New Beginnings (Sequel to Painful Love)

Chapter 2: In Case You Forgot

*A month later*

The sound of crying babies woke me up. I looked at the clock on my bedside table, and then groaned. Two thirty in the morning. I face-planted back into my pillow, but the crying didn't cease.

I dropped my hand on Ashley's face. "Ashley, can you get that?"

He sighed, then spoke in a groggy voice. "Rock, paper, scissors."

I sighed, pulling my hand out to face it in front of Ashley. "Fine." We shook our hands three times, then picked our poison. I threw scissors and he threw paper. I smiled. "Thanks."

He gave me a look, then got up out of bed and went to the twins' room; ever since they were weaned off, we put set up a small room next to the bedroom.

Before Ashley left the room, he yanked the comforters off of my body, and I quickly curled myself up in response. "What the hell, Ash!" I mumbled.

"In case you forgot, we have twins," he replied, then exited to go to the twins' room.

"In case you forgot, I'm the one who actually gave birth to them," I mumbled jokingly, even though he couldn't hear me.

After slowly getting out of bed and stretching, I entered the twins' room and looked at Ashley; he hadn't acknowledged my presence just yet. I smiled. He was holding Stefani-Lynn as she drank from the bottle. It was a sight that actually looked foreign to me: seeing Ashley as a father. I remembered all the way back to when we first met, looking at all the things that happened since then. My life had never been happier.

Ashley must've noticed me with his peripheral vision, because he looked at me. "You can take Skylar," he said. "There's a bottle on the counter."

I grabbed the bottle and picked up Skylar Rose, then held her in my arms.

"You're lucky I changed both of them before you got in here," Ashley said to me.

I gave him a happy look. "Thanks so much, Ashley."

He smiled. Seeing that Stefani-Lynn was finished, he placed her back in the crib and put the bottle back on the counter. He then came up from behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders and biting my ear lobe softly. "I love you."

I smiled. "Love you too."

I saw that Skylar Rose was done, so I put her back in the crib and put the bottle next to the other one. I slowly closed the door, and then followed Ashley back to the bedroom.

"Hey, Ashley?" I asked.

"Yeah, Zoe?" he replied.

I took a breath. "I have something to ask you."