by Amy DeMeritt
Shannon laughs and nods. She releases a hard exhale, and says, “That’s exactly how it feels. Just think about how much more food we’ll be cooking when the babies are old enough to eat as much as we eat. And then when we start having grandchildren.”
“Oh, my god, what are you doing to me?” She laughs hard at my look of horror. “I can’t believe you just made our babies grow up and have children of their own in like two seconds flat.”
She freezes as she’s about to crack an egg and cracks up laughing instead. Our wives walk in dressed for the day with our babies in their arms, and Sam asks, “Why do you look like you’re going to cry, while Shannon is laughing so hard?”
“She just… she just… she made our babies grow up and have babies of their own!” All of them laugh a little and look between each other in an odd way. “Why are you looking at each other like that? Did I miss something?”
“Well…” Sam walks over to stand next to me and runs a hand over my head. “We were talking.”
“Ok, I know you’re a scientist, but I think speeding up our children’s growth is beyond anything you could cook up in your lab. But even if you could, you better never try it.”
She laughs a little as she shakes her head. As she places a hand on her womb, she says, “We were just up in the nursery getting the babies ready for the day. Madison reminded us we need to order a new crib and custom crib liner before we go to California. Then we realized the nursery is becoming over crowded. Also, Malana and Helaku aren’t sleeping as long during the day as Montana and Eerin.”
My eyes tear up and I shake my head. “No, they can’t be old enough yet to leave the nursery. They’re just babies. They can’t be ready for a big-kid room yet.”
She gives me a loving smile as she caresses my cheek. “We still have about six months to make the move. But we need to get a bedroom cleaned out before we go to California so we can get it set up for them when we get home. They’re not getting a big-kid room yet. It will be a toddler room and we won’t transition them to their own bedrooms till they’re able to sleep in a regular bed.”
“A toddler room sounds a little less terrifying.” She releases a small laugh and leans in to kiss my lips. “I guess we can move the furniture from the room next to the nursery to one of the new rooms in the attic after the construction and painting is done up there. How are we going to decorate the toddler room?”
“We still need to figure that out. We can start looking at furniture and paint colors after the families go home this weekend.”
I pout as I look over at our babies. “Why are all of you growing up so quickly?” I exhale hard and Sam turns my face to look in her beautiful loving sage green eyes. She gives me a slow soft full mouth kiss for a few moments, leaving me feeling a little weak in the knees and lightheaded. “Thanks. So, do you think you’re having twins?”
Sam laughs hard and pats my cheek a few times. “I have no idea, baby. As much as you keep wishing that on each of us, the probability of another one of us having twins is very unlikely.”
I cheese really big as I shake my head. “That’s not true. There is a twenty percent chance that either one of you could have twins. And since you take all of those fancy supplements to increase the odds of getting pregnant when we inseminate, the odds are even greater. And, I was talking to your mom…”
She rolls her eyes with a deep groan, saying, “Oh, god, what was she saying?”
I laugh a little and bend down to kiss her lips. “Well, it just so happens that you have twins on your dad’s side of the family. So, there is a possibility you have that super special gene for twins. Which would increase your chances to at least fifty percent.”
Sam’s jaw drops and she stares at me wide eyed for a few moments. Then she grips the sides of my face to pull me down some. “Kayla, are you fucking with me right now?”
“Nope.”
“When did you talk to her about this?”
“Yesterday. She was telling me a family story about your dad’s cousins and their kids. She mentioned the cousins are twins, and both of them have twins. I didn’t think anything of it till this morning when I was out for my run. After my third lap, it hit me. So, I sat down in the woods with Aura and while I researched the statistics, we ate some blackberries. The berries were really good by the way. Would you like some? There’s plenty more out there. I need to pick them later today when we have more time.”
She laughs in an exasperated way, saying, “Oh, my god, stop talking about berries. The cousins… My dad’s cousins… They are…” Her eyes get big. “Oh, my god, it’s true. I’ve only met them a few times because my dad’s not that close to them. They’re identical twins and male. I don’t know about their children. Oh, my god.”
She pulls away from me and pulls her cellphone out of her back pocket. After swiping through a few screens, she lifts the phone to her ear.
“Yeah, Mom, Dad’s cousins – the twins, what kind of twins did they have?” She shakes her head and groans deeply. “Yes, we’re making breakfast. Just tell me about the twins.” She groans again. “Yes, I know we don’t talk to them. Mom! I’m trying to figure out if we have a family gene for twins!”
The panic and frustration in Sam’s voice and on her face really concerns me. I quickly go to the sink to wash the eggs off of my hands, and Shannon immediately washes hers as well. After we dry our hands, we pull Sam over to the informal dining room table to sit down.
“Mom, you know I’m pregnant, right?” She rolls her eyes. “Then why didn’t you bother telling me this?” She looks at all of us and throws a hand out to the side in an overwhelmed way, saying, “Well, guess what, they already knew there is a gene in the family for twins. There are several sets for several generations. And they’re all identical twins! Seriously, Mom, why didn’t you tell me this?” She pauses, then snaps, “No, it wouldn’t have changed my mind, but it would have been nice to know. We have to be able to plan for this.” She pauses again. “We go next week for the first ultrasound.” She puts her face in her hand, then says, “Ok, we’ll see you soon.”
She hangs up and immediately starts crying. I fall to my knees next to her and pull her off of the table and into my arms. She lays her head on my shoulder and cries against my neck.
“I’m sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have teased you with the news. I just thought…”
“No, stop, I’m not upset with you or about the news. I have no idea why I’m crying. What if I don’t have twins? What if the gene skipped me or it skips this pregnancy and I never get pregnant again? What if I miss out on my chance to have twins?”
“It won’t be a disappointment either way, if that’s what you’re asking. You can have one or eight babies baking in your oven and I’m going to love them the same.”
Sam releases a laughing sob against my neck. “Oh, my god, eight babies at once would be terrifying.”
“Especially if they all need diaper changes all at once. We’ll be outnumbered.”
She laughs and slowly lifts her head. She kisses my lips, then sits upright in her chair wiping her eyes dry.
“I guess we’ll need to wait till after my ultrasound to order the crib and crib liner, just in case we need to order two. I can’t believe they knew there’s a huge possibility I could have twins and they didn’t tell me. I don’t know how they kept this to themselves, especially when Awenasa was pregnant.”
Madison takes her hand to hold in both of hers, and asks, “Do you think your parents were afraid you wouldn’t try to have a baby if you knew? I couldn’t hear her end of the conversation, but by your responses, it sounded like that could be why they didn’t tell you.”
“I don’t know, but now I’m thinking that’s why my mom never tried to get pregnant again. How did I not know this? I mean, I knew about my dad’s cousins, and I’m sure I had to have known about their kids, but… maybe I didn’t. I don’t know. I don’t remember. My dad’s not very close to most of his family. God, could you imagine if you hadn’t decid
ed to wait to get pregnant and we ended up with three more babies at once?”
Madison laughs a little and leans across the table to kiss her lips. “How do you really feel about this?”
“I’m a little freaked out. I’m a little excited. I’m… kind of freaked out. Yeah, freaked out.” She takes a deep breath with her eyes widening and I see her hand grip Madison’s hands tightly. “I don’t think I want to know. Would you all totally hate me if I decided I want to wait till I go into labor to know what I’m having?”
All of us burst at once to answer, telling her we would never hate her and we fully support whatever her decision is. She looks down at me with a small grin and teary eyes.
“You can really handle it if I don’t want to know the gender or if we’re having multiples?”
I exhale hard as I slowly nod. “If that’s what you want, I will embrace the mystery. I want you to be happy and excited about this, babe. I don’t want you to be freaked out or scared.”
“I’m not scared, not really. I’m… I haven’t decided if I want to do this more than once. If I find out I’m having twins, it might sway my decision to never get pregnant again. But if I’m not, it might make me feel like I have to do it one more time to see if the gene just skipped my first born. I feel like knowing will be what makes up my mind instead of the entire experience deciding it. Like, what if my last trimester is terrible, but I force myself to go through it all again just to prove whether or not I can have twins? Does any of this makes sense to any of you? Because I feel like I’m talking in circles and what I thought made sense isn’t making sense anymore.”
Awenasa runs a hand over her head, and says, “Yes, my love, it makes sense. How about, when we go for your first ultrasound, we just ask to know that everything looks good? You can change your mind at any time. This is one-hundred-percent your decision and you don’t have to decide now, or next week, or even two months from now.”
“But how will we decide how many cribs we need?”
Madison answers, “We’ll order two of everything. If you end up having twins, then we’re ready. If you don’t, then we’ll be ready when the next one of us decides to get pregnant. Malana and Helaku will probably be in their cribs for at least another year, maybe two. It’s very likely we’ll need another crib before they transition to toddler beds.”
Sam looks up at Awenasa with her bottom lip between her teeth, and she quietly and hesitantly asks, “You won’t be upset if I have twins too?”
Awenasa bends down to kiss her lips and runs her fingers through her long blonde hair. “No, my love, I’m happy we might have two of your blood-children in our family. This is not a competition. I’m going to love your children as much as I love Malana and Helaku, as I do Montana and Eerin.”
The chime for the front gate call button goes off. Shannon rubs my back as she walks away from us to answer it. Sam wipes her eyes and takes several deep breaths.
“It’s Giz and the guys.”
“Shit. I hope I can sing today. Jerry is going to blow a gasket if we don’t get anything recorded today.”
Awenasa gives Sam a kiss and reassures her, saying, “I’m sure you’ll sing beautifully. Would you like some hot tea?”
“Yes. I need a baby to hold. Someone, give me a baby.”
All of us laugh a little and Awenasa holds Helaku out for her to take.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jerry pokes his head out of the sound studio and snaps his fingers at us a few times, impatiently saying, “Let’s go, ladies. Save the fashionably late antics for when you are old has-beens trying to relive your glory days and milking the nostalgia out of your die-hard fans.”
With narrowed eyes, I step away from my wives and get in his face, but before I can give him a piece of my mind for having the audacity to speak to my wives that way, Sam steps between us. She reaches up to kiss my lips and digs her fingertips into my abs as if to tell me to calm down.
“Come watch us sing, baby.”
Sam walks into the studio ahead of us and Jerry disappears behind the wall. Awenasa places a hand on my forehead and one on heart and I feel her warm calming energy flood my system. I close my eyes as I mentally bathe in her pool of divine intension. She kisses my lips and I slowly open my eyes to meet her beautiful smiling face.
“Thanks, baby.”
“You’re welcome, my love.”
Sam didn’t want to discuss it with everyone, but Eliza was all too proud of herself for how she planted the seed in my head last night about the twin gene in the family. As soon as she arrived, she burst with glowing praise to herself about how she had it all planned out to tell me the stories about the twins so I would make the connection and get excited about it. Of course, after we told the family we are currently planning on not finding out the gender or if there are multiple babies growing inside of Sam, Eliza took the decision as an actual attack against her. She is convinced that Sam made the decision just to get back at her for not telling her sooner. This, of course, caused a dramatic and stressful argument with the entire family. And, regretfully, all of it is my fault. I should have waited to say anything till after they are finished recording today, and preferably till all of the family goes home this weekend.
The sound studio isn’t big enough to allow the entire family to be in here while they’re recording music, but I know Jerry wouldn’t have patience for everyone to be in here even if they could fit. Only Madison’s, Sam’s, Awenasa’s, and Shannon’s parents are in here with us and all of them are sitting on high-top stools in two rows in front of the sound booth windows. There’s not enough room for us to stand at the windows, so Jaime, Symone, and I stand behind the parents to watch between them.
“Alright, ladies, let’s run through the entire song, start to finish. Sing like this is the real deal. Sing like this song is the only thing that can prevent the annihilation of the human race. Sing like…”
Giz rolls her eyes, and barks into the microphone, “Jerry, shut the fuck up. Don’t act like we’ve never done this before. We’re not amateurs. Just start the fucking music.”
He punches down hard on the microphone button as he leans forward, nearly pressing his forehead against the glass, and he barks back, “Then stop acting like a fucking amateur and get this song done! We should have had this recorded yesterday!”
“We would have had this song done yesterday if you could pull your bald head out of your hairy ass!”
I lean over to whisper to Jaime and Symone. “Holy shit. Is this how they were yesterday?”
Jaime nods, quietly saying, “All day.”
“That’s it. If you’re going to…”
“Enough!” Sam waves her hands out in front of herself like she’s cutting through some invisible mass. “You both need to shut up! We are not doing this again. We wasted an entire day yesterday because you couldn’t get along. If you don’t have anything constructive to say about this project, then shut the hell up!”
“That’s my girl.” Eliza nods towards Jerry with a cocky smile, and says, “You heard her. Now, get to work.”
Damn, I wish I could walk into that sound booth and kiss Sam right now. That was hot. I love when she gets fiery like that. Giz and Jerry are shocked silent and are just staring at each other. Our wives are wearing small approving smiles and each of them takes a turn to rub Sam’s back or arm in a comforting and supportive way.
It’s at least a minute later when Jerry finally speaks into the microphone with a bit of a strained tone, saying, “Let’s take it from the top.”
The sound technicians start the music, and about ten seconds in, Giz starts singing with a drawn out, sort of lazy husky tone, singing about broken promises. Then Madison’s sweet soulful voice counters her, singing about missed opportunities and miscommunications. Awenasa, Shannon, and Sam harmonize with a beautiful chorus about the happy parts of love, then the music picks up and Giz does a sort of battle with Madison while the rest of them continue to sing in the background. Madison’s voi
ce remains sweet and soulful like a lover wanting to make amends, while Giz starts to loosely rap about her discontent. The song is really good and catchy and I’m in love with how my wives sound. Their voices are beautiful. This is definitely a great collaboration piece. Each of their voices is complemented by the different beats and instruments in the music, and the way they broke up the verses for each of them to sing is really pretty awesome.
“Damn.”
Jaime nods in agreement with me, and whispers, “I know. It’s really great. I can’t wait till it’s released so I can have my students create choreography for it. There is so much to work with in the words and the music.”
Symone quietly adds, “Plus, it’s versatile. It would be great for a solo piece, a couple, or a group. You could even have two groups battle.”
“Exactly. There is so much potential with this song.”
I love how the three of us think so similarly when we hear music. Our minds immediately start seeing dance choreography. We give the unseen music a visual expression of the power of what is being heard. Dancers can’t just listen to music – we actually see it. Every word, every beat, and every pause in the song is a move for the human body. For a dancer, a song is like what the conductor, sheet music, and violist is to the violin. The song moves the dancer – the song plays the dancer like a violin.
When the song ends, Jerry pushes the button on the microphone, and says, “That was fantastic. Hang tight while we listen to the playback.”
While my wives and Giz start sipping on bottles of water, we listen to the recording.
“Damn. I’m in love with this song.”
When the song ends, Jerry speaks into the microphone again, saying, “Nice work, ladies. Let’s move to the next song.”
While they flip through the pages on their music stands, the parents erupt in applause for them, making my wives and Giz smile brightly.
“Ready?”
Each of them confirms their ready, so Jerry instructs the sound technicians to start the music. After only about forty-seconds, the music stops and Jerry presses a button while speaking into a microphone, cutting them off, saying, “Let’s do that last verse again. This time, I only want to hear Sam and Shannon on the second line.”