Baby Steps

Chapter 10: Tom POV

Tom

With the phone pressed to my ear I listened to my mum go on and on about how much she has always hated Maggie. I finally got the chance to tell mum and dad about the twins, both are flying out as soon as they can to meet their grandchildren.

Surprisingly, neither were upset or even questioned the sudden appearance of the twins. Mum was more upset about Maggie keeping the news of them hidden from me.

"And have you told Ashley yet?" She asked.

Fuck.

I've been ignoring the issue of Ashley. After my team sent a request to terminate our contract earlier, her team countered with a request to extend our current contract for another six months. I already told Phil I have no desire to extend the contract. I'd rather pay the fine to end it early, I don't care if I lose out on future roles. The only important role to me now is being a dad to Talia and Atticus.

"Not yet." I sigh, to my parents and the rest of the world, Ashely is my real girlfriend. If I had told them it was all fake just to secure roles for the both of us then they would have called me a moron.

"Well..." Mum starts, "Hopefully she will take it well and if she doesn't then you do not need that kind of woman in your life or your children's lives."

Mum has always been hesitant about my relationship with Ashley. Maybe on some deep level she knows it won't go anywhere and hopes it ends sooner rather than later. For now I need to do all I can to keep Ashley away from Willa and the twins. One sniff of the twins identity and I know Ashley will go to the tabloids.

Pulling into Willa's driveway I let mum know I have to go and promise to send her pictures of the twins. All the worrying I had about telling them about the twins was for nothing. Which I am so grateful for. It makes this long journey we have ahead easier.

I sit in the car for a moment before I gather the strength to walk to the door. The kiss Willa and I shared yesterday is still very much on my mind. My lips still tingle with the feel of her lips on mine. Was it wrong to kiss her so quickly? Probably. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. Fuck, but I wish I could kiss her again.

With one last deep breath I exit the car and walk up the porch steps. As soon as Willa opened the door I knew something was wrong. I was on guard quickly.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I looked her over, checking for any signs of injury. Her eyes were red rimmed and her cheeks were flushed.

Before Willa could answer a piercing wail erupted from the living room. Her shoulders sagged and her bottom lip trembled. She took two calming breaths before turning back to the living room.

"Willa, wait." I said hurriedly. I grabbed her by the elbow forcing her to stop. But she yanked herself from my grasp as the wailing continued.

She quickly picked up Atticus whose face was as red as a tomato. She bounced him in her arms to try and quiet his crying. But he kept on screaming, putting his little lungs to good use.

Talia must have felt left out because as soon as she saw that Atticus was being held she started screaming and crying too. I scooped her up, bouncing her up but it only made her scream harder. She reached her arms out towards Willa.

Willa had tears of her own in her eyes as she opened her free arm for Talia. With hesitation I placed Talia in her arms. How on earth did she handle this for ten months by herself? I often asked myself that question every night since I found out about the twins. Willa was the strongest woman I've ever met. And it made me love her one thousand times more.

"What can I do?" I asked with desperation in my voice.

"They won't eat. They don't want the bottle but when I tried to feed them the baby food they kept smacking the spoon away. I need them to eat." Willa choked on a sob while the twins continued to cry.

I reached for Atticus and thankfully he willingly came to me. Walking to the kitchen I set him down in his high chair. He isn't crying his head off anymore but his eyes are still full of tears. I grabbed the jar and spoon on the counter and twisted the lid open. After scooping a tiny spoon full of the baby food I made an airplane noise before attempting to put the spoon in Atticus's mouth. As soon as the spoon touched his lips, Atticus spit it out..

Chuckling, I repeated the airplane noise a few more times before Atticus finally accepted the spoon. I glanced towards Willa who was attempting to feed Talia. Based off the amount of food in Talia's hair and on her bib I could assume that it wasn't going successfully either.

After 30 minutes the twins finished their jar of butternut squash. It looked gross but the twins didn't seem to mind it. We cleaned them up and then Willa set them down to crawl around.

Taking a seat on the couch I watched as Willa took the seat opposite of me. She pulled her legs into her chest as she rested her chin on her knees, watching the twins.

"You're the strongest woman I know, Willa."

She frowned as she turned her head slightly towards me.

"I doubt that." She whispered.

Taking a chance I scooted closer to her resting my arm over her on the back of the couch. "You've been a single mom for ten months but I know without a doubt in my mind that you've never given up when things got tough."

I paused and looked at the twins. Talia was smacking two blocks together while Atticus was playing with some sort of game controller, it lit up and made noise every time he pushed a button.

"I know you can do this on your own because you are strong enough to take on anything. But I'm here now, Willa." I stroked my thumb along her cheek as a tear slipped free. "I'm not going anywhere. You and I are a team now."

A sob broke free from her chest as I engulfed her in my arms. I sat there holding her as she cried. Her shoulders sagged in relief that she wasn't on her own anymore.

"Please don't break their hearts." She whispered.

My chest clenched at her words but she had every right to doubt this. It was almost too good to be true. But I would prove to her and the twins that I wasn't going anywhere. .

"I love them. Willa. With all my heart I love them."

She sniffled and wiped her nose on the back of her sweater.

"Thank you, Tom." She said as she wrapped her arms around my waist.

We held onto each other. I wanted to hold on to her forever but the sound of her phone ringing broke our embrace. Willa excused herself as she answered the phone while I continued to watch the twins play.

Talia crawled her way towards me with a gummy smile on her face. She reached her arms up for me and I scooped her up. I peppered her cheek with kisses as she gave a small giggle.

When I pulled away to look at her I saw not only Willa in her features but me as well.

"Da-da."

My eyes widened at the word that just came out of her tiny mouth.

"What did you just say." I asked

"Da."

"Did she just say what I think she said?" Willa asked.

I whipped my head toward her so fast I could have given myself whiplash.

"I think so." I smiled so hard my cheeks hurt.

Willa harrumphed, "Figures. I carried her for eight months and have been with her since day one. But I knew as soon as you held her she was going to be a total daddy's girl." She teased with a smile.

I kissed the top of Talia's head then set her back down when she started to squirm. "I can't believe that just happened."

Willa smiled as she walked back towards the couch. "It's surreal, isn't it?"

"It sure is." My voice was full of awe as I stared at my kids.

I had all that I need right here in this living room.