Stalemate by Dahlia Rose Page B

six pounds, ten ounces.” She came back with a baby wrapped in a matching delivering blanket and wearing a pink hat. “And we have baby girl Forte, weighing seven pounds, two ounces.”
    Bryce took them carefully and looked down at them. “Isa, they are so tiny and so perfect.”
    “I want to kiss them,” Isa pleaded.
    The nurse took her son so Bryce could hold up the baby to her face and she could press a kiss against the soft kin of her daughter’s cheek. She did the same to her son before the nurse made sure they all had matching coded armbands and took them to be examined.
    “Don’t worry, we won’t lose them,’ Dr. Allary said. “Later when you are settled in your room, they’ll bring the twins and you can breastfeed them.”
    “Okay,” Isa said.  “I’ll have a scar, still love me?”
    “That’s the most precious scar in the world, and I would love you regardless,” Bryce answered.
    Later, when she was in her room and she had eaten, the sunrise filtered through the blinds of her maternity suite. Bryce held their daughter and Isa held their son. She looked at Bryce and could tell he had a hard time looking away from the baby that slept peacefully in his arms. She felt the same way and caressed the soft cheek of her son with one finger. Isa laughed when the baby squirmed in her arms.
    “We can’t call them baby boy and girl Forte forever,” Bryce murmured.  “Any ideas on names?”
    “I actually do. I was looking up baby names before that Amanda weirdo arrived and was going to show you. I have no family to name them after and, even if I did, would I want to give them names of someone who gave me away? I want them to have their own identity. I was thinking A names. Ashley for a girl—”
    “And Avery for a boy,” Bryce finished.
    “How did you know?” Isa asked, surprised.
    “I looked at the site you had on the tablet, that and that crazy game you play,” Bryce replied. “I like them and they fit our children perfectly.”
    She looked down at the baby. “Avery and Ashley Forte.”
    “Sound’s very distinguished,” Bryce said with a grin.
    “Ready for a house full of dolls, crying, two o’ clock feedings, crayons on the walls, and baby proofing?” Isa asked.
    “Bring it on,” Bryce replied with a grin. “I love you, Isa. Don’t you ever forget it.”
    “I won’t if you won’t.”
    Ashley squirmed in Bryce’s arms and they did a quick change off so she could nurse her daughter. Hearing his sister’s cries, Avery began to fuss as well. Isa and Bryce looked at each other helplessly before grins spread across their faces. This would be their life from now on. Trying to keep up with twins and living a hectic life between his work and the rest of her time in the Navy.  Isa had no doubt that they’d meet any challenges head-on together. When you found the person who became your other half, the person who you loved more than anything in the world, it made the obstacles that looked like mountains as easy to climb as rolling hills.
    * * * *
    S even weeks later, Isa was looking out across the crystal blue water of Monaco from the bedroom balcony. She had a few more weeks of maternity leave left, but she tried not to think about it. Soon, she would be back to her nine-to-five and the twins would be with a nanny all day while she and Bryce were at work. She hated the thought of leaving them, but her sense of duty, her commission with the military, was also important to her. Bryce understood and he promised to go home as many times in the day as he could when that time came. He understood what it meant to be a military husband.
    Isa smiled at the word husband. It was one of the first things they’d done when they arrived in Monaco. Meeting Tawny—who was now officially Tricia—there, and Bryce’s father, they stood as their witness while she and Bryce became man and wife.
    His father was an older version of Bryce with laughing blue eyes and salt and pepper hair. He’d charmed Isa