Ghost Bird... Do You Hear Me?Book II

In The End, There's Always Love

Love you,

Kota (Submitted by Patricia M.)

They used to make me weep, now I smiled as I read them. I headed the rest of the way down the steps and saw everyone in various states of sitting or standing in our formal dining room.

"Mommy!" I reached down to pick up Averie. She was our youngest, at the age of two. Only for the moment though. I was going to pop any day now, and these two were going to be our last.

"Good morning sweetums," I said as I gave her a good morning kiss.

I looked around at all of our children. We had Averie Grace Taylor, 2; Isis Taylor, 4; Xavier Michael Korba, 5; Alexander Charles Blackbourne, 6; Emily Rose Green, 9; Cadence Lynn Griffin, 10; Cherie Noelle Morgan, 12; Violet Jameson Lee, 14; and of course Phoenix Coleman Lee who had turned 15 yesterday. All of my husbands were still as handsome as the day I had met them, if not more so. Kayli was there with her family. She and Axel had a baby girl named Nova, which I was told meant 'chases butterflies'. Of course Alyosha, 15, was there; with Celia, 23; Vivienne and Roxanne, 19; Nova, 14, whom I had already mentioned; and she and Marc's child Ethen, who was 6. Raven's parents were there talking to my mother. They were laughing amongst themselves as children clamored around them vying for attention from their grandparents.

I sat Averie down and walked over to Phoenix. I signed to him, "Did you enjoy your party?"

Instead of signing back, he crushed me in a big hug. I patted him on the back. He loosened the hug and signed to me, "Where are my uncles?"

"They were a bit busy with an assignment and couldn't make it in. They said they would be in next weekend, but said to facetime them on Tuesday. Everyone wants to talk to you."

"Will I be out on assignment?" He signed.

"You are off this whole week and part of next week." His eyes lit up at that. He loved the Academy, but did enjoy the time off to be with family.

We had the largest Academy unit between the Tomas and our family, not to mention Jihoon, Charles, and Christopher's team. It made it interesting. Did my boys still have assignments? Absolutely. And I worried every time they went out, just as they worried about me when I went out, although my assignments were very few and far between. I worried even more for Phoenix.

He had just started his assignments this past spring. Violet would be starting hers this coming spring. Phoenix was treated just like one of the guys, like there was no disability. The great thing he was able to do that surprised us all, was that he could sense someone coming or moving. He was never spooked. He had told me once it was like the air pressure was changing. Like a space was filled that wasn't supposed to be there. Whatever it was, it was an asset out in the field. He might not be able to hear, but he could hang with the best of them.

"Sang, Pookie!" I was pulled out of my thoughts.

"Yes, Sean?"

"Your water broke, it's time to go." Everyone was right on me.

I had never even felt it. I looked down and tried to see, but my belly blocked everything. "Oh my." I had nothing else to say. This was old hat to everyone by now. We had done home water births on the last five, and they were wonderful and relaxing. We weren't going to change that now. So the boys went upstairs to make sure everything was set up properly.

When I finally reached the top of the stairs, with the help of Owen, North, and Silas, I went into my bathroom suite, stripped and showered off. There was no need for this, it just made me feel better. Putting on my robe I went to my bed which was already covered. Sean was waiting, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Ready for your examination, my lovely?"

"I still have no idea how you can make labor sound sexy." I laughed.

He placed the waterproof monitor leads, then did an internal exam. "You haven't felt any pains at all?"

"No. Why?" I tried to think back from the time I had woken up till now. Nothing came to mind.

"Pookie, you are going to be having those babies any minute. Look at the monitor, you are in full labor!"

"Oh wow!" I watched as the line spiked up at regular intervals. My contractions were about ten seconds apart.

"Get in that pool now," Sean ordered me.

I got in and immediately felt relaxed. The urge to push came on rather suddenly, but instinct took over and I paused to count. I was lost in my own space thinking about one of my happy places. "Oy, Sang!"

"Hey, Meanie." I ran and gave him a hug. I didn't get to talk to him nearly enough.

"'You're doing a great job. The party yesterday was a fu*king blast! My son is the sh*t." He smiled at me.

"He is, isn't he?" Oh, that push was hard. "How are we doing?"

"Looks good so far." He paused and smiled at me. "You are still as beautiful as the day we met. I could kiss Kota for setting Max on you. Damn, fu*king genius. Oh! Here is the first one. Sang, open your eyes!"

I did, breaking my contact with Gabriel for the time being. I reached down helping to bring the first of the twins into the world. We counted to eight before bringing it out of the water.

"It's a girl!" Kota announced. Sean cut the cord, and Kota continued to dry her off. I gave one more push and our second twin was here within seconds of the other. "It's a boy!" Sean announced as Kota turned back around. He had handed our new daughter off to Owen. Kota got to cut the cord this time.

I closed my eyes for one more moment. "You still there, Meanie?"

"I am always here. You did a good job, Trouble. Any names picked out?" He was hugging me now.

"Yes. Kota and I talked about it the other day; Gabrielle Sydney Lee & Sebastian Anthony Lee."

"Fu*king perfect. Just like you. I love you, Sang. Thank you. It's time for me to go. I'll see you in your dreams."

"I love you too." I smiled as he faded away. It was happy as usual.

Kota was speaking to me. "Sang, 10, they are perfect! Sean is going to finish helping you out while we finish with the twins. When you are ready to get out, someone will help you."

I smiled back. Within a couple hours, I had the whole family, plus friends in my room visiting so they could see the twins. My heart continued to grow exponentially with every added member. The best part of it all was that I still had Gabriel in my heart after all of these years. My lesson learned through this up and down journey was that no matter what, Family First.