The Replacement Luna (A Luna Chronicles Novel) [Completed]

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Three 

Ruth Eden Glass

I stayed as still as possible – not wanting to alert Quinn that I was awake. I just wanted to watch him and the twins for as long as possible. He sat next to the hospital bed, reclined slightly in the chair, with Harmony and Serenity in his arms. He had been chatting to them for at least fifteen minutes.

"...and we've painted your room purple. And there are pictures of wolves and moons on the wall. Both of you beautiful girls will know more about wolves and werewolves when you grow up. But, we thought it best to show you wolves from day one. Because you're not just humans, no you two are Werewolves. And not just Werewolves, but Alpha Werewolves".

Harmony made a small squeaking whining sound, and Serenity copied it a second later. "I think you girls are hungry".

"I should try them feeding again" I commented, making Quinn jump slightly in shock. I pulled myself up into a sitting position, cringing in pain, as Quinn scooped the girls up in his broad arms.

"How long have you been awake?"

"A little while" I shrugged. He placed the twins in my arms – and having my girls pressed to me felt so right that I almost sighed in bliss. "Are you two hungry?" I kissed them both on their heads, admiring how beautiful my daughters were, as Quinn went to get the midwife.

It took a little bit of a while to feed the twins. Neither of them wanted to take my nipple, Harmony was the most resistant, but finally they both got a small feed. The midwife advised me that if they kept being so resistant, I would have to top their feeding off with formula – which wasn't ideal, but it wasn't the end of the world.

After the twins were fed, they slept – Quinn took them to the hospital nursery, telling me that I needed more rest and they'd be fine there. And, begrudgingly, I agreed. The problem was being alone with my emotions was hard. I was overjoyed about Harmony and Serenity but the memories of Axel bubbled underneath.

I tried to sleep, but I was just a crying mess, so I was almost relieved when the Doctor came to check me over. "You have some visitors. Do you want to see them?" he asked, once he'd finished with his assessment.

"Who is it?"

"Your mother is here and Beta Ken and Diana have stopped by".

"Where is Quinn?"

"The Alpha fell asleep in the nursery next to the girls" Doctor Wal replied softly.

"Oh, leave him there. Okay, send them in". I nodded, I didn't really want to deal with my mother and I still wasn't overly close with Ken and Diana. But, it would get my mind of Axel for a while.

I braided my hair while I waited, trying to keep my hands busy to stop me going to find Quinn and the twins. A knock came on the door as I was tying up the braid. A second later, Diana eased into the room. Her blonde hair was styled perfectly and she looked like she'd just stepped out of Good Housekeeping magazine. Ken trailed after her, the perfect picture of a doting husband – the only hint of his strength in the darkness edged of his eyes.

"Hey there" Ken grinned, walking in and setting down a bouquet of flowers on my bedside.

"They're beautiful, thank you" I grinned. I leant forward to smell them, cringed in pain, before slumping back.

"I heard it was two girls, congratulations" Diana grinned.

"They're in the nursery with Quinn".

"What did you call them?"

"Harmony and Serenity".

"Oh, that's sweet" she grinned – although I saw there was a fakeness there, she didn't like the names. But, I didn't care. She could think what she want, but she meant nothing to me. As long as she didn't upset Quinn with her badly hidden distain for our name choices, I didn't care.

"Where is Quinn?"

"He's in the nursery. Doctor Wal says he feel asleep watching the girls".

"Oh, we won't wake him, but I'd love to see them" Diana smiled – her words true and excited. I may not have warmed to Diana, but I knew that she loved and truly cared for Quinn.

"Sure" I agreed. It took me a few minutes to get out of bed, pull on my fluffy robe and slippers, before following Ken and Diana to the nursery. My mother was already there, watching the babies through the one-way window – she'd obviously been crying.

"Eden!" she squeaked, hugging me tightly as she cried into my neck. I patted her back as I tried to hold my own tears back. When I finally pulled away from her, I walked over to the glass to see the twins.

Our girls were the only babies in the nursery – sleeping in individual cots, with Quinn laying across a line of chairs asleep. "The one on the left is Harmony and Serenity is the one with the birth mark".

"They're beautiful" Diana beamed, as my mother tried to stop herself crying. Harmony fussed in her sleep and Quinn instantly woke up. He stood up, checked on the twins before sitting back down when he realised they were both fine. Seeing he was awake, we all filed into the room.

"Hey, you should be getting some sleep" Quinn whispered to me sternly.

"Couldn't" I shrugged, "I needed a distraction". My words obviously got through to him, as I saw his eyes shine with understanding. I didn't need to tell Quinn I had been thinking about Abel, he knew me well enough to know. He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head.

"Oh my gosh, Q, they're so beautiful" Diana gushed, her hands covering her mouth as she stared down at the girls.

"Christ, Eden they look just like you" Ken added, smiling brightly over at me. I gave him a soft smile back.

Diana and Ken intimidated me. Not only were they Quinn's best friends and his family, but they seemed so perfect. Diana was beautiful and always made up perfectly, whereas Ken was like the stoic loving husband – both of them looked perfect, had perfect children and seemed to portray the ideal of a perfect family.

And that was intimidating because they were literally what every mate couple aspired to be. It was like a stab to heart, knowing that I'd had a similar situation with Drew before he fucked everything up.

But, as I looked at Diana and Ken marvelling over our twins, I knew that I needed to get over my hang up. They were good, kind, people who just wanted the best for Quinn – I needed to let that go.

"This is Harmony Katherine Danvers" Quinn said, nodding to our eldest proudly.

Diana's eyes sparkled with unshed tears, "Katherine? Like your mother".

"Exactly". I moved away and took my mother's hands, before pulling her closer to the cribs. "And this is Serenity Julia Danvers".

My mother began to cry again. "You named her after me?".

"Of course, we wanted the girls to have both their grandmother's names as their middle names" Quinn replied, moved to my side again and slipping his arm around my waist. "We both picked the names pretty quickly. We decided that we were both missing two things in our lives; serenity and harmony. And so we brought our own Serenity and Harmony into our lives".

"Oh, you guys" Diana sniffed, as she began to cry. She hugged Quinn tightly, almost knocking me over as she flung herself at him. Ken studied me, giving me a soft smile as he sweetly squeezed my shoulder. "I'm so happy for you Quinn. I always wanted this for you. I know you're going to make an amazing father".

Quinn calmed Diana, as I stood next to my mother and looked down at my girls. They were honestly so beautiful – I didn't think anything could be so perfect in my life...and I had made them.

"I'm so proud of you, Eden" my mother said, taking my hand and squeezing it. "I wish your Dad was here to meet his granddaughters".

"And Abel to meet his sisters".

It was silent between us for a long moment, before my mother squeezed my hand again. "You're allowed to be happy, Eden. I know you miss him, and you always will, but you are allowed to move on and be happy".

"I know". I looked down at my daughters – my perfect, perfect, daughters – and smile. "I am happy".