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“Well?” I ask, raising my brows.
Gillian nods. “Okay, what’ve we got?” she asks, knowing although we’ve both lost the bet with her dad, but we’ve doubled down and won the Mommy-Daddy jackpot.
“One boy. One girl. And my money’s on identical twins, for what it’s worth.” The nurse laughs. “But we won’t know for sure just yet.”
“Should we tell your dad?” I ask.
Gillian chews at her lip.
“Nah. Let’s see if we can’t change our bet. Identical or non-identical twins.”
“Good call,” I remark, high-fiving my wife, my best friend, and my partner in everything.
Kissing her shamelessly in front of the nurse and glad we’ve got a head start on filling that house up.
We spend the rest of the afternoon exploring our new house, making notes, plans and scrapping them to start over.
Grateful to know we can do this however we want.
There are no mistakes when you’ve got love on your side.
Extended Epilogue
Two Years Later
Gillian
I know he only said it once, but I always tease Xander with his now infamous ‘no more space stuff’ comment.
I toyed with the idea of getting it as a tattoo someplace only he’d ever see it, but maybe that’s taking it a little too far.
Maybe a temporary one, for his next birthday. Just for fun. Not really making fun of him.
“Large flat parcel from NASA,” I mention casually, putting it on the countertop as he changes Alexander. I scoop up Athena who kicks and wriggles, eager to get back in her walker after her fresh change.
“You’re getting pretty good at that,” I observe, noting how sweetly delicate Xander’s huge hands always are with the babies.
I say babies, but they’re in the terrific two’s now but in mommy’s eyes they’re always babies.
“You want me to change your underwear?” he asks me, deadly serious. I know he is because he’s done it before.
Held me down and peeled them off, cleaned me up like a giant pussy cat with his tongue, and changed me into a fresh pair before tucking me into bed for a nap.
“I’m good,” I let him know with a smile. “Maybe later though,” I add, not wanting him to think I don’t notice how hot his everyday flirting and follow through still is even after a couple of years.
“Well, aren’t you gonna open it?” I ask, eager now to know what’s in the package.
Xander shrugs, setting Alexander on his two feet and holding him up by his tiny hands, helping him stay steady while they both chase his sister around the huge play area next to the kitchen.
“Did you talk to dad some more?” I ask. “About the shop?”
Xander is blowing raspberries now on Athena’s neck now, making her squeal with laughter, meaning its Alexander’s turn to cry.
He scoops them both up and they both go quiet. That same magic touch he has on mommy applies to both his children too.
Thank God.
“Xander?” I ask again, eyeing the package, wondering why he’s so aloof about the whole telescope/Astronomy store thing now. The idea was to have my dad run it, something less stressful for him.
“I dunno,” Xander grimaces, cradling a baby in each fold of his huge arms.
“Your dad really wants a bait shop. Ya know, fishing stuff. How well does that pair with—” But he stops himself from saying it, already noticing me trying not to laugh.
“Space stuff?” I say unable to stop and I burst out laughing, making him pretend to be annoyed until we’re both laughing pretty hard.
“Never gonna live that one down, am I,” he asks.
“I hope not,” I tell him, suddenly serious. Meaning it and moving over to kiss him and our babies.
I hug him while he holds our babies, my ear against his chest while I’m soothed by his powerful heartbeat, never shifting over a Zen rate.
“You gonna open that package?” I ask him, looking up into his eyes, knowing he’s already guessed or knows what it is.
“Maybe later,” he teases me, pecking my cheek and moving the babies over to their matching playpens.
Maybe now.
Hehehe.
We both stop and look at each other, aware of a child’s laughter, even though both kids are lying peacefully.
Xander and I stopped doing the whole mind-telepathy thing when the babies came, something that developed after our first time together.
He still can do it, and a million other things. But I know it’s not him doing it now and it’s certainly not me.
Deliberately keeping both our minds blank we decide to carry on as if nothing happened.
Maybe open the parcel now, Daddy.
I close my eyes, grateful for two healthy, beautiful children. But looking to Xander he picks up on my near panic.
Moving over to Alexander, he passes his huge hand over the infant, then presses a finger to the boy’s lips, whispering something to him.
He comes over, pecks my lips, and squeezes my butt with both hands, promising me the kids are asleep now.
