Chapter 161 – Ethan POV
"Meeting Them"
I've had power. I've had wealth. I've had the kind of success most men only dream of.
But nothing—nothing—prepared me for this moment.
Two babies. Two tiny, soft, impossibly perfect humans lying in Amara's arms.
Our children.
A boy and a girl. My chest tightened as I watched her stroke their cheeks with trembling fingers. Her hair clung to her forehead, her eyes tired but glowing, and I realized I'd never seen her more beautiful.
I stood beside her bed like a statue, my arms aching to hold them but too terrified to try. What if I dropped one? What if I wasn't enough?
"You want to hold your daughter?" Amara asked softly, her voice like silk.
Daughter. The word echoed in my ears.
I nodded, speechless, and carefully reached for the small bundle wrapped in a pink blanket. She barely weighed anything, yet somehow she felt heavier than every burden I'd ever carried.
As soon as her tiny face pressed to my shirt, something cracked inside me. My throat burned. My vision blurred.
She stirred slightly, letting out a soft sigh, and I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"She's beautiful," I managed to say.
"She looks like you," Amara whispered, watching us both.
I looked down again. Her little lips were slightly parted. Her cheeks full. Her fists tucked up close. I couldn't believe she was real.
"I never thought I'd have this," I murmured, almost to myself.
Amara looked up at me. "What do you mean?"
I took a breath. "My parents are alive, yeah. But they're not… parents. I was raised by nannies and cold voices behind boardroom doors. No birthdays, no bedtime stories. Just rules and performance expectations. I thought… maybe this kind of life just wasn't for me."
Amara reached over and brushed her fingers down the baby's cheek. "But it is."
I looked down at our daughter, and for the first time in my life, I knew what home meant. It wasn't the penthouse, the cars, or the billion-dollar deals. It was this. Amara. Our babies.
Family.
"What about names?" she asked gently.
"I think you should choose," I said. "You did all the hard work."
Amara smiled. "I was thinking Aiden for the boy… and Alina for her."
I looked into the little girl's face again. "Aiden and Alina," I said slowly.
It felt right. Perfect.
"They sound like a pair already," I added, smiling for the first time in what felt like hours.
The nurse returned and helped Amara shift slightly, then offered to hand me our son. I hesitated, but Amara nodded. "Go on. You won't break him."
I held Aiden close, the pinky-sized fingers curling against my chest. He was even tinier than his sister, quieter, too.
"He's calm," I whispered.
"Like you," she said with a grin.
I laughed. "That's the first time anyone's said that."
We both fell silent, watching the babies slowly drift in and out of sleep.
"I don't know how to be a father," I admitted after a while. "Not really."
"You're already doing it," Amara said. "Loving them. Holding them. That's more than what you got."
I nodded slowly. "I want them to grow up knowing I'm always there. Not just funding their life—but living it with them."
"And they will," she promised.
Her confidence in me was a kind of strength I didn't know I needed.
Aiden gave a little yawn, and Alina made a face like she was about to cry, but didn't. I shifted them both gently, one in each arm, terrified and awed all over again.
"I still can't believe they're ours," I said.
"Neither can I," Amara murmured, her voice warm with exhaustion and wonder. "But they are."
I leaned over and kissed her forehead. "You gave me a life I didn't even know I was allowed to want."
"You gave it to yourself," she said, looking at me with tired eyes. "I just reminded you how much you deserve it."
Tears stung the back of my throat again.
"You're everything," I whispered. "You and them… you're my everything."
The room went quiet for a while. The babies breathed softly. Amara blinked slowly, her hand resting on my knee. And I just sat there, holding my son and daughter, unable to move. Not wanting to.
"They'll never feel what you felt growing up," she said. "That cold. That distance. You'll be different."
I nodded. "I already am."
A knock came at the door. Arya peeked in, then grinned. "Can I come say hi to the newest humans in the family?"
Amara beamed. "Of course."
Arya tiptoed inside like she was entering a sacred space. She looked at the babies, hands over her chest. "Oh my God. They're angels."
I smiled. "Meet Aiden and Alina."
"You picked names," Arya said, her eyes tearing up.
"We did," Amara replied softly.
Arya kissed Amara's head and then looked at me. "You're doing good, Ethan."
"Trying," I said.
"Don't try," she said. "Just love them. It's enough."
As Arya left, I turned back to Amara and found her eyes already fluttering closed.
"Sleep," I whispered. "I've got them."
She gave me the smallest smile before slipping into rest.
I looked down at my children again.
Aiden moved in his sleep, and Alina made a squeaky noise that made my heart swell.
They were everything my childhood lacked. And everything I'd spend the rest of my life protecting.
Not because I had to.
But because I wanted to.
Because they were mine.
And I was finally theirs.