While the others got up and came forward to shake hands, Angela waved from the depths of an armchair. “I can only get out of this by an act of God, and maybe the help of a crane,” she laughed, gesturing to her swollen belly. “God knows how I’ll get to the dinner table.”
“Just so long as they give us a heads up when dinner’s ready,” her husband agreed.
“When are you due?” Liam asked, his professional training rising to the fore.
“Not for three weeks,” Angela said, patting her abdomen with a smile. “But I’m carrying twins, so my doctor says it’s likely they’ll come early.”
“Just not during dinner, please,” Lenore begged, coming in from the kitchen to sit beside her husband, who’d taken a seat on one of the sofas. Everyone laughed. Naomi, however, lit up with interest.
“Twins? Really?” She asked, making her way across the room to Angela’s side. “I’m a twin.”
“You are?” Angela’s eyes gleamed, and she grabbed for Naomi’s hand, pulling her down to sit on the arm of her chair. “Tell me all about it! Do you like being a twin? What’s it like?”
“It’s the best,” Naomi assured her. She absently accepted the glass of eggnog pressed into her hand by Charlie. “We were inseparable growing up.”
“Are you identical or fraternal?”
“Identical. There isn’t a freckle placed differently.” Naomi grinned mischievously. “We checked.”
Everyone laughed.
“We’re having girls,” Angela told her, and Naomi sighed, gesturing dramatically.
“Twins,andgirls! You are doubly blessed!”
“Did your parents dress you identically?” Crystal wanted to know.
“No, but we did it ourselves, when we were old enough to choose our own clothes,” Naomi admitted. “But a lot of times we’d change up the color… it’d be the same outfit but different colors. My favorite color is turquoise, while Beth’s is green, a kind of deep sea green.”
“So you didn’t like all the same things?”
Naomi laughed merrily. “Oh my gosh, no. Beth is one of those science nerds, and I love books. In fact,” she grinned, remembering. “In high school, once we swapped and she went in for my algebra test, and I did her American history test.”
“Oh, great, what we have to look forward to,” Charlie said, leaning over to press a kiss on his wife’s hair. “We’ll have to watch them like a hawk.”
“Good luck with that,” Naomi snickered. “We could even fool our mom.”
Charlie raised his brows. “Not your dad?”
He, um… he wasn’t in the picture,” Naomi said, feeling awkward about admitting it. “We never knew who he was.”
“I’m sorry,” Charlie said awkwardly.
“No, it’s okay,” she hurried to reassure him. “You don’t miss what you’ve never had. And Beth and I had each other, that was enough.”
A timer went off in the kitchen, and Lenore heaved herself up from the sofa. “Time to get all this food onto the table.”
Everyone but Angela surged from their seats, but Max waved a hand at Naomi and Liam.
“Not you,” he frowned at them. “You’re guests.”
“You can keep me company,” Angela offered.
“Yes, alert us if she goes into labor,” teased Max’s youngest daughter, Maxine.
Naomi grinned at them. “Liam’s a physician, so she’ll be in good hands if she does.”
“Really?” Lenore paused in the doorway to the living room, turning to look at him with interest. “Well, that’s handy.”
