Present day

I’d never been so nervous in my life than that moment,” Tomas admits.

“Hey, you needed a little torture after what you put me through, ditching me like that,” I counter.

“What’s that American expression? I was ‘shitting blocks.’”

I laugh quietly under my breath, turning around to make sure Marika and Mimi were still asleep. “Shitting bricks.”

“Ano. Shitting bricks. I could say the same about the day the girls were born.”

I sigh. “Oh yeah. That day, I could’ve shit an entire apartment building.”

*  *  * Lucy

Lenox Hill Hospital

New York, NY

Maternity Ward

Five years ago

“Oh my God!”

“Luciana…”

“Are you fucking kidding me with this?”

“Please, darling…”

“You are not touching me EVER AGAIN! And if you come near me with another ice chip, I’ll shove it up your ass!”

They weren’t kidding. Giving birth to a child really does feel like you’re pushing a watermelon out of your vagina. And it’s not just one baby. I’m in labor with two babies. TWO. I’m really paying for something I’ve done in a past life, like maybe being one of the people who contributed to lighting Joan of Arc’s pyre.

When my ob/gyn first detected the two heartbeats during one of my ultrasounds, Tomas and I started crying from the happy news. The sounds of them were so strong, beating almost in tandem, and we joked saying we knew they were our kids since they seemed so in tempo and Tomas and I were opera singers. But then we left the appointment, and that’s when the panic set in. Two kids. At once. We barely said a word to each other on the way back to my house. We were in total shock. But then we told my parents, and they were over the moon for us, so excited at the prospect of two grandkids at the same time. They started saying how they’d help out any way they could with babysitting, midnight feedings, all of it. Hearing all that calmed us down, knowing that we weren’t on our own.

Finally, the contraction is subsiding. I’ve got needles poking me everywhere and two fetal monitors sitting on my belly like some giant seat belts with the extensions. I look hideous.

But God bless Tomas. Despite the perspiration on my face and clamping onto his hand with a death-like grip, he keeps reassuring me that I look beautiful, telling me how much he loves me. And hearing him say all that in his smooth Czech accent doesn’t hurt either.

I take a deep relaxing breath as he leans in and wipes my forehead with a wet cloth, cooling me instantly.

“You’re doing so well, my love.”

I smile weakly at him. “You’re a good liar, Tomas Novotny. I almost bought that. It’s too bad my vag is going to be so blown out after this that you’ll be able to drive a Mack truck through it.”

He shakes his head and leans in to kiss me when one of the fetal monitors starts beeping like crazy and alarms go off. We both look over at the screen and the steady number that was there before is now plummeting, the heart symbol next to it flashing over and over.

“Oh God, what’s happening?” I shout.

Within seconds, two nurses and my ob/gyn, Doctor Gretchen Avery, rush into my room. Gretchen is a petite brunette who’s always calm and collected, which is good for a drama queen like me. When she sees the heart rate on the monitor and then checks my belly, she starts ordering commands to the nurses to prep me and an OR for a C-section.

She turns to me. I know she can see the terror in my eyes and Tomas’s. “Luciana, one of the babies is in fetal distress and we need to get both of them out now. Everything will be okay. Let’s go!”

Before I know what’s happening, I’m being assisted onto a gurney and the locks are released as I’m wheeled away. “Tomas!” I call out for him.

“It’s okay, honey. They’re just getting him ready for the OR. You’ll see him before you know it,” one of the nurses at my side reassures me.

I’m pushed through a set of double doors, bright lights blinding me from overhead. Activity swirls around me. A drape is drawn across my chest, obscuring the view of my belly. I just want Tomas. I need to hear his smooth accent comforting me, telling me everything will be fine. I also need to tell him something.

Finally, he’s there, leaning over me. All I can see are his beautiful blue eyes because he’s wearing a surgical mask.

“I’m here, my love,” he says to comfort me, taking my hand.

I start to cry. “Tomas, I didn’t mean it. I was joking. I want our babies. I don’t care anymore. I just want them to be okay.”

He leans in closer to me, his forehead pressing mine. “I know you were joking. It’s going to be fine.”

“Okay, Luciana, here we go,” Dr. Avery announces from behind the drape.

Thanks to the epidural, I don’t feel any pain. Just something being dragged across my belly, then pulling. Lots of pulling.

“And here’s baby girl number one!” she shouts.

Then the loud cries of our baby fill the room, and Tomas and I start to cry with her.

“Let me see!” I shout.

Tomas is now standing. “She’s beautiful,” he whispers breathlessly, as if he’s never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

A nurse brings her over and gently places her on my chest. “Hi, gorgeous,” I cry, holding my head up so I can kiss her and Tomas can take a quick picture with his phone of baby and me and then the three of us.

Just as quickly as she’s taken away, Dr. Avery announces, “Okay, here’s baby number two! Another beauty!”

And another set of crying bounces off the tiled walls of the OR. “Another girl,” Tomas says as he kisses my forehead.

Our second daughter is placed into his arms. He eases closer to me so I can see her and kiss her again just like I did her sister. Tomas takes another round of photos, and Baby One is brought back over so Tomas can hold both, leaning into me with them so a nurse can take a picture of my new family altogether as one.

The nurse then puts down Tomas’s phone and carefully takes our daughters from his arms with another nurse’s help. “Let’s get them cleaned up. I promise you’ll see them very soon.”

“Everything looks good, Luciana,” Dr. Avery’s voice informs me. “I see lots of babies in your future.”

I know Tomas is smiling behind his mask, his eyes wet with emotion. “Do you hear that, darling? Lots of babies.”

Tears stream down my face with no signs of stopping. “I can’t wait.”

EPILOGUE

Northern Italy

Present day

Tomas looks into the rearview mirror. I know he’s looking at the twins. “And they really are okay.”

I smile, checking on them myself. “They’re perfect. Crazy but perfect.”

He takes my hand and kisses my knuckles. “Just like us.”

“It’s hereditary.”

My husband lets out a laugh when something catches his eye. “Holiday Inn in ten kilometers.”

I glance out the window and sure enough, there’s a sign for a Holiday Inn with its familiar logo. “Oh, thank God,” I exhale.

On the outskirts of Turin, we finally exit and pull up to the motel. Tomas pops out to ask about a vacancy. I keep my eyes on him, and when he finally turns around, he signals to me with a thumbs-up. “Yes!” I whisper triumphantly to myself, my tired head falling back onto the headrest.

I watch as he pulls out his wallet and passport, tucks everything into his back pocket, and comes back out with a key card, handing it to me. We drive the car to a space just outside our ground-floor room and carry the girls in, laying them down on one of the double beds. Tomas heads back out to collect our bags and lock the car.

I collapse onto the other bed, exhaling a deep breath. I hear the door open, glancing over as Tomas carries in our luggage. I give out a huge yawn. “I’m so exhausted.”