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“I am. I want to make sure she can’t take the babies away from us once she gets back on her feet.”
“No, she can’t. Once she signs the adoption papers, the girls are all yours. Why don’t we meet the babies first, and then you can decide, okay?”
“Yes, of course.” TJ claps his hands. “Oh, Gloria, I was thinking about this at four in the morning. What is their ethnicity? Not that it matters one iota, but I was watching YouTube videos on girls’ hair textures and learning how to do cornrows. Hair textures for girls are so complicated. Some require special solutions, some need heat treatments or can I just do braids? What, is that wrong to ask?” TJ looks at me as I roll my eyes.
“I think we have time before we have to worry about doing their hair.”
“I want to be prepared because we both know that’s my department.”
Gloria chuckles and squeezes TJ’s arm. “The mom and father are mixed race. So you’ll probably have to wait and see. The good news is, both babies are healthy and have strong lungs.”
She leads us to the nursery where we are required to wear masks and gloves. A nurse then takes us into the room. She walks us over to two beautiful baby girls bundled in small plastic bassinets with heat lamps over them. “Can we touch them?” I ask her.
“You can hold them.” The corners of her eyes crinkle. “They will be ready to go home tomorrow.”
She hands me a baby and I’m scared to breathe. Her head has a small patch of dark hair and her eyes are squeezed shut. TJ and I stare down at her with complete adoration. “She’s so tiny,” I say.
“Everything about her is amazing.”
I look up at TJ, tears glazing my eyes. “She’s perfect.”
“She’s five pounds and her sister is four.” The nurse hands TJ her twin and we stare down at both our babies in complete awe.
“I guess this means we’re not naming one of them Bartholomew,” TJ says.
“No, thank Christ. Nor are we naming one of them Lo-mew.”
“I’d like to name one of them Cara. That was my mom’s name. What do you think?” TJ asks thoughtfully as he rocks the baby in his arms.
“I think that’s a beautiful name. It means ‘friend’ in Irish.” I smile. “How about Rilee, for the other? It means ‘courageous’ and ‘brave’.”
“I love it.” TJ gazes down at Cara. “I think we should do an open adoption. What if they want to know who their mom is one day? I can’t imagine ever denying these two babies anything.”
“I agree. It would be important to know her medical history too. But I think we need to set strong boundaries from the get-go. We have to think about our families since they now have a famous uncle.”
“Agreed.” He nods as we stare at our beautiful baby girls. “I never thought I could feel so much love,” TJ whispers.
“Me, either.” I trace Rilee’s tiny eyebrows with my index finger. How did we get so lucky? “I’m smitten, TJ.”
“Me too, babe. Me too. Oh god, you know what this means?”
“No?” I look over at TJ.
“I’m going to have to get a minivan.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, probably so, Love.”
We look up at Gloria, who waves at us through the window. We proudly hold the twins up and she takes a picture. This is decidedly the best day of my life.
Chapter 32
TJ
I wheel thedouble stroller into our spacious office we moved into a month ago and wave hello at the new girl who will be working part-time in Andie’s position. Her name is Claire. She smiles too much and doesn’t get my sarcasm, but she’s nice enough and does a good job.
“Are those the babies?” Claire squeals, hopping out of her chair.
“Pipe it down, they’re sleeping.” I frown at her. “Come on, Claire, it’s baby one-oh-one not to wake a sleeping baby. They have literally been up all night long. I’m exhausted.”
