Billionaire Babies

Quickly, Alexei jumped to his feet, grabbed Nevada, and held her over his arm. He gave her several sharp slaps on the back, and a half-chewed bite of hamburger flew out of her mouth. She gasped for breath and then began to cry. Alexei held her tightly and comforted her. "It's all right, baby," he whispered over and over.

Sobbing with relief and gratitude, I rushed to embrace my husband. "You saved my baby!"

"Hey, it's all right." He gave me a hug with his free arm. "The same thing happened to Pavel once before I came to the United States. I'm just glad I was able to help."

"You're such a great Dad!" I exclaimed.

"And you're a great Mom," he replied.

After that incident, none of us were in the mood for ice cream, so we just went straight back home. By now, the rain had slowed to a light drizzle. "Look, Daddy!" Montana exclaimed when we reached the front porch. He pointed to a tiny green tree frog that had hopped up onto the windowsill. "'Member that time we went outside to look for tree frogs together? It was a long time ago, before you got to be my new Daddy."

"Indeed I do!" Alexei grinned and ruffled his hair.

"Can we keep him, Mommy? Please?" Montana begged.

"We don't have anything to feed him..." I began.

"I'll just go by the pet store and get some crickets," Alexei told me. "It's no problem at all."

He scooped the frog up into his hands, and when we got inside, I found an empty spaghetti sauce jar and poked air holes in the lid for it. "Can I come too, Daddy?" asked Nevada.

"Sure!" Alexei picked her up, and the three of them left. Alone at last, I lay down for what I intended to be only a few minutes, and when I awakened, I heard the kids playing in the living room. Oh my gosh, I told myself. I have to get dinner ready!

I arose and went into the hallway to be greeted with the delicious aroma of cooking food. I walked into the kitchen, where I saw Alexei standing at the stove, cooking and whistling to himself. I went to him and embraced him from behind, resting my head against the softness of his t-shirt.

Since we hadn't been able to go to the water park after school had ended, we decided to have Montana's sixth birthday party there. Cole and Lara came with Dylan. "Wow, he's really grown!" I exclaimed.

"He's walking now," Lara told me. She stood him down on the pavement, and he took a few halting steps before falling on his bottom, then grinned up at me for approval. I remembered how tiny he'd been at birth and tears came to my eyes. "You are so precious!" I told him as I picked him up and gave him a big hug.

Riley arrived with Camryn and baby Colton. Colton wore braces on both feet, which were in turn fastened to a long board between his feet. "If this doesn't work, the doctor's gonna have to do surgery," Riley told me.

"I hope it works," I replied.

Kennedy came with Taylor, Morgan, and Jordan. Taylor and Morgan headed for the zoom flume right away, with Jordan following right behind them. "No, no, sweetie." Kennedy ran after her son and picked him up. "You're not quite big enough for that ride yet. Let's go on the elephant slide with Nevada. Won't that be fun?"

"Come on!" Nevada took Jordan's hand and led him to the elephant slide.

"They look so cute together!" I laughed.

"He went on and on about seeing Nevada again all the way here," she told me.

"So how have you guys been?" I asked.

"Really well," she told me. "Nicolai just got a promotion. He's head of the whole sporting goods department now. How have you guys been?"

"We've had our ups and downs," I replied. "Alexei lost one of his best friends a few weeks ago. Earl got shot trying to stop a supermarket robbery."

"I heard about that on the evening news," she said. "I wondered whether Alexei knew either of the cops who got killed. How's your pregnancy coming along?"

"Dr. Brown says everything's fine so far."

"Jordan was a twin, you know," she told me. "His brother Joshua was stillborn. They had to do an emergency C-section to save Jordan."

"I know," I replied. "Nicolai told me when you were in the hospital last winter. I can't even imagine how painful it must be to lose a child."

"I don't know which was worse, that or when Taylor was murdered," she said. "It took me months and months to get over it both times. I still have nightmares now and then."

By now all the guests had arrived, and I lit the candles on Montana's cake, which was decorated with Power Ranger figurines. After we'd eaten, Montana opened all his birthday presents. Alexei and I had bought him a red bicycle with training wheels, and he'd also received a Power Rangers book, play doh, legos, and a Nerf water blaster, which he began to play with right away.

After awhile, the party began to dwindle down and the guests left one by one. I hugged each of my friends and thanked them for coming.

"Give Nevada a good-bye hug," Kennedy said to her son as the Shikovs were preparing to leave. He did, and I thought it was so cute that I snapped a photograph of them.

Sometimes I had Thursday afternoons off, and when I did, I liked to take Montana and Nevada to the children's story hour at the library. The library staff would read several stories to the children, sing a couple of songs with them, and then pass out pictures to color. While the kids were at the story hour, I would usually look through the shelves where they kept the new arrivals to see if I could find something good to read in my spare time.

One afternoon I found an anthology of zombie stories that I thought looked really interesting and checked it out. A few minutes later, the story hour ended.

"We learned all about the circus today, Mommy," Montana told me, showing me the picture of a clown he'd just colored in.

"That's nice, hon," I told him.

"Here's mine, Mommy," added Nevada. Her clown picture wasn't nearly as well done as her brother's was, of course, but I smiled and told her she'd done a good job.

I had to stop by the supermarket for bread and milk on the way home. While heading for the bread aisle, I noticed that Aidan was putting up stock in an adjoining row. I remembered the conversation I'd had with Alexei the previous night and got an idea.

"Uncle Aidan!" called Montana as he and Nevada ran up to my brother.

Aidan turned and saw them. "Hey, guys!" he said, ruffling Montana's hair as he picked Nevada up and kissed her cheek.

"We just got back from story time," Montana told his uncle. "See my picture of a clown?"

"It's a very good picture," Aidan told him.

"Here's mine!" Nevada shoved her own coloring into his face.

"That's good, too." He looked at me. "How ya doin', sis? The pregnancy still goin' all right?"

"It's going fine, thanks," I replied. "Have you talked to Liam lately?" I still saw him from time to time when I was either going to or leaving work, but I hadn't really talked to him beyond the exchanging of pleasantries.

"We went bowling together last weekend," Aidan told me. "He told me he hasn't been on a date in ages. He seems really lonely, Addison."

"We'll have to have both of you over for dinner again soon. Maybe the next night Alexei and I both have off." My plan had suddenly become slightly more complicated, but I was still determined to go through with it.

Aidan smiled. "That's great!"

I returned home and prepared dinner, and Alexei arrived back at the expected time. "This is delicious, hon," he told me as he was eating dinner.

"Thanks," I replied. "You know, I got to thinking about Lauren earlier today, wondering how she's been."

"I went to see her a couple of days ago." For the sake of his friendship with Earl, Alexei checked on Lauren frequently. "She's doing all right, considering."

"I was thinking that perhaps we could have her over for dinner next time we both have the night off."

Alexei grinned. "What a great idea!"

"I ran into Aidan in the supermarket," I continued. "I invited him and Liam over for dinner again, too."

Alexei laughed. "Won't that make things just a bit complicated? What if they both fall for her?"

"Or it could turn out that neither of them will," I pointed out. "Anyway, maybe we could all have a nice dinner together, at least."

The evening of the special dinner finally arrived. I spent most of the day putting together a special homemade pizza, and I also prepared a delicious salad to go with it, as well as both cherry and blueberry crunch for dessert.

Aidan and Liam arrived together first, and Lauren showed up a few minutes later. "I'm sorry I'm a little late," she apologized. "I almost didn't come. I had to really push myself out of the house."

"Well, I'm very glad you made it." I gave her a warm hug. "This is my brother Aidan and his friend Liam."

"How do you do." Aidan smiled and extended his hand to her. She looked terrified for just a minute, then gave a shaky smile and shook his hand.

Dinner went well. Lauren sat between Aidan and Liam, and everyone complimented me on how good all the food tasted. Montana and Nevada, dressed in their nicest clothes, were both on their best behavior, for which I was profoundly grateful.

After dinner Lauren offered to help with cleaning up, and I saw it as the perfect opportunity for a girl-to-girl chat. "I've been thinking about you a lot lately," I began. "I know what it's like to lose someone. I lost my first husband in a car crash not quite three years ago, you know."

Lauren's eyes widened in shock. "No, I didn't know! My God, that's terrible! How did it happen, if you don't mind my asking?"

"He polished off a couple of six-packs and then realized that we were out of beer so went to buy more. I begged him not to go, but he wouldn't listen. 'Aw, honey, it's just around the corner,' he told me. 'I'll be back in fifteen minutes, tops.' About a half hour later, the police came and told me that they'd found his car crushed like an accordion into a telephone pole and him lying on the front hood, cut to bits with blood everywhere."

"How horrible!" Lauren exclaimed. "At least Earl wasn't so badly disfigured like that."

"It was a closed casket funeral," I told her. "Nevada was just a baby, but Montana couldn't understand. He kept asking me when his Daddy was coming home. I told him Jeff was in heaven and could never come back to us, but that we would see him again someday."

It had been hard to tell my son that because I'd felt like I was lying to him. I'd known that it wasn't my place to judge, but how could an alcoholic, two-timing wife beater have possibly made it into heaven? Yet, what else could I have told my son?

"It must be so much harder if you have kids," Lauren said softly. "I remember how Earl and I always said we wanted to have four kids, two boys and two girls. We even had the names picked out." She gazed longingly at my swollen belly, and I felt very sorry for her.

"I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but things will eventually get better," I told her.

"Everyone keeps telling me that," she replied with a sigh. "You're so lucky you have Alexei. How did you meet him?"

"Before he was a cop, he was a security guard at the hospital where I work. One night I was attacked in the parking lot while I was walking to my car, and he saved me. But we really met ten years before that. He'd gotten separated from his friends and was stranded and had a dislocated shoulder when he met up with Aidan and Liam and their friend Topher. They brought him to the hospital where I was interning, and I fixed his shoulder, but he had to go back to Russia right after that. I met Jeff a few years later, but I never forgot Alexei and wondered from time to time how he was doing."

"Wow, that's so romantic!" Her eyes looked dreamy. "Your brother seems very nice, and so does Liam. I'm glad I decided to come tonight. It was a nice change from sitting in front of the television feeling sorry for myself."

The three of them stayed for about another half hour or so and left at about the same time. I saw both men discreetly slip small pieces of paper to Lauren and assumed that they'd both given her their telephone numbers. "It looks as if the evening was perhaps even more successful than I thought it would be," I saw to my husband after they'd all left.

"They both seem to really like her," he agreed. "It should be interesting to see how things develop."

Nevada's third birthday was the following month, and we had a small get-together at the house like we'd had the previous year. Cole and Lara brought Dylan, who was now a little over a year old, and he toddled around curiously looking for things to get into. "I wanted you to be the first one to know, after Cole, of course," Lara said excitedly. "My parents are getting married again! My Mom told me last night. She said that as soon as she saw my Dad, she felt the old feelings coming back, and now that she's head over heels in love with him, she doesn't know why it took them so long to get back together again."

"Wow, that's great!" I gave her a hug. "I'm so happy for you! Have they set a date yet?"

"No, but they want to do it as soon as possible," she replied. "It's the third time for both of them, so it's not gonna be a really big ceremony or anything. Just a few close family members and friends."

"That's understandable," I said.

Aidan arrived with Lauren next. I was astonished at how much happier she looked now than she had the evening I'd had them over for dinner.

"It's so good to see you again," I said as I gave her a hug.

"I'm so glad you introduced me to Aidan," she replied. "We've been out a couple of times, and things are going great so far."

"How's Liam taking it?" I asked. I knew he'd been attracted to Lauren as well.

"He and I haven't really spoken since the night you guys had us over," Aidan told me.

"Well, I hope he's not too terribly disappointed," I said.

"I'm sure he'll get over it," Aidan replied.

Kennedy arrived with just Jordan this time. "Nicolai took the girls swimming at the university pool," she told me.

"Jordan!" Nevada ran to hug her friend excitedly.

"You're gonna really like what I got you," he told her. "I can't tell you what it is 'cause it's a surprise."

Nevada's cake had pink icing and Strawberry Shortcake decorations, and I'd bought strawberry ice cream to go with it. She blew out her numeral '3' candle, we all sang 'Happy Birthday' to her, and then I served the cake and ice cream.

After everyone had finished eating, I gave Nevada her presents, and she dug right into them. Alexei and I had bought her a Littlest Pet Shop roller coaster play set, and she also received coloring books and crayons, Rainbow Brite and My Little Pony videos, a book of fairy tales, and many other nice things.

As the party dwindled down and everyone began to leave, I began to get a funny feeling in my abdomen, and by the time the final guest had left, I was in a significant amount of discomfort. "What's wrong, Addison?" Alexei's browns were furrowed with deep concern.

"I don't know," I said honestly. "Can you please clean up for me? I really feel like I need to lie down."

"Of course, sweetie." He now looked even more worried. "Do you think it's the babies?"

"I sure hope not!" I somehow made it to the bathroom to discover that, to my immense relief, I wasn't bleeding. However, I was also very sick to my stomach, and because of that, it took me a lot longer than usual to get finished in the bathroom. Significantly weaker, I stumbled to the bed and sank gratefully into it.

The next couple of hours passed in a blur. Except for about a half dozen more trips to the bathroom to be sick, I was hardly aware of anything at all. I guess I must have lightly dozed, because the next thing I knew, Alexei was sitting on the side of the bed, gently sponging my face with a wet washcloth.

"Poor baby," he murmured. "Would you like something to drink?" He held a straw to my lips, and I gratefully gulped down the flat 7-Up.

"Better now?" He gently swept my hair back from my face.

"Much," I mumbled. "Thank you."

I must have drifted back to sleep, because the next thing I was aware of was Alexei climbing into bed beside me. He reached for me, and I cuddled gratefully into his arms.

The following morning, I called Dr. Brown. "Sounds like you've got gastroenteritis," he told me. "Be sure and get lots of rest and drink plenty of fluids, and if your symptoms get any worse, come into the emergency room and I'll meet you there."

Except for, of course, trips to the bathroom, I was too sick to get out of bed for the entire day. Alexei waited on me constantly, bringing me flat soft drinks, Gatorade, and Popsicles. I felt the twins moving around reassuringly inside me, and that made me feel a whole lot better.

The next day I was able to drink clear broth, and by the next, I could eat crackers and bananas. After that, I was pretty much back to normal. By the time of my next prenatal appointment, I'd gained the appropriate amount of weight.

Lara's parents, Eric and Rhea, were married inside Eric's house by a notary public a couple of weeks later, and Alexei and I were invited. It was a very sweet ceremony. They wrote their own vows, just like Alexei and I had. "I thought that I could live without you," Eric began. "For the longest time, I drifted from woman to woman, but none of them could make me happy. I finally realized that the reason for that was because I'd never stopped loving you. So many times I thought about calling you just to say hi and ask how you were doing, but I figured you'd moved on with your life and wouldn't be interested in resuming our relationship."

"When I finally saw you again last Christmas, I couldn't believe my eyes. You were the same woman I'd fallen in love with all those years ago. As soon as I laid eyes on you, I knew that I'd somehow have to win you over again."

"I agreed to the divorce because I thought it was what you wanted," said Rhea. "I knew that I still loved you but that I had to let you go. I thought I'd never find love again, but after a long time, I finally did. When that didn't last either, I decided that I must be one of those people who just aren't meant to be married. Then when I saw you again at Christmas, for the first time in a long time, I thought that maybe there was hope that I could be happy again, after all."

After Eric and Rhea had been pronounced husband and wife once again, everybody cheered for them except for one person. Rhea's seventeen-year-old son, Asher, sat staring at the floor with a glum expression on his face. "What's wrong?" I asked him.

"What isn't wrong?" he retorted. "I can't believe she remarried this jerk instead of going back to my Dad. When they split up, I was sure it was gonna be just temporary and that they'd both soon come to their senses and realize that they were meant to be together. I'm sure that would have eventually happened, if only she hadn't rushed back into this remarriage thing. I can't wait 'till I'm eighteen. Then I can go be with Jana and our Dad."

I remembered what Jana had told me about Asher thinking that he and she both had the same father. I understood how disappointed he was about his own parents not getting back together, but I hoped he wouldn't do anything to wreck his mother's newly found happiness.

The month of August that year seemed to me to be the hottest month I'd ever lived through. I was seven months pregnant and felt like I was as big as a house. No matter how much I lowered the setting on the air conditioner, I just couldn't get comfortable and was constantly sitting around with a fan in my hand, fanning myself.

"Those babies must be really huge!" Montana said to me one day as he stared at my protruding abdomen.

"Actually they're still pretty tiny right now," I told him. "My belly is this big because there are two of them, and there's other stuff in there too, like the placenta and the amniotic sac. They'll have to get a little bit bigger than they are now before they're ready to be born."

His eyes widened. "If they get any bigger, Mommy, you're gonna pop!"

I laughed and ruffled his hair.

The following day at work, who should come in but Olivia, with a sprained ankle. The way she moaned and bitched, you'd think she'd just had her foot cut off. She saw me and gave me a really nasty look. "I see you're still pregnant."

"Yes, I am," I said steadily. No thanks to you, I wanted to add.

"Your husband's having an affair, you know," she said smugly. "I saw him necking with this gorgeous blonde when I was having coffee in that little restaurant across the street. They were going at it so heavy and hard that they were steaming up the windows."

Knowing that she was only trying to cause trouble, I decided not to dignify her statement with a response. After she'd been taken back, Madison, who'd witnessed the entire interaction, pulled me into a corner. "Isn't that the girl who tried to run you over with a surgical cart a few months ago?" she whispered. I nodded. "Then how come she's out free?"

"She was only charged with a misdemeanor, so she got off with a suspended sentence and court-ordered counseling."

"Didn't that make you mad?"

"It really ticked me off, but there was nothing I could do about it."

"I'll bet!"

I told Alexei about the encounter that night. "I sure hope you didn't believe her," he said.

"Of course not. I trust you completely," I assured him. "But I do get worried sometimes that my big belly might turn you off."

"To me you're more beautiful than ever, Addison," he murmured, placing soft kisses along my hairline as he massaged my breasts through my clothing. "I can't tell you how thrilled the sight of your belly swollen with my babies makes me."

Gently he slipped my nightgown over my head, and I rolled onto my back to give him easier access to my breasts. He rubbed and massaged them until my nipples were rock hard, and then he inserted first one, then the other, into his mouth to gently suckle them. At the same time, his fingers slipped inside my damp panties to gently stimulate my moist folds, which by now were slick with desire for him. A few seconds later, he gently tugged my panties down.

By this stage in my pregnancy, the only position that was possible for us was rear entry. He entered me slowly, gently, taking care not to cause me any discomfort, then began to move inside me, stimulating me with his fingers at the same time. I was over the edge in almost no time, and he followed a couple of seconds later. Afterwards, we both fell asleep in a spooning position with his arms around me and my back pressed against his chest. We stayed that way for the rest of the night.

Montana started first grade that month, and like the previous year, I had to go to WalMart to buy his supplies. Since I also needed some household stuff, my buggy was quite heavy when I finally got to the check-out line. "Oh, let me help you with that!" exclaimed a young man who was leaving at about the same time as me. Gratefully I gave him my shopping cart and let him push it to my car. On our way to my car, we passed a young couple in the parking lot.

"Must be 'Be kind to beached whales' day," the boy muttered under his breath. It was all I could do to restrain myself from hitting him over the head with my purse. The look I gave him must have let him know in no uncertain terms exactly how I felt about his comment.

A few days later, I took the kids to the school to drop off Montana's school supplies and meet his new teacher, Mrs. Lane. She was slightly chubby and had long dark blonde hair which she wore in a ponytail and glasses, and she looked like she was a few years older than me. "I'm gonna have a new baby brother or sister soon, and another one too," Montana told her.

"So I see!" she exclaimed, noticing my swollen belly. "When are you due?"

"In six more weeks." I rolled my eyes. "I feel like I've been pregnant forever!"

Mrs. Lane laughed. "I have a little boy of my own, so I know exactly how you feel!"

"How old is your little boy?" asked Montana.

"He just turned two. His name is Emerson," Mrs. Lane told him.

That weekend, Alexei and I had a rare Saturday morning off together, so we decided to go to the flea market. Luckily it was sunny, so there was a big crowd with many booths. Almost right away I saw a table full of adorable baby clothes for twenty-five cents apiece. "My daughter wore that outfit home from the hospital right after she was born," the woman running the booth told me.

"I'm having twins," I replied. "I don't know yet whether they're boys, girls, or one of each. Alexei and I want to be surprised."

"Must make it hard to shop," the woman remarked.

"I've already had one of each, so I have plenty of hand-me-downs," I replied.

I picked out some of the cutest outfits, figuring I could just resell or donate them myself if it turned out that I couldn't use them. In addition, I found clothing for Montana and Nevada, Avon products, earrings, and a plaque that said 'Love the life you live, live a life of love.' Alexei found electronic equipment, movies, and CD's, including one of balalaika music.

"It reminds me of home," he told me.

"I've never head balalaika music before," I replied. We had hot dogs, potato chips, and soft drinks at the flea market, then shopped some more until Nevada started yawning and rubbing her eyes. Alexei played the CD with the balalaika music in the car on the way home.

"This is the kind of music my family listened to when I was a little boy," he told Montana. "The instrument it's played on is called a balalaika."

"Ba-la-lai-ka." Montana enunciated each syllable of the unfamiliar word carefully. 'I like it, Daddy. It's pretty."

"Yes it is." Alexei smiled and clasped my hand.

School started, and Montana settled back into his normal routine. Although I grew even bulkier and more uncomfortable and began to suffer more frequent heartburn and backaches, and my feet become so swollen I could barely see my toes, I continued to work at the hospital for the entire month of September and the beginning of October. I had to see Dr. Brown every week now. The twins continued to develop normally. They were so big now that you could actually see a ripple in the skin of my abdomen when a tiny elbow or knee poked up. Alexei loved to put a malted milk ball on my belly and laugh when one of the twins knocked it off.

I began to get the urge to clean house and rearrange things constantly. When I'd come home from work, instead of taking a nap, I'd start right in with dusting the furniture, wiping down the counters, and even scrubbing down the walls.

"You're certainly making sure that these babies are coming home to a spotless house," Alexei teased me.

"Well, you know I won't have time for this stuff when I have two babies to take care of," I replied. "I may as well do it now, while I still can."

One day I had to assist with an obstetrical delivery that had complications. A woman had been in labor with twins. She'd delivered the first twin safely and was struggling to deliver the second, but after a couple of hours of pushing, she still hadn't really made any progress, and the monitor showed that the second twin was in distress. The physician had decided to do a C-section, and the woman was very upset about that.

"No! Please!" she sobbed. "I wanted a natural birth so bad! I went to all the Lamaze classes...learned all the breathing exercises..."

"I know you did, sweetie." I patted the woman's arm, trying my best to comfort her. "But this is what's best for the baby, and it really will be OK. Just a tiny little cut in your belly, and the baby will be here in five minutes tops, and it will be all over with."

The woman tried to protest, but the physician was already making the incision, and a moment later, he held up the limp, blue form of the infant. "Oh, no!" The mother began to sob heavily. I cut the baby's umbilical cord, and he let out a faint bleat, like that of a tiny lamb. Right away, he was whisked to the neonatal intensive care unit. I assisted the physician as he sutured the still-sobbing woman back up.

"I feel like such a failure," she moaned.

"It's not your fault," I consoled her. "Things like this just happen sometimes, but everything's gonna be all right." I thought about the infant, who'd had an Apgar score of only three, and hoped that he hadn't been rendered permanently brain-damaged by having been left inside his mother for so long.

I wasn't able to get the incident out of my mind for the rest of that day, and I had a horrible dream that night. I was lying in bed totally paralyzed, unable even to breathe. I could hear Montana and Nevada calling to me, but I couldn't get to them. The physician was standing over me, and the nurse was with him. He had a saw and was using it to cut me open. He reached in and pulled out one baby, except that it wasn't really a baby at all, but a plastic doll. He handed it to the nurse and reached inside my body for the other one. That was when I woke up screaming.

"Addison!" Suddenly I was aware of Alexei's arms around me, holding me tight.

"It was horrible!" I gasped. "I couldn't move a muscle...and the babies..."

"Sh." He began to stroke my hair soothingly. "It was only a dream...everything's all right...I'm right here, baby..." Under his ministrations, I slowly began to relax and calm down.

I was putting away some IV equipment at work when I went into labor. I'd been through it twice before, so I knew what was happening right away.

"Oh God, the babies are coming right now!" I cried. Eileen and Donna quickly found a wheelchair for me, got me settled into it, and began to wheel me up to the maternity floor. "Somebody call Alexei!" I begged.

"I'll call him," Eileen offered.

"I'll get Dr. Brown," Donna added.

As soon as I was in a room, Madison examined me and told me that I was five centimeters dilated. "It's gonna be a few hours," she told me.

"I don't think so!" I yelled. "Somebody please get Alexei, fast! I don't want to have these babies without him!"

"I'll see what I can do." Madison left just as Dr. Brown came in. I had this really intense contraction combined with an almost irresistible urge to push.

Dr. Brown examined me and told me that I was fully dilated and that the first baby was already in the birth canal. "I can feel the top of its head," he told me.

Madison burst in. "Eileen just called Alexei. He said he's on his way." Contractions were coming in what seemed like a continuous wave now. I bit down hard on my bottom lip to try to keep from pushing but wasn't successful.

"You're doing great, Addison," said Dr. Brown. "Give me one more big push!"

Suddenly Alexei was there, his face a mixture of excitement and apprehension. I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed with all my might, and Jade Cheyenne slid into her father's waiting hands.

When I opened my eyes again, Alexei was cutting Jade's umbilical cord and putting her on the scale. "Six pounds, twelve ounces," she announced. I looked at Alexei and saw that there were tears in his eyes.

"She's beautiful, sweetheart," he told me, but another contraction was already crashing over me. Juniper Joy arrived only moments later. While Madison was cutting her cord and putting her on the scale, Alexei placed Jade into my arms, and I looked down in amazement at her sweet little face with its still tightly closed eyelids.

"Jade," I said softly, and she opened her smoky blue eyes and looked right into mine. "Oh, Alexei, she's perfect!" I exclaimed.

"She is," he agreed, placing soft kisses along my hairline.

"Six pounds, ten ounces," Madison announced. She put a diaper on Juniper and dressed her in a onesie and a hat, wrapped her tightly in a blanket, and handed her to Mischa.

"Say hello to your Mommy," he told her as he placed her into my free arm.

"You're just as beautiful as your sister," I told her, kissing her tiny cheek.

"You did really well, Addison," said Alexei. "I'm so proud of you!"

Jade began to search for a nipple, and Alexei helped me to open my gown so that I could feed her. His arm slipped around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder. "I love you so much," he murmured as he gazed at his new daughters.

"I love you, too," I told him.

I finished feeding Jade, and Alexei took her from me and handed me Juniper. I'd breastfed both Montana and Nevada for a little while after they were born before I'd had to return to work. I hoped that I'd be able to breastfeed the twins longer.

"I hope I didn't interrupt anything important," I teased Alexei.

He laughed heartily. "Oh, no. I was only fingerprinting this guy I'd just arrested for shoplifting. One of the other officers took over for me." He shook his head in wonder. "Wow, Addison, watching her being born was the most amazing thing I've ever seen, and when I held her in my arms for the first time...I've never felt a love like that before."

I smiled. "That's what being a parent is all about."

He looked thoughtful. "Was Jeff there when Montana and Nevada were born?"

"He was there all right, but he was drunk both times. With Nevada he passed out in the waiting room." I thought of something. "I sure hope she isn't gonna be too jealous of the twins."

He smiled. "We'll just have to show her a lot of extra love and attention. Her brother too."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right. In between breastfeeding and changing diapers, if I can manage to stay awake."

"Don't you worry about that. You just take care of the babies. I'll tend to Montana and Nevada."

After feeding Juniper, I was so tired myself that I took a nap. Alexei sat beside me stroking my hair as I went to sleep, and when I awakened, my parents were there with him. "They're beautiful, dear," Mom told me. "You did really well." She gave a slight laugh. "But how am I ever gonna tell them apart?"

"Jade has a little bit more hair than Juniper. See?"

Mom rolled her eyes. "You and your off-the-wall names. Whatever happened to Mary and Jane?"

I giggled. "Corny, Mom."

"I think it's a good idea for the girls to have unique names," Dad put in. "That way they won't get mixed up with other kids in their class at school who have the same first name."

"Thanks, Dad," I said. "How are Montana and Nevada?"

"They're fine, except that Montana is disappointed that he didn't get a little brother," Mom told me. "Maybe next time, I told him."

"What next time?" I asked, and everybody, including Alexei, laughed.

Aidan and Lauren arrived next. "They're precious!" Lauren exclaimed as she held each of the twins in turn. "I wanted to be a mother so bad..."

"It may happen yet," Alexei pointed out. "I always just assumed that I'd be a father someday, and then I got injured playing hockey and thought that maybe it would never happen, but thanks to Addison, that worry turned out to be for nothing."

"You mean you got hit right smack in the..." asked Aidan.

"Yes, I did." Alexei blushed.

"Man, you must have really hated the guy who hit you."

"I didn't hate him. It was just an accident. I hated myself for not wearing a cup. I always wore one after that."

"I'll bet," said Aidan.

"Oh, isn't that sweet!" Lauren cried as Jade yawned and shifted in her sleep. I saw the longing in her eyes and hoped that her dream of being a mother would come true some day.

I waited for her until visiting hours were over, but Lara never showed up. "She's my best friend," I lamented to Alexei. "We've known each other since we were in kindergarten. You'd think she could at least visit."

"Maybe she was just really busy today and couldn't make it," he suggested. "She'll probably come tomorrow."

That night Alexei slept in a chair in my hospital room. He didn't want to leave our new daughters any more than I did. The following morning, he went to the hospital cafeteria for breakfast when they brought mine, then came right back afterwards to be with us. My heart melted with love for him every time I saw him holding one of the twins and talking softly to them. "I always knew you'd be a wonderful father," I told him.

"And you're a terrific Mom," he replied. "I'm so glad you were the one to bear my children."

"So am I."

Just before visiting hours were over, Lara and Cole finally showed up. Lara looked happier than I'd ever seen her before. "Guess what!" she said as soon as she saw me. "I'm pregnant!"

"That's great!" I replied. "Congratulations!"

"I just found out yesterday," she continued. "I'd been having the symptoms, so I took one of those home pregnancy tests, and it was positive!"

"Well, you'd better see a doctor as soon as you can," I advised her.

"Oh, I will!" she exclaimed. "You saw Dr. Brown, didn't you? Was he good?"

"He was fine," I told her. "I never had any trouble with him."

"I'll try him, then."

They sent us home the following day. Alexei and I fastened the twins into the car seats we'd bought them, and Alexei carried them out to the car. He fastened them into the back seat, and then we were on our way. "I feel like I haven't seen Montana and Nevada in forever," I remarked.

"Me too," Alexei replied. "I really missed those guys."

At last we pulled up in front of the house, and Montana and Nevada ran out to meet us while Alexei was still taking the twins out of the back seat. Mom had come over to babysit them while I'd been in the hospital, and she planned to stay for a week or so to help me out.

"Which one is that one?" Montana pointed to Juniper.

"That's Juniper. She doesn't have quite as much hair as her sister. See?" I knew I'd have to find an easier way for the older kids to tell the twins apart soon.

Alexei carried both sleeping babies into the house, and I followed with the other kids. He took the carriers into our bedroom, where the cribs were. We planned to keep the twins in our bedroom for the first couple of years, then move them in with Nevada. Both girls awakened and cried when Alexei took them from the carriers.

"Do you want me to give one a bottle of formula while you feed the other one?" Alexei asked me.

"I want to try feeding them both at the same time," I replied. "They showed me how in the hospital. They said the important thing is to make sure both babies get a firm grip."

Alexei helped me to get Jade settled at one breast, then handed me Juniper. Within moments, both girls were busily drinking. Montana and Nevada came in to watch. "This is how I feed them," I explained.

"Did you feed us like that too when we were babies?" asked Montana.

"I sure did!"

After a few minutes, they got bored and went into the living room to