AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Epilogue - Theresa
I looked down at my twin boys in their footie pajamas and tiny hospital hats, my heart about to burst with love. Bouts of fear kept jabbing at me. Were we really ready to take them home from the hospital after only three days? The doctor assured me they were fine and I was fine and they were just about shoving us out the door. But what if I did something wrong?
Aleksei slid up behind me and rubbed my shoulders before reaching down and patting each downy little baby head. He leaned over their hospital cribs and sniffed each one.
“I love the way they smell,” he admitted.
“Me too,” I said, welling up with happy tears. “I love everything about them.”
“You need to stop worrying,” he told me, squeezing my shoulder again. “I could tell that you were.”
“Aren’t you?” I asked.
He nodded, then shrugged. “I’m actually mostly worried that they don’t have names yet.”
Throughout my whole pregnancy, we never took the naming business seriously, always getting into arguments and one upping each other with increasingly ridiculous choices. I guess we assumed we’d eventually come up with one, but now we had to come up with two.
“Mason and Endive?” I asked.
“What is it with you and food names? he asked. “But Mason is all right. How about Kristoff and Ragu.” He winked at me. “A Russian name and an Italian one, and as a bonus, one is food.”
“Never,” I said. “Well, I don’t mind Kristoff.”
I swatted him and he caught my hand and kissed it. “Not in front of the children,” he admonished. “Well then, how about Kristoff and Pizza.”
I snorted. “If you’re going to use Italian food, come up with something classier at least. Like Fettuccine.”
He gasped. “Fettuccine Alfredo. First and middle, done and dusted for one of these little guys.”
I dissolved into giggles as he kept naming different pasta varieties. Pretty soon one of the nurses stuck her head in the room and asked if everything was all right.
“They want us out,” I said, laughing all over again.
“Then let’s go. I think Yuri’s waiting to help us carry all their gear.” He placed one of their new car seats onto a table and seemed to count to three in his mind before picking up one of our sons and carefully putting him in. He turned to me with raised brows. “Let’s each say a name. A serious one. Both of our picks will be their names.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
A second later we both blurted out Kristoff and started laughing again. I calmed down enough to get the second baby in his seat and suggested Kristoff and Mason. “You said you liked that one,” I reminded him.
“Oh, thank God,” he sighed, touching each tiny forehead. “Kristoff and Mason. Although, by the time we get home, we might mix them up.”
I leaned into his arms. “We’ll figure it out.”
We headed home as soon as Yuri managed to cram all the balloons and toys into his car, promising he’d meet us at the apartment. I’d continued doing art shows up until the last few weeks before they were born, both with my own art and the paintings my mother acquired or commissioned and over the months I’d made a lot of genuine friendships. Between them and our big, extended family, including all of Aleksei’s employees, we were showered with thoughtful gifts.
On the drive back to start our new life together, Aleksei said he wanted to take a quick detour. I was so busy making sure the babies weren’t getting jostled with every small bump, I agreed, thinking it was something to do with business. We pulled up alongside my favorite space in all of Miami, a gallery I’d had several great shows at, but then it had closed down and was empty, with a big real estate sign in the window for the last several months. As Aleksei popped out of the car, I looked at the huge windows that let in the perfect amount of light.
“Hey, Aleksei,” I said, suddenly realizing he was no longer in the car. He popped up at my side and opened the door. “The sale sign is out of the window. Maybe it’ll reopen, and I can do some more shows there when I’m back to work.”
As excited as I was about motherhood, I wanted to keep up with the momentum I’d built in the local art scene, and Aleksei seemed supportive. I looked around as he grinned at me, not saying anything.
“What business do you have around here?” I asked, glancing back at the babies, still fast asleep.
He grabbed me by the hips and pointed me back toward the gallery. “I should ask you what businessyouhave around here,” he said.
I shrugged and he rolled his eyes, waving at the empty windows. “The for sale sign is gone.”
My mouth dropped open, as I slowly understood. “Did you buy the gallery? For me?”
