A/N: One more chapter to go! I'm excited. This will be the last present day chapter. Next is the epilogue. Gosh, I'm so flattered by all your reviews, they mean a lot to me! Thank you so much! -love- Desireé
Chapter Twenty-One, Birthday Party for Two
Maybe it was the way they breathed, or the way their eyelashes delicately pressed against their cheeks. Perhaps it was the curly black hair that compared with hers. There was a chance that it was even the way they looked a little bit like Chad. Whatever it was exactly, Gabriella knew one thing: she loved these twins.
There was no post-partum depression, which was another heavy relief. She prayed every night for smooth sailing, and it seems her appeals had been answered. So maybe she was eighteen with two children of her own already. Someone up there was watching over her and making sure she was cut some slack a couple times.
April had decided the babies needed a birthday party. Gabriella assured her it was alright, they didn't need one, but the blue-haired girl was stubborn. "They didn't have a baby shower or anything," she insisted. "Someone needs to arrange a celebration."
The party was at the Montez house, after the Mrs.'s firm consent. Balloons and confetti decorated the empty living room, inhabited earlier with everyone at school and at least one parent. Presents were stacked in the corner, some still wrapped. The twins would have everything they needed for the next year. "My goodness," Theresa had gasped after Zeke, the seventh person, arrived. "And more to come!"
Now Gabriella sat, alone with the babies in her arms. They were quite exhausted, after many people handling and holding them for a long afternoon. She kissed their foreheads and thought she saw a smile rise on both their faces. The doorbell rang and Christian answered it. Chad and Troy stood on the porch, both looking slightly nervous. "Hi, Mr. Montez," Troy began.
"We just wanted to stop by," Chad finished.
"See how Gabriella was doing," Troy added.
"Yeah, and the twins," Chad said quickly. Christian smiled and nodded at his daughter, letting the boys inside. They thanked him quietly and both took a seat on either side of Gabriella, who grinned as she nodded at one of the babies for Chad to take. He scooped April into his arms, his eyes twinkling with astonishment. "There's my best girl."
While his best friend admired his daughter, Troy whispered in Gabriella's ear, "You want to go somewhere later? Just to hang out. I was thinking the same spot on the hillside, the one we went to a few months ago."
She looked at him and nodded. "That sounds nice," she said gratefully. "You think your sister is up for more babysitting?"
Later that afternoon, the boys stick around downstairs and Gabriella takes a restless Jack upstairs.
"Your baby sis isn't tired," she teased her son as she entered her room. A few weeks earlier, Christian had bought cribs for the twins. Although there was very little leg room, Gabriella liked the twins' beds to be near hers. And instead of setting the baby down in his respective cradle, she took him into her arms and laid down on her own bed as thunder began to boom. He whimpered and she shushed him softly, rocking him back and forth. "It's okay, I'm here."
Another thunderclap erupted a few seconds later, and Jack seemed frightened. But Gabriella smiled as she heard a familiar pitter-patter, and carried the baby to the window. "Look, Jack," she said softly, "your first summer storm, here just for you and April."
The thunder seemed to subside and the rain's pattern evened out, lulling the baby to sleep. She watched his breathing steady and his eyes flutter closed, eyelashes still just as delicate. "Sweet child," she whispered. "Whose mama loves him so much."
She sat, insightfully, watching the gray sky move outside. Rain sloshed against the glass, beating heavily upon the house's roof. Pitter-patter, pitter-patter. Whose mama loves him so much. The words rang in her ears. The babies were really here, to stay. She went through those nine months of gossip, but not in vain. These children, miracles that she could never have understood before, would grow up and look at her as their mother. Their mother who loved each of them so much.
A/N: This story kind of reminds me of Don't Come Knocking. Both have twenty-two chapters in full, and the second to last of each before the epilogue aren't very long. Another co-inky-dink.