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“And my niece?” Quinn asks.
“You know her middle name’s Elle unless Peyton did me a solid and named her first born daughter after her lovely sister,” Elle says as she bumps his shoulder with hers.
Quinn scoffs. “Maybe Quinnella,” he says.
“Please no,” Katelyn says and then covers her mouth. There’s a look of horror on her face. I shake my head, hoping to ease the dread she might feel.
“Our little girl is Juniper Elle Westbury.”
“Yes,” Elle says as she fists pumps. “I told you!” She jabs her finger at Quinn. “Wait, Juniper? Not Elle? I mean I knew Elle was in there, but I really thought?—”
“Juniper,” Peyton says. “We’ll call her Junie or Junie Elle. I didn’t want to call her Ellie, and she needs her own identity.”
“I love it,” Elle says.
My eyes meet Paige’s. She’s staring at the cradle but not saying anything. I go to her, wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull her away from everyone.
“I’m guessing the tears are because Juniper has Elle for a middle name?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s silly. Elle’s her sister so it makes sense, and I think I sort of knew it but hearing it out loud. I don’t know. Like I said, it’s silly.”
“The one thing you and I will never understand or have, is the twin bond. It’s freaky and indestructible. No one will ever come between them, and this is Peyton’s way of honoring her sister.”
“I get it. I think I was just caught off guard.”
“I’m sorry, Paige. But do you want to know something?”
“What?” she asks.
“You’ll spend a lot more time with the triplets than Elle will. We’re going to raise the babies here, which means until you go away to college, you have full access to them. Elle has her own life and will be a mom soon. You,” I say as I point to her. “You get to be auntie every day, anytime you want. They’re going to be attached to you.”
“I guess that’s something even though this isn’t a competition.”
“I think dad and Harrison have made it one.”
Paige rolls her eyes. “They’re ridiculous. I think Mom and Aunt Katelyn have told them to knock it off a million times. Then, when Nick came to see how everyone was doing, they tried to get him involved.”
This time I roll my eyes. “Come on, let’s go see what the rowdies are up to.”
We head back around the corner. I smile when I see Peyton and head toward her. “I’ll tell you later,” I say to her.
“Beautiful names,” my mom says as she comes up to us. “You guys did good.” She comes over and hugs us. “Thank you for making me a grandma.”
“Is that what you’re going to be called?”
She shakes her head. “Grammie will suffice. Katelyn wants to be grandma.”
“Gramps and Grammie it is,” I say to her.
Before the nurse takes the babies back to the NICU, my dad, in his infinite wisdom says to my father-in-law, “You know Maverick being the first born and having a name like that means he’s superior.”
Harrison rolls his eyes. “Whatever you say, Gramps.”
“Grandpa!”
“It’s like they’re fighting but in the old man sort of way,” I whisper in Peyton’s ear. “Do they even know what they’re arguing about?”
She shakes her head slowly. “Nope, but it’s entertaining.”
