Our first week at home with the twins is something out of a bad horror film. Christian is always hungry, and I was the only one that could feed him. My son is like clockwork because I'm up every two hours feeding him and just when we are putting him back to bed, Isabella wakes up.
Ben feels helpless because he isn't able to help with anything other than holding and changing the babies. When it came to feeding, it was just my boobies that they wanted. Feeding time equaled crying time for all of us. My nipples hurt so much the first week, even a small brush of fabric would make me cry.
At three weeks old, the twins are easier to figure out. Ben and I quickly picked up on the pattern and sleeping was getting slightly easier.
I woke alone in our massive bed and panicked. Quickly, I get dressed and walk down the stairs to our living room, it's the only light on in the house. When I round the corner, I wish I had my camera. Ben and Alex are each holding a baby while they watched a hockey game and munched on appetizer.
I was a lucky girl.
I had two amazing men in my life and two gorgeous babies.
After our six-week checkup with Christian and Isabella, Ben told me that he was going back to New York. That blew into a large fight, and I begged him to stay. I knew the fight wasn't over, but I wasn't ready to go back into the war zone.
"It will never be perfect until we can stop looking over our shoulder." He frowns.
"Fine! If you're going back...so are we." I tell him with my arms crossed around my chest.
"That's stupid." He glares at me.
"It is. But if you are doing something stupid, I'm going with. I'm not going to let you miss the best moments of our babies lives. We go back to New York, hire a staff to help with the babies so they will never have to leave the safety of the condo. You can set up a command center in Sammy's old apartment, which the door will be filled in before we move back, I'm not giving an entrance into the condo besides the front door. I will rest easier knowing that I get to see you come home every night." I demand.
His jaw is flexing, a sign that he's angry with my suggestion. I'm not backing down from my stance. If he's going back, I will follow him.
"And you?"
Sarcastically, I nod at him. "Thank you for asking. I will go back to work at the firm part-time. I'm not scared of Allen or the other bastards. I want this over just as much as you. But I need you to promise me something."
He rolls his eyes and glares at me. "I do, do I?"
"Once this is over, we leave New York and move back here permanently. This is where I want to raise our family. I want to give them the best life possible, the life we didn't get to have growing up."
Ben paces the room and runs his hands through his hair for the next ten minutes. When he's silent, I know I've really pushed him to the limit.
He turns to me, and I see his eye full of tears. I feel terrible for making him this upset, but I'm going with him, even if he hates it.
"I'll be so angry with you if anything happens to you." He cries.
I hurry to him and put my arms around his muscular body. Putting my head on his chest, I hug him tight. "Ditto. We're a team now. I love you." I look up at him.
"I don't deserve you." He mumbles bringing his lips to mine.
Once we are given the okay to travel, we start getting everything ready for the move back to New York. Alex is helping us pack up the twins belongings and being very vocal about not liking this plan. He begs us to stay and rethink our decision, I understand his fear of us going back.
We are heading right back into the fire.
The only way it stops is to make the problem disappear.
We board a private plane, just the four of us. The twins do well on their first plane ride. We take turns feeding them. The closer we get, the more my stomach turns with nerves.
Our towncar stops in front of the building and help is immediately on the sidewalk. Henry is thrilled to see the babies and congratulates the both of us. The other doormen start loading our luggage onto carts to bring them to our condo.
Over the car, I see a bald-headed man watching us from across the street. Ben sees me looking and follows my gaze, he sees him too. Quickly, he wraps an arm around my waist and brings his lips to my ear. He whispers that we need to get the babies inside. He's angry, we were found. Our family time ends in that moment and the war begins.
Ben goes back to work, no longer undercover since that person is dead. The condo next door was turned into a mobile office and always manned with security for the twins and me. Lily and Edward move into the condo with us, it was another way to keep them safe from the outside world. No one was getting onto our floor and on the slim chance they did, they won't make it far.
Tonight, we are hosting dinner at our place. Everyone was over and enjoying time with the babies.
"This looks amazing, Ben." Megan say cutting into her dinner.
The weather is beautiful, so we set up the terrace for dinner. The babies don't seem to be bothered with the traffic noise.
"Thanks. Ally planned the menu." He smiles at me.
The two of us wait for dessert to tell them about the staff that will be starting on Monday - cooks, housekeeping, and nannies. Lily is the first to protest, she informs us that she can do all of those things and that we should save our money.
"Grandma, you raised your kids and grandkids, you don't need to do it anymore. We want you to enjoy your free time...with supervision of course." He smirks at her.
"Welcome to my life." I try joking with her.
"Ally is going to go back to work part-time, she'll work Monday through Thursday for six hours. Christian and Isabella will each have a nanny while she's gone." Ben tells them.
"Nonsense. Benjamin, your grandmother, and I can help you with these things. Save your money for fun things." Edward chimes in.
"We have money." I tell them.
"Ally, has money." Ben corrects me.
I glare at him, now is not the time to start this crap. My look expresses my wishes for him to shut his mouth.
"WE have money, so please don't worry about us." I reassure his grandparents.
"We need to talk about Allen." Ben says grabbing his drink and looking at his grandpa. "He's the person that beat Ally severely before Thanksgiving. He is involved in a large drug ring that spans from Boston and New York. Not only does he have charges for drug trafficking, but he is also believed to have some murder charges as well." Ben tells his family.
Lily looks ill. Megan closes her eyes and I watch her bottom lip start to tremble, her husband, Peter puts his arm around her shoulder to comfort her. Edward is nodding at Ben, understanding what all this means. Ben looks miserable. Regardless of how evil Allen has turned out, he is still a brother or grandson to this group.
"Megan. Peter. We have the condo across the hall that we bought, we want you to feel safe and protected too." I tell his sister.
"I think we need time to process everything." Peter looks at me.
I nod. The rest of the evening is silent. We all take comfort in being together. Megan and Peter take the guest bedroom upstairs. Lily and Edward walk to their room in silence. Ben and I lock up everything before heading to our room.
We place the sleeping babies in their cribs, which we've moved to our room.
"I feel sick." I whisper across my pillow to Ben.
"Me too."
"This sucks so bad." I cry.
"Just a little bit longer." He promises me.
YOU ARE READING
Heartlines
Romance*** Complete Story *** Allyson Sicard was in her final year at Harvard and while her roommates were trying to get their Ivy League boyfriends to propose, Ally was trying to figure out which law school she wanted to graduate from. Columbia had always...
