Page 26 of Sheikh's Quarantine Triplet Baby Daughters

Oh God, what's wrong with me? What the hell is the matter with me? That was amazing, why am I like this?

"Diane?"

She started to respond, but a sob came out instead, and she tried to hide her face even deeper because she couldn't stand to be so embarrassingly vulnerable after something that had simply been so much fun.

If she was confused about what was happening to her, at least Samyar didn't seem to share that confusion. Instead he coaxed her up, sitting down on the bench and drawing her over to sit on his lap. He pulled her against his chest, and Diane threw her arms around his neck, clinging to him for all she was worth.

From the trembling feelings in her chest, she had been afraid that she might weep forever, but in what she knew was less than ten minutes, she sat up again, feeling strangely ... normal.

"What the hell?" she asked, knuckling the few remaining tears from her eyes. "What in the world was that? Samyar, I am so sorry—"

"No," he said firmly. "Nothing to apologize for. I just want to make sure that you are all right. Did I go too fast, or did I do something you didn't want?"

"No! No, seriously, if we don't do that again sometime soon, I am going to be downright angry. No. I don't know where that came from. One moment, I was there and enjoying myself, and the next moment, there are just these tears and this feeling of sadness."

"And now? Take however long you want to think about it. I am not going anywhere."

She gave him a brief kiss on the cheek, but she did as he said, going over her emotions and what they had just done. Finally, Diane shook her head in chagrin.

"Those emotions are just gone," she reported in bafflement. "As if they were never there. I could imagine someone who wasn't just me repressing them, but you know. I've never thought of myself as someone particularly repressed!"

"It's one of my favorite things about you," said Samyar, kissing her on the nose. The mysterious man who gave her orders was gone, and in his place was the man she wanted most of all, Samyar, and she gave him a tight hug, as much to feel him in her arms as anything else.

"I don't know what in the world that was. I'm sorry."

Samyar made an amused impatient sound.

"I keep telling you, there's nothing to be sorry about. I do have a guess about what might have happened though."

"Do you? Well, don't just keep it to yourself, feel free to share with the rest of the class."

He pinched her bottom lightly for her sass, and then he spoke.

"I think it's likely hormones," he said. "I've been reading articles on childbirth and pregnancy. I asked Dr. Ramamurthy to recommend a few to me, and then after I was done with those, I asked for more. I think she's probably at least a little sick of me now, because she told me that if I had any questions, I could just ask them directly, but it's all good information to have."

"When in the world have you had the time to do that kind of reading?" asked Diane, slightly appalled, and Samyar shrugged.

"Usually right before I sleep. It's pretty engrossing stuff, however, and sometimes it keeps me from my bed." A dark look came across his face. "And then there's the black hole of the internet, where it seems that every mother is at risk of a hundred thousand things going wrong. Dr. Ramamurthy was not pleased with my questions after a few of those nights, let me tell you."

"So... you think my problem is hormones," Diane said, still trying to grasp the idea that Samyar had used his precious and nearly non-existent free time to research her pregnancy.

"No, not at all," Samyar said promptly. "It's not a problem in the least unless it is making your life actively difficult. Hormonal mood swings are absolutely a natural part of a pregnancy, and that holds true ten times over for a multiple birth. Your moods can be all over the place, and they can change on a dime. While the moods can be very quick, it is always a good idea to remember that the feelings behind them can be very real, so always take the time to check in with yourself on what is really going on inside."

Diane stared at him, and even in the darkness, she could tell that Samyar was blushing a little.

"So. You just memorized that straight out of the book," she said. "You spent so much time reading up on hormonal mood swings on the internet, and now that just fell out of your mouth."

"It's good information to know, and Dr. Ramamurthy says that it's true, so what's the harm? At least I didn't start telling you about rare birth defects and medieval complications of pregnancy. You are giving birth in a state-of-the-art clinic, and you will be taken care of."

Diane suddenly couldn't stop herself from laughing, the mirth bubbling up out of her like a froth of champagne. This might have been another one of the hormonal mood swings that Samyar was telling her about, but it felt so good that she didn't care. She threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

"You are ridiculous," she said, nuzzling his cheek. "I bet you even know when my next appointment with Dr. Ramamurthy is."

"It's tomorrow," Samyar said, a little scandalized. "Did you not know that?"

"No, I would have remembered. I have an alert set on my phone. But one more thing, Samyar?"

"Yes?"

"Would... well, would you come with me? For moral support and to take notes?"

There was a brief and mad idea that he would tell her he couldn't make it but he could send his secretary.

The look on Samyar's face was incredibly tender, and he leaned in to give her a kiss that was nearly chaste. It occurred to Diane that he could taste the tears that had dried on her cheeks. It was a curiously intimate thing, and somewhere deep inside her, she knew that she might always love him, no matter what came or what happened.

"I would be honored to come," he said softly. "I would like nothing better than to be with you."

"I would like that too," she said, and she knew with an ache that she was not just talking about the doctor's appointment.

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