Toria returned to Cyprus the day after the event.
Their parents and Maureen left soon enough as well.
The excitement of the discovery got Reyona in a frenzy for the next few days as she wanted everything to be perfect for her babies upon their arrival.
She was glad that she still didn't know their genders yet, but the fact that she had two lives growing inside her was more than she could have ever hoped for.
For eight years, she had tamped down her needs for a family just because of a man who was not worth it.
Her thirtieth birthday had been marred by the realisation that she was growing older.
She was even beginning to think that she might never be able to change the mind of the man she had thought was her lifelong partner.
She had pushed aside all that she had ever wanted, all for someone she shouldn't have ever given the time of the day.
She would probably have gone all her life not fulfilling the dreams she had always had as a child.
To have a family of her own.
She had always wanted a big family.
It had been something that had been ingrained at the back of her mind as a single, reserved child who had to tiptoe, so her parents would not know she was hearing them argue.
Even when they separated and Toria was born, Reyona had mostly had Grams as her closest family.
As a result, she had always dreamed of a table laden with food while her husband and her many children would be eating the food she had prepared with love.
After that, she and her husband would lay curled in each other's arms as they watched their kids secure in the love of a stable home while they went about their antics.
The number of children always varied from time to time.
Yet the least had always been four.
As Reyona thought of the twins on the way and the two beautiful children who were already her children in her heart, she couldn't help but beam at the fortune that had been bestowed upon her.
"Who could have thought?"
As if on cue, she heard his voice from outside the door. "Babe, where are you?"
"In here," she said as she awaited his entrance through the currently opened door.
"Please, tell me you are not… Reyona," he called urgently when he saw her perched on the lower rung of the stepladder trying to reach the upper part of the wall.
"What?" she said innocently when he rushed to her and lifted her off the stool.
Automatically, the paintbrush in her hand stained his back. "Oops," she said with a grin as he set her down.
"I told you that I would get those when I get back. You should just do the down part. Or nothing at all. That is what the chair is for" he said in an exasperated tone.
"Hey, I was sitting, but then I thought, what will you tell them when they ask which part of the room you painted? So, I…" her laughter stopped her from continuing as his eyes narrowed. "I… I…had to do something." she ended in a muffled tone as he collected the brush from her hand and dumped it in the can.
Then he carried her again and took her out of the room.
He didn't stop until he got to the back porch and set her down in one of the chairs. Then he raised her legs onto the closest chair before he went back towards the door they came out through and pressed the intercom buzzer.
Reyona smiled as she heard him say "Get me some fruit mix, some nourishing drink and everything you know will be good for her and the babies."
She tried to keep her grin off her face as he turned to her with that grumpy look still on his face.
She failed woefully.
All it took was his first statement before she started beaming again. She realised she tended to do that a lot these days.
Smile for no reason.
"This is how you should be," he started. "Eat, sleep, rest, and relax while you let me and the staff do the necessary things around here."
"I would go crazy," she said with an unapologetic shrug. "I would probably start pulling at my hair and I would start howling at night." his small smile made her tilt her head in contemplation. "By the way, I have a business to run too. I can't always stay in bed."
He took one of the chairs closer and sat facing her."You have employees. Delegate."
"I have done that. I still have to do something," she said and smiled as he placed his hand on her protruding belly.
He had always wanted to feel the babies kick since she had told him, but just as if they were toying with him, her babies had not kicked again since that day.
She was almost wondering if she had imagined that moment.
Yet she knew it wasn't imagined. She had felt them.
When they asked the doctor if it was normal not to feel anything again after an initial kick, she said it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Babies mostly get very active in the third trimester.
It was normal for there to be minimal to no movement in the first and second trimesters.
Spaced movement was not unheard of either.
Moreover, pregnancies varied and there were no rigid rules as to how it would be for everyone.
"What matters is that the babies are doing very well" she had said.
Reyona wished they could kick again though.
If only so, she could share the feeling with this doting man and capture the expression on his face when it happened.
To be filed away with the many facets of his expression in her mind's eyes.
It seemed she lived for those moments now.
The thousand different ways he could look at her when they were alone.
The myriad of ways he could reel her in, no matter the distance between them.
The way he could make her feel like the most beautiful being that had ever graced the surface of the earth with his touch, words and actions.
Reyona had never believed that it was possible to love one person in different ways, yet she found herself falling more and more in love with him every single day.
The more she allowed herself to open up to him, the more she knew more of him.
He was smiling at the moment, yet she knew it.
He was worried about something.
Was this about her climbing the stepladder?
He had wanted to get the Rohan Group decorating company to do the design and decoration of the nursery but Reyona had insisted that they needed to make it more personal by working on it themselves.
He had convinced her with the argument that none of them knew much about decorating, but then he had agreed that they could do the painting while the professionals handled all other things.
"How hard can it be?" had been their motivation as they started the day before.
They made a mess at first, but they got the hang of things.
He had insisted on one thing though.
That she shouldn't climb the stepladder.
When he stepped out to make a call, she had tried out the stepladder to get a rise out of him.
But then she had stayed at the down part.
Had she gone too far? She knew he was worried about her but…
"I just need you to be careful, okay?" he said as he held her hands gently.
"What is going on?" she asked immediately.
"I just need you to get all the rest you need, you know. You will need your energy for…"
"No, not that," Reyona said impatiently. "I mean, what is wrong? Is this about…?"
The staff arrived with the refreshments he asked for.