“Good thing we have two arms,” Mom jokes, the comment not particularly funny, but so joyful. I grab my phone and start taking photos, texting them to Mom's number so she'll have them to show off.
Show off.
My babies aren't just mine anymore. Not just ours. They're out in the world now.
“William and Charles. Like the royal family?”
Mom's question makes Andrew and me freeze.
“Huh?” I ask, perplexed.
“You know. Prince Charles. Prince William. Did you pick those names on purpose?”
“God, no,” Andrew says, alarmed. “We wanted to give them old-fashioned, traditional names and...”
“Oh, no,” I groan. “We didn't connect the two! We're never going to hear the end of this!”
“I'm sure no one will notice,” Mom says nervously. “I'm a pattern-matcher. Most people aren't.” Mom's phone buzzes in her purse. A weird, guilty look washes over her.
“What's wrong?”
“That might be Marie.”
“Marie?”
“She's here.”
“Here?”
“With Shannon. And Carol.”
“They're here?”
“Mmm hmm. Down the hall.” Mom's shifty eyes make it clear she's been holding them at bay.
Andrew puffs up, hands on his hips. A protective streak that was already strong is gaining power like a Cat 1 storm over warm waters off the Gulf Coast. “We're not dealing with a crowd right now.”
“Tell that to Marie.” Mom's eyes don't move from the babies.
“I'm fine with it,” I say, “but only when Mom's done hogging the babies.” I adjust my bra and top, and reach for the giant water bottle Andrew got me. It has a built-in ice section and a huge, easy-to-bend straw.
“Marie will have to wait a year, then,” Mom murmurs. “Oh my goodness, Will looks just like Andrew, but he has your nose, Amanda.”
She's back to my full name. Emotions are under control.
“They're identical, Pam,” Andrew says softly.
“How do you know the difference?” she asks, eyes immediately going to his feet, which are wrapped in the blanket. “I assume they tag the babies with ankle bracelets?”
“They do. And Will's hat has a green stripe on it. Charlie is blue.”
“Ah,” Mom says, her low-grade OCD satisfied. Her shoulders relax. “Then I won't confuse them.”
I sip, swallow, then add, “So far, the only way I can tell the difference is Charlie is a lazy sucker.”
That makes Andrew chuckle. “Don't say the word 'lazy' around Dad,” he cracks. “Nothing about his grandsons can be lazy.”
Mom looks at Andrew and asks, “Has James seen them yet?”
“No. Dad said he'd wait until we're home.”
“Then I'm your first grandparent to meet you,” she says to Will.
A shadow crosses Andrew's face.
Mine, too, I’m sure, but for a different reason. He's mourning the loss of his mom in a whole new way.
I'm thinking about my dad, which is a different kind of loss.
Bzzzz
Andrew looks over at his jacket, which is buzzing. “Hang on,” he says, looking at his phone's screen. “It's Gina.”
“Gina? I thought you weren't working!”
“I'm not. She says Marie has texted her eighteen times and wants help getting in here to see the babies.” He taps quickly on the screen. “Marie's offering free Unicoga classes for life and to tell her all of Marie's secret Yankee Swap shopping locations.”
Mom and I share a shocked look.
“Hmmm. Might be worth letting her in if she'll spill the tea on her Yankee Swap magic,” I mutter to myself as Mom grins.
“Hmmph,” Andrew grumps as he thumbs his way through a text.
“What're you telling her?”
“I'd rather not repeat it in front of my children.”
His phone buzzes again. He looks, and smiles.
“This time it's Shannon. She says she's got Marie under control. Threatened to tell my brother all about Marie's secret thrift shop for that thing you just said. A yankee swap?” Bewildered, he looks to me, then Mom, for help in understanding what Shannon means.
“Oooooooo,” Mom and I intone in unison.
“Shannon went there,” I mutter.
“I still don't understand,” Andrew asks with a smile, “but I'm assuming that means we have privacy?”
Bzzzzz
“Mom is offering to go on a coffee run for everyone while we wait,” Andrew reads from his phone. “What do you guys want? From Grind It Fresh! of course.” He looks at his phone with admiration. “Shannon has figured out her mother, hasn't she?”
“Only took her thirty years,” I say with a laugh.
“Who wouldn't be impatient to meet these two?” Mom's voice is gooey sweet as she stares at the babies. The problem with holding twins at the same time is that you don't have a free hand.
Will begins to fuss.
“Here,” I say, waving toward Andrew, my other hand going to my gown. “I'll nurse him. Mom can have Charlie to herself.” Their handoff is awkward but the goal is finally achieved.
Will's in my arms, little lips rooting. He attaches, but it takes a few tries.
Bzzzz
Andrew's head rears back as he reads his phone. “It's Jason.”
“Jason? Jason Jacoby?”
“Yes.”
“Since when does Shannon's dad text you?”
“Hardly ever.”
“What's he saying?”
“I'm holding her back, but even I have limits.”
A giggle emerges from Mom. “Marie is a force of nature.”
“Marie is a pain in the ass,” Andrew corrects her.
“Marie is about twenty minutes away,” says a warm male voice from the door. We all turn to find Jason standing there in a polo shirt with a boys' baseball team logo on it, holding a box of chocolates and wearing a grin. “I came to warn you.”
“She'll have coffee, though!” pipes up Shannon, who moves past her dad to my bed as if I'm iron and she's a magnet. “Sorry we're crashing!”
“No, you aren’t,” Andrew murmurs, but he smiles, like me.
“Once Mom arrives, I'll never get to hold the baby.”
“Babies,” Andrew corrects her. “Everyone gets a turn because we have two,” he adds loudly as Declan walks in.
An immediate scowl covers his brother's face.
“You are never going to stop bragging about that, are you?”
“No. Only way to beat me is triplets.”
Jason crosses the room, gives me a kiss on the cheek, and opens the chocolates with a flourish. “Marie had these handmade for you by a chocolate shop in Agnes' town. Said you'd appreciate them.”
Large clusters of chocolate-covered Cheetos, a dozen of them, rest in a plastic tray inside the gold box.
“Oh, my!” Mom exclaims, looking skeptical. “I know you love your salty-sweet Cheeto treats, but this is going a bit far. What are those?”