On Monday, July 26th, 1971, Peggy and Stan Rizzo welcomed their two daughters into the world. Peggy had a scheduled C-section and at 11:15 and 11:18 AM twins Melanie Angela Rizzo, 6 lbs., 2 oz. and
Jennifer Katherine Rizzo, 5 lbs., 9 oz. arrived. Their names had been chosen a couple of months ago, when all sorts of combinations were discussed, should they have had two boys, or a boy and a girl, or two girls. Stan chose Melanie, after one of his favorite singers and Angela was his mother's name, and Peggy always loved the name Jennifer, especially after seeing Love Story, and Katherine for her mother. Peggy still held out hope that her mother would come to know these children.
At around 4:00pm, Peggy was in her hospital room, finally dozing off, with Stan next to her, holding her hand. The morphine she was given for surgery had worn off hours ago and she was in terrible pain, but she had felt almost high on adrenaline, just so happy that her daughters were born healthy and beautiful. She and Stan spent time holding them and feeding them, but Peggy was just exhausted. One of the nurses came by and brought the babies to the hospital nursery, insisting that Peggy get some rest. She did not sleep at all Sunday night, in anticipation of going to the hospital the next day, and she was also feeling just so big, like she was getting in the way of herself. The nurse gave Peggy a very strong pain killer that just knocked her out completely. Stan looked around Peggy's private hospital room. It was already filling up with deliveries of pink flowers, Stella and Bob sent a beautiful arrangement of pink and white flowers, along with two pink teddy bears, a crystal vase with a two dozen soft pink long stemmed roses arrived from Don, and a huge basket came from McCann - filled with all kinds of baby items, all pink - teething rings, soft pink blankets, baby booties, bibs, pacifiers, everything double, and everything pink.
"Wow" Stan thought. "I'm now the father of girls." He was remembering Uncle Bob with his cousins...super protective of his daughters. Just then, there was a soft knock on the open door, and seeing Peggy asleep, Anita and Gerry tiptoed in.
Stan got up and gave them both a hug. Anita set the bouquet of flowers on the window sill, and Gerry handed Stan a bag of goodies, some rolls and doughnuts from the bakery, some cheese and two cans of ginger ale. "I'll bet you haven't had a thing to eat all day". Gerry told Stan. He really hadn't, and was glad have this.
"Have you seen them yet?" Satan asked them, beaming with paternal pride.
"Oh, not yet honey, we were going to wait for you to escort us" Anita smiled. "I can't wait though. So exciting, two girls!"
"Well, let's go." Stan ushered Anita and Gerry to the nursery. They all peered through the nursery window. "See, second row, right in he middle, there they are." Stan pointed.
Anita looked at them and put her hand to her mouth. "Oh my God", she said, "They are the most beautiful babies in there!" She elbowed Gerry, "Honey, how gorgeous are they? Our boys didn't look like that when they were born. My God, they are perfect!"
"They're C-section babies, they didn't go through the trauma of birth, that's why they look so perfect". Stan explained. He had learned this over the years from his aunt and cousins. "Unfortunately, Peggy went through the trauma of surgery" he laughed. "She'll be fine though, she's a trooper."
Stan turned to Anita. "What about Katherine? Does she know? Will she..." Anita looked up at Stan. "Yes, she knows. She knew we were coming here. I think she'll loosen up. You know, a friend of hers from the neighborhood, Mrs. Cleary, she just told her that her daughter was pregnant, not married and not even getting married. Who knows, that might do it for her. You know how she is. If someone has it worse, then she is so much better."
Stan thought that logic was ridiculous, but if it brought Katherine around, it would be nice for Peggy. He knew that deep down, she was really hurt, though she did not want to show it. It would just take time. But right now, he didn't want to think about Katherine. He was enjoying the pride and elation of new fatherhood. But deep down he also was suppressing thoughts of his own father leaving, and his mother's suicide.