I suck up each word he speaks while he flips through hundreds of pictures of our little girls.  I can hear the pride in his voice when he speaks about them.  I push back the jealousy I feel when he talks about holding them.  I need to see my babies, to feel my babies, so I know that they’re okay.

“… so good, Beauty.  You did so good.”  He drops the hand holding his phone, and I look over to him, smiling when I see the happiness in his eyes.  “I was so scared, Melissa.  So scared that I would never get this.  Every day you slept, I worried more and more.  The doctors kept telling us that you would wake up when you were ready, but God…I was so scared.”

“How long was I out?”  It feels like I just went to sleep hours ago, but the way he speaks, it’s been a lot longer.

“Two weeks.  Two long weeks.”

“Oh my God.”

“You’re here now, and we just need to focus on getting all my girls out of this damn place and home.  I need my family home.”

We spend the rest of the night and into the morning whispering softly to each other in between small bouts of my sleeping.  Every time I wake up, he’s still sitting in the same chair, his crystal blue eyes just watching me sleep.

Finally, sometime when the sun is creeping into the sky, I open my eyes from another nap to see his head against my thigh and hear soft snores echoing through the room.

Chapter 16 – Melissa

“I’m so nervous.”  I look over at Greg, who is standing against the wall of the elevator as it climbs the two floors that will take me to my girls.  “So damn nervous,” I whisper again.

“Stop, Melissa.  Once you see those two little princesses, all of those nerves will just wash away.  When you feel their soft skin against your own, look at their small faces that are little mini versions of your own…all of that will just vanish, and the love you’ll feel take its place is like nothing you have ever felt.”

I have to blink away the tears that his words cause.  My nose burns with the force of my emotions.

The doors open and Greg takes his place behind my chair, pushing me onto the floor where my girls are.  With every step he takes, my wheelchair moving closer and closer, I feel like I can sense my girls.  Like my body knows that I’m nearing my daughters.

We stop so that he can help me wash what feels like my whole body and push my arms through the gown I have to wear.  It’s hard with my cast to get everything situated, and by the time we finish, my frustration is strong.  I just want to see my babies.  I’m so close to my girls.

“I can see your mind working.  We’ll be in there in just a minute, but we have to follow the steps to make sure they are safe, Beauty.”

I know he’s right, but that doesn’t stop the irrational mama bear that just wants her little cubs in her arms.

We finally get situated and he helps wheel me into the room.  I know which incubator holds my girls before we’re even all the way into the room.  I see Cohen’s bright red cape with its royal blue trim like a flag waving me home draped across one of the incubators.

“He wanted his magic in here.  You should have seen him, Melissa.  He had so much determination to get that in here so that he could save his sisters with his powers.  That boy is something else.  He’s been amazing the last two weeks.  So strong.”

“That sounds just like him.”  I smile but never move my eyes from the flash of red in the otherwise very dull room.

He pushes me closer until I’m eye level with the two little babies nestled close to each other inside the small incubator.  I don’t even realize I am crying until I feel Greg wiping the tears from my face.

“They’re beautiful,” I whisper in awe.

“They sure are.”

I just keep looking at them, taking in every single feature on their bodies as I feel the instantaneous love take over my nerves—just like Greg said it would.

“I need to feel them, Greg.  I need to hold my babies.”

He nods his head before he walks over to the nurse who is standing not that far from us and speaks softly.  I can’t hear what he’s saying to her and I honestly don’t care as long as it gets my babies in my arms.

We spend a while trying to figure out how to maneuver things so that I am able to hold my daughters.  With my cast, it isn’t possible to hold them both at the same time, so Greg helps the nurse place Lillian in my arms.  The first time I feel her against my skin, I weep.  I try to keep it together, but when that featherweight is pressed against my chest… I lose it.  Greg stays close, keeping one hand against Lillian’s back and the other arm draped across my shoulders.