The next morning, Gil was up and fully into Dad mode. He helped Mattie get dressed and then fed the kids breakfast. Lindsey headed off to school with her friends and he drove Mattie to his school. "I'll see you at noon, Mattie."

"Mommy always picks me up."

"Well at least for now, I'll be doing that. We need to let Mommy rest as much as she can."

"Okay," the boy smiled. "Is it hard work, growing a baby?"

"Very hard, Mattie. That's why we are going to do everything we can to help Mommy, okay? That's what men do."

Mattie was beaming. "Okay." He turned and walked into his classroom.

Back home, Gil fixed some toast and tea for Catherine. She was still having trouble in the mornings but he wanted her to try to eat something. They showered and dressed and headed to the doctor's office.

"I'm glad you came along this time, Gil," the doctor said. "Catherine's going to need a lot of help and support."

Catherine shot Gil a warning look as he smirked next to her. In his mind he was teasing her, see... I told you so. But he knew not to say anything aloud.

"Well, let's see...Gil, why don't you wait in my office while I do an exam on Catherine and then I'll send a nurse to get you. I think we'll go ahead and do a sonogram today."

Gil waited rather impatiently but after a few minutes that seemed like hours, a nurse showed him into the room for the sonogram. Catherine was already on the table. He found a place beside her where he could be close and still see the moniter. They had done sonograms with Mattie so he knew the routine, but it was all still very exciting for him.

The technician prepared Catherine and then sat down to start the test. As she moved the sensor over Catherine, Gil studied the screen to see if he could make out their baby. It all seemed very fuzzy and confusing to him though. Quietly the tech put the sensor down and walked to the door. She called for the doctor, who came in almost immediately. "Yes?" she asked her tech.

"Thought you might want to take a look," replied the tech.

She picked up her tool and repeated the test. The doctor stood quiety and watched the screen, along with Catherine and Gil. "Doc, something is different. This doesn't look like what I remember from Mattie's sonograms at all."

The doctor turned and smiled at them. "It is different. We've discussed many of the statistics about bearing children while in your forties, but there is one that I didn't cover. Catherine, Gil...you are looking at twins."

Gil's mouth fell open. He stood next to his wife, stunned and speechless. Catherine was stunned also. "Twins?" she asked nervously.

"Yes. The chances of muliple births increase as you get older."

Gil was trying to recover. "You mean there's two of them?" he stammered.

"Yes, Gil. Two." The doctor was amused by his reaction.

"B...b...but...how did this happen?"

"Gil we've discussed this before," chimed in Catherine. "You got all amorous and then..."

"I know that, Cath...but twins?"

"Gil," the doctor said calmly, "Take a breath and then listen to me. The chance of multiple births increases after the age of forty...quite a bit, actually. You and Catherine have just come up against that statistic."

Gil really was trying to breathe. He looked from the doctor to Catherine to the screen. "Can you tell...I mean..."

"No, it's too early to tell about their sex yet. And often with twins, it is hard to know anyway. They tend to hide things from us. Besides, odds a re these are fraternal so you might have one of each. But as Catherine gets farther along, we'll have a better chance to find out. Right now we need to talk about this in terms of what it means for Catherine."

That got Gil's attention. His blue eyes fastened on the doctor as he waited to hear what she said.

"Catherine, I want you to really take things easy. No household chores, no lifting, no work, and plenty of rest. Prop your feet up as much as you can. No long shopping trips...in fact I'd like you to try to spend half of your day resting or at least lounging with your feet up. I'm very serious about this. Multiples are an increased risk for you and we are going to be very sure that nothing bad happens." She looked at Gil.

He nodded that he understood. "She'll rest Doc, if I have to tie her to the bed."

"What about Mattie? He's a very precocious little fellow and Catherine should not be stressing over his antics or picking him up."

"I've already taken a leave from work, so I'll be at home to see about Mattie...and everything else. And if I can't handle that and taking care of Cath too, then I'll hire someone for the household chores. But Catherine will get the rest she needs. She's going to do everything just as you tell her to do, Doc." The tone of his voice let Catherine know that there would be no room for negotiation.

"Good. And Catherine, I'll warn you now. At some point later on I will probably put you on complete bedrest. We'll do an amniosentisis in a few weeks and see what that tells us. And we are going to watch your blood work and blood pressure very closely. I don't want to frighten you but I do want you to understand that between your age and carrying twins, we are entering a higher risk category. The good news is that you are in excellent health from the beginning. That's always a plus."

Catherine felt very nervous. She glanced at Gil who was taking in every word and she could see the fear building in him. She was actually more worried about him than anything else.

"Doc?" he asked in a quiet voice. "Wh..what are the odds here...I mean of everything turning out okay?"

"I'd say they are very good if Catherine gets the rest she needs and doesn't do anything too strenuous. And I know she can depend on you for support Gil. I remember how supportive you were with Mattie." She smiled. "Any more questions?"

Catherine shyly looked at Gil. "What about sex?" He flinched at her words.

"Well, we don't want you to miss out on any fun stuff, Catherine. For now, I'd say it is okay. Nothing too wild or crazy and if anything makes you uncomfortable, it's probably a bad idea. You shouldn't be on bottom. And at some point I'm going to advise you to stop. But for now, use common sense and enjoy each other. In some ways, this will be a tough time for you and your family. Sex is a great stress buster."

Gil had a strange expression. Catherine knew he was wondering why she had asked. She knew that his fears would act as huge restraints on his drive. But she wanted him to hear that it was okay, at least for now. She was going to need him close and she suspected that he would have the same feelings too.

After the doctor's visit, Gil took Catherine home. He made a huge fuss about her resting and they finally compromised that she would rest on the couch with her feet propped up and reading a book. Satisfied that she was behaving, he headed out to get her prescriptions filled and pick up Mattie from school. At the pharmacy, he was handed a bag with various bottles of vitamins and other prenatal meds. All of the pills looked huge to him and he was already planning how to approach Catherine on swallowing all of those pills. Mattie was excited to see him and rambled all the way homw as he told his Daddy about everything that happened at school. As they got closer to home, Gil pulled into a park. "Mattie, you and I need to talk."

Mattie stopped chattering and saw the seriousness of his father's expression. More than that, he heard the worry in his father's voice. For once the child was quiet and focused on what he was being told.

"Son, Mommy and I went to see her doctor this morning. She told us something that is very exciting. Mommy had two babies growing inside her."

Mattie's face lit up. "Two?"

"Yes, we call them twins when that happens. Twins means two. But the thing is...as hard as it is to grow one baby, it is really hard to grow two. Mommy is going to need a lot of rest. And we are going to have to be very careful about taking good care of her. And Mattie," he paused to be sure the boy was listening,"you are going to have to be very careful when you are around Mommy. No rough play, no bouncing on her or around her. Understand?"

"Yes...gentle."

"That's right. You can hug her... she'll really need hugs. And you can cuddle with her, but not in her lap...beside her. You can hold her hand and I know she'll like it if you tell her how much you love her. And she'll want to hear all about your day at school. And when she is tired, we're going to need to be quiet."

"I can be quiet." His face was somber and serious. Daddy was talking man talk to him and Mattie wanted to be a good man.

"Mattie, it's going to be hard to remember all of this, but I know you can do it. Mommy will have an easier time growing the twins if we remember, okay?"

"Okay Daddy. We'll remember...and we'll take good care of Mommy. That's what men do, right Daddy?"

"Right son, men take good care of their women." Tears formed in Gil's eyes. He was proud of Mattie. The little guy was taking in some serious grwon up stuff here and he was understanding that it was important. Gil just hoped that he could remember to follow through.

When they arrived home, Mattie took off running into the house. Gil tried to catch him, but he wa too fast. Mattie ran into the living room and almost up to the couch and then abruptly stopped about five feet away from Catherine. He smiled at her."Hi Mommy."

She was smiling. "Hi Mattie. How was school?"

He walked over to her and very gently hugged her.The he sat next to her on the couch, careful to not bump her. "It was good," he said in a very quiet voice.

Really? What did you do...I want to hear all about it."

Mattie started telling her about his morning. He told her about his lessons, about his friend Robyn and how she shared her bananna snack with him, and about how he hung upside down on the bars outside. They had watered the garden and picked some vegetables. Gavin had complained that he didn't like zukinki but when Ms. Ethel cooked it special for them for a special snack, Gavin liked it. He said Ms. Edna had a magic trick to make it taste good.

"Did you like the zucchini, Mattie?"

"It was okay. But I like the bell peppers better," he grinned. "And in a few days the carrots will be ready."

Gil had fixed lunch for Mattie and brought it to him on the couch."We'll make an exception this time, Mattie, and let you eat here instead of the table. But then you and Mommy both need a nap."

"Okay," he said as he began eating. Gil had put some baby carrots on his plate and he turned to share one with his mother. "You need to eat your vegetables, Mommy. They are good for you." He smiled and handed her another one. "And one for the babies too."

After lunch Gil followed Mattie to his room to be sure he settled down for a nap. "Daddy?"

"Yes..."

"Did I do good?"

"You were very good Mattie. Thank you."

"I want to help Mommy."

"Yeah, we all do. And you are doing a good job. If we all help, then Mommy will be able to concentrate on growing the babies."

"Okay...after nap can I do my chores?"

Gil had almost forgotten that Mattie was getting new chores in all this. "Sure. I'll show you what you need to do and help you with it today. Then tomorrow, we'll let you try it on your own."

"...kay," he said sleepily. Gil quietly left the room, letting Mattie drift off to sleep.

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