Symphony No. 2 in D Major: I. Allegro William Herschel.

7 months later

Aiden climbed the stairs with haste, impatient to see his wife. His business in London had settled faster than he thought, and he hadn't warned Amalia he would arrive two days earlier. Ten days apart were plenty enough, and he was eager to be reunited with her. It was about nine in the evening, and he expected to find her with a book in their bed.

Without knocking, he opened the door to their chambers and smiled when he found her in her chaste nightgown, reading a book with a green cover. Distractedly, she lifted her eyes from her pages, and her face lightened up when she saw him. Throwing her book to the side, she pushed the covers away and ran to him, throwing herself into his embrace. With her arms wrapped around his frame, she held him tight, her cheek on his chest. He had barely had time to lock the door, and her eagerness made him laugh as he pressed her against him and kissed her hair. God, how he'd missed her.

She lifted her face, as greedy as he was, and he gave her a hungry kiss. With remarkable strength, she pulled him in, ravenous for more. Well, it was great to see he wasn't the only one finding ten days to be too long.

With a laugh, he grabbed her bottom to lift her. Her legs wrapped around his hips, her ankles crossed on his back, and he carried her to the bed. He laid her there and moved back to undress. Rising on her elbows, she shamelessly peered at him while he removed his clothes. When he was finally naked, he bent to kiss her and explore her over her nightgown.

One of his hands traveled to her front and gently touched the curve of her stomach, marveling at the changes of her pregnant body. According to the physician, she was well into her fourth month now. Since they already had two incredible girls, they were strongly hoping for a boy this time.

"How is my son?" he asked. She smiled and pressed her hand over his.

"He has been behaving well since you left. We are officially done with the morning sickness. It hasn't happened once since you left."

"That's a good boy. And how is my wife?"

"She missed her husband," she answered, pulling him down for more kisses.

Enjoying the taste of her, he let his hands roam over her soft curves, reveling in the moment. She protested when he ripped himself away from her lips, but he ignored her, kissing his way down to the curve of her stomach. After grazing the bump lovingly, he whispered something to the little one developing in her womb.

"What are you telling him?" she asked, both intrigued and amused.

"I was telling the baby I would also be ecstatic if it turned out to be a girl."

After a few seconds of silence, her eyes watered. But he didn't let it worry him. He had learned it was a side effect of her pregnancy. She was overly sensitive. Amorous, she pulled him in for a kiss as he hiked up her nightgown, impatient to feel her shatter against his tongue. He'd dearly missed her taste, and he couldn't wait to sample it again.

The sound of someone trying to open the door made them both freeze.

"What is it?" Amalia shouted when the intruder wouldn't give up. The small voice of one of their daughters answered.

"The tree is doing it again."

Aiden growled as he let his head down on Amalia's chest while she sighed. There was a branch near the twins' window that had grown too large, and every time the weather was windy, it would screech on the glass and scare them. The old oak that had been so handy in the past was turning into a burden.

"I thought you were supposed to ask the gardener to take care of it before you left for London," Amalia scolded him before unceremoniously pushing him away from her.

He grabbed his breeches and slipped them on while she went to the door. She waited for him to put on his shirt as well and unlocked the wooden panel. Ailia and Maeve entered, adorably sleepy in their white nightgowns. When they saw Aiden was back, they bolted toward him.

"Papa!" they yelled together, jumping in his arms. He hugged them tightly and flooded them with kisses. He'd missed them terribly. It had taken some time for them to fully grasp what everything meant, and about a month to start officially calling him daddy or papa.

As it turned out, the blood pact was proving to be efficient. The twins hadn't spoken of their secret to anyone, which reassured them. So, for now, they had decided to enjoy their good fortune while it lasted.

After one last kiss on their head, Aiden left them for a moment, in need of quick ablutions and a change of clothes. When he came back, his three women were settled in the bed, the girls in the middle and Amalia on her side. There was just enough room left for him. With a broad smile, quite amused by the situation, he joined the trio.

It was now the sixth time the tree had made the twins come in their bed, and it was on purpose that Aiden had delayed the trimming. He enjoyed these moments. Amalia was too smart to be duped by his failure to give instructions to the gardener. As a matter of fact, Aiden had ordered the man not to touch the branch until he would tell him otherwise.

They exchanged a knowing look over their daughters, and he muttered, "I love you." She grinned, and before she could respond, Maeve interrupted.

"Mommy, can you tell us a story?"

"Which one do you want?" The girls looked at each other and tried to think of a good one. Suddenly, Ailia had an epiphany.

"The one with the girl who could spit fire!"

Maeve nodded with enthusiasm, adding, "Oh, yes! And the prince!"

Looking at them with surprise, Amalia hesitated. "I haven't told you that one in over a year. I didn't think you remembered it."

"We do. Well, not all of it. And we didn't like it very much, because it doesn't have a nice ending."

Aiden begged to disagree. This story had a splendid ending.

"Very well," Amalia agreed. "But this time, it has a nice ending." Excited, the girls wiggled until they found a comfortable position and Aiden leaned on his elbow to watch his wife tell the story.

"Once upon a time, there was a girl who could spit fire. She was a proud pirate, and her father was the king of pirates. One day, she was spitting fire in the streets for a few pennies, when she met a handsome Prince. The Prince, despite all his friends, all his riches, and all his adventures, was bored.

"However, when he saw the fire-spitting girl, he decided he must learn her art. He invited her to his beautiful castle so she could teach him. But you see, my darlings, the girl had to be very careful, for if her father found out, he and his people would rob the castle, stealing all the marvels it held."

"Was the castle as pretty as this one?" Ailia wondered.

"It was exactly like this one. For weeks, the pirate girl tried to teach the Prince how to spit fire as she did. Little by little, it worked, even though the Prince never reached the level of the girl," she added, teasingly looking at Aiden. "As the Prince's skills were growing, something else was developing too. You see, the Prince and the girl fell in love. But they couldn't be together, for they didn't belong to the same world.

"The father of the Prince, the King of the realm, hated Pirates, and the father of the girl, the King of the pirates, hated the Prince and his family. Nevertheless, the Prince and the girl swore to each other an eternal love, a love that would last through the decades and never fade." She paused, and Aiden noticed the tears that welled up in her eyes. Reaching for her hand, he held it to help settle her mind down.

"One day, even though no one knew about their secret love, the Prince's father, the King, decided to banish all the pirates from his land. Offended to be chased from their camp, the pirates retaliated by robbing the castle. In a hurry, they escaped to a faraway land. They forced the fire-spitting girl to go with them, giving her no choice. She cried for days, doomed to never to see her handsome Prince again.

"What she didn't know then, was that her prince had given her the greatest gift of all. You see, my loves, he had left her with two little angels. These angels were bound to her, and they would watch over her. Because of the Prince's parting gift, she would never forget him and stay strong." As she finished her sentence, she kissed their daughters' foreheads.

"This is where the story ends," Maeve mumbled, half asleep.

"Not anymore, angel," Amalia answered. "The girl, being a pirate, kept moving around, with her angels protecting her. One day, their travels brought them back to the Prince's realm. What the fire-spitting girl didn't know was that the Prince never stopped thinking about her. He never stopped loving her despite the years. One afternoon, a long time after they had been separated, the Prince found her wandering in his land. For his father had passed, and he was now the King.

"When he saw the girl and her angels, he left them no choice but to join him. He demanded they come to live in his castle. It had been so long, the pirate princess had almost forgotten she loved him with all her heart. She was reluctant to share her two angels with him, even though he had been the one who gave them to her. After much negotiation, she finally accepted his demand, and they all moved to his castle." She squeezed Aiden's hand, offering him a warm smile.

"It took some time for them to know each other again, because so much time had passed, but the love they had sworn to each other was greater than any obstacle. Before long, all four of them, the fire-spitting girl, the prince, and the two angels, were living a lovely life in their castle, with more angels to come and watch over them."

The girls were nearly asleep, and Amalia gently grazed their foreheads, brushing away the small strands of dark hair from their faces.

"This story sounds a little like ours," Maeve mumbled.

"Yes, but we don't know a pirate girl who can spit fire," Ailia agreed.

Aiden offered her a very amused glance over the sleepy forms of the twins. "It does sound familiar, doesn't it?"

"It kind of does, yes..."

He watched as she bent forward to whisper wishes of sweet dreams into her daughters' ears. When she looked up at him again, he was struck by the overwhelming tenderness in her eyes. Carefully, he leaned over the sleeping girls to press his lips on hers.

After a soft, almost chaste exchange, his eyes met hers again. "I love you, my spitfire."

A small giggle rolled in her chest, and she returned his affectionate grin. "I love you, my prince."

Her eyes then fell on the girls, and Aiden watched too as they slept soundly. Their two little angels. With a hand, he grazed her stomach gently, impatient to meet the third one, who would soon join their small family.

It was super cheesy, I know, but sometimes some cheesy in needed. Go to the next chapter, there is some important information in there!

I wanted to conclude the story with a cheerful, happy tune, so here we go, for a lovely piece with some festive melodies: Symphony No. 2 in D Major: I. Allegro, by William Herschel.