Let Me Love You Again
Chapter 84

Maya

We had to wait a few hours before they moved Jess and the children to another room. The sky had darkened and the sun was on the horizon.

Nate had gone away to make a phone call, who he said was booking an appointment with a gynaecologist. He came back with the phone still in his ear while Axel slept blissfully in my arms, the pacifier between his lips as he breathed deeply.

“Yes, Dare,” he said on the phone, “Tomorrow at six o’clock perfect,” and continued, stopping in front of me.

He hung up the phone and leaned over to get Axel, for a moment I looked at him badly, I didn’t want to disturb him while he slept.

“Andrew texted me that Jess woke up,” Nate said, and I gave him Axel who sighed sleepily as Nate placed him over his chest with his blonde head on his shoulders.

I grabbed my bag and watched Devon and Lucas practically falling asleep in the bar chair.

“Jess is awake,” I told them they immediately got up.

Nate reached out to me and we went to the floor where Jess and the kids were. When we got to the floor, the door was open and you could hear voices similar to those of Nate’s parents. Immediately we entered, finding the room crowded.

Jess’s mother and Andrew’s mother were at the foot of the bed, each of them holding a baby. Jess’s mother kept the little boy while Andrew’s mother kept the girl.

Jess’s father was sitting next to her and surrounded her shoulders with one arm as he gently stroked her blond hair while Andrew’s father was next to him.

We went in, and Lucas opened his mouth to yell, but I immediately warned him with my eyes as I approached the two grandmothers and looked at the children. Both were wrapped in their covers and slept blissfully.

Their plump faces were white, their cheeks red, and they both slept gaping. The female had the sweetest traits, similar to those of Andrew while the male, he was the spitting copy of Jess.

“Emma and Liam,” Jess said with a string of her voice.

“Perfect,” I said looking at them.

Emma yawned and stretched, she was so beautiful that she almost made my eyes cry.

We all stood still and watched the two newborns until Jess’s father got up and picked up Liam, who relaxed.

I moved and sat next to Jess, hugging her tight.

“You’ve become a mother, Jess,” I said, my voice cracked with tears.

Jess sniffed, “They’re perfect,” he said with a string of his voice.

“Like you,” I answered and kissed her on the cheek.

Nate passed me Axel who had meanwhile opened his eyes and looked at me sleepy while Nate placed him sitting in my arms.

Axel looked at Jess for a moment before extending his arms toward her, “Auntie” said in a sleepy voice.

“You can’t go to her,” I said in his ears, Axel’s l*p trembled, but I kissed him on the head and he leaned his back to my chest.

Meanwhile, Nate had approached Emma and, not realizing it, had found her in his arms. The little girl had opened her eyes as green as her mother’s and stared at him, while my husband remained motionless almost afraid to make a false step.

The little girl looked at him for what seemed like an eternity before bursting into a desperate cry, almost as if she wanted to spite Nate who immediately murmured “Harpy like her mother”.

Jess extended her arms and Nate left her the child who immediately, in the arms of her mother, calmed down.

Emma had blue-green eyes and they were pointed at Jess until Axel saw her. My child bent his head to the side before approaching Emma and looking at her carefully, studying her. Emma looked back as if she were studying him too.

Axel stretched out a hand and Emma grabbed it with her little ones, clinging to two of Axel’s fingers as he leaned toward her. Both looked at each other for a moment that seemed solemn before another cry burst and all our heads turned to Liam who instantly was in Andrew’s arms. I sighed and looked at Axel, who had not moved his gaze from Emma in the meantime.

He was watching her from a glance, and when Andrew and Jess exchanged children, Axel’s eyes kept following Emma, watching every move anyone made with her.

“She’s your little cousin,” I said to Axel in the ear.

“Tousin,” Axel said.

I laughed and messed up his hair.

*****

We went back to the apartment late that night. Axel was completely unconscious in Nate’s arms.

On the way back we had stopped in an Mc Donald to eat and, after getting stoned, we had returned home.

Axel slept with the surprise toy of his Happy Meal in his hand, on his back he had placed Nate’s jacket and slept with an open mouth.

As soon as we closed the door I took off my shoes and threw them near the sofa, moaning with relief as Nate looked at me with an arched eyebrow.

“I’m going to put him to bed,” Nate said.

“Make him brush his teeth”

“Maya, he is sleeping”

“I know, I can see it, but you’re gonna wake him up anyway and you’re gonna wash his little teeth,” I said, taking off my jacket and throwing her on the couch, “I’m gonna get undressed and jump in the tub,” I said on my way to our room.

I heard Nate speak softly and Axel m**n in the bathroom where they stayed for a few minutes before going to Axel’s room.

Another child.

I said to myself as I undressed. I looked in the mirror with just my bra and panties on and caressed my abdomen and then I put myself to the side and looked at him better. I couldn’t see anything.

“You’re a girl or a boy,” I said to my belly, hoping for some divine response.

I continued to caress her gently, completely estranged from the rest. I looked down, watching the movement of my hand on my belly, anxiously waiting.

I remember how terrified I was with Axel, terrified of being alone, of having to take care of someone other than me. Then I went to the first ultrasound, I was shaking like a leaf, for a moment I had thought of aborting, and then the gynaecologist had indicated me Axel. That little dot inside of me whose heart was pounding and growing inside of me.

At that moment everything made sense, my whole life, my whole relationship with Brad. All just to get to that moment.

That child was a part of me and I would have given everything to protect him and I would have continued to do so, he was my little angel, my sunbeam that had made me stronger, a warrior and that had helped me and spurred me to go forward.

Two arms wrapped around me and I turned to the mirror. Nate was behind me and he had embraced me, his hands resting on my stomach still flat.

“I love you,” I said.

“And I love you and our family,” Nate replied, kissing me on the head.