Chapter 12

Later that afternoon, Amanda and Dotty walked into the house, laughing. "I still can't believe I fell asleep during that movie, Mother," Amanda giggled.

"Well, I thought that movie, "She's Having a Baby" would be a lot better than it was. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was interesting watching the movie from his point of view, but really, too many dreams and situations that were so unneeded if you ask me. And that French model? What was that all about?" Dotty rambled.

"What French model?" Amanda stopped laughed, suddenly confused.

"Oh, the one he wanted to have an affair with. Oh, that must have been right around the time you started snoring," Dotty teased.

"I wasn't snoring!" Amanda insisted.

Dotty laughed as she said, "Don't be so sure about that, Darling."

Amanda shook her head. She looked around the kitchen and noticed they were all alone. "I wonder where everyone is? Lee's car's here and so is my car," she observed. She wrinkled her nose and added, "What's that smell?"

From the second floor, Jamie shouted excitedly, "Mom! You're home! You need to see what we did today!"

"Jamie? Sweetheart? Where are you?" Amanda called back.

Without a reply, Jamie rushed down the stairs to meet Amanda and Dotty. He grabbed her hand and tugged her to follow him. "Come on!" he encouraged, drawing a laugh from both Amanda and her mother. Halfway up the steps, he let go of her hand and ran down the hallway yelling, "They're back!"

"What's gotten into you today?" Amanda questioned as she tried to catch up to her son. She watched him disappear into the babies' room and she shook her head. "What do you think they've been up to?" she asked. Dotty simply shook her head with a smile. Amanda stopped in her tracks and asked, "Mother, what do you know about this?"

"Well, I know Lee wanted to do something nice for you today and he asked the boys to help him," Dotty admitted.

"Wait one minute. Are you trying to tell me, you're in on this, too?" Amanda demanded.

Dotty smiled, "Just a little bit. I only promised Lee I would take you out for the afternoon. I don't know exactly what they've been up to but I do know Lee was pretty excited about it."

Before Amanda could reply she heard Lee call out, "Amanda?"

"Let's go see what this big surprise is," Amanda declared. She linked her arm in Dotty's and together they moved down the hall to the partially opened door. As they approached, the smell became stronger. "That smells like-" Amanda began but Lee cut her off when he pulled the door open revealing a freshly painted room. "Sweetheart! Did you all do this?" Amanda asked as she looked around the room.

"We did!" Lee stated happily. "The boys and I did it while you were out."

Amanda looked from one pale yellow wall to the other but stopped when she saw the outside wall where she had considered placing the cribs. "Wait, why is that wall pink?" she asked.

Lee grinned at Jamie and with a nod, he explained, "Well, the boys and I thought adding pink to the room somehow would make it special. And the clerk at the paint store explained that adding an accent wall like this was pretty popular so, here it is." Lee swept his arm in the direction of the pink wall.

Amanda teared up as she reached out to hug her boys. "Thank you. This was very sweet."

She cradled Lee's face with one hand over Jamie's head and pushed up onto her toes to kiss him softly. "I don't know what else to say," she admitted.

"Do you like it, Mom?" Philip asked with his brow raised.

"I love it. It's perfect. And your sisters will love it too just because you boys did it," Amanda assured him.

Dotty surveyed the room and nodded, "That bed set you chose will look amazing in here. It's the exact shade of pink, too. How did you know?" Dotty raised an eyebrow at Lee.

"We took the package with us," Jamie informed her.

"And the man at the store used some fancy scanner to match the colors exactly. He even showed us a section of the store that had curtains, too, just in case we needed them," Philip continued.

Amanda tipped her head and smiled again, "Oh he did, did he?"

Lee ruffled Philip's hair as he added, "We didn't buy any curtains. I figured you'd want to pick those out yourself, but we did get this." He turned away and reached into the closet. Slowly, he pulled out a framed poster. He slowly rotated the picture, revealing the image of a pastel rainbow and in the distance, a hot air balloon with the caption, "Somewhere over the rainbow." "Now, I know it doesn't exactly match the teddy bear theme you picked out for the girls but-" Lee said softly before Amanda threw her arms around his neck, "It's perfect, Sweetheart."

"See, I told you," Philip nudged Jamie with his elbow. "Chicks dig this stuff."

Dotty rolled her eyes at her grandsons and gently guided them toward the door. "How about I make you boys a snack for all your hard work today?" She closed the door behind her leaving Amanda and Lee alone in the room.

"Are you sure the colors are okay?" Lee asked. He scanned the room, searching for any missed spots or drip marks on the wall.

"Lee, I can't believe you did all this with the boys while we were out," Amanda gasped.

"It wasn't all that hard. I mean, I cut the paint around the doorways and the window and each boy took a yellow wall while I worked on the pink one. Are you sure you like the pink wall?" Lee explained.

Amanda gave him another squeeze, "I love the pink wall and the girls are going to love it too, simply because their daddy did it for them with their big brothers."

Lee sighed happily. "I guess it does look pretty good, doesn't it," he nodded. "Amanda, I'm sorry if I've been a little… I don't know… distant lately," Lee began. He took both her hands in his paint flecked ones. "I guess, I… I guess it's all starting to become a reality and, well, I guess I'm a little scared is all. I don't want to make a mistake or not be there for them or you when I'm really needed, you know," Lee admitted softly. He dropped his chin and toyed with her wedding rings.

Amanda lifted his chin with her fingers and stated, "Lee, I told you before. I'm scared too. I've never had a girl before, never mind twin girls. I don't know what to expect either. So, we're going to get through this together."

Lee sighed softly before he asked, "What did I do to deserve you?"

Amanda pushed up onto her toes and kissed his cheek. "The same thing I did to deserve you. Now, why don't you get washed up and I'll make a special dinner for all your hard work today," she said.

Lee lifted his eyebrows and smiled, "What do you have in mind?"

"Well, how about some steaks and baked potatoes?" Amanda suggested.

"Just like a couple of regular people?" Lee teased at the reference.

Amanda smiled in return, "Well, you know, we are regular people now. Two cars, a mortgage, a couple of kids." She emphasized her last point with a rub of her belly.

Lee covered her hand with his and laughed, "A couple more kids you mean. We already have a couple of great boys, thanks to you."

Amanda blushed, "I can't take all the credit. Since Joe's been back from Estoccia, it has been a little easier and of course, they're older now, than when we first met. And Mother's been a big help since they were little."

Lee shook his head. "That's not what I mean, Amanda. You've always been the one there for them, their whole lives. I just hope I can do the same for our girls."

"And you will be," Amanda assured him. "Lee, have you thought about names yet? I mean, I don't want to push you if you're not ready to talk about names just yet."

Lee rubbed her belly one last time before he cradled her jaw with one hand, "I have and I have a few ideas. I promise you, we will sit down and come up with a full list of names, soon."

"Mom? Lee?" Jamie called from the other end of the hall.

Amanda smiled, touched Lee's hand with her own and said, "I think they're looking for us."

"Let's go find out why," Lee smiled back.