Tattooed in Moonlight

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

I should've known December would mean chaos in capital letters.

The estate gates swung open to welcome back Mavis and Thaddeus, fresh from Australia, and behind them came the inevitable tornado: Raelina and Zaelina.

I'd already met them at the wedding. Correction: I'd already been assaulted by their squealing, their selfies, and their nonstop fangirling back then. They'd clung to me like human octopuses, declaring I was their "idol" and "future bestie" within ten minutes of meeting me.

But this time? This time, their energy somehow tripled.

"KAAAAAIRA!"

They barrelled into me the second they saw me, nearly knocking me off balance.

"You're glowing!" Raelina shouted.

"You're ROUND!" Zaelina added, eyes wide.

I gaped. "Did you just call me round?!"

They gasped in unison. "Oh my God, it's TWINS, isn't it?!"

I froze. "...Who told you?"

"Twitter," they said at the same time, shoving their phones in my face. "We saw it trending!"

Of course.

"Unbelievable," I muttered, tugging Travis's hoodie tighter around me. "First the estate staff, now my teenage in-laws. Is there anyone on this planet who doesn't know what's happening in my uterus?"

Travis, calm as ever, said from behind me: "No."

I groaned. "Stop confirming my sarcasm!"

Mavis laughed softly as she swept in, elegant as always. "Girls, give her space. She's carrying not one, but two little blessings."

The twins squealed even louder. "Two little cousins!"

Zaelina clutched her heart dramatically. "We'll be the coolest aunts in history."

Raelina shoved her. "Excuse me, I will be the cooler aunt. You can be backup."

"Backup?!"

They launched into a heated debate right there in the foyer while I collapsed into the nearest chair, rubbing my temples.

"Congratulations," I told Travis dryly. "Your family genes have doomed me."

He glanced at me, expression unreadable, and said, "Correct."

I threw a cushion at him. He caught it. Naturally.

Dinner that night felt like stepping into a parallel universe. Garlands hung over the staircases, a Christmas tree taller than me glittered in the corner, staff moved like clockwork to serve courses that looked like art.

Mavis held my hand across the table, her voice warm and certain. "We will stay until the birth. You will not go through this alone."

Thaddeus nodded, his gaze steady. "Australia will wait. Family comes first."

For a second, I couldn't speak. Not with the twins chattering about baby names at my elbow, not with Mavis's elegant certainty, not with Travis quietly beside me, anchoring me like always.

Because for once, "family" didn't sound like a curse.

It sounded like a promise.

December wrapped the estate in a kind of magic I'd never experienced before.

Growing up in Malacañang, Christmas had always been political theater. A tree in the grand hall, towering and glitzy, with cameras flashing while my father gave a speech about "family values." My mother would sweep through the halls showing off her latest Hermès, senators and tycoons would drop in pretending to sip hot chocolate while making backroom deals. And us kids? We smiled for the cameras, like props in a perfectly staged nativity.