Page 61 of Come Alive
Heteropaternal superfecundation.
Two baby daddies.
And somehow they had been conceived weeks apart which was nearly unheard of.
Min-ho with his specked russet eyes. Dorothy with her sage green eyes. Neither of these children were his blood, but they were his. Undeniably so, and Mateo would kill anyone who dared to hurt them.
Yara moved closer, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing a chaste kiss to his forehead, derailing his murderous thoughts. “I love you, Mateo.” She released him, her hands going to the babies, hovering over their chests.
She was checking for their heartbeats. She did it more often than not, but Mateo didn’t acknowledge it.
“I’ll be back to bed soon,” he promised her.
“I’m going to stay here with you instead.” She gingerly lowered to the ground, forcing her way between his legs and leaning back onto his lap.
His heart heated in warmth, in serenity. Yara was constantly healing parts of him that he hadn’t even known were broken. Parts he didn’t even know existed.
Trauma buried so deeply that he had chalked it up to who he was.
But it wasn’t who he was, it was what the world made him. Who his father had made him.
“I love you. All of you. You are my family,” he expelled softly.
“I knew you would come around.” Kazi’s voice cut through the air as he moved quietly into the room, James behind him with a blanket. “You two said you would be right back.”
“I—” Yara started, but then she heaved a sigh, falling all the way back onto Mateo. “They need to go back in our room. Just for a few months.Please.”
“Ohjagiya, of course, whatever makes you the most comfortable,” Kazi whooshed out. “We just wanted you to get some sleep, but it’s clear this isn’t helping either.”
James didn’t speak, simply throwing the blanket over Yara and tucking it around her.
“I’m just terrified if they’re gone too long that something will happen to them. I’m so afraid that they’ll just stop breathing and it will be my fault because I’m not there,” Yara murmured, burying her head in the blanket.
James crouched down until he was eye level with her. He reached out, tucking her hair behind her ears. “Those are completely normal fears, but we have every gadget possible to keep any accidents from happening and one of us will be with the twins around the clock. But you have to sleep. You have to, Yara. You won’t be any good to them if you don’t.” He cupped her cheek, and Mateo watched the interaction.
They were all worried about her, about her mood steadily getting worse and worse. About her lack of sleeping and eating. But they had agreed James would be the best to talk to her. To get through to her. He had gone through this before and she knew that and trusted his advice because of it.
“Izzy’s moving in across the street tomorrow. She should be coming over in the morning,” Kazi chimed in.
It was the wrong thing to say.
Yara stiffened. “I told you I wanted her next door, not across the street. I’m going to have a word with Emilio,” she whisper-yelled.
James chuckled softly before gathering Yara carefully into his arms. “Kazi will move their cribs next to our bed and Mateo will carry them in there with us. My job is to getyouback intoourbed.” James gave Mateo a look, narrowing his eyes.
Mateo inclined his head. “We’ll be right in there,” he confirmed.
“Okay,” Yara slumped into James’s arms, her fight leaving her as exhaustion won out.
Kazi watched as James took her back to bed before turning to Mateo. “Izzy is pregnant, she’s going to tell Yara tomorrow. It will be a good distraction.”
Mateo wasn’t so sure, but before he could voice that, Dorothy rustled in her sleep, and Kazi’s attention hyper-focused on the movement, his eyes softening.
“Yara’s going to get better, the doctor said she just needs time. And if she’s wrong I’ll kill her and then find a better one.” Mateo carefully got to his feet, thankful for his years of stretching and keeping his body in shape. It came in handy when holding and balancing two babies.
“I think you’re right. I think Izzy being here will help too, she needs someone from the outside looking in to help her feelvalidated.” Kazi was pushing one of the cribs through the door while pulling on the other.
“Izzy is pregnant?!” Yara screeched on the other side.
