Chapter 59

“Push Cassia! Push!” My grandmother brushed the hair out of her eyes with her forearm as she instructed me.

Groaning, I pushed with all my might. Gritting my teeth together so hard I thought they’d break, I used every amount of strength I had left in my body to bringing my little girl into the world.

“Good, Cassia, one more!”

Taking in a huge breath, I held it and gave one last final push. Finally, I felt something move out of me. Relief consumed me as I breathed heavily.

“My baby! Let me see her!” I exclaimed holding my arms wide toward my grandmother.

She’d wrapped her in a shawl, bundled up in fabric cocoon. Grandmother stood before me, her face sad and filled with despair.

Placing her in my arms, I realized she wasn’t breathing. I immediately looked to my grandmother and began crying. “What’s wrong with her?!”

Grandmother only shook her head.

Holding her close to me, I looked at her tiny features. Her perfect little nose and mouth, her eyes, closed. Her chest, unmoving.

“Why?” I had no words for the sorrow I felt. A pain like I’d never known attached itself to my heart.

Suddenly, I was assaulted by another wave of contractions. Quickly handing my baby to grandmother, I felt the overwhelming desire to again…push.

“What’s happening?!” I yelled and grunted as I tried to push into the pressure in my womb.

Shock eclipsed grandmother’s face as she uttered. “There is…another!”

After a few minutes, yet another baby slid out of me. Grandmother gasped, drawing my attention to the newborn in her arms.

“A boy?!” I exclaimed. I had no idea there was two.

“Oh my god! Two! That’s what the dream meant. Roman numeral II! Gemini! Twins!” I laughed like a crazy person as the epiphany settled in.

Grandmother forced a smile but still, her face was sad.

“What’s wrong?” The little boy, now wrapped in a piece of fabric torn from my grandmother’s skirt, lie still in her arms.

Glancing over at Keanu’s broken body propped against the wall of the cave, I sobbed with a wonderful realization.

Twins…Keanu is a twin.

He was the father; I knew it in my heart.

With both of my children now born, a strange calm overcame me. Glancing down at my chest, I watched in awe as my birthmark—the white star—began to pulsate with an effervescent light.

Looking up, my eyes met with my grandmother’s. She was crying as she handed me my babies. Her eyes told me she knew this was the last time we’d see one another.

Admiring the faces of my offspring, I felt an odd sensation come over me. The pulsing in my chest grew and the light emanating from me was dazzling.

My breath sped up for only a moment and then stopped forever.

I then felt a release—I was out.