Title: Table for Four
Time: June 2020
POV: Michael
We'd heard every horror story in the book. Tales of pre-eclampsia and twins that were born 3 months early. We'd heard stories of miscarriage with one baby and of people having horrendous difficulties during pregnancy with twins.
That's what Eve and I had been prepared for. We were warned that Eve was likely to go into labour as early as 32 weeks so ever since then, we just kept thinking 'any time now'. We'd been on our toes, scared that something would go wrong.
It didn't.
It was the 1st of June, 2 days after Eve's due date and we were driving to the hospital. Eve and the kids had amazed doctors and defied odds by keeping the twins safely inside without any complications. In fact, apart from some slight back pain and a little bit of sickness right at the start, we hadn't even had any symptoms.
The doctors didn't want to put any extra stress on her or the babies, so they booked her in for a caesarean section.
Parked outside the hospital, I looked over at my beatiful wife. She was about as wide at this point as she was tall and she was definitly glowing. She had never looked more beautiful in my opinion.
"This is it..." She whispered without meeting my eyes, staring at straight at the hosptal where in about an hour, we would be holding our two babies. She turned to me and smiled, grabbing my hand and squeezing it.
"Yeah," I mumbled back, kissing her forehead. She had no make-up on today and she looked very casual, for Eve atleast. She wore a black band t-shirt with black pants and trainers. Her hair was thrown up into a messy bun with a red headban securing it. She looked adorable, although she'd probably want to kill me for calling her that.
About half an hour later, Eve was changed into a hospital gown and lying on a bed, waiting for them to call her name. I felt useless as they eventually wheeled her in while she kept her grip on my hand. She was terrified of being cut open, that was understandable but she didn't realise how frightened I was too.
I was going to be a father. In about 15 minutes, our lives were going to be changed forever by the addition of two little people. I remember Shane telling me all about mood swings and morning sickness, after all, he'd had experience from when Claire had Carrie but the thing I remember most about everything he said was about how when you see your son or daughter, your world gets pushed off axis to make room for them, how you dont think you can love them anymore, then they do something adorable and you can.
Eve winced as they cut her open and I grabbed her hand. She took a deep breath and told me, "It doesn't hurt, it's just strange,"
I wanted to say somethingback to her but I couldn't. Fear was rushing over me. What if something went wrong? Would I lose Eve or the babies. I didn't believe in God but at that point, I prayed that I would have a healthy wife and healthy kids.
That when I heard a cry. It was loud and desperate, the baby wanted to be heard. They held him up for me and Eve to see. He was tiny, I'd expected him to be tiny. Somehow, I knew him. He wasn't a stranger. I knew what Eve would call him, Cory Samuel.
I didn't have time to process it properly when they held up a second baby for us, a second boy. Blake Shane. He was quiet, his cries were gentles whimpers unlike his brother's screams. He had red hair too, like Sam. I felt tears in my eyes thinking about my son and my grandfather. Sam would have loved to be here to treasure this moment.
They handed Cory to me and I accepted happily. A tsunami of feelings hit me at once, but one stood out above the rest. Understanding. Something I'd never had when I was a vampire. All the crap in our lives was worth it, for this special moment right here. This was what humanity was about.