Page 57 of Marcello
“Yes.” He gently lifted the hat a bit. “Little Frankie has a head full of dark hair, but your little Luci has some blonde fuzz on her head.”
I carefully took the baby from Mazzi and immediately pulled him close. I couldn’t help it; I started crying again. This was my baby. My son. I had a son. And a daughter. I looked up forMarcello, who was there in a flash. He used his left hand to wipe my eyes again with another tissue.
“Do you want Luci too?”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to take her from you.” I wanted him to hold Frankie as well. I knew there were going to be plenty of times that I would have both to deal with. But right now, I had Marcello here, and he could certainly hold one or both of the babies if he wanted.
“All right. Well, could you hold her for a moment? I want to get a new picture of you with the babies.”
Oh. I held out my free arm, and Marcello carefully transferred Luci to it. I was too busy staring down at our twins to realize he’d already taken several pictures. I looked up and realized we were now alone in the room.
“Where did Rio and Mazzi go?”
“Just outside the room. They’re giving us a moment.”
I smiled. “That’s nice and sweet,” I added. I hadn’t really done much, but a sudden wave of exhaustion hit me. “I’m super tired. Can you take the twins?”
I didn’t want to possibly drop one, even if I was reclining on the bed and they would only fall inches to it.
“Of course.”
I pulled Luci up and kissed her cheek. I did the same for Frankie, and then Marcello moved the babies from my arms to the portable crib that he’d moved up next to me. “There we go,” Marcello said once he had the babies in the crib. “Do you need anything?”
I shook my head. “Just sleep. I’m suddenly very tired, and I really didn’t do much.”
“There is physical exertion as well as mental. You’ve had a very emotional day,” Rio said as he reentered the room. “Would you like help lying down?”
“Just a bit, please? I would probably sleep sitting up, but I’m really tired.”
“Sleep when you can,” Rio said. He used magic this time to help me recline on the bed a bit more. “I will stop by in a few hours to check on everything. The twins are asleep; you should be as well.”
I nodded and struggled to keep my eyes open. “I can do that,” I managed to say before I yawned.
“Marcello, I have left a checklist over on the table. Call me if anything out of the ordinary starts to arise.”
“I will.”
I didn’t hear much else because despite the overwhelming desire to hold the babies, I let exhaustion take over, and I fell into a deep, blissful sleep.
Chapter 19
Marcello
Ilistened to the crying baby for a moment before coming to the conclusion that it was Frankie who was awake. That most likely meant he was wet and needed to be changed. I rolled from the bed and hurried to walk around to the other side and scoop him up before he could wake his sister. Thankfully, Luci seemed to sleep no matter what her brother did. Screaming at the top of his lungs? Sleeping. Flailing his arms around and bumping her? Sleeping.
“Good morning, little guy,” I said quietly. I picked him up, and sure enough, hispannolinowas wet. I took him over to the changing table that we’d put in here and set him on the pad. He was quite the goer, and he once again had filled hispannolinoto almost overflowing. “You are certainly hydrated,” I told him. Frankie finally stopped fussing and started sucking on his fist. Yep, first thepannolinoand then thebiberon.
“Do you need me to go get a pair of bottles?” Abel asked sleepily.
“Only if you wish. I can do it if you’d like to stay here with the babies.”
Abel moved to my side and slowly pushed his way in. “I’ll finish changing him, and you can run and get the bottles. I’msure Luci is going to be up needing both a bottle and diaper change soon enough.”
I kissed Abel’s head and left him to finish cleaning up our son while I did just that. Bottles were already made and waiting; I would just need to heat them. I was considering asking for a small refrigerator to be moved into our suite while we still had many nighttime feedings. I did not see those ending anytime soon.
I hurried down the stairs and stopped short when I ran into Nicolo and a donor. I didn’t care, but he had a room for a reason. They immediately pulled apart when I walked close to reach the refrigerator.
“I’m glad I came down and not Abel,” I said absently.
