Together With You

Future

I woke to the light of the sun hitting my face. When I opened my eyes I saw Hunter laying next to me in bed staring at me. He was holding on to me and as soon as he noticed I was awake he smiled. 

“Good morning, Hunny. Were you watching me sleep?” I asked with a grin. 

He leaned closer to me and kissed my lips “Good morning Em, and yes I was.” he replied matter of factly. 

“Weirdo,” I said teasingly. This was something I was used to. Hunter had once told me that before we started dating and even after he would have a dream where we were older and he would wake up next to me in bed. Now he watches me sleep because he feels like he is still dreaming and is afraid of waking up.   

“What’s so weird about a man looking at his wife?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. We have been married for over a year now and I still can’t get used to the fact that we’re married. Hearing him call me his wife still makes my heart race and my face feel warm. 

Before I could reply we heard the sound of a baby crying followed soon after by a second cry. “Sounds like the babies are up too,” I whispered. 

“I’ll go get them,” said Hunter after giving me one more kiss. A few moments later he came back into the room cradling the two infants in his arms. He was humming trying to soothe them. But the two were determined to show him how strong their little lungs were. He gave me a defeated look before handing both of them to me.  As soon as he did the babies stopped crying. “Why do they always do that?” 

“Maybe they find your beard scary,” I offered, trying to suppress a laugh. Ever since we brought the babies home we noticed that they’ll cry whenever Hunter holds them and they’ll stop as soon as he hands them to me. Hunter started rubbing his face as if he was considering what I said. “Hunny, I’m kidding. They are only a few days old I think it’s normal they want to be with me.”

He considered what I said but he was still rubbing at his beard. It had taken him a long time to try to grow it and it did look good on him. “I’ll go get their bottles,” he mumbled before leaving the room. 

While he was gone I looked at the two infants in my arms. When I was told we would be having twins I was a bit disappointed at first. I didn’t want them to go through what Ed and I had to endure. Since we were little we were seen as if we were one person instead of individuals. I love Ed but I always hated that we had to be together just because we looked the same. Though my babies wouldn’t have to go through that. I was so relieved when I saw them after giving birth. They look nothing alike. Little Elira inherited my hair color but she has her father’s eyes, eyebrows, and nose. Little Caleb on the other hand has his father’s hair color, but he has my eyebrows and nose, he even has my beauty mark under the same eye, and surprisingly he inherited my mother’s blue eyes which I’m sure she’ll be happy about. 

“Okay, the bottles are ready,” said Hunter walking into the room. I looked up to thank him and saw that he had shaved off his beard.

“Hunny your beard,” I said surprised. He rubbed his now cleanly shaved face and smiled at me. 

“It’s worth a try, right? If it means I can hold our babies then it will be worth it,” he walked over and placed the bottles on the nightstand, and then he took Elira from me. “Hey, Eli what do you think about daddy's new look?”

We waited for a moment and surprisingly the baby didn’t cry. Hunter on the other hand looked like he was about to burst into tears. This was the first time since the babies were born that he’s been able to hold one without them crying. He handed Elira back to me and then took Caleb. Again we waited for a moment but there were no tears apart from the ones coming from Hunter. My pregnancy hadn’t been an easy one. The babies had come a bit earlier than anticipated and there were a few complications that meant that after they were born we had to be under medical observation for several days. Especially me. The healers had said there was a possibility I would not make it. So a member of the healing coven had been assigned to monitor my health. During that time Hunter didn’t allow anybody into our home to see us because both of our families had their own ideas on what needed to be done and he knew they would just start to argue. Even after we were out of the danger zone he had made sure everyone stayed away so that I had plenty of time to recover in peace.