Martina POV“We are going to sleep over here.” Riley declared when their father told them to pack up so they could retire to their house across the street.“Yeah, daddy. Uncle M is here with his babies with Aunt Martina.” Brixx seconded.“Daddy R is also here with Aunt Hanna and Rohan Joy. We can’t leave.” Mason declared.Noah could only scratch his head at times like this.“We are going to miss playing with our cousins,” Riley added, enough for their father to relent.“Okay, but Mommy and I will go home
Martina POVMarcus made love to me gently, and tears blurred my eyes. When we finished, he gathered me close to his chest while both our gaze shifted to our twins who lay peacefully in the cot Briana ordered for them. “Why are you crying?” He asked. He raised his torso a little higher to better check my reaction. “I am just overflowing with happiness.” “Me, too.” Sleep comes easily now that we don’t have anything to worry about.We are together and on our way to building the family we both wanted. The next morning, I was surprised to find the twins in bed with us. Their cot was connected to the bed, and they crawled between us.They were facing Marcus while their backs were to me. “Dada!”“Dada!”They kept hitting Marcus’ face when he did not wake up.Macy turned her head to look in my direction, and I quickly closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep. “Mama. Mama.” She hit my face lightly with her palm, but I did not open my eyes, wanting to know what they would do next. Ma
Marcus POVI saw the hesitation on Martina’s face, and I realized I mishandled things.“Goldstone, can you please give us a minute.”I did not wait for Anthony’s reply. I pulled Martina to her feet and brought her back to our room.I made a signal to Marie, and she understood. She will take care of the twins while we are gone.“I am sorry.”I told Martina when the door to our room closed.She bit her lip.
Marcus POVMy eyes widened in surprise. Martina pre-empted me. That should have been me kneeling on the floor, proposing marriage to her, not the other way around. But instead of pulling her up, I kneeled before her.If I can’t beat her, then I must join her.Martina’s eyes widened when I pulled a box out of my pants pocket. “Since I have the ring, let me do this properly, love.” I opened the box to take out the diamond solitaire ring.“I bought this in Europe two years ago.” Martina’s eyes flared in wonder while she lapped up my words. She opened her mouth to comment, but I put my index finger to shut her up. “Yeah, we were divorced by then. But when I saw this ring, I could not help thinking that this should belong to you. I bought it with you in mind.” Martina teared up at my confession.She bit her lip, trying to choke back a sob, but failed miserably. She was openly crying now. Her face contorted in regret. Despite that, she was still the most beautiful woman I had ev
Marcus POVMy brothers started to make a racket. They kept chanting, “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”Briana’s twins kept crying, “Gross!”They would try to cover their eyes with their fingers, but you could see that they were peeping from the gaps between their fingers, waiting for me to kiss Martina before groaning.“Ewww!”“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” My brothers continued to chant.Their hecklings put a frown on my son and daughter’s face, but after a while, with a lot of prodding from their older cousins, joined in the merriment.They abandoned their toys and stood from their playpen, hands on its padded fence for balance.They were jumping, more like bouncing on their feet in time to the claps made by my notoriously troublesome brothers.Martina shyly covered her face with her palms.She was blushi
Martina POVAfter our impromptu wedding at the mansion Marcus purchased from Briana, and the breakfast we shared with his family in the garden area, the Ford siblings started to split, claiming they had appointments or plans for the day.Briana was the last to leave.“We’ll go ahead. The triplets have school, and Elijah is getting fussy.” Brina explained.She kissed Marcus on the cheeks, then the twins. When she neared me, Briana gave me a warm hug.“Welcome to the family, Martina. One day, let’s have coffee and chat.” She patted my back.
Martina POVMarcus’ one-month leave flew by swiftly. Today was his first day back at the office. After a heated lovemaking, I sighed and rolled out of his embrace.“Why the long sigh? Do you want me to file another leave of absence?” Marcus abandoned the comforter when he turned to his side to face me.The appalling suggestion made me turn around and go face-to-face with his naked chest. I gulped. “Rosewood Hotel will go bankrupt if you skip another day. Go to work, Marcus!” I pressed my palms to his chest to push him away when he inched closer, snaking his arms around me. The heat of his body sent tingles up my spine. “We are rich. We won’t go poor just because I don’t want to work.” Marcus groaned when I evaded his grasp and sat up on the bed. But that was a wrong move. Now, my naked body was fully exposed to his lustful eyes. Immediately, my hands gripped the ends of the comforter to wrap it around my body. “Why so shy? I’ve seen your body countless times, love.” His com
Martina POVMarcus’ face contorted when he saw Macy struggling in my arms, her little arms stretched toward him, wanting to be held.“Daddy’s leaving. Say bye-bye.” I urged her, but my little girl was adamant.She was reaching out to her father like he was her lifeline.“Macy, Daddy will be back. He’s just going to work.”“No. Daddy. Don’t leave.” She cried.I had not realized that she had become more attached to Marcus.Yesterday, she was not this cl
Speechless! This word best describes what I was feeling right now. Do you know that you were amazing readers? Yes, you who stayed with me until this page. When I first started writing this story, I had so many trepidations. I did not think I would be able to pull this through. First, it has a little similarity to my previous novel, Billionaire Ex Wants Me Back, but my editor believed so much in my draft that she encouraged me to consider doing this. (My heartfelt thanks to Lyra Pinter, who had been a constant source of support.)My feeling of uncertainty magnified when I received so many attacks when the story was first published. Too many detractors lashed out at my characters that I had a hard time concentrating.I know what I wanted to do, but the first people who were vocal about the story did not give me enough encouragement. They did not give my characters a chance to redeem themselves as the story progresses. Fear grips me everytime I face the blank screen of my computer
Briana’s POVThe soul always knows how to heal itself. I had often heard that phrase before but it was never more gratingly obvious til now. After I volunteered to be Charles and Jenna’s surrogate, I had not counted on the pain the act would invariably inflict on me. At the start, it was all too easy. For 40 weeks, I would be carrying their baby in my womb, and that was it. Jenna and Charles will have that baby they desperately wanted. Of course, Noah and I submitted to counseling before I did this, but I never expected that when the time came that I had to turn over baby Amira to her parents, it would hit me so hard. I had not counted on how my self-sacrifice would backfire on me. It hurts so much. I was so heartbroken when I realized that Amira would no longer be a part of my life. Noah took me to several sessions of counseling, and with his support, I was able to get past the hurt and accept that Amira was not mine.The rest of the family helped. My brothers hovered over me
Hello my loves, Jenna and Charles’ story was one of the most painful stories I had written so far. It was because I had to dig up long-forgotten events in my life.But I had to do it for you to be able to understand the motives behind Jenna and Charles’ actions and the pain they invariably inflicted on each other. Jenna and Charles were both non confrontational. They keep things in stride and hope for the best, but sometimes even with the best intentions, our pain could not lay hidden for too long. It needed to be addressed and voiced out, not because you wanted to lash out at your partner or give them the same pain they were giving you.Sometimes, our silence is our cry for help. Or it was a way to protect ourselves. We retreated into the inner recesses of our soul to find solace and comfort because the people we expected to comfort and provide solace for us could not hear our cry for help.But all’s well that ends well. Am glad for those people who had requested me to do a story
Charles POVOne year later…I was standing behind the french windows of the room I was occupying at the Rosewood Hotel, eyes looking outside toward my wife.This past year was a crazy one.Just as Briana predicted, Jenna and I barely had time for ourselves. The kids were growing, and they were beautiful to watch.Jenna’s laugh made its way to where I was.As I watched Jenna play with our children, I could not help comparing her to a rose in bloom.I could not help feeling proud of the changes in her.&nb
Charles POVWe placed our babies in a customized baby carrier that could fit the four of them, and Jenna and I walked out of the suite that had been our temporary home for the past month.At the lobby, we looked like we were on a parade with our nannies in tow and bodyguards, but that’s a small price to pay for the security and safety of my family.“Jenna! Charles!” Beth called out to us.We stopped when we neared her.“Where are your kids?” I asked after she and Jenna hugged each other.I learned this past month that Beth chose to be a stay-at-home m
Charles POVThe next day, our other two babies were born one after the other.Jenna and I were also there to witness everything and become part of our children’s birth.Jenna’s eyes were puffy when she held our two other newborns in her arms. She had been crying nonstop since yesterday because it still had not sunk in that she was a mom of four babies.When we visited Briana, she and Jenna had a long talk.Briana was smiling, but I could see that she was at a loss when it was time to take the baby away from her.I realized that this ordeal put a lot of strain on
Charles POVThe phone in the delivery room rang, and a nurse went to answer it.“Dr. Martin, it’s delivery room 2.” She said from across the room, allowing us to hear.Dr. Martin went to answer it. Her face was serious when she placed the phone back in its cradle.Then, she turned her head back to her medical team.“Are you still up for another delivery?” She asked her team.Their high spirits rubbed off on Jenna and me. We were smiling when they shouted, of course.
Charles POVIt was a crazy day.We were having a meeting when I heard that Briana had been rushed to the hospital.“Brie is having our baby,” I told my brothers and friend after I dropped the call.It was Jenna. She, Noah, and Biana were already in the hospital because Briana's water broke.My face contorted as emotions I could not name assailed.A mix of fear, excitement, nervousness, worry, and happiness barraged me.Briana, my baby sister, was going to deliver my and Jenna's baby right now. 
Jenna POVThe days quickly passed by.Though we did not talk about it, it seemed as if Charles and I were in tacit agreement to take things slow concerning our careers and concentrate more on each other.We go out of town and do things we had never done before as a couple.It was marvelous.“It’s good that you spend more time with each other because I tell you, once the four babies arrive, you won’t get even a wink of sleep,” Briana told me when I came to her house that afternoon to catch up and to check on her.It’s the baby’s