Chapter 53

Over the next few days, Lana had hoped the twins arriving from Mexico would put an end of Paul's moping around; before the draft, he had been talking about them since the first time he'd laid eyes on Jorge and Juliana at the orphanage the last time he'd toured Mexico.

Damn, Lana had thought, the guys being separated in the draft couldn't have come at a worse time. They'd just gotten settled in the new house and the twins were due to arrive in the US any day. The last thing those kids needed was their new papi having a long face.

Lana made the best of the situation as much as she could, putting finishing touches on the house and getting some clothes for the twins once she'd learned their sizes from the nuns who ran the orphanage.

In between, she was also busy with the children she already had, enrolling Danny in the upcoming fall session for preschool and getting Emily her immunizations, among other things.

"You know, you could at least make an effort to be a little more cheerful," she told Paul once she'd brought Emily back from the doctor. "We have two beautiful kids arriving in a couple of days. They were practically all you talked about for months."

"Yeah," he sighed. "But this other thing is total bullshit. The idiots know there was four months left on a JOINED contract, so we could sue them for splitting us up and probably make a fortune. But if they use Midget to the best of his ability, which he has a lot of, I might be nice and let it slide. If not, some legal action will be taken. You better believe it."

"Well, let's just see what happens before anyone goes completely nuts," she replied.

"Sure, but he better not be jobbing within a week. I don't even care what they do with me; I'll job, I don't give a flying fuck. But if this split was for nothing and Midget jobs, there will be hell to pay."

"At least you got a good attitude about your own situation anyway."

Paul then looked at all the bags. "What's all that shit?" he asked.

"Did you forget? Your next two children are due any day. I got them some clothes."

"What, a whole closet full? Did you leave anything at the mall?"

"They're basic things the kids will probably need; they probably haven't had anything new since they've grown up in the orphanage. I want them to start off right."

He peered in a couple of the bags. "Yeah, but you didn't have to go all out."

"Anyway, I'm going to take these up to their room for now and put them away. I got their sizes from the nuns, so everything should fit all right."

"You called Mexico?" he asked.

"Relax, it was only for about two minutes and the call was made in off peak time."

"Oh. Well, maybe I can excuse that then."

"I just can't believe they're going to be here so soon, after all this time of waiting."

"Me neither. And you're right; I haven't been all that easy to be around the last few days. Let me help you take this stuff upstairs and we can put it away together. And to think we hadn't even planned on any more kids."

Lana nodded, smiling. "The only difference this time will be that the diaper and two AM feeding phase is already long past."

The Twins:

Jorge and Juliana had never really known life outside of the orphanage where they had spent most of their five years of existence. Many prospective couples from both Mexico and other countries had come and gone, but they either had no interest in considering twins or they just wanted to take Jorge, who showed early promise of being a big, strapping boy.

Fortunately, the nuns refused to separate them; usually, they had no problem dividing up siblings to prospective families–especially siblings in large families–but they had drawn the line at breaking up Jorge and Juliana, given that they were twins.

Jorge too didn't want to be separated from his sister. He and Juliana had been together from birth, neither ever knowing their real parents. Their father had taken off and their mother had died during childbirth. No other relatives were ever found to take care of the twin babies, hence them being placed in the orphanage.

There had also been the issue of the twins neither understanding nor speaking English, a barrier to the few that had initially expressed interest in adoption. If they had gone to a home, it would have to be either that of a couple fluent in Spanish or someone obtaining an interpreter.

They had been good kids, giving the nuns little to no trouble and quietly accepting their fate that pending a miracle, there wouldn't be much of a life for them outside of the orphanage until they reached adulthood.

Jorge and Juliana's miracle finally came in the form when several WWE Superstars had visited the orphanage during their last tour of Mexico. Though many had given attention to the other children there, one had spied the twins and came over to them.

Paul.

Jorge had taken to him immediately despite the possible language barrier, while Juliana had shied away-at least at first. But when he had begun speaking to them in Spanish, they had warmed to him even more to the point that had clung to him like leeches by the end of the visit.

Though he and Lana hadn't planned on any more children after Emily was born, Paul had fallen in love with the twins and hated to leave them as much as they did letting him go. One way or another, he told them, he would be back for them.

When he had shown the picture he had taken with them to Lana, she too couldn't say no.

Months later, when Jorge and Juliana had been informed cheerfully by the nuns that they were being adopted by an American couple that wanted both of them very much, their hearts had sunk at first, thinking the kind man that had spoken their language hadn't come back after all.

Their dismay changed to pure joy when they discovered that Paul had. He and his wife were going to be their new mami and papi. And they would have a brother and sister. From there, they were excited about going to America and their new family.

The nuns, however, told them they would have to learn English in order to communicate with their mami and siblings, even with the effort Paul had made to make sure Danny and Emily would also grow up bilingual.

A missionary from Tennessee happily took on the job and the twins seemed to be learning the strange new language quickly. Soon, the nuns were ready to release them to their new family.

And now in a few days, they would leave the orphanage forever they had called home for five years. For the first time in their young lives, someone had indeed kept a promise to them.