"So Silvia and I have been talking it over all week, and it's too late to charge any kind of admission to my birthday party, but we can encourage donations all night and auction off a dance with me, and with you if you agree, and May has volunteered as well. And all of the money we raise can go straight to funding childcare centers in almost every single one of my clinics, Maxon. I mean, I'm sure they'll fill up and there won't be enough room for everyone who might need this service, but it's better than nothing. It's a good start! And if May and I solicit donations from local Angeles businesses, we'll have all kinds of items to auction off by Easter when we host the Egg Roll, and all of that money can go to expanding the childcare initiative, and none of it comes from the national budget, I'm raising it all independently." America finally paused to take a breath, studying Maxon's face.
They were in the family room, Maxon feeding Addy from a bottle. He liked to hold eye contact with her whenever he fed her, but this time he was periodically tearing his gaze away from his daughter to soak in the image of his wife. He glanced up again when he realized America had broken her flow of speech.
"What do you think?" America asked nervously.
"It's wonderful, America." Maxon said, awed, now that he had a chance to respond. America had been explaining her new idea for at least five minutes, non-stop.
"Really?" America felt the anxiety in her stomach melt away and she breathed a sigh of relief. Maxon's approval made all the difference to her.
"I'm honestly so proud of you. There are so many women out there who will be able to go to work and earn a little extra money to help feed their families thanks to this brilliant idea of yours. They'll have a safe place to bring their children and leave them with good, qualified caretakers."
"Exactly! Mom was a big inspiration for this, because I know how much work she had to turn down when we were little. I was thinking I'd get her to help me with this one, the way May helped me with the clothing initiative."
"Absolutely." Maxon nodded. "She would love that."
"Plus, there will be four or five good jobs created in each of the clinics because of the caretakers! They'll be earning decent money, and being able to take good care of children is not a caste-specific quality. Former Eights, Former Sevens and Sixes, Fives and Fours… Anyone could qualify, and have a good, steady job."
"You amaze me, Love. It's your first week back. You just never stop, do you? You won't rest until my Illéa is a haven."
America smiled and let her eyes drop to Addy's pacified face. "I want her to inherit something great; not like the mess your father left for you. And I want you to have a legacy worth truly celebrating."
Maxon pressed a kiss to Addy's forehead. "At this rate, you'll be more famous than I will, three hundred years from now. You'll go down in history as 'Queen America the Great', or perhaps 'Queen America the Magnificent', and I will be, 'Maxon, her husband as far as we can remember, and most likely the father of 'Queen Adrienne the Mighty."
America laughed and rolled her eyes. "If we're truly lucky, they'll remember us all in one breath. 'King Maxon and Queen America, and their daughter Queen Adrienne the Wondrous', and that way we'll still be together, as a family, even three hundred years from now."
Maxon beamed at this and tickled the bare arch of Addy's tiny foot. She kicked in annoyance. "Do you hear that, Birdy? Mommy thinks you'll be 'wondrous'. I think we're both underestimating you. You'll probably be Chief Empress Adrienne, Milk Queen of the World and neighboring planets."
America laughed again.
There was a timid knock on the door from the hallway.
"Come in." America called, leaning forward to take the edge of the soft cloth baby towel Maxon had spread across his lap to separate Addy and his nice suit pants. America dabbed at the corners of Addy's lips, mopping up a little escaped milk as Addy, completely undisturbed by her mother's actions, continued to suck thirstily from the bottle Maxon held for her.
"A-Ames?" A wobbly voice called from the doorway, pulling America's attention away from the baby.
Kenna stood in the doorway, arms crossed loosely across her abdomen as if giving herself a desperately needed, reassuring hug. Just behind Kenna, James rested a hand on her shoulder, his expression an unreadable mixture.
"Kenna?" America leapt up from the couch, arms already stretched out for her sister. "What's wrong? Your eyes are red, you've been crying."
America had Kenna in a tight hug before her older sister could take a breath to respond. Kenna accepted the embrace, gratefully.
James slipped into the room behind the Singer girls and collapsed into one of the armchairs. "We were on our way back from the hospital wing, and it just seemed like Kenna could really use some time with her sister right now."
America realized James was explaining to Maxon, whose face was a portrait of worry.
"You just had your first ultrasound." America realized. In the rush and thrill of putting together a plan to fund childcare centers in every province of Illéa, America had completely forgotten that today was the big day. "What happened? What's wrong, Kenna?"
"Nothing." Kenna said, emphatically, though a tear leaked out of her eye and down her cheek as she spoke. "We're not sad, we're… overwhelmed."
"Come and sit down." America guided Kenna to the empty side of the couch, keeping her arms wrapped around her the whole time.
"Everything's fine." James reiterated, for Maxon's benefit. Maxon still looked supremely confused. "But we are having a… just a little bit of a panic."
"Panic?" America asked, studying her sister's face. "Kenna, you're scaring me."
Kenna gulped and shook her head. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry!" America exclaimed, and then kissed her on the cheek. "Whenever you're ready to talk, just start speaking. I'm here for you."
Kenna drew in a deep breath. "I was taking the fertility vitamins to help clear my system of the leftover birth control. It was something that worked really well for you and Maxon, and helped you conceive your precious Addy right away. James and I wanted something similar for our family."
"Of course." America nodded.
"Dr. Ashlar did mention, at one point, that this could be a side effect…"
"Something's wrong with the baby?" America tried to guess.
"Love…" Maxon's tone was a gentle warning. Let Kenna finish.
"Sorry." America bit her lip, hard.
"I'm eight weeks pregnant, we got the official count today, so the vitamins worked. I conceived just a few weeks after James and I started trying. It's wonderful…" She did not sound happy, but she was trying to be.
When it was clear Kenna was faltering, America tried to intervene. "Con…gratulations?"
Kenna nodded, then gathered up her courage and said, in a monotone, "It's twins."
America's jaw dropped.
Twins.
The happiest of tears sprang to her eyes, her hand flying up to clamp over her mouth.
Two babies?
"That's fantastic news." Maxon shook James' hand forcefully, and James smiled weakly, nodding.
"We're thrilled. We don't look thrilled. We… don't necessarily feel thrilled right this second, but we are. We're so grateful." James said.
"Why…" America watched her sister's conflicted face. "Why don't you feel thrilled right now, Ken?"
Kenna tried to put it into words for a few moments, mouth opening and closing noiselessly, and then she gave up, sobbing piteously, crying openly. "I never thought I could be so happy and so scared at the same time."
"Oh, Kenna!" America hugged her close again, rubbing her back soothingly. "No, Kenna, no. Why are you scared? Why?"
"We just planned this so carefully, we were ready to add one baby to our family. It was going to be hard, but we were going to be able. Two babies? Two newborn infants like Addy at the same time, while James is working and I'm working and Astra is still so young? I can't… I don't see any way that we're not going to destroy our family by taking on so much."
America didn't even know where to start. She knelt down in front of her sister and clasped hands with her, lacing their fingers. She looked up into Kenna's eyes. "You will have everything you need, Kenna. You'll have all the help you can handle. I'm the Queen of Illéa, and your family is my family, and Maxon and I will be here for you and James every single day."
"I know." Kenna nodded, smiling. "I love you. Both of you." Kenna lifted her wet eyes to Maxon, who smiled at her reassuringly. "But you're going to be so busy. You've got to run the country and raise your own family—"
"Kenna, no matter what, we'll figure it out. We all will." America said. "You'll have Mom, May, and Gerad, too. And don't forget, you'll be able to keep the babies with you while you work, since you'll be with Addy anyway. If you even want to work. You can take all the time off you need while you're pregnant and after the babies come, of course, because we've got Paige now, and I'm not done adding nannies to the team. I will make sure you have as many people as you need working with you, as soon as you want them. I've been slow up until now because I'm just being absurdly picky."
"You should be, it's important." Kenna reassured her.
James rubbed his face, hard. "I don't have to work anymore, Kenna. We don't pay for our residences or our food, and your salary is more than enough to cover our other expenses. I work because I like it, but that makes my job a hobby. I love our kids, all three of them, and maybe I can take a few years off to stay home with them and take care of them."
"I don't want you to have to do that." Kenna said, her voice nasally. America reached over and gently tugged Addy's baby towel out from between Addy and Maxon, then held it up to Kenna's nose. "Blow."
"What?"
"Blow your nose, Ken." America smiled.
Kenna complied and then winced at how much snot there was. "I'm so sorry, Ames."
"Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how many times Addy has puked all over me over the last two and a half months? I'm incapable of being grossed out anymore." America reassured her.
Kenna giggled, but her expression sobered fast. "James quitting his job, you hiring strangers to help with the workload… this wasn't our plan. We had a good plan. We did everything right, we waited until Astra was old enough, we waited until we were ready to bring another baby into the picture. It was perfect timing…"
"Babies don't care about plans or timing." Maxon said, grinning down at Addy and then up at Kenna. "That much I learned right away. This impatient little wiggler nearly came before the law that would allow her to be Queen was signed. A difference of a few hours one way or another, and all the plans and timing America and I agonized over all year long would have gone out the window. Look at her, look at that smug little face." Maxon tilted Addy toward Kenna. "She doesn't care at all that she nearly gave her mommy and daddy a heart attack when we realized America was in labor."
Kenna laughed weakly and nodded.
"I'm not saying that things are going to be easy, or the same." America said, in a soothing tone. "Your lives are going to be so different; you, James, and Astra. All I'm saying is that you will have what you need, I promise you. Please don't worry about that. If you ever look up and find that you don't have what you need, all you'll ever need to do is ask. We love you so much Kenna, you've got your whole family on your team, and I already adore those babies. I love them more than hands can hold, I love them more than words can say, and I've only known that they exist for a minute. Imagine how I'll feel by the time they get here."
"Ames." Maxon snorted lightly, setting aside the now emptied bottle and turning Addy over to pat her back. "Can you imagine what May is going to do when she finds out that Kenna is having twins?"
"She's going to die, come back as a ghost, and die again." America agreed, laughing.
"James," Maxon's face turned entirely serious. James had a tiny smile on his lips now, a large improvement from the stress and strain of a few minutes ago. "You have to take a picture of Astra's face when you tell her that she's getting two babies out of Kenna's tummy. I need you to do that for me, as a brother."
James laughed, "Alright, brother."
"And you're healthy?" America asked Kenna, eagerly. "Everything's good? The babies are all good?"
"All good." Kenna nodded. "All… three of us." She let out a nervous chuckle. It was so much better than the tears from earlier. What an emotional rollercoaster.
"So it'll be safe to tell Astra soon?" America clarified.
"We thought we'd tell her tonight, after dinner." James said. "I mean… that's what we discussed before the appointment." He looked at Kenna, questioningly.
"I still think that's a good idea." Kenna nodded, wiping her eyes with the palms of her hands and straightening her shoulders. The surprise and panic was beginning to wear off and the joy was setting in. "Actually, we should go pick her up from the Woodworks' rooms."
"You're right." James stood, then bent over Addy and wiggled his fingers at her. Addy blinked up at him, entranced. "Two." James laughed, shaking his head.
"Thanks, Ames." Kenna leant in for a big hug.
"You're okay?" America checked.
"Yeah." Kenna nodded, exhaling. "I knew all of that stuff you said… I knew you'd all help us and support us, I think I just needed to hear it again. Actually… I might need to hear it a few more times before… before these babies are born, but for now… Everything's going to be alright." She still looked as if she was trying to convince herself with her words, but the blind panic was gone from her eyes, and there was a little twitch to the corners of her mouth, the very beginnings of an excited smile.
America followed Kenna and James to the door and opened it for them, pressing one last kiss to her sister's cheek. "I love you, Kenna."
"I love you, too, America. Thanks for… the pep talk. I'm already feeling better."
"What are sisters for?" America winked, and once they were gone, she closed the door behind them.
Maxon juggled a complaining Adrienne in his arms as he exhaled, loudly. "Wow."
America turned and leant against the door, eyes wide. "Can you imagine? Twins."
Maxon shook his head. "I mean, I know it's done. I know that lots of families have to learn to take care of two infants at the same time, but I can't even fathom…"
"It's not even the infants that would worry me the most." America sank back onto the couch and held out her arms. Maxon passed Addy over to her, and Addy quieted down. She must have been wanting some time with her mother. "Think about once they're toddlers, Maxon! Two stumbling, messy, screaming toddlers with two completely different agendas. At any given moment, one wants to crawl up the curtains and the other wants to eat the stapler."
"All of that, and they still have Astra to take care of." Maxon ran his hands through his hair.
"I'm happy for them." America clarified.
"Oh, me too!"
"And I'm eager to help them however I possibly can."
"Definitely." Maxon agreed. "We'll be taking plenty of turns babysitting."
"Those are going to be some very cute kids, if Astra is any indication."
"Yeah." Maxon grinned, eagerly.
America sighed heavily. "But twins. Can you imagine if Addy had been twins?"
Maxon shook his head, "She's already enough to keep our hands full, and there's only one of her." Then he considered this a little more. "But, you know there's nothing I'd like more in this world than several arms full of Addys."
America giggled, "Sure, in theory. But I don't know if we could have handled so many babies in real life. Twins might have taken us down, as first time parents."
Maxon shrugged, "I don't know. I'll bet we'd have figured it out."
America tickled Addy's belly and kissed her forehead. "Soon we're going to have Astra, Kile, Meri, Addy, and two more babies to add to the Palace kids club."
Maxon beamed at the thought of it and wheezed a laugh, "You might want to think about opening the first branch of your new childcare center initiative right here in the Palace."
"When Marlee and Carter, and Aspen and Lucy start throwing more babies into the mix, it really might come to that." America grinned.
"Our tree castle is going to be bustling for several years to come, that's for sure."
"Yay, Addy." America cooed, tapping Addy's nose with the tip of her own. "You're going to have so many friends."
Addy yawned widely at this news.
America and Addy took a bath together that night. Addy snuggled on America's chest, her ear pressed to hear her mommy's steady heartbeat. America closed her eyed and soaked in the soothing, lukewarm water, pressing occasional kisses to Addy's red head.
Addy could have slept like that for a couple of hours, but America's neck began to cramp up, so she massaged Addy with some baby soap, rinsed it out, and called Maxon in.
Maxon took a break from reading reports, his eyes feeling the strain anyway, and swooped his naked daughter up out of the tub. By the time he was done oiling and diapering and dressing the baby for bed, America was out of the tub and into her nightdress.
Maxon fed Addy a quick bedtime snack to delay the inevitable middle-of-the-night feeding by as long as possible, and by the end of her little bottle, Addy was practically sleep-drinking.
"That was almost easy." Maxon gloated, turning off the light in the nursery, where Adrienne was fast asleep.
"I know. It's always easier when we're together." America smiled at him and kissed his cheek.
"I think we've got this parenting thing all figured out, Ames." Maxon grinned.
America laughed as he closed the nursery door behind him. "Not even close. But we do a handful of things well. Bath time, for a start."
"I have to say, I was pretty jealous of Addy in that tub with you."
"Really?"
"Mhmm. I'm your original bath buddy, remember?" Maxon wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
America laughed, "Actually, Kenna is my original bath buddy."
Maxon frowned comically and returned to the sofa, where his reports were waiting for him.
"Need help?" America asked, as there was a knock at the family room door.
While she crossed the room to answer it, Maxon shook his head. "Not 'help'. A vacation, maybe, or to abdicate the throne to our baby bird, but not 'help'."
America laughed, "You think Addy's ready to take over so soon?"
"Eh. I'm ready to quit, so maybe." Maxon shrugged.
America was still chuckling when she opened the door, and found Kenna and James, with Astra on his hip, standing in the hallway.
Maxon peeked up interestedly. "Oh, hello."
"We've come to return this, and to visit Astra's cousin-sister-of-her-heart before bedtime." James announced, holding out the camera Maxon had loaned him with his free hand.
"You've just missed Addy, Astra, she's already asleep." Maxon said.
"Aw." Astra pouted. "But I love her."
"Come with me. If you're very gentle, you can give her a kiss goodnight." America held out her arms and James shuffled Astra into them.
Astra was very gentle as she placed a tiny kiss on Addy's cheek, and then made sure her blankets were arranged perfectly, and that her stuffed elephant was comfortable, too.
As America softly closed the nursery door behind them, they found the others reviewing the pictures on Maxon's camera.
"We thought it might be a little confusing if we tried to do something creative to tell her." Kenna was explaining.
"So we just sat her down and explained, and answered all the questions we could." James beamed. Maxon wore a similar expression as he browsed through his new treasures. America assumed it was Astra's shocked and overjoyed expression at learning that she'd be a big sister to two babies come autumn.
"Did your mommy and daddy tell you about going to the doctor's office today?" America asked, lowering herself and Astra into the overstuffed reading chair adjacent to the couch where the others sat together.
"Oh, yes! Daddy had Mackin's camera but, um, he didn't even tell me why." Astra said. "And then Mommy said that the doctors… that the doctors looked inside her belly with a special… What was it, Mommy?"
This part clearly still confused Astra, who'd never seen an ultrasound before.
"A special camera that took pictures of the inside of my belly, even though it was on the outside." Kenna explained. "Next time, you can come with us and see for yourself, it's amazing."
Astra nodded, "But!" she exclaimed, dramatically and Maxon laughed at her theatrics. "But when the doctors looked at the pictures, he found two babies in Mommy's tummy!" She was grinning her little cheeks off at this news.
"Wow, that's amazing." America grinned. "Did you know your Mommy had any babies in her tummy?"
"I didn't know!" Astra shook her head.
Kenna added, "We talked about it around Astra's birthday, how we were going to try and see if any baby brothers or sisters would grow in my tummy."
"Yes, I remember that." Astra confirmed her mother's story.
"And now, not only does one little brother or sister want to grow in your mommy's tummy, but two of them do." America smiled.
"That's amazing, Pumpkin head." Maxon grinned. He was practically glowing. Uncle-hood suited him.
"Are you excited?" America asked the girl in her lap.
"Yes!" Astra said. "I'm going to help the babies grow faster so they can come and play."
"How are you going to do that?" America wondered.
"I think some carrots will work." Astra postulated.
"Carrots?" America clarified.
"Yes, I have to eat them to grow. It will work for my baby ones, too."
Maxon shook his head, unable to handle how cute this was. "Your 'baby ones'?"
James chuckled, "'Baby brothers or sisters' is a bit of a mouthful, for as much as we've been talking about them today. Astra's given them their first nickname, her baby ones.
America kissed Astra's hair, "You're going to be such a good big sister."
"I practiced already, I gave them kisses on Mommy's belly."
Maxon clutched at his chest and made a sound like he was overwhelmed at the thought.
"And how are you feeling, Kenna?" America asked.
"I am always hungry, but otherwise much better. I think I just got overwhelmed, earlier. I called Mom after we left your rooms, and I told her about the twins. She's over the moon. After we hung up, she actually called Lena Leger, of all people."
"Oh!" America's eyes lit up. "Of course! Lena carried twins."
"I remember that now, Mom reminded me." Kenna said, lacing her fingers with James'. "Anyway, Mom, Lena, and I are going to meet up for lunch in Angeles this weekend. She's going to give me some advice, I guess, answer some questions. You're welcome to come if you want to."
America smiled and shook her head, ruefully. "There's no way that I'll have time, but that's okay. I'm happy for you. Lena is the perfect person to ask about this."
"Aspen was a little younger than Astra is when Lena found out she was carrying her twins, and she and her husband did everything James and I are about to do, but without medical care and without even nearly the financial support we have."
America nodded, solemnly. "Lena Leger is one of the most amazing women I've ever met."
Kenna smiled, "I'm starting to see that."
"Mommy?" Astra asked. "We can tell Kile goodnight, now?"
Kenna sighed, "Alright, Bug."
"You're going to see Kile?" America asked Astra, lifting her up and setting her onto her feet in front of the chair they'd been sharing.
"Yes, Kile's daddy reads us stories for bedtime sometimes, and we can have one candy if we stay good."
"They're not candies." James whispered, as he hugged America goodnight. "They're chewable multivitamins." he winked as he pulled away and America giggled.
"Daddy? We can tell Kile about my baby ones before the story starts, okay?"
James glanced at Kenna, who considered the request for a moment, and then nodded. She said, "Sure, baby girl. We'll tell Kile's whole family. We love them, we want them to know."
"Yes, I love them." Astra agreed. "I can ride on your shoulders, Daddy?"
James replied by sweeping Astra up into the air and plopping her onto his shoulders. "How's that?"
"I'm tall!" Astra giggled, and she wrapped her arms around James' neck to keep steady.
"Not on the stairs, okay, James?" Kenna asked, joining them at the door.
"Alright. Kiddo, you're walking down the stairs on your own." James said.
"Why?" Astra whined.
"It's just safer." James said. "You don't want to fall on the stairs and have a broken leg when your baby ones get here, do you?"
"No way." Astra shook her head. "That will be no fun to play. I want to be careful."
America and Maxon hurried to hug all three of them, though it was a silly challenge to hug Astra up there, and then waved them out the door as they headed off to share the good news with some of their best friends.
Maxon and America were left with goofy grins on their faces, in the quiet that settled throughout the family room.
"You know," Maxon said huskily, closing the gap between himself and America, "It's not too late for you and Kenna to have matching baby bumps."
America shook her head, "You want me to have twins? Now? After everything we discussed earlier this afternoon?"
"Yes." Maxon nuzzled her neck.
"Addy is not ready to be a big sister, Maxon. We need to do what's best for her." America reminded him.
Maxon sighed, realizing how right she was. "Fine."
"Let's get her walking and talking and then we'll assess the situation. We might have our hands full of nieces and nephews by then." America reminded him.
Maxon grinned, "Okay, let's make a deal. The second I get a 'Mama' or a 'Dada' out of Birdy and she can hobble from the couch to the door, we're having the baby conversation again. That doesn't mean we'll have another one right away, but we'll see how we're feeling and make our plans."
"That sounds like a good deal." America smiled.
"It's a date?"
"It's a date."