Maxwell heard Helen's breathing quicken.
"Oh, Helen! Did you think I'd stop? Ian won't remember that. He's still too little." He said and bit her ear slowly. "Didn't you want me, Helen? Didn't you tell my wife that you loved me?"
"I'm sorry, master." Her voice became strained.
"I believe you, Helen. But you must be careful what you wish for."
"Will you let me go? I promise I'll never tell anyone what..."
"Psst! You know you'll never leave, Helen." He said and pushed her away.
She seemed relieved that he hadn't done what he always did to her.
"Maybe I'll let you go. I'm not a dog to bite bones." He said, referring to her thinness.
"Forgive me, master."
"You'd better start feeding yourself..."
"How many times do I have to tell you not to play with your food, Max?"
He turned and saw the young woman, with silky, glossy black hair and blue eyes, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed and a smile on her lips.
"What are you doing here?" Maxwell asked, getting up and approaching her, kissing her cheek.
"I've come to see my grandson." She said and looked at Ian. "Come and hug your grandmother."
Ian let go of the toy and threw himself into her arms.
"Mom, you mustn't come. Anna might see you and..."
"I heard when she fell asleep." She said as she played complicitly with Ian. "You're the most charming little wolf in the world. I don't even feel like killing you..." She said to Ian, who held her face with his two small hands and kissed her lip quickly.
She put him down and looked at Helen.
"Isn't he being good to you, darling?"
Helen looked at Ian, feeling like hugging him to protect herself from the two monsters.
"Mom! You'd better go. Anna's awake and Henry's coming."
"Yes. But I've come to ask you something."
"Make it quick."
"May I come and live here? I can be Helen and..."
"No, Mom. You can't be her. I use her to... You know."
"You can do that with so many people... There are so many humans here."
"Do you think my children will fly away when they're born? Don't worry, Meredith hasn't detected wings on them yet."
She looked at him mysteriously.
"Okay, but when the time comes, I'll come here."
When the time comes, Mom. Not a minute before.
"All right, master." She said debauchedly and disappeared before Helen's eyes, just as Henry walked through the door.
...
Anna woke up and thought about her worries. She feared that Maxwell would distance himself from Ian because of his other children. After all, as much as he hated to be reminded that Ian wasn't born of him, Adam was the real father of his firstborn.
She got up and went into the living room. Her father was there and suddenly, she was sure. She remembered everything that had happened in those months and discovered happily that she had been wrong. Maxwell loved Ian and would never neglect fatherhood.
The events of the last few months flashed through her memory as she looked at everyone there.
Maxwell had bought Ian a motorcycle as a birthday present, but would only deliver it on the day of the party, which he had prepared and planned without her help, as she was indisposed. And nobody acted like that if they didn't love the other person. He took Ian for walks in the city park, to socialize with other children, whenever he had a break.
Anna's father was delighted, and took it upon himself to plan the party for his grandchildren, which Anna would reveal would be the arrival of three more children.
Anna continued her studies, and two weeks before the party, she distributed invitations to her university friends.
With the help of a new ultrasound, Meredith had revealed the sex of the babies. The univitellines were both boys, and the bivitelline was a girl.
Maxwell wanted to put the girl in a separate room from the boys, but Anna wouldn't allow it.
He thought she would feel better knowing that her brothers were always close by. When she was older, they would think about it again.
And the party went off without a hitch. Everyone congratulated them and Anna's father was the most moved of all those present.
Maxwell's mothers also attended, they were returning from a trip to Ireland, so no one followed them to the mansion, even though they knew it was surrounded by all kinds of security.
Anna liked them, as she got to know Suzy on a deeper level and the three of them shared the same hatred for Allister, and Anna realized that Adam and Maxwell were more physically similar to their father. They were kind, and promised that they would participate in the lives of the four grandchildren. They only brought presents for Ian, as they didn't yet know that they would have more grandchildren.
Maxwell was happy to see that his mothers got on well with his wife. And that day was one of his favorite since he found out he was going to be a dad again.
The babies were born on Anna's twentieth birthday. That scared her. She was only twenty years old and already the mother of four children. This pregnancy was very different from her first, because she didn't have to worry about lack of food or being cold. She didn't feel any pain either, as the birth was a caesarean section. She went to hospital feeling nothing.
When she was released to go home with her babies, her mothers-in-law, her father, Jenna, Beth, and Helen with Ian in her arms, were waiting to welcome her. She was happy to see them, but her tiredness overcame her good manners, and she went to bed, and slept a sound sleep, as if she had not slept for days.
In fact, she wasn't totally sleepless. But her sleeps were like naps. She was worried about her children, because they had to stay in the incubator for a few days to gain weight. She was discharged, but refused to leave without them. So her sleep was delayed.
A few more days passed and she began her routine of going to school and then to work. Her children were well looked after by her father and mother-in-law, who now lived in the mansion too. Besides them, there were the nannies. Anna approved of every one of them. She was proud of Maxwell for choosing well.