“Tayden and Hayden, huh?” Zac grinned. “I never would have guessed you two to be the cutesy, rhyming name type,” he mused as he rocked his newest and youngest nephew in his arms.

I rolled my eyes. “We’re not. I was half out of it and my nerves were on edge, so it didn’t really cross my mind that they’re names rhymed,” I explained and I pushed my hair away from my face and over my shoulder. “And we’re calling him Eli or Elijah, not Hayden, Mr. Smarty Pants,” I added.

“So, is she going by her middle name too?” Angelina asked as she cradled Tayden gently in her arms.

“No, we’re going to call her Tayden,” I replied.

“What’s her middle name again?” Zac asked curiously.

“Jorryn,” I replied.

Zac gave me a look and shook his head. “Why can’t you and Taylor ever name your kids anything normal?” he asked.

“Because they’re not normal, sweetie,” Angelina replied with a grin.

I turned and glared at her. “I thought you were supposed to be on my side,” I commented.

Angelina shrugged and smiled down at the sleeping baby in her arms.

“So, when are the two of you planning on having kids?” I asked, looking from Angelina to Zac.

Zac stared at me wide eyed with his mouth hanging open. Neither of them had officially said that they were together again, but it was pretty much a given. They had been spending more than a fair share of their time with each other. At first it had been because they needed someone to help them get over the whole ordeal with Autumn, Allie, and Seth, but from what Heaven had been telling me, Zac had been staying over quite a bit lately, and Angelina had been acting extremely giddy, which Heaven informed me meant that she ‘had been getting laid.’

“Don’t look at me like that,” I said. “I know there’s something going on with the two of you, and I think it’s about time you went to the alter, Zachary,” I smirked before turning to Angelina. “And isn’t it about time for you to walk down the aisle?”

“Eden, shut up!” Angelina blushed as she looked away. I simply laughed as Taylor walked into the room with Saffie balanced on his hip and holding Zeke’s hand with his free hand and Hannah trailing close behind.

Taylor smiled and said, “Hey.” As soon as Taylor let go of Zeke’s hand, Zeke hurried over to the bed.

“Mommy,” he exclaimed as he struggled a moment to get up on the bed before Taylor came over and lifted him up. Zeke wrapped his arms around my neck, and I hugged him back.

“He missed you last night,” Taylor commented as he sat down in the chair beside Angelina.

“Aw, I missed you too, sweetie,” I said, kissing Zeke’s forehead gently as Taylor nudged Angelina and held out his arms to take his daughter into his arms.

“Taylor’s such a baby hog,” Angelina pouted as she carefully placed Tayden in Taylor’s arms.

“Only until we get home and the two o’clock feeding rolls around,” I commented sarcastically. “Then he’s all about letting other people take care of things.”

Taylor opened his mouth to reply but quickly shut his mouth when he realized that he had no comeback.

“You better have your ass out of bed helping her this time,” Angelina commented. “Two babies means that both parents are going to be up all hours of the night.”

“I know, I know,” Taylor nodded. “I’m tired already from thinking about it.”

I simply smiled. “Did you get that other crib set up?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Took all morning too,” he added. “But Hannah helped. Didn’t you, sweetie?”

Hannah nodded proudly from her seat beside Zac. She was busy keeping a watchful eye on her newest brother.

--

A few days later Eli, Tayden, and I were all released from the hospital with a clean bill of health. At first I was a little apprehensive about taking Tayden home. She was so much smaller than the other kids, and I was worried that she wasn’t quite strong enough yet, but the doctor assured me that she was perfectly fine.

When we arrived home, Diana, Walker, and the rest of family greeted us. I didn’t really want all those people around. I really wanted to just try to get settled in and let it sink in that I had given birth to twins, but I knew that everyone was just trying to be helpful.

Diana and Jessica had gone shopping to pick up a few extra things since we were only prepared for one new addition to the family, and after Taylor set up the second crib, they had quickly made up the other bed.

I still couldn’t believe that the doctor had never noticed that there was another baby inside of me, but somehow it made me a feel a tiny bit better about gaining so much weight. My excuse was that I was eating for three instead of just two.

I watched as everyone scurried around the house. Everyone was doting on Eli and Tayden. I couldn’t help but smile. Bringing them home felt just like it had with Hannah, Zeke, and Saffie. I knew that everyone was going to love Eli and Tayden no matter what, but I couldn’t seem to shake the nagging at the back of my mind. I had noticed right away that neither Tayden nor Eli looked like their siblings did when they were born.

Taylor hadn’t said anything, but I knew that he had noticed too. Hannah, Zeke, and Saffie had looked just like him when they were born. Everyone had made that comment, but this time around, no one uttered a word about who they looked like.

While everyone was taking their turn at holding the twins, I took Saffie and Zeke and put them down for a nap. I sort of felt worried about taking on two more children. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to give them each the attention that they needed. I sighed softly as I watched Zeke sleep. His tiny chest rose and fell at a steady beat. I couldn’t help but notice how much he looked like Taylor. Everyone always said that he was the spitting image of his father.

My chin began to quiver and I felt my eyes burn. I bit my bottom lip as the tears began to fall. I didn’t know what I was going to do if Tayden and Eli didn’t belong to Taylor. Taylor said that it didn’t matter and maybe for him and me, it wouldn’t matter. But what about Tayden and Eli? What would we do if it turned out that Seth was their father? I couldn’t tell them that I was raped, so how could I ever explain that to them without hurting them?

I jumped when I heard the door to Zeke’s bedroom creak. I looked over my shoulder and saw Tracie carrying Ryan into the room. He was fast asleep with his head lying on her shoulder. I wiped away my tears and stood up.

“Mind if I lay him down in here?” she asked.

“No, not at all,” I smiled as she walked over to the bed and carefully laid Ryan down beside his cousin.

“So, how are you feeling?” Tracie asked as she stood up.

“Oh, like a train wreck,” I confessed mildly.

“Give me a few months and I’ll be feeling the same way,” Tracie nodded as she ran her hand of her slightly swollen belly. “Of course, I won’t be pushing out two babies.”

“You never know. You could get into the delivery room and the doctor might find an extra baby in there,” I said.

Tracie smiled slightly. “Who knows? I suppose it could happen. You never know with this family,” she commented.

“Ain’t that the truth,” I sighed. “I just hope I can handle this surprise,” I commented.

“Eden,” Tracie said, placing her hand gently on my shoulder. “You’ve been through hell and back and then some, but you’ve always come out on top. I have no doubt that you’ll be able to handle this. Besides, I can’t even begin to explain how envious I am of you right now. You have two new beautiful babies. And I can’t help but feel like maybe Tayden was an extra special gift for the whole family. We’ve all been through so much, and now there’s this beautiful little miracle baby that surprised and scared us all at once that was brought into this family for a reason. I’m not trying to say that she’s here to replace the baby that I lost, but I think that God sent us something extra special,” she said as her eyes watered.

“I think you’re right,” I nodded as I pulled her into a hug.

Later that night after everyone had gone, Taylor and I tucked Tayden and Eli into their beds before heading to our room.

“Oh, what a day,” I sighed as I collapsed onto the bed. “When do I get that pedicure?”

Taylor laughed and shook his head as he sat down on the bed and kicked off his shoes. “I don’t know, but I think I might tag along and get one for myself. Or at a least nice foot massage,” he said, yawning as he moved his head from side to side to relief some of the tension.

“How long to you think we have before one of them wakes up?” I asked yawning.

“Oh, maybe an hour,” he said as he pulled off his shirt and fell back on the bed with his head resting on my leg.

I nodded in agreement as I laid back against my pillows.

“So, how are you feeling, baby?” Taylor asked, turning his head to look up at me.

“Tired, but I’ll get used to that,” I replied.

“Yeah, me too,” he yawned.

“Stop yawning,” I said as I started to yawn. “You’re making me even more tired than I already am.”

“Sorry,” he said, smiling lazily.

“S’ok,” I whispered as I combed my fingers through his silky hair absentmindedly. I watched as his eyes fluttered shut as I gently massaged his scalp. I couldn’t help but admire his beauty. People had always said that Taylor was a beautiful man, and many times I had found myself watching him and realizing how right they were.

Sometimes it was so hard for me to even remember a time that I didn’t love him. We had had a lot of bad times, but we had always managed to pull through. And all in all, Taylor was an amazing man. But sometimes I had to ask myself why he would love me because I felt so unworthy.

I could still remember how amazing he looked on our first date. He seemed so perfect to me. And we had a nice conversation about our family and some other things. I had thought that he was so wonderful – until we got drunk and slept together, that is.

“Tay?” I said softly.

“Hmm?” he responded as his eyes opened just enough for me to see a hint of blue.

“What did you think of me when we went on our first date?” I asked curiously.

He opened his eyes completely at my question and turned to his side so that I could fully see his face.

“Well,” he began. “I thought you were beautiful.”

“Shut up,” I interrupted, rolling my eyes.

“Hey, do you mind?” he said. “I’m trying to answer your question.”

I rolled my eyes slightly and waved my hand. “Excuse me, please continue,” I said with a slight smile.

“Like I said, I thought you were beautiful,” he continued with a thoughtful look. “Now I have to confess that I couldn’t completely remember what you looked liked at the club because I was a little trashed when I first met you, so when you opened the door and I saw you clearly for the first time, I was kind of caught off guard.” He paused a moment. “I thought you had an amazing smile, and you’re eyes … damn, I love your eyes. And you were really quiet at first – like you didn’t know what to say to me. I was used to that, but I figured before long you’d start gushing about how much you loved Hanson or something, but you never did. And I had a real conversation with you. It was nice – really nice. So, I liked you – a lot. Then I took you to that stupid party …” he said, looking away quickly.

“Hey,” I said, sitting up and using my hand to gently turn his head until his eyes met mine. “I’m glad you took me to that party. If you hadn’t, then we never would have had Hannah, and I wouldn’t give her up for anything in the world.”

“Me either,” Taylor smiled softly. “I guess I just wish that I would have done things differently,” he said. “I wanted to ask you out again. I really did, but I didn’t think you’d go out with me again after I blew you off the morning after … you probably think I’m so full of shit right now …”

“No,” I said quickly. “I don’t. I might not have before, but … I read Audrey’s diary the day that Tayden and Eli were born, and she wrote in it that you told her that you were thinking about asking me out again.”

Taylor’s eyes widened. “You read her diary? All of it?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “There’s some pretty intense stuff in there,” I replied.

“Oh, yeah?” he questioned.

“She was so far gone, Tay,” I said, shaking my head. “She actually wrote about how she planned to kill me. Then she was going to comfort you and somehow you were magically going to fall in love with her ... And the minute I married you, she out to get me.”

“Sometimes I still can’t believe all the stuff she did,” Taylor commented. “I thought I knew her …”

“So did I,” I said, taking his hand in mine and intertwining my fingers with his. “Maybe you should read it. She had some pretty intense feelings for you - even before I came along.”

“Why wouldn’t she have told me if she had feelings for me?” Taylor said, looking into my eyes.

“Did you have feelings for her?” I asked curiously.

“No, not like that,” he said, shaking his head. “God, I can’t help but think that if she would have just told me how she felt about me, none of this would have happened. I could have told her that I didn’t feel the same way about her, and then she never would have tried to hurt you …”

“Tay, you don’t know what she would have done if you told her that you didn’t feel the same way about her,” I pointed out. “Who knows? It might have only made things worse. I’m just happy that it’s over.”

“Yeah, me too,” Taylor nodded. “Now we can move on with our lives.”

“Actually,” I said softly. “There’s one more thing that we need to do.”

“What’s that?” Taylor asked.

“Have a paternity test,” I replied.

“You really want to know?” he asked uncertainly.

I nodded. “I think we owe it to ourselves and Eli and Tayden to know for sure,” I answered. “I mean, if Seth is their father, then we’re going to have to figure out what to tell them when they’re older. It’s only fair.”

Taylor was quiet for a while before finally nodding his head. “You’re right,” he agreed as the sound of a baby crying poured through the baby monitor.