by Holly Rayner
“Sure. We’ve tossed around calling them all Sean,” he teased her. “It could even work for our baby girl. Just a bit of a spelling change.”
Charlotte stuck her tongue out at him, smiling. “Don’t be a goon. We have to name them well. They’ll be written about in magazines for the rest of their lives.”
It was true, Charlotte knew, that her children would be famous, if only because of their father. They’d inherit his fortune. And she’d be their mother, a successful lawyer. She hoped they wouldn’t feel pressure under the weight of their parents’ success; she hoped it would challenge them, affirming that they could do anything that they set their minds to.
“Let’s start with my girl here,” Sean said, bringing his thumb to her forehead. “I think I like Evelyn. Evie for short.”
“Evie,” Charlotte said, nodding her head. “She looks like an Evie.”
“She certainly does,” Sean agreed. “Evie. Welcome to your family, Evie. Those are the boys who are going to love and torment you for the rest of your life.”
“And what about them?” Charlotte asked, mid-giggle. “What will we call our boys.”
“You choose. I chose Evie,” Sean said.
Despite her exhaustion, the names Oscar and Ethan struck Charlotte all at once, and she said them out loud. The boys stirred at the words, almost as if they were responding, and Charlotte felt herself crying once more. “Oscar and Ethan. I think it’s perfect.”
She nodded as she spoke, with a left nod for Oscar and a right nod for Ethan—the oldest, who would be named in honor of Sean’s late father.
“I agree” Sean replied, his eyes moist.
Charlotte lay with her baby boys, then, as Sean held Evie, cradling her. They spoke sparingly, hardly able to believe their family had formed before them, in the dark of that Valentine’s night.
After a while, a nurse entered to help Charlotte begin to breast-feed. She felt thankful that the babies took to it immediately, latching to her breasts hungrily. She felt she fit the mother role, despite not having dreamed about it much as a child, or even as an adult. But with Sean, she knew, anything and everything was possible, and motherhood would be amazing.
“Can you imagine what lives these kids are going to have?” Charlotte whispered as Oscar breastfed. “Do you think they’ll take after you or me? A tech guru or a lawyer?”
Sean’s eyebrows rose high. He held both Ethan and Evie, and he shrugged slightly, not moving enough to wake them. “Maybe they’ll forge their own paths. Become artists or writers, or bankers or—”
“Or whatever makes them happy,” Charlotte grinned. She looked down at her breastfeeding baby and watched as the light gleamed off his perfect eyebrows and eyelashes. “They have such dark hair. Like yours.”
“You didn’t think your angelic blond could overrule this monstrosity on my head, did you?” he asked her. “But Evie’s hair is a bit lighter. Maybe it’ll lighten as she grows older. She could be a beautiful blonde like her mother.”
“I don’t mind what they look like. As long as they’re healthy, and happy.”
They sat in silence for a moment. Charlotte was distracted, trying to ensure that baby Oscar got enough milk. Soon, she turned toward Sean, that tiny crinkle forming between her eyebrows. “I just remembered something,” she whispered.
“What?” Sean asked, fake-alarmed. “Did you leave the stove on?”
Charlotte broke into a smile easily. She loved this man and his already dad-like humor. “No, darling. I remembered that I never told you, officially, that I want to marry you. And so I’m doing it now. Yes. I want to marry you and be with you for the rest of my life.”
Sean nodded, his eyes linking with hers. “Finally, I get the response I’m looking for, minus all those contractions.”
“I love you,” Charlotte spluttered. She was crying again. Why couldn’t she halt it? As she wept, a nurse brought them three baby bassinets, perfect for them to lay their babies in for their first, blissful night’s sleep. Charlotte allowed the nurse to take Oscar from her, leaving a hole in her arms. She already craved the warmth of his body against her.
But she was content when her three babies drifted off to sleep. And she was more than happy when Sean slipped into the bed, beside her, and wrapped his own, strong arms around her.
Unable to sleep from the anticipation of their coming lives, they chatted about possibilities, about how terrible Disney World would be when they finally took the kids, and about who would be “good cop” versus the other’s “bad cop.” They flipped through the channels on the hospital’s television, and Sean marched toward the vending machine, centered on picking up a better haul than the previous time. “I know what you like now,” he said.
Charlotte checked her phone about an hour later, as Sean began to drift off to sleep on her pillow, and as her babies slept on, unaware of the fact that this was their very first day on planet Earth. They’d hear the story later, many times.
Her messages were from her mom and dad, from Chelsea, and from many of her colleagues, all of them wishing her a happy birth. She flipped through the photos Sean had taken of her holding the babies during the hours before, and she sent a few to her parents, remembering that already it was six in the morning on the East Coast—surely they would be awake.
The messages were received immediately. Tears rolled down Charlotte’s cheeks as her parents responded with rapid text messages.
They’re the most beautiful humans I’ve ever seen.
Wow. You DID it, Charlotte!
This is your greatest accomplishment yet. We love you, pumpkin.
The texts kept streaming in, assuring Charlotte that no matter the distance between them, her parents would always have her back. The final message, regarding the news of her engagement, warmed her heart the most.
“We can’t wait to be at the wedding. We can’t wait to hold your babies close. Love, Grandma and Grandpa.”
Charlotte put her head back on the pillow and kissed Sean’s cheek as he slept blissfully on. She breathed heavily, allowing herself to drift into slumber, rich with the knowledge that her life hadn’t turned out just as she’d planned—that it had gone the way of her wildest dreams.
And, miraculously, the babies slept a few hours more before crying, alerting their parents that, despite their cuteness, they weren’t going to be easy. And the couple braced themselves, for more love, and more trials and tribulations than they’d experienced ever before.
Epilogue
Charlotte and Chelsea stood together in the office of the small restaurant by the lake, which had been temporarily converted to create a dressing room for the wedding. Chelsea looked at their surroundings, frowning. “Did this place used to be a train station?” she asked.
“Yes, actually,” Charlotte replied. Her hair was wrapped in curlers, tight to her skull. She knew she looked ridiculous, in those first stages before donning her wedding garb. “This was the first place he took me on a date.”
“The night the triplets were conceived,” Chelsea winked. “I see.”
“It’s a magical place, isn’t it?” Charlotte said wistfully. She swept her hand toward the lake, which glowed beneath the supreme, blue sky. They’d decided to have the wedding in the summer, after getting through the babies’ first year and a bit. The stress of those first few months was long in the past, and Charlotte had, miraculously, gotten her fit body back (even after some nights, when she’d given in to 2 a.m. burritos after the babies had kept them up deep into the night).
“I love it here,” Chelsea breathed. She’d already put on her light purple bridesmaid’s dress, and she twirled in it, toward the large crib, which held all three babies. They cuddled together, cooing and laughing and playing with their toys.
Chelsea grabbed baby Oscar, lifting him into the air and making silly faces. She laughed at his expressions. “He’s going to be the funny one.”
“I know,” Charlotte said, chuckling. “And Evie’s just too serious for her own g
ood. Sean said she takes after me. But we’re going to have to learn to lighten her up.”
“And what of Ethan?” Chelsea asked. The dark-haired baby scowled at them before breaking into a funny, one-toothed smile. “What do you make of him?”
“He’s a jack-of-all-trades,” Charlotte said. “He’s like his daddy. He could pull off anything. I can just tell.”
Suddenly, they heard a knock at the door. Charlotte spun to find her father and mother entering, both of them already dressed for the later ceremony.
“We didn’t want to wait to see you,” her father said, wrapping his warm arms around his daughter. Charlotte felt tears spring to her eyes.
“I’m so glad you didn’t,” she wept. “Thank you for coming all this way.”
Already, her parents had been into town twice to visit her and the babies. They’d come to love Seattle, had understood why she’d chosen the place as her home. And, best of all, they loved Sean.
Her parents left the prep room after several minutes more, knowing Charlotte needed to prepare. She slipped into her lacy dress, the neckline dipping low between her breasts in a narrow V. “You don’t think this is too much, right? Considering I’m a mom and all?” she whispered to her friend.
“You forgot that you’re a hot mom,” Chelsea affirmed. “And you don’t have to ignore your sexiness, just because you have children.” She finished taking out Charlotte’s curlers before wrapping half of her hair up into a pin made of real flowers in hues of light pinks, whites, and peaches.
Charlotte turned to her reflection in the mirror and nearly gasped—she barely recognized herself, and had to pinch her arm. Her body looked perfect, her hair hung like golden silk, without the usual mess it proffered after looking after three children, day-in, day-out. Her eyes shone, and she couldn’t stop smiling. She spun in the mirror, feeling the skirt whirl at her feet.
“Do you think I’m ready?” she asked nervously.
Chelsea’s eyes gleamed. She touched Charlotte’s shoulder and nodded, without saying words. The air hung with anticipation.
In that moment, Charlotte’s mom and dad returned to pick up the babies. Just before her parents carried them away, she gave each of them a light kiss on the forehead, feeling the deep, aching love that only a mother could understand. She hadn’t known how much bigger and stronger her emotions could get before she met them.
A guitarist at the front of several lines of chairs filled with the couple’s family and friends began to play “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” as Charlotte approached. Chelsea walked in front of her, carrying a smaller bouquet that complemented Charlotte’s. Charlotte tried to keep her tears in, but the sound of the lilting music was making that even more difficult.
At the end of the aisle stood the man of her dreams: Sean Lawson. He stood in a tuxedo, his hands crossed behind him. And, to her surprise, he was crying, as well—not big, guttural tears, but a show of his intense emotion nonetheless. She smiled at him, and he returned it. This was their special moment.
She walked toward him slowly, eyeing Sean’s brother, who stood beside him, and her mother and father, who sat in the front row, watching the babies as they played around their feet on the soft grass.
Finally, she reached her fiancé and grasped his elbow. He nudged her, pointing toward their three children who danced and played in their fine clothes, mussing them up.
Charlotte giggled. “They have so much spirit.”
“Just like you,” Sean whispered.
“Shh. We’re going to get in trouble,” Charlotte said back.
Their pastor, a childhood friend of Sean’s, just smiled at them and requested that the group of friends and family members bow their heads in prayer. He gave a short, loving sermon about the power of working for what you love, and then he asked the couple to exchange their vows and kiss each other to seal their union, and their love.
Charlotte and Sean kissed each other without reservation, with complete happiness about the world they’d built together. Their friends and family rose to their feet, erupting into applause, and the couple broke their kiss and rushed from the altar, toward their children. They lifted them into the air, causing them to squeal with delight.
Behind them, the sun had begun to set, casting stunning pinks and oranges across the water. Evie brought her hand up to her father’s face and toyed with his cheeks; Oscar swatted his mother’s curls, and they bounced, only making him more amused. Ethan looked at them sternly, as if he were unsure whether or not they understood the brevity of their decision. Marriage, he seemed to say, is a commitment.
The married couple brought their children up the hill, to where the cars were waiting, and their friends and family drove with them to a gorgeous ballroom on the outside of Seattle, where they’d planned the reception. There, yet more guests joined the celebration. Colleagues from all over the world stood at the entrance, waving to them and throwing confetti and rice as they approached.
Charlotte giggled, lifting her children from the car and waving to her friends. Lyle sent an air kiss. Mr. Ellis nodded in recognition. Sean’s tech guru friends, including several big names from Facebook and Twitter, took photos of them, uploading them to the web.
“We can never escape that dreaded internet, now, can we?” Charlotte teased Sean.
A nurse they’d hired for the event came forward and brought the kids with her, to a separate room where they could play and sleep, and the couple led their guests into the massive ballroom. The ballroom had been built over a century before, and the design of it was stunning, with a large, golden and blue dome. The marble floor gleamed beneath several candelabras, all of which were lit up. The fire flickered in the air.
The guests were seated at their assigned tables, with Charlotte and Sean at the head table, looking over them. Chelsea sat beside Charlotte, Sean’s brother sat beside him, and they had a riot, joking, drinking a bit too much wine and awaiting the DJ set. “I know we’re old,” Sean joked. “But I still like to dance.”
“You dance like a dad now,” Charlotte teased him.
“So what if I do?” he said. “I’ve always danced like that.”
“He has,” his brother agreed.
Beside Charlotte, Chelsea burst into laughter, clearly buzzing from the wine. Charlotte could tell, suddenly, that Chelsea was attracted to Sean’s brother. And she nudged Sean, subtly alerting him to the fact.
“I don’t think you want that to happen,” Sean whispered, his eyebrows high. “He works on cars.”
“He could do that here,” Charlotte pointed out. “Plus. Chelsea’s not the gold-digging type. She wants real love.”
Sean grinned at that. “Did you see what I wore today?” he asked, showing her his cufflinks. Sure enough, they were the ones he had been given by his father, all those years before. They were the cufflinks that had brought them together, that had joined their fates.
Charlotte brought her thumb and forefinger around one, playing with it carefully. “I love that you remember things like this,” she said softly. “It’s the little things that matter.”
“Remember when I told you that about myself?” Sean asked her.
“Of course I do,” she answered.
“I knew you’d like that,” Sean said, nudging her. “I knew you were a keeper.”
At that, the great congregation of friends and relatives began to tap their knives against their wine glasses. The great clinking directed Charlotte and Sean into each other’s arms for a brief kiss. Charlotte closed her eyes, not wanting this moment of joy and celebration to end.
Of course, before the evening was complete, Charlotte had a beautiful moment with her father as they danced together. He whirled her around, reminiscing about when she’d been a young girl, playing with dolls.
“You wanted to be a mommy, even before you wanted to be a lawyer. Remember that.”
“I don’t,” Charlotte laughed. “But now that it’s happened, I think about being a mother a whole lot more than I think about the
law.”
“I think that’s how it’ll be from now on,” her father admitted, twirling her again. “Your mind will spin with worry, all hours of the day and night. And for some reason, it’ll all be worth it.”
“Dad,” Charlotte said, rolling her eyes slightly. “When are you and Mom just going to bite the bullet and move out West? Your grandchildren want you around. We want you around.”
Her father grinned broadly before he revealed the news. “We’re already putting the house up for sale. We didn’t want to tell you yet. But there you have it. We’re moving.”
Charlotte leaped up on her tiny heels, joy overflowing within her. “I can’t believe it,” she squealed. “You’re going to love it. The nature. The hiking. Oh, it’ll be glorious. And you can stay at the penthouse as much as you want. There’s plenty of room for everyone.”
“I have a good feeling about it,” he said. “And I always trust my gut.”
Hours later, it was after midnight. From across the room, Sean and Charlotte made eye contact, communicating without words that it was time to take the children home. It was time for them to be an official family, together.
They meandered around, hugging, kissing, and saying their goodbyes. And then, hand in hand, they walked toward the room where they found their one-year-old babies passed out in three separate cribs. Ethan’s mouth was open, drooling, while Evie had her hands covering her cheeks, as if in a perpetual state of wonder. Oscar slept on his back, so carefree.
“They have such personalities already,” Charlotte murmured, as they lifted each of them into their carriers.
The couple crept from the ballroom as their friends and relatives continued to celebrate into the night. A champagne bottle was uncorked, spewing skyward. Charlotte felt okay about having left the hubbub; she yearned for quiet. The following day, she would learn that Chelsea had made out with Sean’s brother. She’d learn that Lyle and Mr. Ellis had had a massive, drunken dance-off that had to be seen to be believed. But at that moment, Charlotte couldn’t care about any of it.