A double birthday was coming up for two of the other participants in our triple wedding. Glimmer and I both had rapidly approaching due dates; they had converged despite the conceptions being three or four weeks apart. So there may well be a double birth soon as well, but we still traveled to District Twelve for Katniss' 17th and Cato's 19th.
Actually, that was part of the reason why we traveled. Glimmer and I had both decided to have Ingrid and Prim with us if possible. Also, Glimmer and I wanted to be together, and this was one option besides trying to pick one of our districts. Our parents followed us to meet their grandchildren as soon as possible, and we were also joined by some of our other relatives. Yet they were still coming to grips with the fact that in a way we were closer to other tributes or soldiers.
None other than James Morgan was on the train to Twelve with us. As a Peacekeeper doctor assigned to tribute physicals, he had been the first to notice Glimmer's pregnancy. Her and Cato's child was hardly the only thing that made those fateful Games what they were, but it certainly had been an important factor. He held the rank of Captain before he defected from the Peacekeepers to the rebels. Now he was a Major, recently assigned to District Twelve's garrison.
He also recognized the significance of the coincidence. For now, he went right to the hospital. So did Glimmer and I, running even closer than we had initially thought. Even feeling very infrequent contractions, it was time to get ready. However, since those could be agonizing hours of unknown duration, our friends and family would wait before coming to our side.
The hospital seemed about as good as the ones we knew in the Career districts. Too long in coming, but it was here now, I thought. Improving the facilities of the poorer districts was a major priority of the new government, after all.
The Everdeen women were soon summoned, our husbands and friends right behind them. Glimmer and I really hoped our babies wouldn't be too far behind them.
The moment meant what it should to Cato; by the standards of District Two men he was having a full on emotional breakdown. "Best … birthday … ever," he kept repeating in some form or another.
Nevertheless, I was so glad Finnick felt so much freer to be expressive. "Nothing would be as sweet as our little baby boy," Finnick offered as he squeezed my left hand while Mrs. Everdeen pushed another syringe into my right arm.
However, I still screamed "Sweet sweet morphling!"
Our son entered the world only a few minutes after Glimmer and Cato's daughter. Nothing had physically hurt so much as pushing him out; nothing had felt so good as having him pressed up against my skin. I had been told it would be like this.
"I love you already," Finnick said, crying near as much as his son as I lifted the baby up towards his father. Katniss was the first to hold little Finnick after his parents, in order to get a picture of the four May 8th birthdays together. The newborns, Gemstone Cashmere Adams as hale and hearty as Finnick Odair the second, were the first of the postwar baby wave.
This was the first photo of our new babies, and held by some of the nation's recent heroes too! I was in the background by this point, along with Finnick and Glimmer. As Cato handed his daughter back to her mother he said "I see how happy my jewel is to have her own little girl, and I'm even more in love, if that was possible."
Undoubtedly there had been some conceptions during victory celebrations. More than that, many more people were now willing and able to raise children with the end of Capitol meddling. Why, new president Lisa Paylor was three months along. It had become an organized effort by that point. Snow's daughter Livia, now using her murdered husband's name Feldspar, and District Thirteen war widow Venus Tredecim were also amongst the single women having children by artificial insemination.
A courier arrived. "Uh, it's for all four of you," he said to the new parents.
Finnick took the envelope, opened it, and started to read the note aloud. "To Finnick Odair 65, Anemone Cresta Odair 70, Cato Adams 74 and Glimmer Rose Shinesmith Adams 74," it began. Victors were often referred to by the year of their Games, after all. "We too know what it's like to bring life into the world after taking life out of it. Congratulations, from your fellow victors with children. Sincerely…"
At this point Finnick stopped and passed it around. The message had been typed, but their signatures and the names of their children were in beautiful handwriting. Facet Goldman 18 was first. He had one son, though Chrome Goldman 44 had died in the Battle of the Capitol.
Chrome's children Gloss and Cashmere had continued the family tradition of surviving the arena, of course. Chrome's other child, a young man named Shine, would have been full age for the 75th Games, and had seemed so inclined. Gloss was also one of the casualties of last December, though Cashmere and Shine still lived.
Cecelia Weaver had made it out only fourteen years ago. As such, her daughters Cecelia II, Taylor and Stitch would have been too young to think about volunteering, even if they had lived in a Career district. Saving those at Reaping age and below felt like one of the greatest accomplishments of the rebellion.
The Weavers had returned to the ruins of Eight, symbols of an attempt to rebuild the district. They and a few other survivors decided not to move somewhere else. However, Alexander Weaver remained in the District Thirteen graveyard.
I was sadly unsurprised there were so few of them; The Capitol had stolen so much from its victors and the victors heeded such threats. Now that was buried in the past forever. It was a reminder that these babies stood for even more than the bundles of joy they were.
