Enchant the Night - Amanda Ashley Page 0,97
change places with you right now, I would! Ow!” She clutched his hand as another contraction threatened to tear her in half.
“One more good push,” the doctor said, “and you can hold your baby in your arms.”
Clinging to Quill’s hand, Callie screwed up her face and pushed.
A moment later, Quill watched his son slide into the world.
The doctor clamped the cord and gave the infant a gentle slap on the rump. And smiled when the boy let out a lusty wail of protest. As he handed the baby to the nurse, he glanced back at Callie, and frowned.
“What is it?” Quill asked, alarmed by the doctor’s worried expression and the way Callie seemed to still be pushing. “What’s wrong?”
With a shake of his head, the doctor did a quick examination and called for the nurse. “There’s another one!”
“What?” Quill stared at the doctor. “How is that possible, what with ultrasounds and everything?”
But the doctor was too busy to answer, and Quill could only watch in amazement as Callie delivered a second child.
“This one’s a girl,” the doctor said, clamping the cord.
“What?” Quill stared at the infant and then at the doctor. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve been delivering babies for nigh onto thirty years,” the doctor said, with a grin. “But if you don’t believe me, see for yourself.”
Quill shook his head as he stared at the tiny scrap of humanity in the doctor’s arms. A girl. It was impossible. His kind only sired males. Yet the proof was right in front of his eyes.
“They’re healthy?” Quill asked. “Both of them?”
“Amazingly so, for twins. Congratulations.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
Bending over the bed, Quill kissed Callie’s cheek. “I love you more than my life,” he whispered. “You’ve given me everything I ever wanted. And more.”
“Ditto,” she murmured just before her eyelids fluttered down and sleep carried her away.
* * *
Later, after the babies had been washed and weighed and wrapped in pink and blue blankets, Quill stood beside Callie’s bed, one of her hands clasped in both of his.
“A daughter,” Callie said, her voice filled with wonder. “How did we get a little girl? You said your kind could only produce male children.”
“I don’t know, love. I’m as shocked as you are.”
“Will she become a vampire, too?”
“I have no idea, but I think not. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” He glanced over his shoulder as Ava and his parents entered the room, their faces wreathed in smiles as they congratulated Quill and hugged Callie.
Ava went straight to the plastic bassinettes that held the infants. Cooing softly, she picked up the baby girl.
Quill hadn’t told his parents they had a granddaughter as well as a grandson because he’d wanted to see the looks on their faces when he told them the news.
They glanced at him now with mingled wonder and disbelief, then went to stand on either side of Callie’s grandmother, who had resumed her elderly persona.
Quill’s gaze narrowed as he looked at Ava. In her family, witchcraft passed only from grandmother to granddaughter. He didn’t know how she’d done it, what magical spell she had concocted, but he would have bet every dollar he owned that Ava had found a way to ensure that Callie’s magic would pass to their daughter.
Andras placed his fingertips on the tiny pink bundle in Ava’s arms as if to prove to himself that the infant was real. “I don’t believe it,” he said. “A girl child.”
“In thousands of years, it’s never happened before,” Mirella murmured.
Quill felt his heart swell with love for his son and daughter, and for the woman who had freely given him her love and her trust, chasing away centuries of loneliness.
“A girl.” Mirella shook her head. “It’s a miracle. May I hold her?”
Ava nodded. “Of course.”
Mirella blinked back tears of joy as a tiny finger curled around her own. “We’ve never had a baby girl in the family. I have a feeling she’s going to be spoiled rotten.”
“I guess she really is a miracle,” Quill murmured.
Looking up, he saw Ava watching him, a secret smile curving her lips.
“A miracle,” Quill repeated as he bent down to kiss the mother of his son. And his daughter. Truly, she had given him more than he’d ever dreamed of.
Please read on for a sneak preview
of a brand-new book in Amanda Ashley’s bestselling
Children of the Night series.
Night’s Illusion
Prologue
Father Giovanni Lanzoni strolled through the city park’s narrow, deserted, twisting paths. A brilliant yellow moon hung low in the sky, illuminating his way, though he needed no light