‘I WAS only joking when I made that rash remark about carrying your camera equipment for you when they wheeled you into the delivery room.’ Sin frowned worriedly as he sat beside the bed where Luccy lay briefly at rest after a contraction.
Luccy gave him a reassuring smile. ‘How was I to know the twins would decide they wanted to be born earlier than expected?’
Twins.
They had learnt when they had attended the first scan that Luccy was expecting, not one baby, but two. It had been a shock, but not an unpleasant one.
But they certainly hadn’t expected Luccy to go into labour at only thirty-six weeks. Luccy had actually been out on the last photographic shoot she had scheduled before the birth when she’d telephoned Sin and asked him to come and get her. And quickly, if he didn’t want to miss the birth!
‘I hate seeing you in pain!’ Sin looked very pale, his eyes dark with worry, lines of strain beside his nose and mouth.
They had been married for five and a half months now. Five and a half months of absolute bliss, when their love for each other had just grown stronger and stronger. And Sin had been right about his family; they did love her.
Luccy gave Sin’s hand a squeeze. ‘It’s going to be fine,’ she reassured him huskily.
He shook his head. ‘I would never have put you through this if I had realised how much pain you were going to be in!’
She gave him a teasing look. ‘I don’t think either you or I had much choice in the matter, remember?’
Sin looked down at her searchingly. ‘Do you regret—?’
‘I don’t regret a single thing, Sin,’ she interrupted him firmly. ‘Not one single moment of our life together.’
‘If anything should happen to you—’
‘It isn’t going to,’ she promised softly. ‘Really, Sin. A couple of hours, and you’ll forget about all of this.’
‘A couple of hours!’ Sin almost went green at the thought.
‘You’ll see.’ She nodded, her fingers tightening about his as she felt the beginning of another contraction. ‘Uh oh, here we go again!’
Sin wasn’t sure how he survived the next gut-wrenching hour, let alone Luccy, as there was nothing more he could do than hold her hand and watch as she writhed with pain. He certainly loved Luccy too much to ever put her through this again! It was the most excruciating, heart-aching—
‘Your daughter, Mr Sinclair.’
Sin looked down dazedly at the blanket-wrapped bundle that was placed into his arms while Luccy and the doctor and nurses concentrated on bringing his son into the world too.
The baby looked so tiny, so fragile, so absolutely beautiful! She had Luccy’s black hair, with a soft creamy brow, the silkiest lashes resting against her rounded cheek, a button of a nose, and a tiny rosebud of a mouth.
‘Oh…’ Sin gave the softest of gasps as those silky lashes swept upwards and he found himself falling in love for the second time in his life as looked into deep blue eyes.
His daughter.
Luccy and Sin’s daughter.
Claudia Anne. Claudia for Sin’s mother. Anne for Luccy’s.
‘And your son.’ Only minutes later the midwife stood beside him holding out a second bundle.
Sin shifted Claudia slightly in his arms to accommodate her brother.
Another shock of dark hair, a creamy soft brow, button nose and tiny rosebud mouth, but this time the baby’s eyes were already open and looking up at him.
Sin’s heart melted completely as he looked down at his son.
Luccy and Sin’s son.
Jacob Henry Sinclair.
Jacob for Sin’s father and grandfather, Henry for Luccy’s.
‘Feeling better now?’
Sin gave a choked laugh as he turned to look at a tired but obviously ecstatically happy Luccy. ‘Am I feeling better?’ He stood up to place Claudia into her waiting arms. ‘Meet our daughter, my love.’
Luccy looked down at the tiny but perfect baby she held in her arms. ‘She’s so beautiful, Sin,’ she choked.
‘And our son.’ Sin placed Jacob in her other arm. ‘Thank you, Luccy.’ He gazed lovingly at his family.
Luccy looked up to return his smile. ‘Thank you.’
‘I love you.’
‘I love you, too.’
It was all that mattered.
All that would ever matter…