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Trinity
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Shortly after Juniper left, I had more visitors. This time it was from Mom, Dad, Noah, Nikki, Carter and Emmalee. The kids, like mine, were in school, so they weren't here for me to see them just yet. No worries, I would get to see them later.
“Trinity!” Carter called out to me. Having not been in the room to see me yesterday, he ran to my side and hugged me just like Juniper had. “Seriously, Trinity. I was so worried about you. How are you? Are you okay? Are the babies okay? Are you staying here for good now? You're not leaving again, are you? Please tell me that you're not leaving again.”
Carter had always been the closest to me growing up. He had always been like my best friend as well as my cousin turned brother. When I was little, he felt like the only person that I could talk to at times. I was glad that he was there with me then. And I was glad that he was here with me now.
“No, I'm not leaving again, Carter. I am staying right here. I am doing fine. I made it through the underworld and destroyed Hekate. And the babies are fine. They were with me when I was there. And Griffin already checked them out. They're doing just fine.” I did my best to reassure him and answer the questions that he had asked of me.
.....
“Good.” He sounded relieved. “And I can't fucking believe that you did that. How in the hell did you go to Hell? I mean, I have had it explained to me by a few different people. Noah, Reece, even Talia. But no matter what they say to me about it, I can't seem to comprehend it. I don't know how you actually got there.” I swear Carter's eyes looked like they were so filled with wonder and curiosity that he could have been an owl or something similar to that.
“Well, in truth, it was a freestanding magical door that the twins took me through. They were there to help me from the beginning.”
“Are you serious? So, you knew you were pregnant when you left? How come you didn't tell anyone else?”
“I didn't know, Carter. I found out while I was in the underworld. When I first saw the triplets, I thought they were imps.” That earned me some laughter from all of them.
“So, who do they look like? Or did they look like? Do you think that they will still look like that when they're born?” Emmalee was excitedly asking her questions.
“They looked like the spitting image of Reece. But when I first saw them, it was like my mind wasn't letting me see them clearly. Every time that I saw them though, they looked more and more like Reece and like children instead of some little devils.”
“That's hilarious. Well, we all know that Reece is a devil himself sometimes.” Noah laughed.
“Oh hush, Noah. That isn't funny.” Nikki smacked him on the arm. “I am so happy that you are back, Trinity. Now I can tell you all about our news.”
“What news?” I was confused. What was it they needed to tell me?
“Well, I found out right after Noah and the others got locked in the room by the magic. I just told him this last night myself. But, well, we're expecting again. We're going to have another baby that is due in the middle of April.”
“Really?” I was so excited for them. I was going to have another niece or nephew. That was going to be so wonderful. I couldn't wait to meet them. And once again, our kids were going to be close in age. I thought that this was the best thing in the world.
“Well, hell, maybe Emms and I need to try again. We all should have kids the same again so that Mom and Dad are all running around like crazy chickens again.” Carter laughed as he made his joke.
“Ha ha, you smart ass. I'll have you know, we loved it when all of you had kids around the same time. It was amazing seeing them grow up. And your father and I were not running around like chickens. You little jerk.” Mom smacked him on his arm a little harder than I thought she was going to. I heard how loud the thud was and was shocked that Carter didn't say that it hurt.
“I know, Mom, I was just joking.” He laughed again. “Seriously though, we've been thinking about it. But I don't know if now is the right time for us.”
“Have more when you're ready, Carter. There is no rush. I mean, you are literally immortal.” Dad tried to diffuse and encourage at the same time. He was stepping in and saying that whenever they had more was fine. That was the best advice I think that he could have given at the moment.
“Hey, Trinity, just so you know, we all missed you. All of us. There wasn't a day that went by that we weren't all texting, calling or visiting each other and trying to figure out how to help you. No one knew how to get you home though. It was next to impossible. At least, we thought that it was.” Dad was doing his best to soothe me now. I didn't want to tell him that Juniper had already made me feel better, so they didn't need to. In all honesty, I think that the ones that needed to be soothed now were them. They needed to heal and get better. And once they were better, once this emotional trauma had somewhat passed for all of them, then we could all move on with our lives.
“I am sorry that I worried you all. I didn't want to leave. And as soon as I was in that place, I wanted to come home immediately. But I couldn't. I couldn't get back. I was trapped. I was stuck there with no way out. The only thing that I could do was to move forward. Eventually, I found out what it was that I was there to do. I knew how I was going to get out, sort of. And so, I did what I was supposed to do. I went to the farthest depths of the underworld, the deepest, darkest abyss of Hell. And that was where I encountered the fallen Goddess, Hekate.”
“I still can't believe that she became a fucking dragon.” Noah was shaking his head. And not just any dragon, a Hydra. You did awesome though, Trinity. I can't believe that I can literally say that my sister is a dragon slayer. You killed an evil goddess dragon. That was seriously badass.” He was looking at me with reverence in his eyes. I think that he might be a little jealous that I was the one to kill the dragon and not him. I never thought that he would be that type, but I guess he was a man and that meant that he was going to act like a typical man at least a little bit.
“So, Trinity, do you know what you're going to name the boys?” Mom clapped her hands together with excitement and smiled at me.
“Noah didn't tell you? I gave them names in the underworld. I thought he would have told you what they were.”
“Nah, it wasn't my place to tell them. Reece and I agreed to let you be the one to share the names.”
“Awe, that was nice of you.” I smiled at him and the consideration that he and Reece had shown me. “Well then, yes, Mom. I have decided on their names. Would you like me to tell you?”
“No, I just asked you so that you could keep me in suspense until the day that they were born. Of course I want you to tell me, dammit. I want to know. I am a desperate Nona here.” I laughed at the over the top emotion that she was putting into that little speech of hers. It was funny to see the fake dramatics.
“All right, all right, keep your hair on. I will tell you.” I took a slow deep breath to draw out the suspense of the moment just a little bit longer. After about thirty seconds, just when I thought that her nerves and excitement were going to make her pop, I started to tell her the names. “Alright, the three boys will be named Zachary, Zander and Zayden.” I spoke the names slowly as if to drag them out but they got them soon enough and the joy spread across their faces.
“Those are awesome names.” Carter grinned at me.
“I love them.” Mom squealed. “I can't wait to see my three Zs.”
“I think those names are perfect, sweetheart.” Dad smiled at me.
“Way to go. They are good names.” Noah nodded at me.
“They really are perfect for triplets.” Emmalee was clapping her hands for me.
“They are the best.” Nikki smiled at me.
“Thanks.” I was a little embarrassed by their enthusiasm. “Do you want to feel them moving?” I had been feeling them move around all morning and right now they were especially active. Maybe because they heard their names or something. I don't know, but they were kicking up a storm in there. Already fighting and they weren't even born yet.
“Of course, I do.” Mom ran forward and put her hand on my belly right away. “Oh my goddess. They're moving so much. I haven't been able to see you too much because it was so hard, so I didn't see how big they were getting already.”
“This is so amazing.” Dad put his hand next to Mom's and felt them as well. “I am so proud of you, Trinity. Traversing the underworld, killing an evil goddess, protecting the babies, and saving the world. It's thanks to you that we're all still alive. I know that for a fact. And I couldn't be more proud of you.”
Slowly, they all put their hands somewhere on my belly and felt the babies. And they all told me how proud of me they were. It made me happy, but it also made me want to cry. I was getting way too much praise for what I had done, for what had happened.
Most of them would never know that, though. Not unless someone that was in the room watching or one of the ones that was there with me when it happened actually told someone else. I had a feeling though, that most of the people that knew what truly happened, wouldn't spread the news. They would keep my secret and let me tell it if and when I was ever ready for it.
