He leaned in and nuzzled her forehead. “Love you, ma’am,” he whispered.
“Love you, too, boo. Now go keep an eye on our daughter.”
He could tell Ron was smiling from the way his eyes crinkled at the outsides. After leaning in for a quick nuzzle from him, and Eve, Ivan started to walk over to where the nurses and neonatologist were checking her out, then stopped and turned.
“What did you decide on the name, ma’am?”
“I like what you said. Amalee Rose. After Momma and your abuela. Amalee Rose Luzon Mercado.”
Mercado.
For a second he thought he was going to hyperventilate, then pulled himself together and stood just off to the side while they took care of his daughter.
My daughter!
* * * *
Ron kept a close eye on Ivan, knowing this was his work and, in a way, his area of expertise, even if a different specialty.
Still, Ivan was his boy, and he knew how emotional his boy was.
Especially right now.
At least getting time off from work won’t be a problem for me.
It felt like events were simultaneously moving at light speed and creeping along like frozen molasses. He and Eve both had taken pictures and video, and he knew he’d need to review all of it later, when he could focus.
“Seven,” he heard a woman call out.
He started to ask Ivan what that meant when Ivan turned and gave Ron a thumbs-up.
Ron kept a hand on Kimbra’s right shoulder while Eve hovered at her left, softly whispering to her. But his focus remained on Ivan, who stood off to the side, watching and talking to one of the nurses. A few minutes later, the neonatologist high-fived Ivan.
“Eight,” the doctor said.
“I want to see her,” Kimbra said.
He wasn’t sure if Kimbra was fully processing yet that the baby would be transported up to St. Pete to the NICU at All Children’s.
“They’ll bring her around so you can see her after I’m finished with you,” the obstetrician told Kimbra. “One dance partner at a time, counselor.”
“Go take a picture for me,” Kimbra told Ron. “Please?”
“Sure, honey.” Eve was running video, and Ron had the responsibility of taking still shots. He edged his way over to where they were working on her and handed his phone to Ivan.
Ivan stuck his arm in and snapped a couple of quick shots, but when he went to hand the phone off to Ron, Ivan leaned in to whisper to him.
“The Skyway’s closed because of the storms, and they can’t send a helicopter in this weather, either. They’re going to dispatch a transport ambulance in about an hour, when it’s safer for them to leave. St. Pete’s really getting hammered and she’s not critical enough to need immediate transport in a regular ambulance. Hopefully the bridge will be re-opened by then.”
That would…suck, the baby being up in St. Pete. But better than the alternative, one he didn’t want to contemplate.
Good luck them keeping Kimbra in a bed for the full recommended recovery time. She’d likely be trying to beg someone to drive her up as soon as she could feel her feet to walk.
Note to self, keep her phone confiscated so she can’t call an Uber.
Finally, they rolled the incubator over so Kimbra could see her. Kimbra started crying again as she reached over and touched the baby’s hand through the small, round access hole in the side.
“Hey, sweetheart. Happy birthday.”
Ivan knelt so he was eye level with Kimbra. “They’re going to transport her as soon as it’s safe to. It’s too stormy and windy right now. They don’t want to risk transporting in this weather.”
“You go with her, Ivan.” Ron heard the hard edge to Kimbra’s tone. “Don’t you dare leave her.”
“I will. But only if you promise me to listen to Ron and Eve and what the doctors tell you to do.”
“Fuck that,” Ron said. “I’m going to St. Pete with you.”
Eve patted Ron’s shoulder. “I’ll go lawyer on her ass and play sneaky—I’ll ask Momma and Papi to help me keep her in bed. I—” She stopped talking, a weird look on her face.
“What?” Ron asked. “What’s wrong?”
She looked down and the weird look turned to one of unmistakable horror as she focused on Ron again. “I think my water just broke.”
Chapter Thirty
Eve had tried to focus only on Kimbra and what was going on that morning. She knew the baby would have to spend weeks in the NICU at this stage, and had honestly thought it’d be her babies, Thing One and Thing Two, who’d wind up arriving early. That wasn’t uncommon with twins.
That’s why she’d ignored the uncomfortable contractions she’d been feeling all morning, attributing it to stress, or just slightly stronger Braxton Hicks contractions than she’d been experiencing.
But as she stood there with warm fluid gushing down her legs, she struggled to remain calm and not start crying.
Over the top of his mask, Ivan’s eyes widened. “What?”
The obstetrician turned from where he’d been talking to the neonatologist. “What?”
She nodded. “My water just broke. I’ve been having contractions all morning.”
“Why didn’t you tell us that before?” Ivan asked.
“I was too worried about Kimbra.”
“Okay, so we’re doing another C-section,” the OB said. “I don’t want to put them through the trauma of a birth at this stage.”
Eve burst into tears.
Kimbra reached for her hand and squeezed. “It’ll be okay, baby girl. Let the boys take care of you.”
A flurry of motion seemed to take place all at once, Ivan and Ron and the delivery team jumping into action. Kimbra was moved into recovery, where the men brought her parents and Eve’s in to stay with her, while they turned around and scrubbed in again so they could be there for Eve.
Ron stood off to the side while Ivan stood in front of her and held her hands for the epidural. Not once did his gaze leave hers as he softly talked her through it, kept her focus on him and not on the agonizing worry now pulsing through her.
When they laid her back on the table and started prepping, Ivan never left her side, reminding her to breathe.
“This is a helluva way to try to get a two-fer discount, counselor,” the doctor joked when he rejoined them. “So for your information, yes, I’ll discount my fee today. Although I do appreciate not having more than one Sunday interrupted by you and yours.”
“I was going to ask for a friends and family discount,” Ivan joked, still looking at Eve, the outer edges of his eyes crinkling over his mask.
“Ivan, maybe you should think about changing your specialty to obstetrics. You’re certainly getting enough experience today.”
“I’m good, Paul.” He winked at Eve. “I don’t think I’ll be going through this again.”
“Are they going to be okay?” she asked Ivan.
“Shh. I need you to calm down, sweetheart. I need you to breathe for me.”
She really liked this side of Ivan. Calm, controlled, sounding sure of himself in the good way. She’d never got to see him at work, only hints of Dr. Mercado when they were at their doctor appointments.
Poor Ron looked like he was two breaths from being freaked out, no matter how chill he was trying to pretend to be. Ivan, on the other hand, no longer reminded her of a terrified kid. He sounded confident. Comforting.
He leaned in close. “Breathe for me, sweetheart.” He glanced up at the monitors she was hooked to. “Your pulse is up and your O2 is down. I need you to take some long, slow, deep breaths for me, okay?”
One of the nursing assistants had been brought into play to help with video and pictures while Ron and Ivan tried to keep Eve calm.
“Did you pick out names yet, sweetie?” Ron asked.
“How about Stormy and Windy?” Ivan joked.
Eve struggled not to cry. “I don’t know! I can’t even name them yet. I couldn’t make up m
y mind.” She looked up at Ron. “You name them. Whatever you name them is fine.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I kinda like Stormy and Windy.”
“Besides that.”
“Uno and Dos?” Ivan teased.
“Don’t let him name them,” she said to Ron. “Please.”
* * * *
Ron had, after consulting with Kimbra months earlier, tried to stay neutral on the names decision. Eve wanted to decide…
But she couldn’t.
He knew some of her favorites, and honestly? He didn’t care what they named the babies, as long as it was something they wouldn’t catch hell for in school.
“Okay, sweetheart. I’ll name them.”
“Not matching names, either. I’ll kill you.”
A cry broke through the room. “There’s Baby Girl One, Daddy. You want to do the honors?”
His vision blurred. “Yeah.” He cut the cord then returned to Eve’s side to await the second delivery.
Once both babies were delivered, he left Ivan with Eve and stood watching as they tended to his daughters. It felt…surreal.
Yeah, they’d known Eve had a greater risk of delivering early because of the twins, but he still thought it’d be later than this.
Am I really ready for this?
He waved Ivan over. “I’ll stay with Eve. You need to be here to speak doctor to them.” He took a picture with his phone of each one then leaned in to whisper in Ivan’s ear. “You name them, boy. That’s an order.”
Ivan jerked, startled, his eyes wide as he stared up at Ron.
Ron nodded and returned to Eve’s side.
Twenty minutes later, both babies were safely tucked in incubators, but a week made a difference in development and they were rushed out to join their other baby in waiting for the ambulance, Ivan going with them.
They were all in recovery, Kimbra and Eve’s beds next to each other, when Ivan returned. He’d changed into street clothes and had his bag slung over his shoulder, although he wore a lab coat and his name badge. “They’re stable. The ambulances are on the way from St. Pete. The Skyway reopened.”
“You go,” Ron said. “I’ll follow.”
Kimbra looked groggy, exhausted, the pain meds they’d given her via IV now fully kicking in. “You need to run home and get clothes, boo. And a phone charger.”
“I have clothes in my go-bag in the car,” Ron said. “And my phone charger.”
“For me.”
“You’re not coming,” Ron said. “Your butt is staying here, both of you, until they release you in a day or two.”
“Don’t worry,” Amaleeza said. “Between me and Olive, we’ll sit on them if we have to.”
Ivan stepped in close and dropped his voice as he talked to Kimbra, so low Ron and the others couldn’t hear. Finally, she tearfully nodded, and he kissed her forehead.
“Now, we’re going to go wait with the babies,” Ivan told them. “I expect both of you to be model patients. I will hear about it if you give them any hassles.”
Ron noticed with relief that both women nodded.
Ivan held Ron’s hand as he led him down a series of hallways. They both now wore medical bands for all three babies. “What’d you do back there?”
“What?”
“Did you go Dom on Kimbra or something?”
Ivan smiled. “No, I did one better. I went doctor.”
“I think I like this side of you, boy. It’s sexy.”
Ivan smiled up at him. “Then prepare to spend the next twenty-four hours or so horned up like crazy.” His smile faded. “I think they’ll be okay, but I can’t promise you or them that they won’t have complications. There’s still a lot of tests to do. And they’ll probably need to be on oxygen. At least Etta and Livia will.”
Ron stopped him. “Etta and Livia?”
Ivan smiled. “After Wynn’s mom and Eve’s mom. A little different, like we did for Kimbra’s mom.” They all referred to Wynn’s ex-mother-in-law Loretta as his “mom,” especially since she’d adopted all of them, too. “Etta Lara Cannon Mercado, and Livia Meredith Cannon Mercado.”
“That’s…that’s beautiful.” The tears caught him by surprise, and Ivan pulled him in for a hug. “That’s perfect. Thank you.”
* * * *
The next several days passed in a blur to Ron. It took Ivan getting downright stern over the phone the next morning with Kimbra to force her and Eve to not check themselves out of the hospital early.
The grandparents took turns driving up to see the babies. Ron, Ivan, Kimbra, and Eve had one double room at the Ronald McDonald House next to the hospital, where they slept in shifts, including the grandparents, who took turns when the four parents needed to return to work and couldn’t be there during the day.
All three babies developed on track, with Amalee the first to be discharged after four weeks, and Etta and Livia after six.
That first night home, once they’d managed to get all the grandparents to leave, the four of them lay stretched out on sofas or the floor in the living room as all three babies slept on a quilt.
“I can’t believe they’re all finally here,” Eve said.
Ivan lay on the floor next to the quilt, staring at their three baby girls. “Me, either.”
“You did good, boy,” Kimbra told him. “We’re all proud of you. We know how hard this has been on you.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” He brushed at his eyes, a move Ron didn’t miss from where he lay on the other side of the quilt, able to see Ivan’s face.
Ron had kept as close an eye on Ivan as he could over the past several weeks. Sometimes, between work and sleeping, they barely had ten minutes together during a day. It was impossible for Ron to spank him at their temporary housing up there. He’d had to resort to biting and pinching to help Ivan out when he needed relief during their stolen moments together.
He’d even offered to let Ivan cut if he wanted to, as long as he only did it with him present, but Ivan had declined that option.
He only wanted his Sir’s marks.
Ron knew it was progress, even if Ivan wasn’t processing that right then.
Ivan had only allowed his mask to slip around them. If the grandparents or friends or others were there, they saw the Dr. Mercado half of him.
Not the boy who just wanted to curl up and do nothing but watch his babies sleep.
The third bedroom was only a temporary nursery, because they’d be moving to the other house as soon as possible. The contractor had made a lot of progress over the past several weeks, and estimated they’d be able to move in in about six weeks.
“Why don’t you two go to bed?” Kimbra said. “We’ve got this. I think there’s a boy who needs a decompression spanking.”
Ron stood and rounded the quilt, holding out a hand to Ivan.
Before Ivan took it, though, he leaned in and kissed each baby on the top of their heads. “Papa loves you,” he said, nearly making Ron bawl right there.
If Ron had ovaries, they’d be exploding.
He led Ivan down the hall to their bedroom. With the door safely closed behind them, he pulled Ivan into his arms. “There’s my sweet boy.” He wouldn’t let Ivan do a thing as he stripped him, kneeling in front of him to worship his cock once he was naked.
“Sir, I—”
Ron cupped his ass in his hands and held him in place, sucking the first orgasm out of him, knowing his boy would have energy for a second one after the spanking he was going to give him.
“That’s a reward,” Ron said once he stood and kissed Ivan. “You more than earned it.” Neither of them had the time or energy to masturbate over the past several weeks, either working, driving, taking care of babies, or sleeping.
It’d been all Ron could do to keep track and make sure Ivan had been eating at least two meals a day.
Ron stripped and sat on the edge of the bed, patting his lap. “Let’s do this.”
“Don’t you want me to take care of you first, Sir?”
>
“No, because I’m exhausted and want my one to count.”
It was a quick, hard spanking, followed by Ivan riding him while Ron jerked him off. Less than thirty minutes later, they’d cleaned up and lay snuggled in bed together.
“Can we paint our bedroom blue, Sir?”
It was a decision he’d left to Ivan, but he hadn’t settled on a color yet. “Sure. As long as it’s not a dark blue. Don’t want it to feel like a cave.”
“No, Sir. Light blue.” He stared up at Ron, and he got it.
“Like at the Toucan.”
Ivan smiled and nodded.
He nuzzled his boy’s nose. “I think that’s perfect, baby. Whatever you want.”
Chapter Thirty-One
A few months later…
The single king room had blue walls, Ivan was glad to see. Like some sort of omen, a sign. It’d been a long time since he’d been here, and unlocking the room door to see it was blue just sort of…
Perfect.
It soothed him.
He filled the cup with ice and poured soda over it, waiting for the fizz to go down before topping it off and returning the two-liter bottle to the room’s fridge.
After tucking the room card key into his electric green Speedo, he carried his cup out, making sure the door locked behind him. He stood on the second-floor breezeway overlooking the Toucan’s pool courtyard and scanned the courtyard for a moment, searching. As he did, he reached up, an unconscious habit now, and played with the Thor’s hammer amulet around his neck.
The late Friday party was already in full swing this weekend, the music up and the revelers in full party mode. Ivan let the beat wash over him and made his way downstairs.
Inside his suit, his cock hardened. He couldn’t help it. Anticipation swirled through him, the old and new mixing and merging. How many times had he made this exact journey in the past? He couldn’t recall, and wasn’t sure he really wanted to.
Tonight was the first time he’d been here in what felt like forever, and he had an itch to scratch.