[ELARA'S POV]
Six weeks postpartum with Alexander and I'd forgotten what sleep felt like.
Not because he was a bad baby. He was actually easier than Julian had been. Slept in three-hour stretches. Ate well. Barely cried.
But I had three kids. Three. And Patricia couldn't be here twenty-four seven. And Marguerite needed her own life. And Damian was back to working more than he'd like.
So I was drowning again. But in a different way. A manageable way. A this-is-my-life-now way.
"Mama, I hungry." Isla appeared at six am. She was two and a half. Capable of climbing out of her crib. Demanding food like a tiny dictator.
"Okay baby. Let me just..." I was nursing Alexander. "Give me five minutes."
Julian started crying from his room. Ten months old. Wanted out of his crib. Wanted breakfast. Wanted everything.
"Damian!" I called. Desperate.
He appeared. Hair messy. Shirtless. Sweatpants slung low. He'd been up with Alexander at three am. Got maybe two hours of sleep.
