Chapter 26

Haley is now six months pregnant but because she's carrying twins, looks like she could give bith any day. SHe and the other teens are about to start their junior year of high school. Haley's feeling very nervous because although most of her classmates already knew she was pregnant before school let out, she wasn't sure how they'd response to her really looking pregnant, not to mention what was going to happen once the babies were born.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the preacher said. "You may kiss the bride."

Needing no further instruction, Nathan cupped Haley's face in his hands and kissed her. The guests all clapped and cheered. When they came up for air he looked down at his two daughters who were standing on the other side of Haley. They were three and were wearing frilly white dresses with light blue in their dark brown hair. They'd spent the whole ceremony playing with their bouquets of flowers. Haley had periodically told them to stop but Nathan just thought it was adorable. His little girls could do no wrong in his eyes.

He took a moment to look aoround at the other people who had come together for them. Lucas stood to his left. Despite their hostile past, his older brother had been the only choice for his best man. He had been both a good brother and friend. Peyton and Brooke stood by Haley, dressed in strapless, light-blue gowns. Haley had agonized over who to pick as her maid of honour. She had come to consider both Brooke and Peyton as her best friends, well besides Luke of course and she hadn't been able to convince him to don a light-blue dress instead of a tux. She'd finally decided to have them both. Deb sat in the front pew, grinning from ear to ear. Nothing made her happier than knowing her son was married to Haley. Ever since she'd moved in with them, Deb had considered her a daughter. Dan, the man he'd once called 'Dad' was conspicuously absent. He had steadfastly refused to acknowledge Haley and the twins. he lived just on the other side of town but Nathan hadn't spoken to him since just adter the birth of his daughters. He mostly shrugged it off but it did hurt that his own father wasn't at his wedding. Keith was there though, sitting next to Karen. Since Nathan and Dan's estrangement, Keith had come to play a similar role in Nathan's life to the one he'd always played in Luke's. Nathan was grateful for that.

The recessional music began to play. Nathan lifted one of his girls into a piggy-back and Haley took the other, then the family ran out of the church together.


"Nathan! Nathan wake up!." Haley yelled, running into his bedroom.

"Huh?" He said groggily. "Is it seven already?"

"No. The babies are kicking."

"What?" He was instantly awake.

"Yeah. Here, feel." She placed his hand over her abdomen. "Wow. That's amazing. Does it hurt?"

"Kind of. It's good pain though. It really makes it real now. There are actually two little people growing inside of me."

"Active ones too."

"No kidding. I don't think I'm going to get any sleep tonight."

"I could keep you company."

"I'd like that."

"Come here." He patted the bed.

She nestled in beside him. "I can't velieve we only have three more months until the babies come. Nine months seemed so long in the beginning."

"I know. The time's just flown by. Our appointment's at three tomorrow right?"

"Yea. And I know you don't want two know what we're having. It's okay."

"It doesn't matter any more. I already know."

"What do you mean."

"We're having two girls. I saw it in my dream."

"But that was a dream Nathan."

"No. It was a glimpse into the future. Trust me, we're having girls."

"So can we find out for sure in the sonogram tomorrow?" Haley asked hopefully. She'd been dying to know but Nathan had been insistant on being surprised.

"Sure. Then you'll know I'm right."

The following day at the doctor's

"So how are we feeling?"

"Good. The babies kicked last night."

"Good. have you been feeling them move more today?"

"Yes. They've been pretty active."

"Good. Your weight is right where it's supposed to be."

"I feel huge."

"That's normal. You're having twins so you've naturally put on more weight than you would with a single birth. Smaller-framed woman often look and feel bigger. So first I'm going to check your blood pressure and then we'll do the ultrasound. I can tell that's what daddy's waiting for." She smiled at Nathan.

"Okay."

"Blood pressure is good so let's get you up on the bed now. You know the drill."

Haley lay on her back and lifted the gown. The doctor put the jelly on her belly and began to move the wand around.

"Have we decided if we want to know the sex?'

Nathan nodded. "She talked me into it."

"Okay. Let's see what we can find out. Well there's one girl and...yep two girls. Congratulations, you're having twin daughters."

Nathan looked at Haley and grinned. "See, I told you so."

"Well everything looks good. Keep doing what you're doing and I'll see you all back in two weeks."

"All right."

"Thank you."

Nathan couldn't stop grinning. He'd initially thought he'd like a son but since his dream he'd been thrilled at the prospect of having daughters.

Haley couldn't help but laugh at the goofy look on his face. She was tickled pink to be having daughters but she'd thought all fathers wanted sons.

"You're really happy?" She asked.

"Are you kidding. I've never been happier. Just think of all the boyfriends I'm going to get to enjoy scaring away. It'll be great."

Later, Haley's sitting at the docks when Brooke walks up.

"Hey what's the matter? You look worried."

Haley looked up from the notebook she was writing in. "Huh? Oh hi Brooke. I'm fine."

"Liar. Come on you can tell me."

"Well seeing as there are only three more months until the babies come, I thought I'd make a list of all the things we need."

"Well that's a good idea."

"Yeah except there's so much. And we need two of everything too. How are Nathan and me going to afford all this stuff?"

"You'll manage Haley. It'll be okay, I promise. I saw Peyton earlier, she said you guys found out you're having girls."

"Yeah. I'm surprised you didn't hear Nathan shouting it from the rooftops."

"I take it he's excited."

"That would be an understatement. They're going to have them wrapped around their fingers."

"As they should. So you're going to name one of them Brooke aren't you?" She grinned.

"Haha but that does bring up another thing I've been thinking about. They are going to need names. That's a lot of pressure. What if we pick ones they end up hating?"

"Most kids do hate their names at some time or another but you learn to love them. You'll pick perfect names." Her cell phone rang. "Gotta go. Relax Haley, everything's going to work out."

"Thanks Brooke."

Later on, Brooke is talking with Peyton

"So I was thinking."

"Uh oh," Peyton teased. "You should really be careful about that."
"Funny. No seriously, I saw Haley early and she's really worried about getting everything they need for the twins. So I was thinking, we should throw her a surprise baby shower."

"Isn't it a little early?"

"Maybe but this way they can get the nursery all ready. Come on, it's the perfect excuse to go shopping for cute baby things."

"All right I'm in. You know, we should talk to people we know, see if they have any baby stuff they're willing to give away."

"That's brilliant. Then once we've done that we can tell people we invite to the shower what they still need."

"Exactly."

Brooke and Peyton split up to put their plan into motion. Peyton heads Karen and Luke's.

"Hi Peyton. I'm sorry, Luke's out playing basketball with some of the guys."

"I know. Actually I wanted to talk with you."

A worried look crossed Karen's face. "Oh all right. Come on in."

They sat down at the kitchen table. "So what did you want to talk to me about."

"Peyton and I want to throw Haley a baby shower but first we want to see if anyone has any used baby stuff they could give to them, you know, so they don't have to buy as much stuff."

"That's a really good idea Peyton. I kept almost all of Luke's old things; I guess I never quite gave up on the idea of having another child. They're welcome to all of it."

"That's great, thanks."

Meanwhile, Brooke is knocking on Jake's door.

"Uh hi Brooke." Jake answers awkwardly, they hadn't really talked since her little phone call during the truth or dare game.

"Hi Jake. Don't worry, I'm not here to profess my undying love for you or anything. I'm just wondering if you have anything Jenny's not using anymore that you could give to Haley and Nathan."

"Oh, uh yeah. I just got her a new car seat so they can have the old one and there's a big box of clothes she's grown out of. I wish I could give them more but she's still using a lot of it."

"That's okay. We're just trying to take some of the weight off. When I talked to Haley earlier she was pretty panicked about everything they need to get."

"I understand where she's coming from. You never think about how much babies need until you have one yourself."

"I'm hoping not to test that theory for a while yet."

"Good idea."

There was an awkward pause. "Uh, so I'll see you later."

"Uh yeah okay. By Brooke."

By the end of the day, Peyton and Brooke had managed to find two cribs, a change table, a rocking chair, two car seats, a bunch of toys and other little things and boxes of clothes.

"Well, we did pretty good," Brooke said, proud of herself.

"We sure did. We still need one of those double strollers but you and Lucas and me can all go in together on that."

"That's a good idea. Other than that I thing we've got all of the big bases covered. DO you want to do the invitations for the shower?"

"Sure. How about three weeks from Saturday? That'll give people ample time to shop."

"That sounds good. And speaking of shopping, you and I can hit the mall tomorrow afternoon."

Peyton groaned. "Shopping with Brooke. Ugh."

"Yeah but this is baby stuff shopping. It'll be fun."