Mid April

"Julie, I'm worried my dress isn't going to fit in three more weeks. Maybe you should have a back up maid of honor."

"Honestly I don't care if you wear a nightgown, you need to be my maid of honor."

"Have you seen me in my nightgown?"

"No, but…Beth, your dress will be fine."

Elizabeth sat down carefully at the table. Julie joined her with their tea.

"How are you so calm?" Elizabeth wondered.

"I'm not. It's all pretend. Inside, I'm a nervous wreck." Julie sipped her tea. "What if your dress doesn't fit? What if my passport doesn't come in time? What if Tom decides I'm too much work and hops a plane to Africa without me? And this Africa thing? Don't even get me started! 7423!"

"What?"

"7423 miles from Philly to Kenya! I googled it! That's insane! Not to mention, we will be newlyweds in a place with mosquitoes the size of birds and snakes and monkeys everywhere! Sound romantic to you?"

"Okay, I get it. You're not calm."

"No. I'm not."

"What does Tom say about all this?"

"No clue. And I'm not telling him either. He will hop on that plane without me."

"How long will you be gone?"

"No idea! And I need to get all these vaccines too! Like Hepatitis A and B and Typhoid…and I'm pushing it because I should have had them like two weeks ago."

"Julie!"

"I know, but I hate shots!"

"When is your doctor appointment? I will take you myself."

"No need. Tom already said he was taking me."

Elizabeth covered Julie's hand with her own. "Julie, it's going to all work out. You are going to have a magical wedding and a wonderful honeymoon. Don't worry too much about it."

….

But Julie did worry. Her stomach was now bothering her and by the time Tom took her in to the doctor's office the next day, she was convinced she had the flu or something.

"Hon, what's going on?" Tom asked, as they sat in the parking lot.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you sick?"

"No. Just nerves, I guess." He saw the tears start rolling down her face and he started worrying too.

Was she having second thoughts about the wedding? Or just the trip?

"Babe…." he started to say but she opened her door and got out.

"We need to get inside or we will be late."

He hurried to catch up and then followed her inside. "Julie, shouldn't we talk about this?"

"Maybe but we don't have time right now."

He caught her hand just inside the door. "After this, we are going to talk, okay?"

"Sure." She nodded, swallowed her fear, and walked up to the reception desk.

About thirty minutes and four vaccinations later, Tom took her hand and led her down the street to the Italian restaurant.

Once they were seated in a rounded booth, he scooted closer to her and took her hand. "Julie, please tell me what's going on. Did I do something wrong?"

"No, of course not."

"Are you having second thoughts?"

"Yeah. I'm scared, Tom. What if something happens and you decide you don't want to be with me? We will be so…"

"Wait. That will never happen, Julie. I will never decide that I don't want to be with you."

"We are going to be 7423 miles from home! It's a dangerous place and we could get sick or hurt or…" He leaned toward her, a smile on his face, a kissed her cheek. "Why are you smiling? Tom, these are real concerns that I have."

"Because I love you and you are beautiful and I was worried that you didn't want to marry me anymore, but really you are worried about the trip. Oh and I love that you know exactly how many miles we are from Kenya."

She sighed and put her head on his shoulder. "I googled it."

"Of course you did." He kissed her forehead and smiled again.

"Did I tell you about the mosquitoes the size of birds? And the monkeys, Tom!"

He laughed and kissed her lips this time. "I love you so much. Our honeymoon is going to be perfect and I will protect you from the bird mosquitoes."

"Promise?"

"Forever and ever."

"Movie night is awesome!" Hunter said, jumping onto the couch.

Jack suggested it knowing that very shortly, things around the home would change and there might not be quite as many movie nights. With two babies coming, they would need to try very hard to make time for all of them and make sure he didn't feel neglected.

Jack brought a big bowl of popcorn and hot chocolate with loads of marshmallows over to the couch.

He handed a mug to Elizabeth and sat next to her, knowing she would be using him as a pillow within about twenty minutes.

She put a blanket over their laps and sipped her cocoa, a smile on her face. Jack slipped his arm around her shoulders as Hunter hit play on the remote.

"Mom, you aren't going to go to sleep are you? This is the best movie!"

"I can't promise, love. These babies take all my energy."

The ironic thing was, Hunter fell asleep shortly after Elizabeth so that left Jack watching The Incredibles 2 all by himself. He enjoyed it, mostly because he was with his family. It didn't matter that he was the only one awake.

When the ending credits started, he picked up Hunter and carried him upstairs. "Hunt, bud. You need to climb up your ladder to bed," he told him, gently waking him. Hunter just moaned and held on tighter to Jack's neck. "Hunt, I can't lift you up there anymore." The boy had grown so much lately.

Jack put him down and helped him up the ladder. Jack covered him and smiled. "I love you, Hunt."

"I love you, Dad."

As Jack was sneaking out of Hunter's room he saw Elizabeth carefully coming up the stairs.

"You're awake." He smiled. "I was just coming to get you."

"Hmm." She rubbed her belly as she waddled down the hall. "Hunter okay?"

"Yup, all tucked in. "

"Good," she yawned.

Jack followed her into their room and helped his very sleepy wife into her PJs and into bed. "I love you." He kissed her lips, then placing two kisses on her belly he whispered, "Goodnight twins. Daddy loves you."

Elizabeth smiled with her eyes shut. "They love you too, Jack."

Turning off the lights, Jack snuggled up close to Elizabeth and quickly fell asleep.

Sleep only lasted a little more than an hour before he was awakened by Elizabeth rolling to and fro next to her.

"Babe? What's wrong?"

"Our two night owls are doing some salsa dancing in here."

"How long?"

"This dance party has been going on for the past 25 minutes."

He rolled over and placed both hands on her belly. "Come on, babies. Mama needs her rest and your impromptu party is messing with that."

"Ouch!" She groaned as one of the twins kicked her right in the ribs. "They don't seem to care."

"Hmm." Jack climbed out of bed and went to the shelf in the corner. Finding what he was looking for, he headed back to bed.

"Excuse me." He pushed Snow, their black cat, away from his spot to allow Elizabeth to snuggle back up against him. "Alright babies, story time. Now listen up and no more kicking Mama."

Within five minutes, Elizabeth was able to relax as the babies inside her calmed at the sound of their father's soothing voice.

After Jack had finished the chapter, Elizabeth was asleep and the babies were still. He placed the book down on the nightstand.

"I'll make you kids a deal, let Mama sleep and I'll get you a car when you turn 16. You may not know it now, but that's a deal." He kissed her belly. "Goodnight."

….

Tom spent most of the following morning getting some extra work done and some wedding details. Julie was supposed to come over so they could go over their trip to Kenya in detail over lunch. The thought was to make Julie feel as prepared as humanly possible for the adventure. Together they'd come up with a packing list, go over the itinerary and look up the area online so she'd have a visual. To Tom, it seemed perfect. That was until he received a text from Julie.

"Can't make it out of the house today."

"Busy or sick?"

"Sick. I think I'm dying."

Tom let out a small laugh. "I'll be right over. You're probably having a reaction to the shots."

"If you say so. Enter at your own risk, my love."

Just in case, Tom stopped to pick up Julie's favorite Panera soup and some cold and flu meds for his bride-to-be.

"Knock, knock."

"In here…" her weak voice groaned from the living room of her apartment.

"Oh, Jules, you really aren't feeling well." He felt her forehead. Same thing happened to me when I got my shots for traveling. Nasty stuff."

"You knew this could happen and didn't say anything?"

"I knew it was a possibility but…"

"I hate you." She pouted.

"I don't believe you." He gave her that Thornton grin. "You know I'm too irresistible."

She tried to hold her glare but couldn't. "Probably true." She flopped back on the couch pillows. "I'm not fit for Africa! Go on without me."

Tom laughed, "Dramatic much, babe?"

"This is me, get used to it." She rested her hand over her feverish forehead.

"Consider it done." He kissed her. "Would you forgive me if I told you something to cheer you up?"

"Like what?"

"Like our honeymoon plans."

"It's Africa right?"

"Nope. Africa is work. We'll have our honeymoon on the way to Africa."

"Oh!" That got her attention. "But I thought we left for Africa right after the wedding?"

"True, and false. I was going to say it as a surprise, but you've been a tremendous sport about all this. I think you deserve to know now."

"Alright," she winced as she sat up. "So tell me, what is the plan?"

"Were spending our first four days after the wedding here, but then…"

"Wait, so our honeymoon is here in Philly?"

"Would you let me talk?" He sassed.

"Sorry, she grinned bashfully. "Continue."

"Thank you. After four days we start our trip. It just so happens that we have a two week layover in Paris."

"Paris!" She gasped. "Two weeks?"

"Just us babe. In the city of lights. You can draw or paint if you want. We'll tour the Louvre."

"Oh, Tom, this is amazing. I… I had no idea you'd thought up something so wonderful."

"You deserve it, Jules. You've busted your butt to graduate and be ready to go on this adventure with me. I want us to have a memorable time together before we go to Kenya."

"It's perfect. I can't wait."

"Good. Now rest. Let your husband-to-be take care of you for a bit."

….

Elizabeth was about five weeks from her due date but she felt ginormous. At their doctor visit, the doc mentioned she was right on schedule with her weight so not to be concerned.

"It appears at this point, both babies are breech, so unless something changes, a c-section is more than likely what we will do."

Jack smiled as he watched the babies moving on the monitor. He still couldn't believe they would be in their arms in just a few weeks.

"Elizabeth, I recommend staying at home from work now until you have them."

"Yeah, I figured as much. Tomorrow is my last day and then I'm on leave until September."

"Very good. Do you have any questions for me?" she asked both of them.

"No. I think we are ready," Jack said with a smirk. "As ready as we can be anyway."

"Alright. I'll see you in another week."

Jack took Elizabeth's hand and led her to the hatchback. "Let's go eat and then pick up the new car," Jack told her, leaning inside the door to kiss her. "Love you, babe."

"Love you. I'm feeling like diner food. A good burger and fries."

He got in the driver's side and started the car. "Don't forget the chocolate shake."

"Yum." As if on cue, her tummy growled. "Better hurry. Babies are hungry, love."

"I'm on it."

Two hours later, they drove home in their new Subaru Ascent. It had all wheel drive and three rows of seats. Jack was positive Hunter would love sitting in the third row and the middle was perfect for the two carseats.

Elizabeth headed inside and upstairs to try on her maid of honor dress again, feeling worried it might not fit, even though she had tried it on the week before.

"Hi, Mom!"

"Hey, Hunt. Where's Rosie?"

"In the bathroom again. She goes as much as you."

Rosie waddled out into the kitchen looking miserable. "Thanks, Hunter," she said rolling her eyes. "Why don't you just go back to watching your beloved batman."

"And she's grumpy too," Hunter said, hitting play on the remote.

"Hi, Rosie, wanna come upstairs? I'm going to try my dress on again."

"Sure, why not?"

On the way, Elizabeth made a stop in the nursery first. "What do you think?"

"Its….uh….nice. Kinda superheroey… don't you think?"

"That's what we were going for. Believe me, this isnt even as much as Hunter wanted. This is a compromise."

"As long as this is what you were going for…"

"So grumpy, huh?" Elizabeth said with a laugh. She refused to take offense to her friend's comments. She knew it was hormones and exhaustion talking.

"Yeah. The doctor said it may still be awhile. I'm so ready for this to be over and let me tell you, I am not doing this again. One kid is enough for me."

"I thought Lee wanted more than one. Actually I thought both of you wanted more than one."

"That was before I was pregnant and knew what it was like."

Elizabeth had her moments, but for the most part, being pregnant felt right. She felt important and very much like a mother. She couldn't wait to meet the babies she was carrying.

"Come on, friend. Let's go see if I can squeeze into that dress!"