I was too shocked to say anything—their bodies fit together seamlessly—so instead I just nodded at him and smiled back like I agreed, while my insides screamed at what he was suggesting. I didn’t want to be married to Kate too. A sob worked its way up my throat, and I choked it back down. But then he’d have to choose, and there was no way I could compete with what I saw in front of me. Nobody could.

KATE

THEN

I cuddled her next to my naked chest, breathing in the smell of hair. We’d named her Shiloh. Her name meant his gift and fit her perfectly. She was perfect. Everything about her. I’d been so nervous for labor after what had happened with Bekah, but I had kept telling myself that my body would remember what to do, since it’d done it before. It had been the most excruciating pain of my life, but I couldn’t even remember the feelings as she lay resting on top of me, exhausted from her trip to earth.

Margo threw back the canvas of the birthing tent and poked her head in. She tried to move through without getting stuck, but the awkwardness of her eight-month-old belly made it difficult, and we burst out laughing at how ridiculous she looked. Her turn was coming soon.

It had taken her a long time to adjust to her pregnancy, since she hadn’t wanted to lie with Abner. She’d denied his initial requests three different times, committed to Will. But then one morning she surprised us all by announcing she’d changed her mind. She told me privately later that Will had asked her to, saying God had told him to allow it. They’d only done it that one time. But that was all it had taken. For a while, we had wondered if it might be Will’s, but they had confessed to practicing abstinence within their partnership. They had said it helped them focus on the spiritual and not get distracted by the carnal pleasures of the flesh.

She’d been with me since the first pangs of labor and had held my other leg while I had pushed. Even though she’d never had a child of her own, she had been guided by unbelievable maternal intuition and our experience with Bekah. I’d focused on her and drawn from her inner strength to get me through. She’d only stepped out to go to the bathroom after she’d helped clean us up. Abner had followed her. He’d sat outside the tent while I labored, preferring to be in deep meditation. His face broke into a wide grin at the sight of us.

“There you are. My two beautiful brides,” he said.

Margo spun around. “What did you say?” she asked, wide eyed.