward the NICU ward, and I was immediately transformed to a different time when he was in the hospital, when I begged and pleaded for him to wake up, to come back to me. The roles were reversed now, and I was thankful we didn’t have to run out of the hospital because there was someone trying to kill us.
Storm refused to talk about Ava and Tristan and I had a feeling that at least one of them wasn’t among the living anymore, and I had no idea how that made me feel. I loved Ava with all my heart, but what she did… I wouldn’t have done this to my worst enemy. The fact that she blamed me for everything bad that has ever happened to her spoke volumes. I didn’t know that person who took my kids away from me.
I didn’t know the person who tried to kill me, and I couldn’t mourn someone I didn’t know, someone I didn’t care about. I cared about the Ava from years ago, when everything was simpler and less bloody, when we still had silly little dreams and idiotic problems that in reality weren’t problems at all.
We were two girls who had no idea what life would bring to them, but we were young and innocent enough to hope for a better tomorrow, for happiness and even love. I think that deep down, even through all those years when I allowed myself to succumb to the darkness and viciousness that my life turned into, I still hoped for love and this exact feeling I had right now as Storm held my hand to the sink, washing them for me, sterilizing them before we went in to see our kids.
“Storm,” I murmured, pulling his attention to me. “I love you,” I blurted out because I needed to say it. I needed to say it again, because I didn’t want him to live with those last words I uttered before I collapsed in his arms. I didn’t want it to haunt him, to break him.
His entire body stiffened before he fully turned to me, dropping down on his knees and burrowing his face onto my legs. He trembled as I placed my hands on his back, rubbing in circles as he released an anguished cry, gripping my legs, fisting the gown I was wearing.
“Hey, hey,” I whispered, trying to keep my own emotions in place. “I’m okay. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”
“I thought I lost you,” he wept, keeping his face pressed to my legs. “You died in my arms, Sunshine. I… I don’t ever want to feel like that, ever again.”
“Oh, Storm.”
“I’m sorry.” He sniffed. “I just…” he looked up at me. “I want you to know how important you are to me, how much I love you, and my God, Ophelia, I thought my heart would give out that night. I thought…”
“Hey.” I cupped his cheek, bringing him up to my level. “I’m okay.” He didn’t waste a second before pressing his lips to mine. He tasted like tears and despair, and I wanted to erase every trace of pain from his body. “I’ll always be with you, no matter what,” I murmured between the soft kisses. “I promised you always and forever.”
“I know.” His watery smile brought out my own. “I just didn’t know I would have to yell so much at you when you were unconscious.” He laughed. “Come on.” He stood up, taking my hands again into his, washing them all over again. “We need to be clean before we see them. Did you know there are millions of bacteria around us, and all of them could harm the twins.”
I tried to hide my smile, but as he turned toward me, a serious expression on his face, I couldn’t stop the laughter bubbling from deep inside my body. “Are you laughing at me?”
“You’re just so cute, knowing all these things about bacteria.”
“It’s for our kids.” He shrugged. “They need to be safe.”
“I know.” I smiled at him. “I’m just joking with you. You’re all domesticated and soft. I can barely recognize you.”
He slowly turned toward me, while the water dried, toweling my hands with sensual movements, the glint in his eye saying everything I needed to know. There was nothing domestic in this man and as soon as he could, I had a feeling he would devour me fully.
And I couldn’t fucking wait.
“Let’s go and see our kids. I’m pretty sure that the crying we can hear is coming from Malia.” He laughed, but the husky note in his voice had me shivering in my wheelchair.
He pushed us through the door where we came from and rounded the corner. A nurse waited for us, ready to lead us inside. The gowns both of us wore felt like armor as we went through the long hallway and into the area that had signage all over the place that it needed to be sterile.
My heart climbed in my fucking throat, the thought of the two of them actually not being okay wreaking havoc on my nerves. I swallowed it down, keeping still as we came to a stop.
“Look.” Storm pointed toward the two incubators, not too far away from us, and I fucking froze.
I couldn’t see them clearly, not from this distance, but one of them was flailing around with its legs, the sound of a baby crying hitting me straight into the center of my heart.
“Is that—”
“That’s Malia.” Storm chuckled, pushing me in further, following the nurse who pulled away the chair that was placed in front of the incubators, letting us pass through.
And there they were—the two most perfect beings, and they were all mine. Malia’s mouth was wide open, crying and flailing around, her angry little voice almost comical, but the worry gnawed at me, and I turned toward the nurse. “Is she okay? Why’s she crying?”
