Submitting to my Ex Uncle-Chapter 255

"Can I hold her?"

Amara’s voice barely rose above the soft beep of the heart monitor. It wasn’t really a question.

Celeste turned her head, her hair clinging to her temples, and smiled. There were no words, just a fragile, exhausted smile that said everything. She shifted the small bundle in her arms and carefully passed her over.

The baby stirred, a tiny whimper slipping through the blanket, and Amara froze for a heartbeat before gathering her in. Her hands were shaking so badly that the fabric rustled.

"Oh," she breathed.

She had seen miracles before, small ones that came in the form of survival, but she had seen nothing like this. This was life folded in cotton, warmth and breathing.

Celeste watched her with half-lidded eyes, smiling again. Each curve of her lips cost her strength but gave her peace in return.

Amara looked down at the tiny face nestled in the crook of her arm. "Hi there," she whispered, her voice cracking on the second word. "Look at you. You’re...you’re perfect."

The baby moved slightly, her mouth puckering, and her lashes fluttering against her cheeks.

Amara’s eyes filled instantly. She laughed, a watery laugh that turned into a sob halfway through.

"Do you even know what you just did to us?" she said, brushing the back of one finger down the child’s cheek. "You turned this whole room into something eternal."

Celeste’s smile deepened. She didn’t speak.

Dominic stood on the other side of the bed, holding the other twin as if she were glass and starlight. His gaze moved between them, between the woman who had given him this impossible gift and the friend who now held half of it.

For a long while no one spoke.

Amara exhaled shakily. "I thought I was done with crying for the rest of my life," she said, laughing under her breath. "But then you arrived, little one. And now I think I could spend the rest of it doing just this."

The baby’s hand flexed in the air, her tiny fingers searching. Amara placed her own finger there, and those miniature fingers wrapped around it with surprising strength. She gasped. "Oh," she whispered again. "You’re holding me. You’ve got me already."

Celeste’s eyes glistened.

Dominic leaned closer to his wife, tears standing bright at the rim of his lashes. He looked at the child in Amara’s arms, then down at the one nestled against his own chest. He pressed a kiss to Celeste’s forehead.

"I still can’t believe they’re ours," he whispered.

Celeste’s lips parted, but her voice barely rose. "They are."

He kissed her again, this time on the crown of her head. "You did this," he murmured. "You made them. You made everything right again."

Amara’s throat tightened. She turned slightly away, not out of distance but to give them that sacred space.

The baby in her arms yawned. She let out a small, squeaky sound that made her laugh through the tears still clinging to her face.

"Listen to that," she said softly. "Even her yawn sounds like music."

She shifted her weight to the window, standing where the light from the rain-blurred sky touched the baby’s skin.

"You have no idea who I am yet," she said, rocking gently. "But you will. I’m your Aunt Amara. I’m the one who’s going to sneak you candy when you’re not supposed to have any, who’ll tell you stories your parents think you’re too young to hear."

Celeste let out a weak laugh.

Amara went on, words spilling the way light spills through an opening door. "I’ll teach you how to find constellations. How to stand your ground. How to love people who are broken, because all of us are, a little."

Her tears slid freely now, one after another. She didn’t bother to wipe them.

"You’ll grow up thinking the world is big and cruel sometimes. But you’ll also know it’s beautiful, because you’ll have them." She nodded toward Celeste and Dominic. "Two people who learned the hard way that love isn’t perfect, but it’s real."

Celeste’s hand found Dominic’s, their fingers tangling weakly together.

The baby stirred again, her tiny lips smacking, and her eyes fluttering open for half a second. Two dark glimmers that caught the silver light from the rain.

Amara gasped softly. "Oh," she whispered. "There you are."

Her voice trembled as she went on. "You’ve got your mother’s calmness. I can feel it already. And maybe your father’s stubbornness." She smiled, glancing at Dominic. "He’ll deny it, but you’ll see."

Dominic laughed quietly, brushing a thumb across Celeste’s knuckles. "She’s probably right."

Amara swayed a little, still watching the baby’s face. "You know," she said in a voice that was almost reverent, "people like me, we don’t get second chances. But somehow, holding you, it feels like I do."

Celeste’s smile turned faintly sad. "You deserve it."

Amara looked up then, meeting her friend’s eyes. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Thank you," Amara whispered.

Celeste’s answer was a tired blink, and a slow, radiant smile.

Dominic leaned in once more, resting his forehead against hers. "Sleep. You did so well," he murmured. "We’ll be right here."

She closed her eyes.

Amara turned her attention back to the child, lowering her voice to a hush. "Do you hear that? That’s your mom, resting after bringing you into the world. You’ll spend your life trying to live up to her strength, and you never quite will, but that’s okay. You’ll find your own kind of bravery and strength."

The baby shifted again, curling closer to the warmth of Amara’s chest.

Amara laughed softly. "See? You already know how to steal hearts. You got mine in less than a minute."

She couldn’t stop talking. She was so nervous that words kept on leaving her lips.

Dominic looked down at the twin he still held. This baby was smaller, and quieter, wrapped in a pale yellow linen. He brushed a fingertip across the baby’s forehead and whispered, "Hey, little star. You keeping an eye on your sister?"

The baby made a small sound, half yawn, half hum.

Amara grinned at him over Celeste’s sleeping form. "They already have a language."

He nodded, tears threatening again. "And I don’t ever want to stop learning it."

Amara’s smile faltered into another tear. She swayed the baby gently, murmuring. "Welcome, little one. Welcome to this messy, gorgeous world. We’re all so glad you came."

She stayed like that for a long while, just rocking, humming, and whispering tiny promises that only the baby would ever hear.