As Kayla took the chicken nuggets from the oven, she heard her phone buzz.
"Hello?"
"Hey there. It's Terri. I have some news."
"Terri! Hi. What's the news?"
"I was wondering if you and Drew might like to fly down to San Antonio to meet Cole."
"Yes! When?"
"Next week? Would that be possible?"
"Yes. I'll call Drew and then call you back to confirm."
"Okay. His agency suggests July 26th."
"Alright. I'll call you back."
"Mama," Harlow said, tugging on her hand. "Chickie?"
"Oh, sorry, baby girl. Yes, let me cut them up and you can have some nuggets."
She touched Drew's picture on her screen and put it on speaker while she cut up the food for Harlow.
"Three Dentists, how may I help you?" Candace, the secretary, answered.
"Hi, Candace. This is Kayla. Is Drew available?"
"Hi, Kayla. Let me put you on hold for a moment."
"Okay."
Kayla put Harlow in her booster seat at the table and placed her plate in front of her. "Let's say a prayer, Lolo. Dear God. Thank you for this food and for our family. Amen."
"Men!" Harlow said with a nod.
"Kay?"
"Drew! Guess what."
"What?"
"Terri says we can go meet Cole on the 26th. Will that work?"
"Yeah. That's a Thursday I think. I'll take Thursday through the weekend off. Sound good?"
"Yeah. Drew?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, babe."
Once Harlow was down for her nap, Kayla called Livy but her phone went to voicemail.
"Liv! Call me when you get a minute. I have news."
Since Livy wasn't answering, Kayla called her parents.
"Hello?"
"Mom! Its Kay."
"Hi, sweetheart. How are you?"
"I'm great. I have news. Is Dad there too?"
"Yep. Jack? Kay is on the phone. She has news." After a click, Elizabeth was back. "Okay. You're on speaker, Kayla."
"Okay. So two things. One, we are heading down to San Antonio to meet Cole next week."
"Oh! Honey, that's wonderful. I'm so happy for you," Jack told her.
"Thanks. And so Drew and I kinda need someone to watch Harlow from the 26th until the 29th."
"We can do it, no problem," Elizabeth told her.
"Great. Thank you so much."
"Of course, sweetheart."
"Have you heard from Livy? I called but it goes straight to voicemail."
"She's been fighting a flu bug this week. She's probably asleep."
Livy squeezed Matt's hand as they watched the screen of the ultrasound. It was hard to make out anything.
"What exactly are we looking at, doc?" Matt asked.
"Well, I'm just confirming what the blood test told us," she told them. "See this here?"
"That little blob?"
"Yes, and this and this," she pointed to two other similar blobs. "Those are your babies."
"Babies? As in more than one?" Livy asked, a bit of panic in her voice.
"Like twins?" Matt asked, sitting down abruptly.
"Well, no. Not twins. Actually, triplets."
Matt was glad he was sitting because he was pretty sure he would have fallen down if he hadn't been. "What….what are the chances…"
"Well, to naturally conceive triplets, about 1 in 4500."
"I...three babies...how...oh my goodness," he stuttered, covering his face with his hands.
Livy laughed. "This is amazing."
"It is, really. My colleague Helen Marley in Marquette is the one I'm going to suggest you see. She is quite adept in pregnancies of multiples."
"That's about an hour and a half away," Matt told her. "What if there's a problem?"
"Mr. Flynn, you can of course come here if you need to but we don't specialize in multiples. It would really be advised for you to go to Marquette."
As they drove home that evening, Livy slept and Matt worried. Three babies. Three of everything. Three times as many clothes and diapers and bottles and crying and…"Good grief," he mumbled.
"Huh?" Livy mumbled, opening her eyes.
"Nothing."
They pulled into the driveway and sat there for a moment. "Matt?" she said, touching his arm. "Are you alright?"
"Honestly?"
"Yes, please."
"I'm scared out of my mind. I mean this morning, we thought you had the flu."
Livy giggled and slid her fingers into his hand. "You wanted a lot of kids."
"Not all at once!"
"Babe, look at me." He turned his head and looked at her. "I love you and I'm happy, excited even."
"Not scared?"
"Maybe a little but my guess is our mothers, at the very least, are going to be up here helping us as much as possible. We will be fine."
"Kids are expensive."
"I know but we will be fine. I have a substantial savings account as you know and just like we planned, everything I make now goes to it."
"We need more rooms."
"Maybe so but we have a little time. The babies will sleep in our room for awhile, maybe a year or so. Then, we can worry about rooms." She leaned over and gave him a kiss. "We are going to have babies, Matt. This is wonderful."
The next Thursday, Drew and Kayla flew down to San Antonio, ready to meet Cole. They had booked a room at the Sheraton in the city so they dropped their bags there and then headed straight to the Adoption center.
The cheerful meeting room where they waited to meet him made Kayla smile. The walls were painted sky blue with clouds, rainbows, birds and trees. The room was comfortable with couches and a toy area in the corner.
The door opened shortly after and a young woman walked in with Cole. Drew and Kayla stayed seated on the couch and waved, smiles on their faces.
Cole held on to the woman's hand as she led him over to them. "Cole, this is Mr. And Mrs. Shepherd." He stared at them and then waved.
"Hi."
"Hi, bud. How are you today?" Drew asked.
"Good. I had Cheerios for breakfast," he told Drew.
"You did? Are those your favorite?"
"Yeah. What's your favorite?"
"I like Frosted Flakes."
"With the tiger?"
"Yep, with the tiger."
Cole looked at Kayla and tilted his head. "You're pretty."
"Thanks, sweetie. You're pretty cute yourself."
"Will you tell me a story?"
The woman sat down a few feet away allowing them to get acquainted.
Kayla pulled him up on her lap. "What kind of story?"
"Mmmm….pirates!"
"Pirates? Hmm. I don't know if I know many stories about pirates. Can you help me?"
"Yeah."
"What should the pirate's name be?"
Cole thought for a moment. "George."
Drew and Kayla stayed for an hour or so, telling stories and getting to know Cole's personality. He was a sweet little boy who didn't seem too limited because of his eyesight. He talked a lot and asked questions and a smile wasn't far off from his face.
As they left him behind, Kayla sighed. She knew he belonged with them. Now the waiting was the hard part. There was bound to be a few more visits before they could actually bring him home.
Drew squeezed her hand. "You okay, sweetheart?"
"Yeah. What did you think?"
"He's a great kid. I think he will fit in very well with us."
"Me too."
"I'd like to know more about his particular eye issue though. There are a few kinds and if we knew what he had, we could be prepared."
"Would that make a difference to you whether we adopt him or not?" she asked.
"No. At first, yes but not now, after meeting him.
The next weekend, Matt and Livy drove down for the weekend, setting up camp in Jack and Elizabeth's guest room.
On Sunday, they invited Kayla, Drew, Harlow, Ava, Ben, and Kinsey over for a family dinner.
Livy grabbed Kinsey first chance she got and kept her close, loving the little secret that was hidden under her loose fitting blouse.
Matt smiled at her from across the room where he stood drinking a beer with Drew and Jack.
Ava helped Kayla and Elizabeth in the kitchen, carving the ham and making mashed potatoes.
"I can't believe how big Kinsey is getting," Kayla mentioned. "It's only been a week since I've seen her but wow."
Ava giggled. "She eats a lot."
"Ooo, has a hollow leg like her father?" Elizabeth said with a smile.
"Yeah. Pretty much."
Kayla looked over at Livy. "Think Liv is getting the baby bug?"
"She said they were trying so I bet it won't be long," Elizabeth told them.
"She will be a good mom."
"Just like you and Ava."
Once everyone was seated at the table and in the living room, Jack said a blessing and then everyone started eating.
"How's work going, Ben?" Drew asked.
"Good. I love it. I'm working on trying to develop a new update for the accounting software we use. It should make everything work more efficiently."
As Drew was talking, Livy leaned over to Matt and told him that she wasn't feeling well so she was headed upstairs to lay down.
"She okay?" Elizabeth wondered.
"Yeah. She's just going to lie down for a bit."
After a little while, Matt went upstairs to check on Livy. She was in the bathroom, leaning against the tub.
"Sweetie? Are you nauseous?"
"Yeah. I was hoping this wouldn't happen tonight. I wanted to tell everyone."
He sat next to her and stroked her hair. "I could just bring them in here. They'll figure it out."
She smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"I can help you into bed and bring everyone upstairs. We can tell them in our room."
So that's what they did. Matt brought everyone upstairs and they all crowded into the bedroom.
"What's going on?" Jack asked. "Are you still sick, Liv?"
"Yeah. But it's not the flu. I'm pregnant," she told them, a smile on her face.
Everyone cheered, scaring Kinsey and making her cry, which then confused Harlow.
"There's more," Matt said over the hum of voices.
"Twins?" Kayla squealed.
"No, triplets," Matt told them, causing another uproar of congratulations and cheering.
"When are you due?" Elizabeth asked.
"January 22nd but with triplets, they can come early so it might be early December."
Ben stayed silent so Kayla nudged him. "What do you think, Benny?"
"I think I'm grateful we only have one." He dodged a flying pillow from the bed.
"Very funny. Now can everyone go away? I'd like to sleep now," Livy said, making everyone laugh.
Elizabeth sat on the edge of the bed and smiled down at her oldest. "Congratulations, sweetheart."
"Thanks, Mom."
"I'd like to come help when it gets close, if that's alright."
"I was hoping you'd say that. We are going to need a lot of help."
"I'd be more than happy to do it."
Elizabeth kissed her forehead. "You rest. I'll save your food for when you feel better."
"Do you have any tea?"
"I have ginger. I'll bring it up to you."
"Thank you."
Livy changed into her comfy clothes and sat on the bed while Matt massaged her shoulders and back. "I think that went well," he said, kissing her temple.
"Yeah. It did."
"Now we just need to call my parents and tell them."
"If one is a girl, I want her to be Amber, after your sister."
He let out a shaky breath and wrapped her in his arms. "Thank you, baby. That's amazing."
"I feel like she should be here, you know? This is my way of keeping her memory alive, in a positive way."
He gave her a long, sweet kiss. "I love you, Livy."
"I love you too."
