The journey through North America continued, but the weather had taken a drastic and brutal turn. They had left behind the cold winds and historic cities to venture into the sweltering, humid state of Florida. Their destination: the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.
Aurelian had a very clear plan for the day. If his long-term master plan was to extract all the magic from Earth and take it to the stars, he needed to understand firsthand how aerospace engineering worked. And as it happened, on that very day, NASA had scheduled the launch of a rocket that would carry into orbit another module of what would, in the near future, form the International Space Station.
However, the weather wasn't cooperating. It was hot—a hellish, suffocating, and sticky heat. If Florida summers were already hot to begin with, that particular day felt like walking inside an oven set to maximum temperature.
To combat the heat, the girls had had to ditch their usual robes. Flora was wearing a beautiful, loose-fitting light blue summer dress, while Hestia wore an identical one but in a refreshing shade of light green. Both had donned enormous, elegant wide-brimmed hats to protect their pale skin from the sunlight. Aurelian, for his part, had shed his signature coat, opting that day for a light, short-sleeved linen shirt and a pair of sunglasses.
As they walked through the space center's facilities, surrounded by sweaty Muggle tourists, the twins couldn't stop complaining.
"By Merlin, I feel like I'm melting," Hestia muttered, fanning her face with her hand, visibly annoyed. "This kind of heat should be considered a curse."
"If I keep sweating like this, my hair will be a mess before noon," Flora murmured, frowning under her hat.
Aurelian let out a stifled laugh, running a hand over the back of his already damp neck.
"You're absolutely right, my dears," Aurelian conceded, loosening the buttons on his shirt a little more. "We're definitely cold-weather people—used to the Scottish air and the gray clouds of London. This heat is slowly killing me. But I promise you it was absolutely necessary for us to come all the way here so you could see the rocket up close."
Hestia and Flora nodded, though they didn't pay much attention to the last part. They would endure hell itself if it meant being by their husband's side.
They kept walking until they reached the nearest public viewing area designated for the launch. They found a metal bench with an unobstructed view of the launch pad, where the colossal black-and-white rocket was already in position, pointing toward the clear sky.
They sat down just in time for the show. Over the loudspeakers, a robotic voice announced the final seconds of the countdown.
The base of the rocket began to spew immense columns of white smoke. A moment later, a deafening blast that made the ground tremble beneath their feet shattered the silence. With a thunderous roar and a trail of fire, the metal cylinder slowly rose from the pad, defying gravity and tearing through the sky on its way into space.
Hestia and Flora, despite their disdain for metal objects, had to squint and watch it with a tiny spark of awe at the sheer power of the event.
"There you have it," Aurelian told them, smiling as he watched the rocket ascend, analyzing the physics behind the launch. "That's an object capable of taking man to the moon."
Hestia looked down, adjusted her hat, and let out a sigh.
"Wow… that's… incredible," Hestia remarked, dragging out her words with a tone of boredom so obvious it was comical.
Flora gave her a quick, not-so-subtle nudge.
"Hestia," Flora whispered reproachfully, "don't say it like that—pretend to be a little interested. It's important to him."
Hearing the exchange between his wives, Aurelian couldn't help himself and burst out laughing. He took off his sunglasses and looked at them with understanding.
"It's okay, it's okay, you don't have to pretend," Aurelian told them, amused. "I know you don't like a lot of the things I show you, and I understand that perfectly. There's nothing wrong with not being amazed by a machine blasting off into the sky. For someone who can teleport with a thought, this must seem like a waste of time."
Aurelian walked over to them, wrapping one arm around Flora's shoulders and the other around Hestia's, pulling them toward him in a tight embrace.
"But really, I'm so grateful you're here," Aurelian whispered to them, kissing both of their foreheads. "Thank you for supporting me and sticking with me through all my crazy ideas and plans, no matter how strange they may seem."
Flora smiled sweetly at him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"You don't have to thank us, my love. That's exactly what wives do."
Hestia nodded from the other side, intertwining her fingers with his.
"We don't mind seeing noisy machines or roasting under this dreadful sun. As long as we're with you, we're completely happy."
Aurelian shook his head gently. His expression became immensely warm and serious at the same time.
"No, you're wrong," he replied in a whisper, looking them in the eyes. "You don't do all these things simply because you're my 'wives' or out of a sense of duty. You do them because you're my family. And families are always together, through thick and thin."
Upon hearing that word, a deep and overwhelming emotion flooded the twins' chests. Hestia and Flora hid their smiles against their husband's chest, hugging him with all their might.
"Our family," they both whispered in unison against his shirt.
They remained like that for a few moments, oblivious to the noise of the crowd and the rocket that was now just a bright speck in the sky. Suddenly, Hestia and Flora pulled away slightly. They looked into each other's eyes for a long, silent moment. An entire conversation passed between them through their twin bond, before they nodded firmly. It was time.
They moved slightly away from Aurelian. Both lowered their hands in perfect unison, and gently began to caress their bellies over the fabric of their dresses.
Hestia looked him in the eyes, her cheeks slightly flushed and a radiant smile on her face.
"Aurelian… speaking of family…"
"For some time now, the two of us have been feeling a little… different," Flora added, her voice trembling with joy, without stopping to caress her belly.
Aurelian froze. His mind went blank for a second as his wives' words and gestures echoed in his head. And then, he understood.
He understood exactly what they meant.
He felt his heart skip a beat so hard it almost took his breath away. The widest, happiest smile he had ever shown in his life spread across his face. He was going to be a dad.
Without a care in the world, Aurelian threw himself at them. He cupped Hestia and Flora's faces in his hands and began showering them with kisses on their cheeks, foreheads, and lips, laughing with pure joy.
The Gaunt family was about to grow… Nythoros would be proud.
"How long has it been…?" Aurelian managed to say, his voice slightly breaking with emotion and his breathing ragged. "How long have you two felt this way?"
Hestia gently scratched her chin, looking away for a second with a small, guilty smile.
"Well… we started to suspect it a little before we left on this trip," she confessed.
An expression that mixed surprise, disbelief, and a very slight hint of reproach flashed across Aurelian's face.
Flora noticed it right away. She raised a hand and gently stroked his cheek, trying to ease any concern she saw in her husband's eyes.
"We didn't tell you anything because we weren't completely sure yet," Flora explained in a soft voice. "And knowing you as we do, we didn't want to alarm you. We knew perfectly well that if we'd told you we had even the slightest suspicion, you would have canceled the trip without hesitation… and we really wanted to go on this trip and have this adventure together, the three of us."
"Of course I would have canceled it!" Aurelian exclaimed immediately. There was no anger in his voice, only a fierce and overwhelming protective instinct. "Your safety is a thousand times more important than any stupid trip, investigation, or plan I might have, my loves."
Aurelian let out a deep sigh, trying to calm the whirlwind of emotions pounding in his chest and overwhelming him. He took a step toward them and hugged them again, but this time he did so with the utmost care, as if they had suddenly become the most fragile and precious jewels in the entire universe.
"When did you confirm it?" he whispered against their hair, feeling his heart pound so hard it threatened to burst through his ribs. "When did you know for sure that you were pregnant?"
Hestia rested her face on her husband's shoulder and smiled.
"In Salem," she replied softly. "It was after the night we purified the cemetery. The next day, I cast a spell, and—poof—the truth came out. The result confirmed it beyond a shadow of a doubt."
Aurelian didn't need to hear anything else. Happiness overwhelmed him in a way he'd never experienced before, eclipsing everything else he'd ever achieved in his life. My God! He was going to be a dad! His bloodline—he would have a legacy.
He cupped Hestia and Flora's faces and kissed them with overwhelming, deep passion, conveying in every caress all the love and tenderness he held in his soul.
When he finally pulled away—still breathless and with a smile that refused to leave his lips—he gazed intently at them.
"What do you want to do now?" he asked, gently caressing their bellies. "Do you want to continue the journey, or would you prefer that we return to the mansion so you can rest properly?"
"Of course we want to continue!" Hestia and Flora replied in unison, smiling broadly at their husband's excessive caution.
Aurelian nodded slowly, but it was clear that his mind had already shifted completely from "strategy" to "father mode." He stepped a couple of paces away from the bench and began pacing back and forth under the blazing Florida sun, resting a hand on his chin and muttering to himself.
"Well… well, if we stay, we'll have to adjust their diet immediately. I need to check and order the best nutritional potions. Some preventive magic, just in case…" Aurelian began to whisper, pacing in circles. "We need to start buying baby clothes. And find the best protective enchantments for their cribs. Come to think of it, the mansion is dangerous… very dangerous for a baby. I have to contact Stinky right away so he can prepare and remodel many parts of the mansion. Maternity books, diapers, baby food, protective charms for the rooms wherever we're staying… yes, I definitely need to reinforce the house's shields…"
Hestia and Flora remained seated on the metal bench, looking at each other in silence. Both shook their heads amusedly, flashing sweet smiles.
Seeing the wizard and lord they knew as their husband—usually so cool and powerful—suddenly turned into a bundle of nerves just because of some babies who were barely on the way was the most beautiful sight in the world. They held hands, thinking exactly the same thing: how much they loved their husband.
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