Chapter 586: Getting to know the babies_Part 1

Sebastian nodded his head. "The babies are here, I asked for them to be kept in here so you could see them when you woke up. They are in the crib." Saying that, Sebastian got up and walked to the crib with Viola’s eyes following him eagerly, the water forgotten in her grip, as he pushed the crib closer to her bed where she could easily reach out to hold them.

He lowered the sides of the crib, showing her the two little bundles sleeping in it, and her heart seemed to pause for a moment at the sight of her little ones, so much that she felt a prick at the back of her throat from relief. It was just a nightmare, and her babies were alive and fine.

Viola turned to drink the water first before reaching out to set the cup down on the nightstand, but even after setting the cup down, she didn’t reach to carry the babies. Instead, she moved closer to the crib to look at them and admire them. Though they had come from her, she had never held nor seen newborn babies before in her life, as she hadn’t been present when her adoptive mother gave birth.

She stared at them without daring to touch them, for fear of doing something wrong to them, and when she didn’t move for a long time, Sebastian, who was standing next to the crib, looked at her.

"Won’t you hold them?" He asked quietly, as he had thought she would be dying to hold them after asking for them the moment she woke up.

Viola spoke without looking away from them, "I don’t want to disturb them. I might hurt them if I hold them...I have never practiced holding a newborn." She said in a small voice, even though her hands were itching to hold her little babies and kiss them.

He sat next to her on the edge of the bed and said, "They are not as fragile as they look. I was afraid to hold them too, but Gilbert made me hold each of them against my bare chest. One of them was so hungry she tried to suck at my nipple." He said this with a chuckle that rumbled in his throat at the memory from an hour ago.

To be honest, he had been afraid of them, afraid of holding them wrong or doing the wrong thing. But the moment he had held each of his daughters against his chest, Sebastian had been overtaken and consumed by a tenderness unlike anything else. Though in the back of his mind there would always be that fear of failing as a father, it had been muted by holding them.

Viola chuckled a little at his words, but the reluctance in her laughter was still audible as her fingers tightened around her blue healing gown. "They must be hungry if they tried to suck on your nipple."

"They are. Gilbert said they were supposed to suckle from you because the first breast milk helps build their immunity and protects them from illnesses through its healing properties. However, since you weren’t awake, they had to be fed stored breast milk, which put them to sleep until you woke up," Sebastian explained, watching his babies over her head as he gave her time to come to terms with the fact that she was their mother and that she wouldn’t hurt them.

"Give it a try, amor. You are not going to hurt them." He encouraged her patiently, placing a hand against the small of her back and rubbing it in circles for reassurance.

Viola wiped her hands against her gown before reaching out with trembling fingers to carefully lift one of the babies. Her eyes grew glossy as she took in the tiny being in her arms. She was holding a newborn, her own child, and the realization made her emotional, her heart tightening with a tenderness she had never experienced before.

"Isn’t he adorable?" she whispered, gazing at the tiny pinkish face. The eyelids remained closed, and the little nose twitched faintly as her lips puckered into a tiny pout. One of the hands slipped free of the blanket, the miniature fingers curling into a loose fist before slowly unfurling again.

The baby shifted her head ever so slightly against her arm, letting out a soft, breathy sound that made Viola’s heart melt.

Wisps of silver hair peeked out from beneath the cap, and out of curiosity Viola gently pulled it off to reveal more of the silky strands. She brushed her fingertips hesitantly over the soft hair, barely daring to believe that this tiny, beautiful baby was hers.

"They are both she, amore. We had two girls." Sebastian told her as he stared at the babies in fascination too.

Her little mouth opened in a brief yawn, and her legs gave a faint wiggle beneath the blanket before she settled against her astonished mother once more.

He reached out to carry the other one from the crib just as Viola looked at him in surprise at their gender.

"They are girls?" She questioned, looking down at her daughter, feeling a fierce affection and protective instinct rising in her stomach, knowing things were bound to get hard once everyone knew this generation had girls rather than boys. She cuddled the baby to her breast.

"We have triplets, love. Two girls and a boy," he told her, sitting down next to her on the bed and holding one of his daughters in arms that trembled inwardly, as this was only the second time he had held the babies.

"Where is the third one?" Viola asked quietly, looking around.

She remembered the doctor announcing a third baby after she had delivered the first two, but she had been too exhausted to hold on and had passed out immediately after the third baby was delivered. However, she had thought she’d imagined it all and that there had never been a third baby.