Chapter 193
Chapter 194
VENUS
The world has a cruel sense of timing.
58
I’d spent weeks sitting at Aaron’s side, whispering to him, updating him on the pieces of our lives he couldn’t reach, begging him to come back. Weeks watching monitors and counting the seconds between the steady beeps. Weeks feeling the twins roll and stretch and kick inside me, a constant reminder that time was still moving even if he wasn’t.
And then-when the day was the same as every other, when I was simply brushing my hand over his, murmuring his name into the sterile quiet-pain slammed into me like a lightning strike.
It stole my breath. Made my vision blur. My hand clenched around his so tight that the monitor’s alarm beeped in protest.
For one wild second, I thought it was just stress. Exhaustion. My body finally giving in to the weight of waiting. But then the pain pulsed again, sharper, heavier, low and insistent. My stomach tightened hard beneath my palm, and I knew.
It was too soon.
The twins weren’t supposed to be here yet. Not now. Not when Aaron was still…like this.
I staggered back from his bed, clutching my belly. The ache rolled through me again, almost buckling my knees. My breath hitched, panic clawing up my throat.
“Not now,” I whispered, pressing my forehead against the cool railing of Aaron’s bed. “Please, not now. I can’t do this without you p>
But my body didn’t listen.
The door swung open, and Rosemary stepped in. She had a knack for appearing just when I needed her most-sharp-eyed, steady and too intuitive for comfort.
Her gaze flicked from my face to my belly, and all the color drained from her cheeks. “Venus p>
The way she said my name-firm and urgent-broke through my panic.
Another contraction tore through me, and I gasped, doubling over. “It’s-oh God-it’s happening p>
She didn’t waste a second. In a flash, she was at my side, one arm bracing me, the other already pulling her phone out. “We’re going. Now p>
“I can’t leave him,” I cried, twisting toward Aaron. My hand reached for his, desperate, clinging. “I can’t p>
“You don’t have a choice,” Rosemary cut in, voice sharp but steady. “He would want you safe. He would want those babies safe. We’re going p>
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Chapter 194
She practically dragged me out of the room, my cries echoing down the corridor as the contractions grew closer, harder. Nurses glanced up, startled, but Rosemary’s presence kept everyone moving. She barked orders like a general-wheelchair, doctor, clear the way.
58
Everything blurred. The lights overhead smeared into streaks of white. The antiseptic air turned sour in my lungs. My hands kept reaching for Aaron even when the distance between us widened, when the elevator doors closed, when I was rushed down the hall toward the maternity wing.
I wasn’t ready.
Not without him.
Not like this.
The delivery room was chaos. Voices overlapped, gloves snapped, machines beeped in rhythms that weren’t his.
I was on the bed before I could process it, Rosemary gripping my hand so hard it almost hurt, her presence the only anchor I had. Sweat dripped down my temples. Pain tore me open in waves, fierce and unrelenting.
“Breathe, Venus,” Rosemary urged. Her face hovered close to mine, fierce and unyielding. “Stay with me. You can do this. You will do this p>
I wanted to scream. I wanted Aaron.
But instead I bore down, teeth clenched against the agony, my cries filling the sterile air.
“Good, that’s it,” the doctor’s voice broke through the haze. “Again p>
I pushed. God, I pushed like my soul was on the line. And maybe it was. Because these babies weren’t just mine. They were his. Ours. The pieces of him I could still hold onto.
Time lost meaning. Minutes felt like lifetimes, stretched thin with pain and fear. But then-finally-the sharp, piercing cry of a newborn split the air.
My chest caved inward. My vision blurred.
“A boy,” someone announced.
A boy.
Our son.
I sobbed, my whole body trembling, but there was no time to linger. Another contraction seized me, demanding, merciless.
“Again, Venus,” the doctor urged. “You’re almost there p>
I screamed his name in my head. Aaron. Aaron. Aaron.
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Chapter 194
And then another cry.
“A girl p>
Our daughter.
I collapsed against the bed, every bone in my body aching, tears streaming unchecked.
(58」
“They’re healthy,” the doctor confirmed, the relief in his voice a balm I hadn’t known I needed. “Both babies are strong p>
Healthy. Strong.
Alive.
They placed them in my arms, swaddled and impossibly small. My son’s fists were curled tight, his face scrunched in fierce protest at the world. My daughter’s eyes were closed, her breaths soft and steady against my chest.
My babies. Our babies.
But the ache in my heart only deepened. Because Aaron wasn’t here.
This was the moment I’d dreamed of-us together, holding them for the first time. His steady hand on my back, his low voice murmuring promises into the chaos. Instead, there was only absence. His side of the bed was empty. His name hovered unspoken.
I bent my head low, pressing trembling lips to the crown of my son’s head.
“Aaron,” I whispered, voice breaking. “That’s your father’s name. He’s strong, stubborn, impossible and he’s going to love you more than life itself. Remember that. Aaron p>
Then I kissed my daughter, my tears soaking into her blanket.
“Aaron,” I breathed again, making sure his name was the first sound etched into their lives. “That’s who waits for you. That’s who fights for you. That’s who you’ll know, one day, when he comes back to us p>
The room faded around me. There was only them. Only the echo of his name in my mouth and the ache of him in my chest.
Later, when the chaos settled, when the babies were safe and quiet in their cradles beside me, I felt the shift.
It was subtle. Almost nothing.
But as Rosemary sat nearby, watching with tired but proud eyes, I closed mine and reached out across the bond I’d forged in silence.
And I swore-God, I swore-I felt it.
20:51 Wed, Jan 14
Ruby Walker
Ruby Walker is a rising voice in the world of romance and spicy fiction. With a gift for weaving deep emotions, sizzling chemistry, and unexpected twists, her stories are a blend of passion and drama that captivate readers from start to finish. Ruby’s writing style is bold and irresistible—perfect for those who crave intense, addictive love stories.