Tiny Dancer(Divine Creek Ranch 13)(125)
The nurse and Quinten helped her into the wheelchair and she placed her hand over Quinten’s. He caressed her shoulder and leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Baby, I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“I must’ve dozed off. How long have I been asleep?” Her words sounded much more coherent than they had while she was being treated.
“About an hour ago. I’ve been sitting with you. They’re moving you to a private room.”
Camilla smiled, figuring she could wait to tell him the big news until they had a little bit of privacy. I didn’t hallucinate that, did I? Twins?
A few minutes later, she was tucked into a hospital bed, swaddled in blankets the nurse had brought in because she’d still felt chilled from being out in the night air earlier. She watched the nurse exit, thinking that the only thing that would be better would be if Ben and Quinten were tucking her between the two of them in their bed at home.
Camilla patted the side of the bed, looking at Quinten. Ben drew up a chair on her other side and took her left hand while Quinten sat on the bed and took her right hand. “How’re you feeling, baby?”
“Better. The grogginess is mostly gone, which makes a world of difference. I have something I want to tell you.”
Quinten stroked her fingertips and she gazed into his fatigued, but happy, blue eyes. “What’s that?”
* * * *
Marge nudged Rebecca, the other nurse who was on duty that night, and looked at her over her reading glasses. “I’m telling you something is up with those three in room two-seventeen. You shoulda seen the way those hunks both looked at that little gal. Like she hung the moon for both of them. It was weird.”
Rebecca shrugged as she looked away from the monitor. “We’ve seen weirder things working the night shift. She’s just an itty-bitty little thing, isn’t she? Looks like she’s been run through the wringer tonight. I say to each his own—”
“Whooopeee!”
Marge and Rebecca jumped up at the jubilant hollering and went trotting down the hall to—wouldn’t-ya-know-it—room two-seventeen.
Marge jumped back, bumping into Rebecca as one of those hunky men came charging out of the patient’s room. He steadied her with his hands on her upper arms and his big blue eyes looked ready to pop from their sockets.
“I’m having twins! I’m having twins!”
Epilogue
The fragrance of pinyon pine smoke scented the air as Ben and Quinten stood out on the balcony. The majesty of the sunset view from the snowy mountaintop made the moment sweeter as they waited on the beautiful woman preparing for their first night as men and wife.
Quinten looked at Ben and said, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Literally everything. But mostly for today, for letting her take wedding vows with me. I would’ve given that privilege up to you.”
“I wanted her to have your name…carry on your family line. It seemed like the right thing to do. I also knew you really wanted the privilege. I wanted to give that to you. I’m glad Camilla insisted on your parents being there, too.”
It was Christmas night. They’d said their vows that morning in a simple service, with Quinten’s parents serving as witness to Camilla’s marriage to Quinten. Immediately after, they’d had the binding ceremony, which Camilla had wept through as Ethan had performed it. To have one of his best friends perform the ceremony joining him and his other best friend with this incredible woman had brought a tear or two to Ben’s eyes as well.
Since Divine’s population of committed polyamorous union s had continued to grow, Ethan had looked into performing the binding ceremonies himself. Ethan’s friend, Blake Gray, had journeyed to Divine on many past occasions to perform the ceremonies for their friends’ ménage relationships.
They’d been able to determine that Tyler Anderson had been behind the break-in at her house and the damage done to her car and her office. He’d also been the one to slash her tires. That had been his bumbling attempt at buying time to pilfer through her house while she’d dealt with a tow truck. He hadn’t counted on her having two overprotective men to see her home and had barely made it out of the house without being caught.
The contents of the safe-deposit box, which she’d never known anything about, had been confiscated. The judge hadn’t been impressed with Tyler’s pleas that he wouldn’t have really hurt her, that he’d just been desperate to get the money. His parole was revoked and he’d been returned to the state prison in Huntsville.
Anticipation grew inside Ben with each passing moment, and the two of them savored it together as the sun set behind the snowcapped mountains in the distance. She’d asked them to give her fifteen minutes before coming inside from the balcony of the remote mountain home in Colorado they’d rented for their honeymoon.