“Rom, darling, we have twins!” sobbed Tanya into the phone. “They’re so tinyjust five and a half pounds eachbut they’re healthy, everythings fine!”
“I knew itd be twins from the scan,” Roman muttered. “Boys?”
“Yes, boys, theyre beautiful!” Tears of joy streamed down the young mothers face. At last, she held her children in her arms
Pregnancy had been an ordeal for Tanya. First, the father, Roman, had been against the idea entirely. They worked together at a small firmshe as an accountant, he as a driver. It wasnt some grand passion between them, just two young people spending too much time in each others company. Then, Roman had just broken off his engagement after catching his fiancée, Lydia, kissing their mutual friend, Alex, in his car. The wedding was cancelled, and Roman was desperate to forget. Tanya, a naïve twenty-year-old fresh out college, had been in the right place at the right time.
Shed never been the type to turn headsbright red hair that stuck out in every direction, freckles smattered across her face, and a stubborn bit of extra weight shed battled since school. Roman was her first real relationship, and shed thrown herself into it heart and soul.
At first, Roman kept their fling secret. Hed wait for her after work, avoiding public placeswalks by the river or hushed conversations in the park gazebo. But in their little town, whispers spread fast. Soon, everyone knew. Roman, out of spite for Lydia, spun tales of his burning love for Tanya. She believed every word, mistaking longing for truth.
Tanya came from the next village over, living with her elderly, unmarried aunt in a cramped flat. The aunt tolerated herbarelybut when she found the pregnancy test, she saw her chance to be rid of her. She even paid Romans mother, Martha, a visit.
Martha was stunned. “Son, youve got a fiancée now? And shes pregnant?”
Roman sputtered denials, but Martha wasnt fooled. “The whole towns talking! That girls aunt came asking about wedding plans!”
So Roman learned hed be a father.
“Why didnt you tell me?” he demanded when they met.
“I was scared,” Tanya whispered. “What if you didnt want the baby?”
Too late now. They married quietlyno grand ceremony, just a registry office and a modest dinner in his parents garden. Romans sister, Kate, sneered at Tanya. “How could you trade Lydia for *this*?”
Lydia, meanwhile, cornered Tanya in the supermarket. “No wonder Romans never home,” she smirked.
Tanya fled, pain searing through her. She didnt want to believe ituntil she overheard Roman confess to his mother: *”I dont love her. I only married her to spite Lydia.”*
That night, Tanya packed her bags. But Roman stopped her. “Stay. *Ill* go.”
He moved in with Lydia, but their life wasnt the fairy tale hed imagined. She expected luxury; he worked himself ragged. Meanwhile, Tanya blossomedslimmer, brighter, her freckles like gold dust under the sun.
Roman started visiting his sons every weekend. Lydia raged. “Go back to your wife, then!”
So he did.
One evening, he “went on a business trip”straight to Tanyas arms. Lydia, sensing the end, jetted off to Turkey with Alex.
As Roman carried his boxes back home, Tanya wept into his chest. His parents watched, smiling.
“Told you hed come back,” Martha said.
Lydia, lounging on a beach, slid a diamond onto her finger. “Loves overrated,” she mused.
Tanya, curled against Roman, thought otherwise. *Love saved us.*
Both women were right, in their own way.
