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“Your daughter”—my father now uses the same tone Gabriel used—“apparently needs to take a shower.”
“What?” Emily shrieks. “Why?”
“Did you guys do it this morning?” my mother asks me, and I close my eyes, wanting the floor to open up and swallow me. I mean, I’m obviously pregnant, so we had sex, but to admit to literally everyone in the room you did it this morning. I want to die.
“Oh that.” Emily chuckles. “Honey, there is going to be so much guck coming out of you. No one is going to notice.”
I want to say something, but then a sharp pain rips through me, this time much sharper than the last one, and it feels like someone stabbed my vagina. “Ugh,” I grunt, trying to breathe but literally holding my breath until it passes.
“You have to breathe.” My mother rubs my back, and I look over, glaring at her. “It helps with the pain.”
“Okay, I hate to break up this reunion,” Ethan says, “but can we get to the hospital, and then we can talk?”
“I’ll start the truck,” my father offers, about to rush out.
“I’ll grab the bags,” Emily adds, “and grab a plastic bag for her to sit on.”
“Wait!” Gabriel shouts, and everyone stops in their tracks. “We need to do something before we go,” he says, rushing to the bedroom. I think he’s going to just grab the bags, but instead, he comes back and looks at me. “This is not the way I wanted to do this.” He gets down on one knee. “But there is no fucking way you aren’t going to be wearing my ring when you give birth.”
“Gabriel.” I put my hand to my mouth, the tears coming down my face, and he just slips the ring onto my finger.
“Now we can go,” Ethan says.
“She didn’t answer,” my father notes, “and he also didn’t get my blessing.”
“Well, he has mine,” my mother says. “So on a technicality that we are a team, he has yours.”
Gabriel gets up from his knee and holds my face in his hands. “Sweetheart, you are the love of my life, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.” His thumbs rub the tears away as they pour down my cheeks. “Nothing else in this world I want more.”
“That is so sweet,” my mother swoons, and I just smile.
“I don’t want a big wedding,” I finally say. “Just our close family.”
“So two hundred people.” Emily makes a joke. “That sounds small.” We all laugh, but I close my eyes when another pain rips through me.
“Can we please get the fuck in the truck?” my father urges. I look at him, and his face is pale. “Like now.” I look down and see my white dress has bloodstains on it. Gabriel’s eyes go down also, and his face goes even paler than my father’s. He doesn’t say a word to me; he just walks me to the door. Neither of us says anything as we make our way to the hospital. By the time we get there, half of our family is already spilling out of the waiting room.
I don’t have a chance to say anything because I’m whisked away when we get there. They rush around me as I get into the room. “Are the babies okay?” I ask frantically, trying not to panic but I can’t help it. I put my hand on the bed and bend over when I feel another contraction coming. I try to breathe but then hold my breath more than breathing.
“It’s normal with twins,” the nurse assures me, “but how about we get you changed and see what’s going on.” Her calm manner doesn’t help at all. Gabriel pulls my dress over my head, trying not to show me how worried he is when he sees my blood-soaked panties.
“It’s going to be okay, Sweetheart,” he tells me, kissing my lips. “In just a little while, we’ll have our babies, and everything will be okay.” I don’t say anything to him. I just nod and get on the bed when he tells me to.
“It’s going to be okay,” I repeat his words to him. “We’re going to have our babies.” He bends to kiss my lips.
Everything after that is a blur until the doctor places my son on my chest, and the only thing I can do is sob as I tell him how much I love him. Gabriel hovers over me, his hand over my head as he bends and kisses my temple before bending to kiss our son’s head. It’s a couple of minutes later when they take my son from me, and three pushes later, my daughter is placed on my chest. “My princess,” Gabriel says when he bends to kiss the top of her head. I never thought I could love something or someone as much as I love these two.
She’s blinking her eyes up at me when the nurse comes over. “How about we swap?” she says, handing me back my son while she grabs my daughter.
“Make sure she’s okay.” I look up at Gabriel, who nods and goes with the nurse while I look down at my son, who looks like Colson’s clone. “You look like your brother,” I tell him as he just blinks at me, “and your dad.” I laugh through the tears, watching Gabriel watch over our daughter.
It’s a couple of minutes longer until she, too, is on my chest. Side by side, they look at each other and then at me and all around. “You okay?” Gabriel comes to stand beside the bed, looking at me and then our kids, and I can’t help but nod.
“More than okay,” I say, sniffling back, “so much more than okay.”
He puts his arm above my head, squeezing in there. “You are so amazing.” He blinks away his own tears. “Utterly amazing.”
I look down at our kids, who are perfect in my eyes. “By the way, the answer is yes.” He just smirks at me.
