Nobody's Dream (30 page)

“Just what kind of jostling do you have in mind, Sir?”

“Don’t get any ideas. If I join you, I’m going to be afraid to touch you because of that C-section incision.”

Karla sighed. “I’m getting used to that.”

He felt like a heel now, but had only put them on a sexual hiatus to protect her and the babies. Maybe it hadn’t been necessary in retrospect—but having these three babies arrive in good health was the prime objective for both of them. Sometimes a man had to make decisions that weren’t popular but were best to achieve the goal.

Adam removed his shoes, crawled onto the bed, and stretched out next to her. He’d been surprised at the accommodations in here, but figured it helped couples reconnect and start to bond with their new babies.

Only they were baby-less at the moment.

“Are you in any pain?”

“The epidural wore off, but I’m okay.”

He reached out to stroke her arm, loving the rise of gooseflesh in the wake of his touch. “I’m so proud of you, Kitten. You took such good care of yourself so our babies could grow as big as possible inside you.”

She giggled, and damned if his dick didn’t respond the way it always did. “I think you had a lot to do with making sure I did everything I was supposed to, including eating right.”

“God, I was so worried. I don’t think I can handle another pregnancy for another decade or so—and by then, I’ll be too old.”

Karla took his chin and raised it until their gazes met. “Adam Montague, if I hear you mention another pregnancy again before these babies are at least out of diapers, I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” He grinned.

“I don’t know what I’ll do, but let’s not talk about any more babies. I think we’re going to have our hands full.”

No fucking way will she be pregnant again anytime soon
. He’d triple up on contraceptive measures if he had to. He wanted time to enjoy his bride’s body again, well, when his three kids weren’t making their own demands on her.

“Kitten, I’ll never be happier than I am at this moment. I don’t need any more children. I don’t want to see you go through that again.”

“I hear my hormones are supposed to kick in to where I don’t remember much of the delivery. But as of this moment, I agree. Three’s the perfect number.”

“We’re so blessed. Some couples can never have one, and here we are with three.”

Karla stroked his arm. “I can’t wait to get my hands on them.”

“The nurses in the NICU said we’d have the two bigger ones soon. Rest while you can. Oh, and your mom and dad are in flight. Could be here in an hour or so.”

She nodded, but remained silent, and soon, he heard her shallow, steady breathing. He decided to take advantage of a little shuteye himself but pulled away to the other side of the mattress. He didn’t want to accidentally strike her while sleeping. One of his Marines told him he’d broken his wife’s nose twice before he gave up on sleeping with her. Adam couldn’t imagine the remorse of putting a loved one through such pain when there was something he could do to avoid the problem.

A soft knock on the door woke him, and he sprang up to place himself between Karla and whoever opened the door. He soon realized it was the nurse and she rolled in one of the bassinets.

“Adam! They’re here!” Karla was awake in an instant, trying to sit up.

“You just stay put.” He left her in the bed and wondered if only one of the babies would be able to stay with them. Then the door opened again and a second bassinet was wheeled in. That meant two of them were healthy enough to leave the NICU. One to go.

The nurse scanned her wristband and the baby’s. “Now, Mrs. Montague, your OB indicated you wanted to have skin-to-skin contact with your babies as early as possible. If you’ll loosen the top of your gown, we can get started.” He helped Karla with the gown while the nurse unwrapped the baby in the blue cap—their son, he supposed. They’d better stick to color coding their clothing until they could tell them apart. At least none were identical twins. But all their faces looked alike to him right now.

Hell, they hadn’t discussed names yet. Adam hadn’t wanted to jinx anything, so they’d kept talk of baby names to themselves. They’d better come up with something more than son and daughters soon, though. They hadn’t even told most of their friends and family about the presence of twins for the same reasons, although that had been hard to hide more recently.

Yeah, as if he hadn’t bonded with these babies the moment he saw two of them on the ultrasound monitor. He’d only been playing mind games with himself to pretend otherwise.

Moments later, Adam watched as Karla cupped the heads of their son and older daughter skin to skin except for their tiny diapers. Karla had never looked more beautiful than now, holding two of their babies.

He lifted the blanket to cover their bare backs. When their son began to squirm on Karla’s chest, rooting for food probably, Adam blinked away tears and bent over to kiss the baby’s cheek. Softest skin he’d ever felt.

His son promptly let out a scream followed by a steady bawling. Adam jerked away. “What did I do? Did I hurt him?”

Karla laughed. “Don’t be silly. Mom says babies are tougher than you think. He could be crying for any number of reasons, but maybe your whiskers surprised him.”

Damn
. He’d better shave before he kissed the babies in the future.

“Don’t you dare stop touching and kissing them, though. They need to be close to their daddy, too. Join us in bed.”

She’d barely picked up any of the books he’d encouraged her to study in preparation for this moment, and yet, despite all the reading he’d done, Adam seemed to be the clueless one. Maternal instinct must be pretty damned powerful. Why didn’t dads have something similar built in? He was screwed unless he kept reading—or listening to Karla for pointers. Being a dad to a grown man like Damián was a whole lot easier than taking on that role with someone who’d only been around a few hours.

Adam went around to his side of the bed and scooted closer to where Karla and the babies were. The nurses left after reminding them of the call button if they needed anything. Alone, he rolled onto his side, cupped his head in his palm, and just stared down at Karla and the babies.

Hoping to soothe the boy’s distress, he reached out to rub slow circles on his back hoping to sooth him. “Hey, Ian, Daddy’s here.”

A sniffle from Karla distracted him, and Adam glanced over at her. Tears brimmed in her eyes. “How’d you know I wanted to name him that?”

He hadn’t really thought about any other possibility for a boy. But to her, he said, “After seeing his eyes and that same black hair as yours and Ian’s, what else could we name him? Glad you’re okay with it.”

She nodded, and two tears trailed down her cheeks. “How about his middle name?”

“What do you think about Paxton?” Her maiden name could be carried on through their son, in a way, since her brother’s death would keep him from doing so.

“Ian Paxton Montague.” She smiled through her tears. “Perfect. But let’s call him Pax or Paxton to differentiate him and…” She didn’t have to finish. He leaned closer and kissed her.

After clearing her throat, she smiled and asked, “What about the girls’ names? I only had one girl and one boy name picked out. I was so sure there would only be one of each.”

“Your turn to name this one.” He’d more or less named their son without consulting Karla, so he ought to let her decide on the first girl’s name at least. “What name did you come up with?”

“Kate.”

Adam swallowed past a lump in his throat. Adam had hoped to name one Kathleen, after his great-great-grandmother Montague. Kate. Without saying a word, they were on the same wavelength naming two of their children.

“I’ve felt a kinship with your ancestor ever since our honeymoon at her and Johnny’s cabin. Staring down from her portrait over the mantle, I felt she was letting me know everything was going to be okay.”

He’d been drawn to that portrait since he was a kid. His great-great-grandmother had ventured from Ireland to South Dakota once upon a time. “Kate, it is. Well, for a nickname. Her given name will be Kathleen after Kathleen Gannon Montague.”

“A fine Irish name.”

“Well, except that Montague is French.”

“We’re Americans. You have a mix of cultures from Lakota, Irish, and French. I have Irish and quite a bit of German on Mom’s side, too.”

He stared down at Kate, who had been alert and inquisitive since she’d been placed on Karla’s chest. Her hand stuck out from the blanket and rested protectively on her brother’s shoulder. “Kate’s a guardian.”

Karla nodded. “Like you, Sir.”

Lord knew he tried, but with so much happening lately that he couldn’t predict or control, he wasn’t sure how successful he was anymore. Now, he not only had Karla and his extended family to worry about, but their
three
babies.

Karla pulled him back to the present. “Why don’t we make Gannon our Kate’s middle name?”

“Fine by me. We’ll be carrying on two more family names now.”

She nodded. “That just leaves our little princess in the NICU.”

*     *     *

Karla’s heart ached for her missing baby. Even though she had two here with her, knowing she’d carried the three of them for almost nine months inside her body only to have them separated now physically hurt.

She stroked Paxton’s cheek as Adam lifted the blanket higher over the babies. She was now the mother of three children. Reality probably wouldn’t set in for a long time to come.

Dear Lord, keep my babies safe and healthy.

Karla hoped everything was okay with their other daughter. She wished Mom were here. She worked as a nurse for a pediatrician and could calm Karla’s fears. Perhaps she could even glean more information about the baby’s condition. Karla looked up from the two babies.

“What’s wrong, Kitten?”

She blinked away the tears. “I miss her. Not knowing how she’s doing is going to drive me crazy.”

Adam cleared his throat and squeezed her arm. “I know, hon. I’ll run down and check on her again in a minute.”

“That would make me feel better.”

Paxton let out another wail for no apparent reason, bringing her focus back to the two beautiful babies on her chest.

“Hey, son, what’s all the fuss? You don’t know how good you’ve got it there on your mommy’s breast.” She grinned as she listened to Adam trying to reason with him about why he really had nothing to cry about.

Tears stung her eyes again. Would the waterworks never end?

Ian had been on her mind so much lately. Was it because she had hoped for a namesake to carry on in his absence? No one would ever replace her own big brother, but having him remembered in his nephew’s name would keep his memory alive. She couldn’t wait to tell her parents.

“Any word from Mom or Daddy?”

“Damián texted me that he would pick them up and bring them here first thing. They should be be here any time.”

“Is there anyone in the waiting room?”

“No, I told them to go home and come back later today. I wanted to keep the babies to ourselves a little longer—and give you time to rest.”

She smiled. Always so protective. Paxton finally stopped crying and blinked at his daddy, taking his measure. “Pax, your daddy is the best daddy ever, so you go easy on him.”

Adam placed a kiss on her lips again before pulling away to whisper to the baby, “Your mommy isn’t so bad, either, if you ask me. Don’t you give her as much trouble as I did my own mom.” He sobered. “What are we going to do, Kitten?”

“Do about what?”

“We have
three
babies? I still can’t believe it.”

“We can do anything we set our minds to, Adam.” But she blinked as the enormity set in once more for her as well. She let out a laugh but only to keep from screaming in panic at the daunting thought. “And, no, I can’t believe it, either.”

A whimper from Kate drew her attention, and she watched the little one squirm and start rooting for her breast.
Oh, no!

“Adam, how will I be able to feed all three of them?”

The door swung open, and a nurse entered. “Oh, don’t you worry about that, sweetie. Your body will provide what those babies need. We’ll keep an eye on their weight gain, and you can always supplement as needed. Our bodies are really an amazingly efficient system. Their demand results in the right supply once it gets regulated.”

After pressing hard on her abdomen until Karla wanted to scream, the nurse said she was doing fine. “We can return the babies to the NICU tonight if you would like to get some rest, but anytime you want to visit with one or both or need anything else, just press that call button.”

Karla placed a protective hand over each baby’s back. “No, we’d like to keep them here.”

The nurse nodded. “Just letting you know your options. We’re here for you and the babies and will help however we can.”

The nurse moved Kate up to Karla’s bare breast. When she latched onto her nipple and started to suck, Karla felt her womb contract. “Let’s put your son to work over here, too. The sucking sensations of nursing will help get your uterus back in shape naturally.”

“I felt it contract. But are they getting anything?”

“Your milk won’t come in for a couple more days, but we want them to enjoy the benefits of that good colostrum. Antibodies and all kinds of healthy things are in there to ward off some of the nasties in the coming year.”

After the nurse left, Karla glanced over and witnessed the awe in Adam’s eyes as they experienced this latest miracle of life. They both watched as Paxton’s lips worked feverishly to extract whatever he could from her. When she returned her gaze to Adam, tears traced down his face that only led her waterworks to start again.

“Isn’t this totally unbelievable, Adam? To think that the night before last we were just sitting in our new home relaxing, and now our household has grown from two to five.”

He nodded, but didn’t try to speak. “I’ll be right back.”

Karla wasn’t sure where he was headed, but assumed he needed time to compose himself. He didn’t like to show tears in front of her or anyone else. But she knew he shed them when deeply moved. How could he not cry on this, the happiest day of their lives so far?