Chapter Nineteen:
Nine Months

They sat on the edge of the bathtub, waiting for the results.

"If it's a girl, what would you name her?"

"I don't want to jinx it, Greg," Luca said.

"Who are you? Since when do you believe in jinxes?"

She shrugged. "Living with Natalee has left me with a lot of different perspectives on life."

"Like what?"

"It's not all coincidences. Things happen for a reason," Luca noted.

"You really think that?"

She shrugged again. "Why not? Look at us, if my car hadn't broken down I'd be in New York City or something right now."

"New York?" Greg took his eyes off of the plastic stick on the counter and placed them on Luca. "Is that where you were going?" He smiled. "You never did tell me."

"I'm not sure where I was going, really. I just drove. I like just driving aimlessly," she said.

"Clearly." He put his arms around her as the egg timer went off. "Time's up. Ready to look at the test?"

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Do the honors?"

"Sure--" He was interrupted by a knock.

Luca looked at Greg. "We should get that."

"Lu, I'm dying to know," he said.

"Then I'll go answer it," she said as the knocks got louder. "I know it's Natalee."

"We need to do this together, it's only going to take a second."

Natalee pounded.

"Fine, look," she said. "Before Natalee gets the battering ram and breaks down the door."

Greg grabbed it and turned it at an angle so Luca couldn't see it. "Interesting," he said with a straight face.

"Come on," she said, trying not to laugh.

"I know you guys are in there!" Natalee shouted.

"The neighbor's are going to call the cops."

Greg turned the pregnancy test toward her and she screamed. "Greg! We're going to be parents!"

"I know, honey," she said, squeezing her in his arms.

The knocking continued as they left the bathroom together.

They opened the door to reveal an excited Natalee and an embarrassed Nick.

"Hey, I'm pregnant," Natalee said to Greg and Luca's neighbor. "I can pound on people's doors if I want to."

The neighbor gave her the finger and yelled something in Spanish.

Luca pulled Natalee and Nick inside.

"You're pregnant?" Luca asked, stunned.

"Yeah," Natalee said.

"Did you really need to make a scene like that?" Greg asked. "They're our neighbors!"

"Not for long," Luca reminded him.

Natalee looked at her curiously. "You guys are moving?"

Luca nodded.

"Why?"

"Lu's pregnant, too," Greg said. "We put a deposit down on an apartment near you guys."

"You're pregnant!"

"Yes!"

"Both of us are pregnant! At the same time," Natalee remarked. "This is not a coincidence, Luca. Admit it!"

"Luca and Natalee both with mood sings?" Greg looked at the girls. "Disaster is more like it."

"Do you love it?" Luca asked her dad.

"It's really nice, sweetie," he said, carrying boxes into their new apartment.

She knew that he was just saying that and she knew that the apartment was a dump, but she didn't mind. She knew it was going to work out for best.

"The high school's across the street so we could basically live here forever."

"You don't want a house for your child to grow up in?"

Luca ignored her mother's question. "And there's a playground in the back of the complex and a pool. It's really great, guys. Right, Greg?"

Greg looked at her, setting down a box. "Yeah. Absolutely."

She nodded and smiled at her parents.

"This place is up to code, right?"

"Of course, Mom," Luca said.

Her parents left to get the crib and she looked at Greg, nearly in tears. "They can never be happy for me, can they?"

Greg put his hand on her swelling stomach. "They just want the best for you, Luca."

"Well, this is the best we can do."

"I know," he said, soothing her. "Just don't worry about what they think; it's about what we think. And I think this place is perfect for us."

Almost nine months into the ordeal, the girls were inseparable.

"Do you know where Natalee is?" Nick said over the phone.

"In our bed." Greg sighed.

"You're kidding."

"They won't leave each other's side, it's--"

"Endearing?"

"Something like that," Greg said, bitterly. "Now where am I going to sleep?"

"Don't ask me, man," Nick said. "Good luck with that."

Greg stood in the hallway, the dial tone the only thing coming from the other end of the phone. He walked down the hall toward the baby's room. Looking around at the yellow paint. It all hadn't sunk in yet, though. He walked over to the crib, trying to imagine the baby in it. He tried to think about what the next eighteen, thirty, fifty years were going to be like, but it was a mystery to him and that made him even more happy.

"Aww," Luca said, standing above Greg. "Natalee! Quick!"

Natalee waddled into the nursery and laughed at the sight: Greg asleep on the floor.

Greg looked up at the girls, their faces eclipsed by their huge stomachs. "What happened? Where am I?"

"In the nursery," one of the stomachs said.

He lifted his head and looked around, a rug indent on his face. He sat up.

"How was the sleep?"

"Great, thanks for making me sleep there, Nat," Greg said.

Natalee shrugged. "I should call Nick…." She left to find the phone.

Luca sat on the rocking chair in the corner. "I want this baby out."

"Me, too," Greg said, smiling. "I can't wait to hold it, you know?"

Luca grinned too and nodded.

"Do you think we're going to be good parents?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Why?"

"We both had great parents to raise us."

He smiled. "That's true."

"And we're surrounded by people that will help us grow into the role. We've really got it good, Greg."

Greg nodded. "We do."