“If you faint, Jason,” Theo called out, “I will announce it in the London Gazette. Keep yourself together.”
Jason laughed. “I won’t let you down now, sweetheart, though I do feel a bit light-headed. How do you feel?”
Hallie was beyond words. The endless pain was gone, truly gone. It was over. She was alive, and she, like Jason, was staring over toward the fireplace, watching Theo and Mrs. Hanks bathe and wrap the babes in soft white wool.
Her babes. She’d birthed two babes. She wanted to hold them, to feel their small bodies, have them yell right in her face.
“They’re both perfect, Hallie,” Theo called out. “Small, but perfect. Give me another moment and I’ll make sure you’re perfect as well. Ah, what a remarkable exhibition of lung power. Did either of you hear what I said over the yells?”
Jason nodded. He couldn’t take it in. He leaped to his feet, ran out of the bedchamber, raced down the corridor to grab the banister at the top of the stairs to keep himself from hurtling down. “We’ve got twins! Corrie, James, help, we need your hands. Everyone else, don’t move! Everything is all right.”
Corrie and James came running. Theo handed the little boy to Corrie and Mrs. Hanks handed James the little girl. James had meant to tell her what to do with that tiny screaming creature, but could do nothing but stare. He whispered, “Douglas and Everett were this small, weren’t they? It’s amazing. Oh God, Jase, we’re both fathers.”
While Theo tended Hallie, Jason, to distract her, continued to wipe her face with cool, damp cloths and kiss her—her mouth, her nose, her ear. “You’ve done it, given me two perfect babes, a boy and a girl this time.” Jason laughed and wanted to weep. “I’ll bring them to you in a moment. James and Corrie are seeing to them. Don’t worry, I’ll make certain they don’t try to steal them, not after all the work you did. They’re so small, James could ease them in his jacket pockets. Now, what do you want me to do to this pathetic doctor of yours whom I believed so smart? This brainless fellow didn’t think it was two babes. He claimed you were just big. You were quite wrong, weren’t you, Theo?”
“I’m a dolt.”
“More loudly please,” Jason said.
“I’M A DOLT.”
“Good. Now, my sweet, sweaty girl, you need to rest. We’ll decide later what we should do with this gourd-brained doctor.”
Hallie was so very tired she wanted to sleep for at least a year. She felt battered and beaten-down and quite wonderful given that she had been cursing Jason only five minutes before. Her body felt surprisingly light. She moved her hand to her belly. “You said that to Piccola as well.”
He grinned down at her.
“My belly’s gone down again.”
“Yes.” He grabbed her hand, kissed her palm.
“Did I say anything to Theo I’ll have to apologize for?”
“You don’t have to apologize to the dolt.”
“True,” Theo said. “Besides, I’ve heard much worse.”
Mrs. Hanks said, “Amen to that.”
“One can but try,” Hallie said.
“You showed good range, Hallie, excellent feeling, and the volume was more than adequate.”
Hallie smiled at Theo Blood, their physician with the unfortunate name, who’d become an excellent friend to both her and Jason during the past six months. He took her hand, felt her pulse. After a moment, he nodded. “You’re going to be fine. I see no problems, the bleeding isn’t bad. I am a superb physician.”
Jason leaned close to his wife and shut out the world. He ran the tip of his finger over her eyebrows. “I love you, Hallie. I love you. I mean it now. I’ll mean it in fifty years. Sleep now.”
“That sounds so very nice. You truly expect me to docilely fall asleep when I want to sing, Jason? Not dance though, I—” In the next moment, she was asleep.
Jason kissed her chapped lips, smoothed her sweaty hair back from her forehead, and rose. “My babes?”
“Beautiful,” Corrie said. “And healthy, Jason, even though they’re so small. They’re all ready to meet their mother. Imagine, another set of twins. Goodness, she’s the first little girl in the family. Jason, you must go downstairs and tell everyone before they come storming into the bedchamber.”
Theo said as he t
ucked a soft blanket under Hallie’s chin, “I hope you have another name hanging about, Jason.”
“Hmm, other than Alec? Yes, I’m thinking—no, I must discuss it first with Hallie. If she ever wakes up.”