Nobody's Dream (31 page)

She cupped the back of Kate’s head. Both wore tiny knit caps to keep in their body heat, but they also drew heat from direct contact with her skin. Mom said breastfeeding made her feel like an earth mother or something. Karla hadn’t expected motherhood to be so primal for her this quickly, but now understood what her mother meant.

Paxton’s insistent sucking grabbed her attention again. A voracious little man. Could she really feed all three of them this way?

Fifteen minutes later, Adam walked back into the room smiling. “We still need to name our Sleeping Beauty in the NICU. She didn’t seem too worried about her nickname when I told her.”

God, she loved this man. “Thanks for checking on her. So she’s still sleeping?”

“Far as I can tell. They have her eyes covered because of the bright light.”

Worry clawed at her chest. “Are they worried about jaundice?”

“The NICU nurse said it’s just a precaution. That it’s normal for the tinier ones to need more sleep, but that all babies sleep most of the time their first few weeks. She did let me stroke the baby’s feet. She squirmed around a little. Maybe she’s ticklish.”

Karla hoped they would let her out of bed soon to go check on the baby herself. Being separated was like having a piece of her heart ripped out. Her third baby was so far away.

Kate let out a wail of discontent before latching on again, and Adam chuckled. “I guess Sleeping Beauty applies to only one of the two girls.”

“Don’t get too attached to that nickname, Adam. It won’t go over very well when she goes to kindergarten. Well, maybe
in
kindergarten it would make her the cool kid, but definitely not in the board room or wherever she wants to be when she grows up.”

“What about Aurora then?”

She turned to Adam and quirked a brow. “You want to name her after Aurora, Colorado?” Where on earth had that come from?

“No, not the suburb. The movie. I watched
Sleeping Beauty
the other day with Marisol for like the fifth time.” He shrugged and grinned. “The name’s sort of stuck in my head. It means ‘dawn.’ Anyway, would that be a good name?”

She smiled. He was going to be such a good daddy, watching endless kids’ videos and spending time with his children just the way he did with his granddaughter, Marisol. Karla had been watching the movie with them, too, but had been too preoccupied making lists—of things they needed to add to the nursery, buy at the grocery, and accomplish before she went into labor—to pay attention to the video. Of course, she’d seen the movie as a child.

“I think Aurora would be perfect. Marisol will have a special connection with her auntie when she finds out. But it’s a mouthful. Maybe Rori for short?”

“Sounds good.”

“Any ideas for her middle name?”

“I’ll leave that to you, Kitten.”

“What do you think about Casandra?”

“After Cassie?”

She nodded. “She only uses one ‘S’ in her formal name, well, when she used it. But she’s as close as any sister could be to me.” If only she would warm up to Adam. The two of them had clashed from the beginning, due more to Cassie’s hesitance around men than Adam’s doing anything to upset her intentionally.

He seemed to mull it over a moment then smiled. “Aurora Casandra Montague is beautiful—in name and in person.”

“They’re all named! That wasn’t so hard. Maybe we’re going to handle this parenting thing just fine.”
Wait!
Karla’s smile faded. Which girl had been born first? Everything had happened so quickly, already the memory of the delivery was fading. What kind of mother forgot something like that? Tears stung her eyes.

“What’s wrong, Kitten?”

She sniffled. How could she admit to something that horrible? “Nothing.”

“Kitten.”

Ka-thunk!

His stern tone of voice and Dom stare told her she needed to ’fess up. “I can’t…I can’t remember the birth order of the girls, only that Paxton was third.” She sniffled again.

“Kate was first, then Aurora.”

“You noticed.”

“I didn’t have as much work to do as you did. I thought I was handling everything pretty well until Paxton showed up.” His smile lit up his eyes. “Yeah, I noticed.”

A tech wheeled in her equipment. “Time to check your vitals.”

Karla winced as Paxton suckled with more persistence on her sensitive nipple. “When you need a break, just place your pinky finger in the corner of the baby’s mouth, and you’ll break the suction.” Karla followed the tech’s instructions and moved Paxton higher on her chest to give her sensitive nipple a break.

“They’re going to become sore fast with three tenacious mouths to feed, even using the pump to help keep up with demand. But they’ll toughen up soon enough. We’ll bring you something to help, though.”

Karla couldn’t keep from grinning and glanced over at Adam who had a rather sadistic grin on his face.
Hmmm. Planning some nipple torture to aid in the process, Sir?
Now that she could handle.

When the tech left after checking her vitals, Karla’s doubts assailed her once again. “What if I don’t do it right or can’t provide enough milk?”

“They’re Montagues. Finding a source of food that works for them won’t be a problem.” His words didn’t give her the assurance she needed. “Stop worrying, Kitten. You need to pace yourself. You’re catching on quickly. If there are problems, we ask for help and, if necessary, go on to plan B.” He smiled and leaned closer. “You’re the best mommy ever.” Adam kissed her until Kate squirmed and tried to push him away.

Adam jumped back as if burned. “Did I hurt her?”

Oh, dear Lord
. And he thought Karla had it bad. They were quite the basket case of jittery parents. She hoped they would be able to adapt to parenthood without a hitch once they got the hang of it.

A light faded in his eyes, and he looked back down at Paxton now fast asleep on her chest. She wondered if he was thinking about his boy growing up and going off to war to defend his country. Adam had sacrificed so much in his twenty-five years as a Marine. Karla didn’t want her son to go through that, but wouldn’t stand in his way if that’s what he wanted to do.

Karla shuddered. Nowadays, women were warriors, too, so her daughters might even be the ones wanting to protect and defend their country. Little Kate already displayed signs of being a guardian and protector of her brother the way her little hand stretched out over his shoulders.

They’d just brought three innocent, defenseless babies into such a scary, unsafe world. How were they going to be able to keep evil away? Suddenly, the thought of what they’d undertaken hit home.

*     *     *

Adam stared at his sleeping son lying on Karla’s chest. Would Adam’s mother have worried about him if she’d known he joined the Marines a couple years after running away from home? His father had gone through hell in Vietnam. Adam didn’t truly appreciate his father’s sacrifices until going through it himself. Hearing the ’Nam stories from his friend Jerry Patterson on Adam’s many visits to the crusty veteran’s kink club in LA brought home a lot of understanding, too. Jerry had served in ’Nam during the same time and probably under similar conditions as Adam’s father, although the club owner was a Navy man.

Would he want a military career for his own son? Adam had seen the bowels of hell himself on more than one occasion. His mom’s family had a long history of serving in the Marines, back to the Civil War. When Adam had run away at sixteen, he’d changed his name to her maiden name because he respected the hell out of that tradition. But would he be able to send this little fella off in eighteen or nineteen years if Paxton wanted to serve as badly as Adam had? Hell, what about his girls? They could join the Marines or any other branch, as well, and be sent into combat zones.

Fuck that.
His girls probably wouldn’t want to do anything like that, although Marisol sure asked him a lot of questions about what it was like when her daddy was in Iraq.

Adam and Damián had served willingly, but would future generations have the luxury to choose?

Why the fuck are you going down this path right now?
This kid didn’t even know how to wipe his ass yet. Hell, didn’t even know he
had
an ass. Adam would make sure his kids grew up strong with a deep pride in the country of their birth. If they chose to serve in the military, fine. If not, they’d give back by serving in other ways.

When the nurse came back again to press on Karla’s belly, she asked if they wanted to put the babies back in the bassinet now.

Karla’s eyelids drooped. “Sure. I think I need a little nap, too.”

The nurse asked Adam if he would like a lesson in swaddling Paxton. Adam left the bed with more than a little trepidation and stood beside the nurse, staring down at the tiny boy. He froze, unable to pick him up. What if he dropped him or did it wrong?

After she spread baby blankets over the bassinet, she stepped aside. “Go on. You won’t break him.” When he remained motionless, she shook her head, lifted Paxton, and placed him in his little bed. After changing his diaper, she had him swaddled again within seconds. Next was Kate’s turn. When the kid wouldn’t let go of the nipple, Karla broke the suction as she had been taught a little while ago.

Alligator clamps had nothing on what his kids could do to Karla’s nipples.

The nurse placed both on their backs and snuggled against each other in the bassinet before giving Karla something for her sore nipples. Now, toughening up tits was something he
could
help with. Sounded sexy as hell, too. He’d missed one of their favorite kinks. He was a bit of an expert in that area, too.

He just didn’t know a thing about babies despite all the reading he had done.

“Your lactation nurse will give you all kinds of advice on how to make the most of your breastfeeding experience.” The nurse prepared to leave after seeing if Karla wanted anything else. She was almost asleep already.

The babies barely filled the tiny bed. Two would definitely fit in the larger one at home. Aurora might not be home for weeks, so they would be fine sharing until they could arrange for something bigger. He’d talk with Luke.

Kate opened her eyes and seemed surprised to find Adam leaning over her. He stroked her downy-soft cheek, but she looked like she was expecting his finger to be her mommy’s tit the way her little mouth opened up and started rooting around. Finding nothing of substance, she scrunched her face up to protest. Not wanting to wake Karla or Paxton, he wheeled the bassinet to the other side of the bed. She seemed to enjoy the movement because she calmed down. Paxton slept through it all as Adam wheeled them around in circles in the free area of the room. “You like going for a ride, baby girl?”

He continued to move her around and to speak softly to her. She calmed down surprisingly fast. Was it the motion or his voice? He hoped she remembered him talking to her all those nights and mornings while still in Karla’s belly. He’d made that a ritual the past six months or so, hoping what he thought at the time was one baby would recognize his voice when they finally met. Ever since they found out there were twins, though, he pictured two little ones listening to their daddy’s voice. Who knew there actually were three all this time?

Soon she was fast asleep again.

A sense of accomplishment washed over him. “I can do something right at least when it comes to the babies.”

His phone buzzed, and he pulled it from his pocket to answer Jenny’s call as quietly as possible. They were at the airport. “Great. Damián Orlando will be giving you a ride to the hospital. Karla and the babies are sleeping right now.” They still didn’t know about the triplets, but were expecting to meet twins.

One of the babies began crying, and he said goodbye. Adam checked and found that this time it was Paxton. He tried wheeling them around the room again, but his son wasn’t as easy to console as his big sister was.

“Bring him to me.” Adam wheeled the bassinet toward Karla, dreading the moment when she’d ask him to pick him up. Luckily, the nurse came in and returned the boy to the place he liked best—Karla’s breast.

“Would you bring Kate to me, too?”

Even though Karla had asked him, Adam turned to the nurse in a panic. The woman shook her head with a tsk-tsk, but smiled her understanding and placed Kate in Karla’s outstretched arms. Soon she was rooting around on her other breast until she latched onto her swollen nipple. The sight of Karla with two of their babies at her breasts nearly made him come undone.

So beautiful. So perfect.

God, he would never have her all to himself again. He regretted all the time he’d lost with her during the pregnancy. He could have had his bride’s undivided attention all this time.

Man, did you ever blow it.

Whoa!
If he didn’t know better, he’d think he was jealous of his own kids’ time with their mommy.

Kate began to fuss as if frustrated she wasn’t getting whatever she expected. Adam reached under the blanket to stroke her soft skin.

The nurse poked Karla’s belly again, and Karla gasped this time. “Can she have something for the pain?” The nurse promised to bring whatever the doctor ordered.

He wished they would go easier on his kitten. Hell, she’d just delivered three babies through a gaping hole in her belly. But his reading prep told him it was important for her uterus to shrink back to normal size to avoid hemorrhaging. She’d been stretched far beyond what most women would have been for a single baby.

Fuck, they weren’t out of the woods yet for weeks on that score.

So he let them do their job. He reached down to squeeze Karla’s shoulder, pinching her to try to direct her focus away from the pain in her belly. Karla glanced up and smiled.

“Thank you, Sir. You always know just what to do.”

I wish, Kitten.

Right now, he was flying without a parachute. Adam turned toward the window, his back to the door as he fought to regain his equilibrium. As if that would ever be possible again.

A knock on the door gave him something to do, and he crossed the room to find Jenny and Carl had arrived. No Damián with them, but Adam figured he wanted to give the new grandparents time alone first. Or maybe he’d headed home to pick up Savannah and Marisol.