Chapter nineteen

Time flew by in the blink of an eye. Before I knew it, or even had time to comprehend I stood twisting from side to side in a gorgeous maroon dress that hid my ever growing baby bump. My father and hopefully soon to be adopted mother were getting married today and i was ecstatic to say the least. The adoption papers I had printed earlier sat on the bed waiting for me to neatly fold into an envelope. The actual wedding gift Aiden and I had picked out was sitting in a similar envelope, one that Aiden would hide until we gave it to them. The adoption papers and the ultrasound photo of the twins from a few weeks ago would be neatly tucked into the envelope soon.

This wasn't the first set of photos they owuld be recieving. The first ones I had handed out to everyone at Aiden's parents Halloween costume ball. Everyone, friends and family alike, had been so happy to see them. At that point we oficially announced twins. I don't think I had ever seen my dad cry until then. It was one of those moments I wished I could of captured in a picture. Even Aiden had teared up a little when he had been given the photo. That photo as well as the newest one sat in a double picture frame on his side of the bed. I had two months left in my pregnancy and it showed.

True to what Sylvia had said the twins were active now. I would feel kicks and moving frequently. Aiden loved those moments. He loved laying on my stomach late at night, I could only assume he was trying to listen to all three heart beats at once. Sylvia also hadn't been wrong when she said the twins would basically be the only things keeping me alive at this point in the pregnancy. The first day of my final trimester I had gotten morning sickness, worse than normal, for the first time in weeks. This sickness had lasted all day though and had included blood in the vomit much to mine and Aidens dismay. I had to remind him of Sylvias words since he was in such a panic about the children. The thought that I was physically dieing on the inside made him cry that first day. He blamed himself despite how much I said this was just as much my fault and yet no ones fault at the same time.

There were days now where I felt like hell. I would feel too weak to get out of bed and the world would seem to spin every time I tried. Those were the worse days. I knew it was a form of fatiuge at first. The fevers started shortly after. Aiden tried to stay with me every time I had one of those days. Today thankfully was one of my good days. I hadn't woken up sick or shaky. I touched my stomach and silently thanked my children for this. A strong arm wrapping around my shoulders startled me out of my thoughts.

"You look beautiful as always Letty." I shook my head at his words. He was such a kiss ass sometimes but it always made me smile.

"You look better." I say turning around to fully see him in a black dress shirt and black dress pants.

"I have something for you." He says reaching into his back pocket.

"Your Christmas gifts are under the tree." I say pointedly. Yes my father and his soon to be wife had picked Christmas as their wedding day. I thought it was kind of cute. Especially since they were planing to do family gift exchanges at the wedding and had even gone the extra mile to invite Aidens parents and siblings. His family didn't really celebrate Christmas but they would pretend to for my family. They really were amazing.

"I know and the rest of yours are there too but I couldnt wait for this one." He hands me a plain white envelope. I take it cautiously wondering what the hell he's up to now.

"Should i be concerned?" I ask raising an eyebrow at him. He smiles and shakes his head.

"No, well you might kill me but i'm willing to live with that." I roll my eyes at him and open the envelope. I pull out the thick stack of papers from the inside and unfold it, almost dropping the three pictures. I look at them and gasp. "Move in date is in two weeks Letty." He says with a smile. I hug him and kiss him and look back at the pictures.

The house sits on a huge piece of property and has a small guest cottage out back and a built in pool that I am assuming is more for me then anyone else considering Aiden knows how much I love to swim. There's also a small greenhouse that looks like it was recently built and a shed. The three buildings line the edge of the huge stone wall. The house itself is enormous. The house was made out of various shades of grey brick and had a large beautiful white door. It had huge windows on all the floors, three from the looks of it and had two balconys one on the right side of the house on the top floor and one on the left side from what i was assuming the second floor. It had a huge wrap around porch that I already had so many ideas for decoration and a big back deck that I could already see my future husband cooking for family barbecues. It was perfect. I looked at the paper work. Six bedrooms inside the house, a finnished basement, a partial attic which half was used for storage and the other half had the other bedroom, a dining room, kitchen, laundry room, a den and a living room and three bathrooms. The guest house has its own bathroom and kitchen but also has a small living room and decent sized bedroom. The greenhouse is bare but half of it has dirt and half what looks like cement. The house is absolutely perfect, bigger than what we need but perfect.

"What do you think?" Aiden finally asked after a long moment of silence. I felt like crying, I blamed it on the pregnancy.

"It's perfect my love. Where is the house though?" I didn't recognize the area around it.

"Don't be mad but it's in the community my parents live in, closer to the southern gate I never take you to. I worked out a deal and your friends and family can come as much as they want but only Teighlor is allowed in the city part." I frowned. "I know it's not what we agreed on and I'm sorry but Sylvia had another version of you getting attacked if we were to live in the mixed community and our son getting hurt. I didn't want to tell you sooner." He looked sad. Could I really blame him. I cupped his face and smiled at him.

"I will forgive you on one condition." He raised his eyes to meet mine and looked curious.

"What's that?"

"I get to have all the pool parties I want every summer and I get one room for my office slash Wiccan stuff." He blinked at me surprised. Was he expecting worse? "Oh and I get to grow whatever I want and plant all the flowers I want no questions asked. We can agree on how to decorate the house together." He smiled that heart melting smile at me.

"On one condition." He said pulling me closer to him.

"What's that?" I asked kissing his jaw.

"I get the basement for my man cave, minus the half that have the washer and dryer." I chuckled.

"Deal." He laughed and kissed me. "Now come on I want you to open the rest of your gifts, I got you a few things I think you're going to love." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Did Sylvia help you pick some of them out?" He winked at me.

"Maybe, you'll just have to come and see." I shaked my head at him. I glanced at the clock. We still had to put the presents for my dads wedding and Christmas dinner in the back of Aidens truck. I had submitted to not driving now that I was so far along in the pregnancy much to Aidens relief.

"Do we have time?" I asked.

"Yes we do love. I already loaded up everything in the truck you don't need to worry so much. It's not good for the babies you know that." I stuck my tougne out at him. I followed hi into the living room obidiently though.

After fourty-five or so minuets I was gathering up all the wrapping paper for the trash. Aiden sat on the couch fidgeting with his new apple watch. He loved it. Between that the tablet I had gotten him I wasn't sure which he loved more. He had loved all my gifts to him. He even had gotten a kick out of the 'Dad' shirts I had gotten on my last outing with Sylvia. He promised to wear them all especially after the twins were born. I had also gotten him some new cologne that I liked and other various smal things I knew he would like. Christmas shopping for him had been hard so I had to rely on Sylvia a lot. His gifts for me of course were perfect. There were a few new dresses including a matching set for me and our daughter once she was born and a matching suit set for him and our son. I had cried seeing it because it was perfect. He got me a new blanket and matching pajama set from my favorite movie. He got me a new phone case also from the same movie. My favorite gift though was the necklace that i was now wearing. It was a simple rose gold rectangle with half a heart on it and a small diamond beneath. In beautiful black scrolling letters it said 'His Queen'. He had the matching black necklace with rose gold lettering that said 'Her King'. They were perfect. He had even managed to find a few books missing from my collection and I couldn't wait to read them.

We piled everything neatly on the couch then I grabbed my bag and Aiden helped me shrug on my winter coat as we left the apartment. It wasn't going to be a huge wedding given it was Christmas and all. It was mostly family with the exception of a few friends like Teighlor and her family. Adam of course would be there with Teighlor. I slid the white envelope into my purse so that I wouldn't loose it. We were leaving so much earlier than we needed to but my father had asked Aiden to be his best man since he was practically like a son to him at this point. Margret had asked me to be her maid of honor. We were the only ones in the wedding party minus Margrets niece and nephew who would be the ring barer and flower girl. Like a said a small wedding.

Aiden and I had plans to announce the engagment today, might as well since I really didn't want to take of my engagment ring which my fingers were so swollen barely fit, soon I would have to take it off and just wear it on a chain until the twins were born. We were planing an engagment photoshoot with Teighlor come spring, after the twins were born. Aiden was just ecstatic because he really liked my dad and the two had become quite close in the past few months. It was heart warming really. Aiden was the perfect son in law as far as my father was concerned. Hell at the first cook out my dad had invited us to he had even introduced Aiden as his future son in law to all his friends. My dads friends even liked Aiden and most of them had never liked any guy I had brought home, they were like second fathers to me since I had practically grown up around all of them.

I tried to focus on the drive but it was hard for me. The snow was falling in a slow pattern with small flakes and it was beautiful looking against all the snow that was already on the ground and all the Christmas decorations already up. Christmas was one of my two favorite holidays, mostly because of the lights, decorations and family time. Aiden loved seeing the way my eyes lit up and how happy I got whenever I walked around an area with Christmas lights and decorations. He had laughed about it the first time he saw and now he just smiled at me.

"What are you thinking about?"He asked jolting me from my thoughts as he took my left hand in his right.

"Nothing really, just sort of daydreaming."

"About what?" He asks not taking his eyes off the road."

"This summer is going to be chaotic." He glances at me, confusion clearly on his face.

"Chaotic?" He asks. I nod.

"Yes. Everyone is going to be going beserk over the twins. They are going to get so much love and attention they're gonna voimit love." Aiden laughed.

"Well I'm sure they're going to vomit but I don't think it will be from love. I agree though, it will be very chaotic. In a cute way though." I nod.

"They are going to steel everyones attention"

"Yes they are. Especially if they look anything like their mother." He says kissing the back of my hand and causing me to blush.

"I just hope the house will look decent in time." I say with a sigh realizing how much we have to do.

"Well Sylvia, Ariel and Natalia are redoing the flooring and painting for us, getting it ready for us to move in." Aiden says glancing at me to see my reaction. I frown.

"I wanted us to do that together though." I think back to our conversations when we first started looking at houses.

"I know love but in your condition I didn't think it was a good idea." I look out the window.

"Sylvia said though that very little to nothing would be able to hurt the children." I say. i can hear the whining in my voice and slightly feel better. I really wanted him and I to decorate the house together, make it our own.

"Love it's not the children i'm worried about. I'm worried about you. Soul stitching is no easy task despite how easy Sylvia makes it sound. Now that you are in the last trimester I can't help but constantly remind myself that the twins right now are whats keeping you alive. I want your body to be as healthy for this as possible. I know Sylvia does too. I just worry that too much stress or too much of a strain on your body and something might go wrong and I just can't bare that thought. I have never seen a soul stitching done but Natalia told me about hers." I sit quietly for a moment.

"I honestly never thought of that." I say with a sigh.

"Besides they wanted to do it as a Christmas gift. My family doesn't actually celebrate it but Natalia was so excited to. Granted Christmas now a days is nothing like it was when she was human but she loves it all the same and wanted to do something nice for you." A thought dawns on me.

"How old is Natalia?" I finally ask after a few moments. Aiden laughs.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask me that. She's Threee hundred and seventy this year." I look at him wide eyed.

"Seriously?" He nods. "Geez."

"Sylvia and Sylvester are three hundred and fourty something if it's any consolation." I roll my eyes.

"Not really. Is anyone close to my age?" I ask. I feel so young.

"No." He says after a few moments. I sigh.

"Ugh I hate that." He laughs.

"If you really want to decorate together though we can do it after the twins are born and you heal." He says squeezing my had gently. I shake my head.

"No because that would be a nightmare and a half. We would have to drag everything out of a room, two coats or more of paint, redo the floor then drag everything back in. I do not have the patience for that. Can they at least send me pictures of each room before they touch them so I can tell them if I like anything about that room first? With the exception of your man cave of course."

"And one room for my office." He says. "I get to decide that one." I nod in agreement.

"Fine but I get the say of the gues house." He smiles and nods.

"Of course love. I wouldn't have it any other way." I roll my eyes at him. I instead focus on the dirt road we turn onto. It's lined with white solar lights. We are finally here.

"I'm nervous." I admit as the wooden hunting lodge comes into view.

"About the ring?" He asks parking the truck somewhere close to the front. I nod. "Dont be. Your father wants us to get married remember? Plus him and Margret and their friends really like me and are super happy for you remember?" I smile at him.

"Does'nt mean I'm not nervous." He kisses my cheek.

"I'll be right beside you if that makes you feel any better." I smile and climb out of the truck.

"A little." I walk around the truck and take his hand. I want to find my dad so we can find out what to do with the gifts in the back seat of the truck.

The walk way up to the lodge had railings covered in white christmas lights. Once we walked inside I smiled. It was gorgeous. To the right was what I was assuming would be the dance floor and a beautiful wedding arch. It was wrapped with white christmas lights and holly with a mistletoe hanging from it. I looked out across the room. There were some small round tables with white tale cloths. On each table was a red poinsetia with tea lights and snowflakes around it. The tables were divided on either side of a red carpet that started roughly right were the first two tables were positioned and led straight back to a small rectangular table with a small black Mr. and Mrs. sign hanging from the front. Behind that table to the right was a single door that I assumed led to the kitchen. There were a few tables lining the back wall that I assumed was for the food. To the right were two doors, each marked with a gender stick figure for the bathroom. There was fake snow strewn about the room in places that would be far out of the way. There were white Christmas lights everywhere and even a Christmas tree in the right corner of the room that already had some gifts building up under it. I motioned to Aiden about it and he nodded. My dad and his two best friends Josh and Eric came out of the kitchen laughing about something.

"Dad!" I said just loudly enough for him to hear me. He looked over and smiled, quickly crossing to room to scoop me into one of his hugs.

"Hey princess. Glad you guys made it safely." He kissed the top of my head just as he always did.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world dad, you know that. Where's Margret?"

"Upstairs with her mother, sister and Jessie." He says shaking his head. "Her sister is having a bitch fit about not being maid of honor." Josh and Eric shake their heads.

"I was your best man when you married Letties mom, trust me I am pretty happy you asked Aiden to be instead. I'm convinced it would of been bad luck for me to be twice."Josh says with a grin. Eric just shrugs.

"I just felt that Aiden was better suited for it since he's basically your son." My dad smiles at his best friends. I always liked Josh and Eric. My dad looks at me as I brush a strand of hair out of my face with my left hand. His eyes go wide and he snatches my hand quickly.

"Is this?" He asks looking at me then at Aiden. Aiden nods. "When!" My dad looks so happy now. I pull my hand away from him gently.

"Last night at Aidens parents Christmas dinner." I say smiling at Aiden. That was the lie we had agreed on. Without warning my dad scoops me and Aiden into his arms.

"Oh princess I'm so so happy for you. Aiden is such a good guy. I know he will take good care of you and my grandchildren. Aiden you did good kid i'm so proud to call you my son." I almost laugh at my dad calling Aiden kid considering my fiance is significantly older than my father.

"Dad you're kinda squishing me and the babies." My dad lets go with a laugh.

"I'm sorry princess. I just got so excited. Hey Josh, Eric look my little girl is next don't get rid of those tuxes." He says to his two friends who are fidgiting with a light string. They both smile at me and say congrats. I roll my eyes.

"Dad it wont be for a while still. We want the twins in the wedding so they will probably be at least three." I say lightly resting a hand on my stomach. He smiles and nods.

"Of course princess but can you blame me for being excited?" I shake my head. Of course I don't

"Well I better get up there." I kiss Aiden on the cheek. "I'm sure Margret needs some saving right about now." I say with a laugh.

"Alright Letty we'll talk more after the ceremony. I'm so happy for you guys though." My dad says giving me one more hug. I follow the red carpet and waddle up the stairs. I stop to catch my breath halfway through and risk a slight glance back down, thankfully no one is watching me as everyone leaves the building to help Aiden most likely bring everything in. I smile and when I reach the top of the stairs take a couple more deep breaths. Being pregnant sucks. I catch my breath and continue to the room where I can hear voices. I push lightly on the door and Margret is sitting on a couch next to her mom. Her sister and best friend Jessie it on another couch, leaving a chair empty for me. I walk in and shut the door behind me. As soon as I shut the door arms wrap around me.

"Letty!" Margret says happily. I smile at her. It's now or never. She lets go of me and i put my purse and jacket on the nearby coat rack just like the others have. Margret looks at me. Her white dress looks amazing on her. Its nothing fancy but it's still beautiful. It looks like just a regular maxi dress with lace at the top around her bare shoulders. Her hair is in a gorgous bun with holy pinned into it.

"Hey everyone." I say greeting the room.

"Hello Letty."Jessie says with a smile. She's the only one who knows other than Aiden and Teighlor about the adoption papers because she helped me get them. "Hey Mags I'm gonna barrow your mom and sister for a minuet. Ladies come with me." The other two look confused but follow Jessie out of the room, greeting me as they pass. Margret looks confused.

"Jessie helped me with this. I have something for you, I wanted it to be a surprise." I pull the envelope with the adoption papers out of my purse. I sit beside her.

"What is it princess." She asks looking concerned. She has been in my life so long she's adopted my dads name for me.

"Margret when you met my dad he wasn't in the greatest place in life. My mother is a bitch there's no lieing about that. You helped my dad become better. You were there for him in his darkest moments and loved him without judgement. You have always been so kind and loveing to me and although you came into my life past the age when I really needed a mother in my life you still loved me like one should. You have always been there for me to talk to and you have actually stood up to my actual mother to protect me. I am so happy you're in my life. I don't know what dad and I would be like without you." she brushes at a tear on her cheek.

"You guys are my family Letty, you know that. I have loved you like a daughter from the day you opened up and let me get to know the amazing person you are. You and your father are everything I could of ever wanted. It's no lie my first husband treated me like crap and I unfortunately can't have kids but having you in my life, well you're the daughter i've always dreamed of having." She kisses my forehead. I hand her the envelope.

"Go ahead open it" she does and pulls out the papers, gently unfolding them and scanning them. Her eyes water and she looks at me and pulls me into the tightest hug. I see a flash of a camera and spy Jessie and the other two women standing in the door.

"Oh princess of course I will adopt you!" Margret says holding me tightly. She finally pulls away and the others come back into the room. Laura, Margrets mother smiles and sits on the edge of the couch next to me.

"I guess that makes me your grandmother now?" Laura asks. I laugh. I have been calling her grandmom for a while.

"You have been for a while, your know that. Just as i've seen Amy as aunt Amy for a while too." Laura nods.

"I know but now it's official. And look at that just in time for my first great grandchildren. Heavens I wasn't prepared for that." We all laugh at Lauras' exaggerated fanning of herself.

"Princess I promise you I will sign these after the ceremony, after I tell your dad, and we will mail them out first thing Monday morning, okay?" I nod.

"There's no rush mom." I say. Margret looks like she's going to burst out in tears. We all do.

"Of course there is. I need to make sure it is legal before my grandchildren come into this world." She says pointing to my ever growing stomach. Without thinking I place a hand on my stomach and rub it gently. Jessie notices the ring first.

"Oh Letty please, please, please tell me that's exactly what I think it is." She points to my ring and I blush and nod. Margret squeals and hugs me tightly again.

"When?" She says letting go of me, only for Laura to hug me. Even Amy and Jessie get up and pull me up into a tight hug.

"Yesterday at Aidens familys get together. He has the pictures on his phone." I said with a shrug. Ok it wasn't a complete lie. We had gone to dinner last night at his parents and recreated the engagment so we had pictures for my family. His mom was more than happy to take several hundred photos it seemed.

"I get a daughter, grandchildren, a son and a husband all in one day? Dreams do come true."Margret says laughing.

The night gooes by quickly. Unfortunately to everyones dssapointment Teighlor, her family, and Adam hadn't been able to come. We all understood and I had at least skyped with Teighlor from my phone so that she could say hi to everyone. Aparently she had slipped on ice and broken her leg. Adam had been waiting out front of the house for her so he hadn't been able to catch her in time. My dad just encouraged her to heal up quickly and that she better come see him by spring. My parents cry at their gifts from Aiden and I. We had decided that they needed a proper honey moon so we arranged it for them to go to Hawaii for two weeks just like Margrets always wanted to. We had even contacted both their jobs. Dad owned his company so that was easy because all I had to do was tell Josh. Margret wasn't difficult either since she worked for Jessie. Of course there were also new photos of the twins. My dad and Margret had gotten Aiden and I gift cards like they did everyone because they weren't sure what to get for anyone. My parents got to feel the twins kick and were so excited. My dad almost cried again when we announced that I was pregnant with a boy and a girl. Margret did cry.

By the time the reception is over my legs are hurting and swollen and I am exhausted. Aiden had to carry me to the truck because I was too exhausted to move. Of course my parents constantly appologize to us and Aiden just laughs and reassures them that knowing me I would of gotten worn out one way or the other. I just glare at him sleepily for it. I tell my parents to have fun on their honey moon and that they better call us when they get there, when they leave and when they get home. Of course they promise. As Aiden drives us home I doze off in the truck thinking how lucky I really am to have such a loving dad and now a woman who I am proud to call my mother.