“I cannot help it.” He lifted her hand and kissed it slowly before putting their joined hands back onto the bed. “I almost never get to tell what I want to.”
“You can tell me now.” She whispered. He looked so haggard and tired that she wanted to take him in her arms and urge him to get some sleep.
“That you changed my life. That you have become the most important person in my life and that when I thought I was losing you; I did not want to live. That I have fallen headlong in love with you and never want to see my life without you in it.”
“And?” She prompted huskily.
“Isn’t that enough?” he asked her hoarsely.
“I don’t think so. I think you have left something out.”
“I want you to marry me and become Mrs. Gray Cox.”
She wrinkled her nose as she pretended to consider. “Shelby Cox? I am not feeling it.”
“Shelby!”
“I love you Gray and would love nothing better than to become your wife.” She told him huskily. “What took you so long?”
“I was a fool,” he blinked back the tears, cursing the emotions that was making him so damn weak! “A fool who almost lost the only woman he will ever love.”
“You are going to have to stop beating up on my man like that.” She pulled him down next to her. “Now it is time for you to get some sleep.”
“You are the one who should be sleeping.” He cradled her head on his shoulder and was pathetically glad to feel her warm body against his.
“I have been asleep for almost twenty-four hours. I am going to need you to close your eyes and get some rest.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said teasingly but he was already drifting off, his chin propped on her head.
Those were the last words he uttered before he succumbed to sleep, his breathing evened out, his arms tight around her as if he could not bear to let her go. A few minutes later she looked up as the doors were pushed open.
She lifted her hand and placed a finger on her lips as his uncle came in. “I forced him to get some sleep.” She whispered.
Benjamin stood at the bed and looked at his nephew. “He needed it. I tried to persuade him to go home and get some rest, shower and change but he refused. “He travelled for eleven hours and came straight here and has not closed his eyes for a minute. He has also not eaten.” He looked at the woman in Gray’s arms. “I guess love will do that to you.” He added with a faint smile. “How are you darling?”
“I am feeling great. How are the boys?”
“Still sleeping. I came in here to tell you guys that I am heading out to crash for several hours and get something decent to eat. Hospital food suck, no matter what they put on it.”
“Thanks, Ben.”
“You are my family and the only one I have.” He said with a shrug. “Has he proposed yet?”
“He did.” Shelby said with a smile.
“About time. The boys took your looks and hopefully your personality and strength. They are beautiful.”
“Thanks Ben. See you tomorrow?”
“Of course. Those boys got their hooks in me.” He saluted her and left the room.
She found it hard to move because he was holding her so tight but as he went deeper into sleep, his arms loosened so that she was able to move slightly out of his arms. She twisted her head and watched him sleep, noticing the deep grooves in his face, an indication that of what he had gone through earlier. His lashes with their blonde tips made shadows on his cheek, his face softened in sleep. He loved her! As sure as she was lying next to him, she knew that to be true. This handsome, powerful man was in love with her and ever since she had told him she was carrying his kids, he had been showing her, but she had been scared to see it. Too afraid that it was just because of her situation. For the first time in her life she felt as if she was part of a family and it was overwhelming! She blinked back the tears, determined not to let them fall. This was a happy moment and she was not going to ruin it with tears.
*****
He slept for the entire night and when he woke up the next morning it was to see her seated in one of the comfortable lounge chairs cradling one of the boys in his arms while Monica held the other and Shelby was breastfeeding him. She looked up as he sat up against the pillows. “Finally,” she told him with a grin. “I was beginning to think that you would never wake up.”
“I guess I was tired.” He said sheepishly. “Hi Monica.”
“You know my name.” She said foolishly.
“Shelby talks about you and Barbara a lot.” He swung his legs off the bed and put his shoes on before walking over to sit next to her. “He is a healthy feeder.” he murmured as he watched his son pulling her nipple into his mouth, his tiny fist against her breast. Monica got up and came over to hand his son to him.
“Thank you.”
“I will see you later.” She waved and hurried from the room.
“Now how do we tell them apart?” he asked as he peered down at the little boy in his arms and over at the one, she had.
“Anthony has a birthmark on his neck. See?” She pointed to the baby’s neck. Gray leaned over to look at it.
“Am I going to have to do that each time to tell them apart?”
“Until we get to know them, I guess.” Shelby said with a laugh as she eased the teat out of the baby’s mouth.
“You are already an expert.” he said in admiration. “Is Josh, already fed?”
“Yes, and the nurses are coming in to get them and put them back to sleep.” She looked up as they came into the room.
“Thank you,” she told them as they took the babies and waited until they had left and closed the doors.
“I am thinking of going home to take a shower and change and then come back.”
“Or you could get some more sleep.”
He shook his head and pulled her into his arms. “Not a chance.”
“You did not tell me that my mother came.”
He stiffened a little and shifted to look at her. “I did not get a chance to. She wants to make amends.”
“She was here, early this morning, asking if she could speak to me.”
He tilted her chin up to look at her. “Did she say anything to stress you?”
“No,” she ran a hand over his rough jaw. “I appreciate you wanting to slay dragons for me.”
“It’s what I do.” he told her lightly. “What did she say?”
“She apologized for years of misery and wants to make up for it.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her I would think about it,” She said with a shrug. “A few months ago, hell, even a month ago I would jump at the chance of hearing those words from her but now that I have you and the boys, it suddenly does not feel earth shattering. She is my mother and I love her in spite of everything, but I have a family now that means the world to me. She is going to have to prove herself to me.”
“Anything you want. I just do not want to see you hurt.”
“I get to go home tomorrow.”
“The doctor told you that?”
“Yep.’ She said with a grin. “I am sick to death of this room even though it looks like a room in a five-star hotel. I just want to go home and be in our bed and introduce our sons to their rooms that you were so painstakingly preparing.”