by Finn, Emilia
“Not quite identical,” Luc chuckles. Slowly, with a feather soft touch while his girlfriend sits on the arm of his chair just the same as Angelo sits on Laine’s, he peels the baby’s hat away to reveal snow white hair. Then I look to Laine as she does the same, only to reveal jet black. “We have one Bishop and one Lenaghan.”
“Oh my gosh. They’re so perfect.”
I stop caring about being shy once the hats come off. I move around to the other side of the bed and lean over Luc’s bundle first. She has thick lips that poke out and pout in the most beautiful way. One of her hands protrudes from the blanket and shows tiny, wrinkled fingertips, and fingernails that are a little long. Her nose is a little flat, and her chin-rolls touch her chest.
“She’s so beautiful, guys.”
I move along to study the next baby. Almost exactly the same, but a little smaller. She has the pouty lips, the same chin fat, the same wrinkled hand, but with the Bishop hair.
“That one is Chicken,” Kane snickers. “And the blonde is Nugget. Because we’re all about the Nug Life now.”
“Stop it,” Jess whispers. I hear the smile in her voice, but know she’s being careful not to laugh. “The blonde is Luna. The darker one is Rosalie.”
“Rose for short,” Kane adds. “My Luna and Rose. Now I have three girls, and nobody’s life is as good as mine.”
“Do you wanna hold one?” Jay Bishop stands in the back corner with his Sophia, and watches on with a kind of awe in his eyes. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him this quiet. I didn’t realize he knew how to be. “Lenaghans won’t share. I asked a billion times, but they said not yet.”
“They’ll share with you,” Soph adds. “Because they’ll want to be polite. So if you say yes, Jay will get to hold one too.”
Jay eagerly nods.
“Okay.” Laughing, I drop my handbag to the floor and stop in front of Luc as Jay darts to Laine.
It’s like transferring explosives, but I end up with a blonde baby in my arms, while Jay gets Rosalie. Then we both sit, but not before Jay shoves his chair close to mine so the arms touch. He sits down beside me with a goofy grin, and leaning in close, he makes the top of Rose’s head touch the end of Luna’s blanket.
“I feel like they have to touch,” he murmurs. “They just grew in the same stomach. They’re not ready to be apart.”
Not bitter about being replaced, Laine moves to Jess’ side of the bed and grabs her sister’s hand. She proves Jay’s point and makes it so the twins touch.
“I just can’t believe they’re really here.” I stare in amazement. “They’re so beautiful and amazing.”
Mitch awkwardly clears his throat, pulling my attention away from Chicken. Or Nugget. I forget which is which. He’s still at the door, with his eyes almost staring at the floor.
“Oh my gosh! I’m sorry. Everyone, this is my big brother, Mitchell. Mitchell, this is everyone. I did Kane and Jess’ wedding yesterday.”
“Hey.” Kane reaches out with a closed fist, but he doesn’t move away from Jess in the least. He’s attached to her until he decides he’s not. “Nice to meetcha.”
“You too. Congrats on… well, everything. The wedding and the babies.”
“Luckiest man on the planet,” Kane says. He drops his hand and turns back to Jess.
Mitch quietly makes his way around the room. It’s not that he’s shy; he just doesn’t care to meet new people. He squeezes Jess’ shoulder. Nods to Jay and Soph. Shakes Angelo’s hand. And then he stops in front of Luc and Kari, and smiles.
“Luc.”
He reaches out and shakes my brother’s hand. “Mitch. Small world, huh? I didn’t know your sister was doing my sister’s wedding.”
He shrugs and releases Luc’s hand. “I knew. Congratulations on becoming an uncle.”
Kari steps forward and surprises my brother when she pulls him into a hug. I don’t know how well they know each other, but she works at the hospital too, so I doubt they’re strangers. “It’s kinda weird seeing you out of uniform. It’s like seeing a school teacher on the weekend.”
Laine snorts beside Jess.
“Yeah.” He grins. “Congratulations on becoming an aunt, Pipsqueak. You didn’t deliver them yourself? I’m kinda disappointed.”
“Nah.” She steps back and brushes his collar down. “But you bet your bottom dollar I tried. I stuck to her like velcro, but the universe wasn’t having it.”
“You wanted to deliver my babies?” Jess questions. “Are you insane? This wasn’t gonna be a backyard birth. Only crazies let you guys deliver babies outside of the hospital.”
“I was gonna deliver them, too,” Jay says. “I was ready to prick your belly with a pin to see if that’d move shit along.”
“Poke my wife, and I’ll snap your neck,” Kane murmurs. “She’s my baby mama. She stays.”
“Well, obviously.” Jay rolls his eyes. “They’re here now, so I put my pins away. It sucks I didn’t get to deliver them, but I love how you named them for me. Rosalie Jay and Luna Jay. It sounds nice.”
“We didn’t,” Jess answers dryly. “You’re making shit up again.”
“Well, their last names are Bishop, and so’s mine, so there’s that.”
“They got Bishop because of Kane,” Angelo inserts. “You get no part in this, Ghost.”
“I still married them yesterday.” Jay sits back in his chair and pulls his bundle higher. “I said the words before Reverend Hannah did, and no one can ever take that away from me.”
His eyes light up as Soph sits down on the arm of his chair. He turns to her and holds the baby out as though he’s holding baby Simba on Pride Rock.
“Marry me, Sophia?”
My heart stops dead in my chest, only to restart and race a million miles a second. Somebody is asking somebody else to marry them, and it’s happening right in front of me.
I turn to them with wide eyes and a shouted yes on my lips, then I turn to Mitch as though to say it’s happening. It’s happening!
But then my brother dashes my hopes when he brings a hand up to scratch his chin and discreetly shakes his head.
“Marry you?” Soph snaps. “Seriously? You offer me someone else’s baby, and think that’s the grand gesture I’m waiting for? Get the fuck outta here, Bishop. Try again.”
“Fuck.” Jay brings the baby back to his chest and turns in his chair to face straight on.
My heart collapses into a ball of dust in my chest. She said no. She said no!
“I’ll get you next time, Sugar Plum. I have something better coming. Just watch.”
“Mmhmm.”
Our room descends into quiet for a minute while Jay and I study our tiny bundles. Jess and Kane whisper between themselves on the bed, while Ang and Laine make their way toward Kari, Luc, and Mitch. Several different conversations take place, and they all revolve around pink babies and ribbon bows.
The door opens again about an hour after Mitch and I arrived. Heavy footsteps on the utilitarian floor bring my eyes up, but my heart doesn’t race until Spencer looks around the curtain and freezes.
He had been coming in with a smile and a bouquet of roses with my store’s wrapping, but then his eyes stop on mine. They’re dark and kind of scary, and though everyone in the room watches him watch me, he doesn’t blink for a full minute as his eyes track down to the baby in my arms, and then back up to my eyes.
“Abigail.”
“Spence, come in.” Sensing the tension in the room, Jess tries to sit up on her bed, only to squeak and fall back again. “Shit, man. Have you ever been chopped in half before? Because I have, and this isn’t okay.”
Finally, Spencer’s gaze leaves mine as he turns toward the bed. He does what I did; he leans over Kane and presses a kiss to Jess’ cheek. Standing tall, he drops the flowers into an empty vase on the bedside table, and gently claps the back of Kane’s head. “You guys fuckin’ rock. You made babies. Twice as many as regular people.”
“That’s because we aren’t re
gular,” Kane scoffs. “We’re extraordinary and do the razzle dazzle shit with everything in life.”
Spencer chuckles and steps back from the bed. His eyes continue to shoot back to me, but he pulls them away so fast, it makes me doubt myself.
I haven’t called him. I haven’t seen or spoken to him since he was in my bathroom last night. If not for a single towel and some bubbles, he would have seen all of me. He would have seen way too much and broken my heart before it even fell.
“Twink.” Spencer nods to Laine, then to Ang. “Riggs.”
Mitch must sense the tension in the room, because he steps closer and rests his hand on my shoulder, which draws Spencer’s fiery gaze.
“Who the fuck are you?” Spencer demands.
I stand with the baby in one arm and move in front of my brother. Mistake? Protection? Poking the beast, perhaps? I don’t know, but when Spencer stalks forward like a lion on the prowl, I turn and pass the baby to Kari with gentle movements.
When I turn back around, I step back onto Mitch’s shoes when I realize how close Spencer has come. He’s so large, and Mitch is so large, and I’m the tiny idiot in the middle as Spencer stares at him the way he stared at Nix.
“Get lost and come into the wrong room?”
“Spencer.” I press my hand to his forearm, not because I want to touch him, but because I need him to give us space before the titans clash. “Uh, Spencer Serrano, this is Mitchell.”
Spencer’s eyes narrow to slits when Mitch pulls me back so that my body presses against his chest. “Who the fuck are you, Mitchell?”
“Who the fuck are you?” Mitch retorts. “And why are you in my face?”
“Nope.” Luc jumps up and squeezes himself between me and Spencer. “We aren’t doing this while my sister is two hours post-op. Spence, Mitch is her brother. He’s my coworker, and he’s cool. Mitch, Spence is our friend and doesn’t like people looking at him weird.”
“Why’s he looking at my sister like that?” Mitch skillfully grabs my shoulders and pulls me out of the huddle. “Why is he looking at you weird?”
“I don’t kn–”
“Because she’s cute,” Luc says. “She’s cute, she was seated beside him at the wedding, and she was at the wedding alone. They became friends, and now he’s making sure she’s okay.” Luc turns to Spencer. “Confirm.”
“Affirmative. We’re friends.” His eyes come to mine. “We hung out at the wedding. And the last time I saw a dude towering over her, I thought he was an abusive boyfriend. Now I find myself somewhat… invested.”
“Abusive?” Mitch turns to me. “Who the fuck were you with, Abigail?”
“Nixon! I was with Nixon when Spencer came into the store with Jess. Nix was on his way out and demanding I come to dinner. Spencer thought it was something that it wasn’t. Now, everybody needs to sit down before you wake the babies, and you need to stop saying the F word!”
Kane ominously clears his throat, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room. Jess is still pale. She’s curious, but she’s not particularly scared. But Kane watches us with a lifted brow and something I might consider threat in his eyes.
“Do we have a problem here?” he asks slowly. “Because you’re sure as shit gonna take it out of this room while my wife is recovering after surgery. If my daughters’ first memories are of two fuckwits arguing over a girl who can look after herself just fine, we have problems. If my daughters cry because two fuckwits woke and scared them, we’ll have trouble.” He sits up taller, slowing his movements when Jess hisses. “Do we have trouble?”
“I have no trouble,” Mitch grumbles. “My sister dragged me here. I said congratulations. Now I’m waiting for my sister to be ready to leave.”
“So maybe you wanna sit in the corner and close your lips.” Kane Bishop is a formidable and terrifying man, even while half-lying in a hospital bed. “Spencer, walk back into the hall, count to ten, then knock and come back in. You better leave your attitude at the door. We’re brothers, but my daughters and wife trump all of you motherfuckers. Behave, or fuck off.”
I want to cry out at all of the cussing. I want to lecture them on the difference between the mother-eff word, and something a little less… horrible. But Kane’s hand flexes by his side, and Jess is too sore to step between her man and whoever he wants to hurt.
Swallowing, I bring my gaze back to Spencer and gulp when I have to arch my neck back to meet his dazzling black eyes. “We’ll leave.”
I turn to Kari and smile at the baby, then I do the same to Jay, who’s not laughing or being silly anymore. He holds his niece, but his eyes burn the back of Spencer’s head.
“I came, I met, I congratulated. Your daughters are beautiful. Thank you for calling me.”
“You don’t have to leave,” Jess says. “The guys just need a reset, then everyone will be fine.”
“No, it’s okay.” I step around Spencer, and hold in my gasp when his hand brushes over my hip. Since I’m on Jess’ side of the bed, I carefully lean in and give her a gentle hug. “You did amazing, Jessie. I’m so happy for you and your family.”
“I made it past the wedding.”
I laugh, but it’s embarrassingly close to a sob. “You showed them all. Now you’re married, and your baby girls are here to complete your family. Maybe you could give me a call next week or something? Whenever you’re up for a visit. I’ll drop in and bring you a fresh Snickers.”
She nods and watches as I back away. “Okay. Thank you for visiting.”
“The pleasure was truly all mine. I got to see your wedding, an almost proposal, and now this. This was an amazing week for me.”
I bend and snatch up my handbag, then I squeak and spin around when I bump into a solid body. “Oh my gosh!” I slam a hand to my chest when Spencer settles me on my feet, then practically sprint across the room. “I’m sorry.” I snag Mitchell’s wrist, and drag him toward the door. “There’s just not enough space in this room for this many people.”
I snatch the curtain open, and nearly pass out when I reveal the man I met last night, Eric, who stands beside Katrina and her teenage son.
She lifts a brow, and he grins as I step through and drag my brother into the brightly lit hallway.
I didn’t realize how shadowed the room was until I adjust to the fluorescents of the hall. My shoes slap against the hospital floors, echoing as we move through a quiet hall, and every step I take to escape that crowded room, the less my eyes burn.
“You better talk to me about that dude, Abby.” Mitch changes our grip so instead of me holding his wrist, he holds mine. He slows his steps and pulls me around a corner until we stop by an almost empty food cart. “Speak.”
“What?” My heart pounds. “There’s nothing to say.”
“That dude has some mega claims on you, and it is way beyond friendly at a wedding.”
“There’s no claim. We were seated together at Jess’ wedding. Everyone else was partnered up, so we said hello.”
“I said hello to the chick at the store today. Guys that only say hello to a girl one time do not step up to her brother a day later with the intention to take him out. Serrano wasn’t gonna tap me on the chin, Abby. He was gonna eliminate me.”
“He was not.” I tug my hand away and scoff. “You’re being dumb and dramatic. Spencer thinks I have questionable taste in men, so he feels responsible, I guess, but–”
“Well, do you? If commando hulks are your crowd now, then maybe he’s right.”
“He was talking about you and Nix! The questionable men in my life are my stupid brothers. So yeah, I guess he’s kinda right. He’s a guy who was nice to me. He was worried about me when it came to Nix, and now, the very next time he sees me, I’m walking around with another guy that likes to pretend I can feel a pea under my mattress. I know it’s hard for you guys, but you need to back off me. You act like I’m breakable. You act like I can’t make my own choices. You’re smothering me.”
“You are breakable, Abby! You’re t
he most breakable person I know.”
“And you’re pigheaded and overbearing. You act like you want to be a grump, like it’s part of your personality and something you can’t stop doing, but in reality, you do that to keep people away, to keep your schedule open so you can smother me some more. You work, and then you Abby. That’s your entire existence. You don’t date, because God forbid you do anything that would be nice and just for you. Only an hour ago, you and Nix were telling me to live a little more, but the second you think I’ve lived, and my existence spirals out of your control, you guys pee on my shoes and act like the world is falling down.”
“Fuck, Abby.” His forehead creases. “There’s something going on, isn’t there?”
He doesn’t shout anymore, which makes this all the more terrifying.
“You want that guy to pee on your shoes. You want this.”
“No! I just want you to stop killing yourself over me. I finally, finally moved out of the house and got my own place. I convinced you that I’d be fine, but have I spent a single night alone yet? Have I had a dinner by myself? A whole weekend to sit and read without my phone blowing up in my lap? Have I been able to breathe at all?”
“I didn’t come over last night.”
“I was at the dang wedding, Mitchell! You act like you’ve granted me this wonderful independence, but all you’ve done is extend my chains. Yeah, I got out of the house, but my phone battery dies every single day because you constantly call and text. You and Nix work shifts for your jobs, and then you take me in shifts once you clock out. Nix comes over for breakfast. Beck visits the shop at lunch. Corey brings dinner on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Troy is coming home soon, and no doubt he’ll be delegated to Sunday brunch, just to make sure I didn’t get murdered by an evil clown in my sleep.”
“Don’t say that shit. It’s not funny.”
“Well, don’t act like what I say isn’t the cold, hard truth. Do you think I don’t notice the micromanaging? Just because you switch up the faces doesn’t mean I don’t notice.”