“Hello there,” she whispered, smoothing a hand over her stomach. Now, at almost five months pregnant, she had a sizablebaby bump that required actual maternity clothes instead of just oversized sweatshirts. Today, she was wearing a blue dress with little flowers on it that she’d gotten at a secondhand store and that made her look like she came from the fifties.
Something shifted beneath her hand, and she gasped. Was that… could it be… a foot? Or a tiny hand? She’d felt kicks before, but never as strong as this. Never strong enough to be felt with her hand from the outside. And if she could feel them…
Just then, the doorbell rang. Grace dashed across the apartment, flung the door open, grabbed a surprised Alex by the hand, and pulled him inside.
“Feel this!” she instructed, placing his palm on her stomach. They stood in silence for a long moment, waiting, their hearts beating in unison, and then the fluttery kick came again.
“Did you feel it?” she asked, bouncing on her toes.
“Maybe?” Alex furrowed his brow. “It was very faint.”
“Well, soon, then.” She looked up at Alex, grinning. “The babies are kicking!”
“Oh!” Alex’s blue eyes widened, and he broke into a smile. “I felt it that time. It was kind of like a butterfly’s wings.”
“Yeah!” Grace nodded. “Exactly.”
“This is the most amazing thing,” Alex said. He shook his head. “I knew they were in there, but this… Wow.” He was usually eloquent, but now, he seemed close to speechlessness.
Grace was suddenly aware that they were standing very close together with his hand on her stomach. His thumb stroked lightly over her skin, and she shivered. He met her eyes.
“Should we get started?” he asked.
“Hmm?” Grace was so focused on his closeness that she barely understood his words.
“Should we get started on the signs?” Alex asked. Grace quickly nodded, stepping back and releasing his hand.
“Yeah, come on.” The reason Alex was here today, or the reason he’d named when he’d asked if he could come over, was to hang the sea-creature signs on the nursery walls. They’d picked out an octopus, a whale, and a turtle, all hand-painted by a local artist.
In the nursery, Grace tried to move past the moment of closeness as quickly as she could. She grabbed the turtle sign and scanned the walls for a good place.
“Maybe here?” She held up the sign.
“Perfect,” Alex agreed. “And I was thinking that it would be cool to spell out the babies’ names with wooden letters on the walls, too.”
“I love it.” Grace paused. “But then we probably need to pick out names, huh?”
“Sooner or later, we definitely do,” Alex agreed. Grace wasn’t sure about Alex’s thought process, but she’d been putting off naming the babies. It would be a big step for the two of them to agree on names. Part of her had worried that she’d pick a name with Alex and that he’d change his mind about coparenting, and she’d be left with a baby name that always reminded her of him. But now, after a few months of regular time together, she trusted him enough to know he wouldn’t do that.
“Should we… do that?” Grace asked.
“Sure. But let’s finish the signs first.” Alex grinned and reached past her to adjust the sign’s positioning.
It turned out that hanging three signs took about thirty seconds. With the signs up, they headed back to the living room and sat on the couch. Then they looked at each other in silence.
“Do you have any names in mind?” Grace asked when the silence stretched for too long.
“I think you should start,” Alex said. “You’re the mom.”
“Okay.” Grace rested a hand on her stomach again, half hoping for more kicks. “How about Kyle, for the boy?”
Alex winced. “I knew a Kyle in grade school. He punched a teacher right in the nose when she gave him a C on a spelling test. Blood everywhere.”
“Maybe not Kyle, then.” Grace pinwheeled her hand. “Do you have any suggestions?”
“Samantha, for the girl?” Alex suggested.
“When I was a teenager, I babysat for a little girl named Samantha,” Grace said. “She had a terrible lisp and couldn’t pronounce her own name. I swore then that I’d name any future children something easy to pronounce.”
