was a massive, sprawling room that would easily be big enough to accommodate the triplets as they grew. Lucas and Elise settled them into their cribs. They stood looking down at the babies, their arms around one another.
“They’re perfect,” Elise said softly. “Everything is perfect.”
Lucas nodded. “I’m going to run out to the car and bring their things inside,” he said. “Will you be all right?”
Elise nodded. “We’re fine,” she said. “Hurry back, though.”
He squeezed her gently, then left.
Elise looked down at the babies. Marco and Sofia had settled down to sleep, but Angelo was awake, kicking and waving his fists at the ceiling. She lifted him into her arms and crossed the floor to the rocking chair Lucas had purchased for her. From here, she could look out over the yard. The property was magnificent, and it made for a wonderful view.
She rocked Angelo slowly, imagining what it would be like for the children to grow up there. Elise had never felt that her own life was lacking anything. She had been perfectly happy in her parents’ small house, running around their tiny backyard with her childhood friends. But the property their house stood on now was enormous. It stretched so far into the distance that Elise wasn’t sure where it stopped.
We’ll have to establish boundaries, she thought. I won’t be able to stand it if they’re just running wild around a yard this big. I won’t know where they are.
Then she had to laugh at herself. Her mother had warned her to expect this. “It’ll make you feel crazy to be separated from them at first,” she’d said. “It’ll feel like losing a limb.”
She remembered the way her parents had worried and protested when she had planned to go to Rome on her own. Looking down at Angelo in her arms, she couldn’t imagine how she would stay sane if he ever wanted to go to a foreign country all by himself. She couldn’t even deal with the idea of him playing in his own backyard!
I’ll get used to it, she told herself. It will start to feel more normal. This must be what all mothers go through. They learn to let their children go.
Elise closed her eyes and leaned back, relishing the way it felt to hold Angelo against her. She was thankful that she wouldn’t have to worry about letting him go for a long time.
Lucas came back into the room, lugging the bag from the hospital that was filled with baby supplies. He deposited it on the changing table and then came over to stand beside the rocking chair.
“How are you?” he asked gently, resting a hand on Elise’s shoulder.
“Tired,” she said. “Nervous. Happy.”
“Can I get you anything?”
“We’re all right,” she said. She looked up at him. “Do you need to check in with work?”
“Nope,” Lucas said. “Paternity leave.”
“I know,” Elise said. “But I thought you might want to make sure everything’s going all right. You’ve been on leave for the past week, but you’ve still been checking in.”
“That’s just because I wanted to make sure they were set up to run things without me,” Lucas said. “Just because I’m the CEO doesn’t mean I want the company to be dependent on me for every little thing. Now I know that they’re equipped to handle whatever might happen over the next six weeks until I go back to work. So no, I don’t need to check in.”
“And you’re sure they’re not going to get mad?” Elise said. “I wouldn’t want to see this turn into another Quadra-Well situation.”
“It won’t,” Lucas said. “I may still be working with a pharmaceutical company, but it’s completely different in nature. They actually value their team members’ personal lives.” He grinned. “My father would hate it if he knew.”
“I won’t tell him,” Elise said with a smile.
“And that means I’m able to spend the next six weeks thinking about nothing but you and these babies.”
“What about me?” Elise asked.
“What about you?”
“Well, we’ve never talked about the idea of me working,” she said. “Before I moved in here with you, it was always my plan to find a job once the babies were old enough to be without me for eight hours a day. My parents were going to watch them so that I could go back to work.”
“Is that what you want?” Lucas asked. “To go back to work?”
“I feel like I should.”
“Well, you don’t have to,” Lucas said. “If you want to, you certainly can. But we have more