"Can I see the babies now? I want to hold them." I look into her eyes and nod so fast I almost make myself dizzy.
"I've been waiting to see them until we could see them together."
"Really? Are you telling me they've been lying there with no one to love them all this time?" I think my eyes almost fell out of my head. I take a step back and sweep my arm around the room where my mom and dad, Laura and Jessie, Maddie and Brian are waiting to see Joy. "Who do you think all these people are, Joy? They've been taking care of our girls until you got well enough to see them."
"Really? They let you in to see them?" I rush to her side when she starts crying.
"It's all right, baby. With the majority of us being doctors, they had no choice but to grant them access to the girls. It was one at a time though, but the babies were never alone, without family or love, trust me."
"That's right, Joy. They even let me hold them," Jessie booms from across the room.
"I bet they looked like small grapes in your big hands, Jess," she says, and then giggles at the thought.
I run to the nurse's station, asking them to bring the babies up to our room, and I’m nervous about seeing them for the first time. When I get back to the room, Maddie has brushed Joy's hair and washed her face with a damp wash cloth. I can tell she's already getting tired, but her babies are on their way from the nursery.
"Are we going to tell everyone their names now?" I ask Joy and laugh when Maddie jumps up and down.
"We've been waiting all this time, please, please, please?"
I look down at my wife, and she nods.
"Lanie Katherine and Lilly Rochelle," I say, beaming at my beautiful wife.
I see Joy look over at Laura, and the tears in their eyes appear while they silently speak to each other. Everyone else in the room are saying the names, trying them out verbally.
"Katherine is in remembrance of my mother, Lilly after you, Lillian, and Rochelle is Laura’s middle name," Joy explains.
While everyone is talking about the baby names, two plastic carts enter the room, each containing a pink bundle with tiny pink beanies. I am so eager to see them that I can barely contain myself.
When I see Maddie make her way to the carts reaching for one of them, I stop her.
"No, Maddie," I say touching her arm. "We need to meet them first, all right?" I say quietly.
"Absolutely, brother. I'm sorry," she apologizes, walking back to Brian.
"No need, just give us a second here, and you can have your turn." I wink at her and turn my attention back to my babies, handing one to Joy.
I pick up the second bundle and stare at her. Taking off the beanie, I stroke her soft chocolate brown hair. Her eyelashes already look long enough to be the envy of a lot of women. She's beautiful, just like her mother.
"Lanie," I say to Joy, trading bundles.
"I agree," she says, waiting to see her, I take Lilly and drink her in, just like I did with Lanie.
When I glance up to say something to my mother, the room is empty. My family has left us alone so we can meet our daughters in private.
"Aren't they beautiful, Matthew?"
"Just like you." They both start screaming. Joy and I look at each other, and it’s then that it dawns on us, we have no idea what the hell we're doing.
Epilogue
"Matthew, I'm home! Where are you?" Joy calls from the house.
"We're in the back yard," I reply. "I'm trapped, and I can't move!" Hearing her heels tap toward the door, instead of helping me, she bursts out in laughter.
My two five-year old daughters have me flat on my back, applying makeup to my otherwise ugly face, because they have informed me that they wanted to make me pretty.
"Lanie-girl, you need to not poke daddy in the eye with your lipstick."
"Sorry, daddy." If these two only knew how fast I turn to mush hearing my name pass those sweet lips. They can have anything they want. Ah, hell, who am I kidding? They have everything they want already.
"Lilly-sweetie, you put the eye shadow on the eye, not the cheeks, and Lanie, lipstick is on the lips not on the eye. Has your mother not taught you anything? Joy, you stink as a teacher! You need to send our girls back to make-up school again,” I shout across the lawn.
When I lift my head to look at my wife, she's on her knees, clutching her stomach, laughing so hard, there isn't any sound coming from her. She has tears pouring from her eyes that have caused her makeup to run down her cheeks. When she looks up at me through her watery eyes, she points at me and doubles over once again, only to fall onto her side this time.
"Daddy, is mommy okay?" Lanie asks as they stare at their mother writhe in laughter.
Once she finally calms down, she sits up and looks at me, only to go into another fit.
"I believe your mommy thinks I look funny. Do I look funny to you, or do I look pretty?" I ask my two princesses.
Once they get a good look at me, they start to giggle and join their mother, rolling on the grass to enjoy a good laugh at my expense. Holding up my hands, I see hot pink polish everywhere except on my fingernails. I reach up to touch my hair only to feel about two hundred barrettes and when I pick up a mirror to observe the damage, I look like I should be in a Picasso painting.
After I stalk over to my wife, I purse my lips and hold the mirror in front of her face. She quickly stops her laughing, shocked at her own reflection. As quickly as her laughter stops, she starts again, because her mascara has run down her face, and her eyes are totally black, top and bottom. She looks like Marilyn Manson.
"Mommy, do you see something wrong with this picture?" I ask, looking at my two devious princesses. Lanie and Lily look back and forth at us and then, themselves.
"Oh, yes, I see something very wrong with this picture," Joy concurs, putting her hands on her hips. "Daddy, why are we painted up and a certain set of twins are not?"
I walk over to the makeup and toss a compact of blue eye shadow to Joy while I take the red lipstick.
"You take Lily, and I'll take Lanie." The girls finally catch on and scream, giving us a run for our money in making us catch them. I finally scoop Lanie under my arm, pinning her wriggling body between my legs and proceed to give her a perfect clown ring around her lips. I squiggle lines all over her cheeks making her lips look like a sunburst. She’s laughing and squirming so hard, I almost stick the lipstick up her nose. I know I got some on her teeth. When I’m done, I stand her in front of me to observe my handiwork, nodding in satisfaction.
"Perfect," I say, giving her a loud kiss right on her lips. I pull her into my arms while we watch Mommy wrestle with Lily who’s getting blue eye shadow polka dots all over her face.
Afterward, we have ice cream for dinner in full makeup.
That night, after my wife tells me she’s pregnant, we make love.
~.~
It was twenty-three years ago today that Joy gifted me with my son, Luke. Today we are having a barbecue for his birthday and have invited the entire family.
Maddie and Brian, and their daughter, Amanda, and son, Marcus are also here. Laura and Jessie have a daughter, Rachel. This is the one who caught the attention of my son. Rachel is the spitting image of her mother. She is a lucky girl indeed because my son will treat her with the respect she deserves. They will gift us with a set of twin girls.
Joy and I have long since moved our permanent residence on Bainbridge to be near my parents, and since Jessie and Laura got married years ago, they moved here as well. Maddie and Brian bought our house in Seattle when we decided to move to the island. It all worked out perfectly.
Conrad left us when the girls were ten. He doted on them and was by their side constantly. He protected them until the day he died. He loved them, there was no doubt about that. He left a major hole in our hearts that will never be filled.
Jessie and I still have the hospital. We expanded and purchased another building nearby, in order to accommodate my parent's thriving Davis Cardiac Center. They retired
years ago and work as consultants now. Lilly and her college sweetheart eventually married and took over my parents' practice. My stem cell therapy procedure is a huge success and is used worldwide, and I travel speaking on the medical circuit. Joy's Computer Training Center has reached nationwide popularity, and many students from all over the country attend her classes. She has also been seen on many of the morning talk shows as well and is often invited to speak on surviving blindness in a sighted society. I'm very, very proud of my wife.
Lanie married the man she fell for in college. Her husband is an engineer for the City of Seattle. Lanie, with Joy's assistance, is developing an educational computer learning game for children. Each of my princesses has given Joy and me grandsons
I'm watching my three girls sit out in the yard, facing the Sound, their heads huddled together, no doubt gossiping about the men in their lives. Joy looks at me over her shoulder first, then the girls join her, and all three start giggling. Yeah, they're talking sex. I love hearing them laugh, enjoying themselves, and my heart swells with pride.
My phone vibrates and I grin.
"Hello, son."
I lay my head back and smile … I love my fucking life.
One Last Thing …
I hope you have enjoyed Book Two of Matthew and Joy’s story.
Stay tuned for THE CHAUFFEUR coming soon
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I See You (Seeing You #2) Page 24