24 – Pt. 3
I kiss Claire for as long as my lungs allow me to. When I pull back we look at each other and start laughing.
"Oh my God." Claire says.
"I know." I hold her hand and we start walking down the aisle. The crowd is cheering and this time, I take a moment to look at the faces of the people I consider true friends. I see Vivian and Lowery, each with their significant others. I see Dr Fukunaga and Yolanda. I see some of my friends from work. I turn to look at Claire and I see she's doing the same.
We walk out of the tent; Grace is waiting for us.
"Congratulations! I know you two want to keep celebrating but I need 10 minutes of your time so the photographer can take your pictures. It'll be quick, I promise."
We nod and follow her to the opposite side of were the reception is going to be. The photographer is waiting for us. Turns out we chose a good time to get married. The sun is high up in the sky, shining beautifully, which gives for perfect photos.
When the photographer tells us he's going to take the last picture, Claire and I look at each other and the way the sun is hitting the side of her face… I'm blown away.
"How did I get so lucky, huh?" I tell her.
"I ask myself the same question." She tells me.
"Thank you. I'm all done here. Enjoy yourselves. Congratulations." The photographer tells us and Grace starts walking us to the tent.
"Hey, Grace. Can you give us a minute?" I ask her.
She smiles and nods. "Of course. I'll go make sure everything is coming along."
I nod. "Thanks."
I turn to Claire and kiss her. I lay my hands on her hips and rub her belly with my thumbs. "Now you're screwed. You can't get rid of me."
She laughs. "I wasn't planning to. Not yet, anyway."
We laugh. Claire raises her left hand and looks at the ring. "When did you have it engraved? I didn't notice."
"I didn't forget my credit card." I tell her.
She shakes her head. "I thought I saw you put it in your wallet, but I ignored it and thought maybe I had pregnancy brain."
"I was counting on you thinking that. Thank God it worked! I wanted to surprise you."
"You certainly did." We kiss one more time and she takes my hand. "Come on. Our guests are waiting for us."
We walk to the tent and go in. Everyone starts cheering and clapping. Grace walks up to me and hands me a microphone.
I tap it, to make sure it's working. "The only thing I have to say is: have fun and get drunk, people!"
They all laugh and the DJ turns the volume up. We walk to our family and hug them.
"Congratulations, topolino! You two, or I should say, you four are going to be so happy!" Mum kisses my cheek.
"Thanks, mum. Dad." He laughs a throaty laugh and hugs me.
"My boy is a married man! Treat her good, Owen. She's too good of a catch!"
"You don't have to worry about that. I know." I look at Claire and she smiles.
"Claire, I'm so glad Owen found someone so perfect for him. You two are perfect for each other. Congratulations." Mum says hugging Claire.
"Thank you, Emilia. Oh." Claire says resting a hand on her belly.
Mum laughs. "I felt that. You have a couple of energetic babies in there."
Claire laughs. "You're telling me!"
"Go, you two! Enjoy your party, we'll talk later!" Nonna tells us.
We go to the dance floor and Karen comes towards Claire and hugs her and they start dancing.
I see Grace talking to the DJ and she looks quite annoyed. I turn to see Claire dancing with Zach and Gray and walk to Grace.
"Hey, is everything okay?" I ask her.
Grace huffs. "You're supposed to dance with Claire in 15 minutes, but the song your sister chose was misplaced."
I frown. "What do you mean? Don't you have it in a file or flash drive?"
"There weren't any high quality versions of the song available for the type of equipment we're using, so we bought the cd and it has been misplaced. There's a low quality version of the song on youtube, but we don't have internet access."
Grace asked us if we wanted to have internet, and Claire and I told her no. 'For what?' We said, everyone is going to be distracted by the actual party, they won't need wifi. Maybe we should've hired the service.
I scratch my head. "Now what?"
Isabella and Alexander come in that moment. "What's going on?"
"The cd was misplaced, and we don't have internet access to at least play the low quality version of the song you chose." Grace tells Isabella.
"What?! Shit." Isabella says.
"Isa, we know the song. We can sing it." Alex says.
Her eyes widen. "What? No, no, no, no. You want me to throw up at my brother's wedding?!"
"Come on, Isa! Is there a keyboard and a guitar on hand?" Alex asks Grace.
She closes her eyes and thinks. "Uh… yeah, yeah. At the house, they have to be brought out."
"Hey guys, if you need drums, I have a set of electronic drums on the back of my van." The DJ says. What was his name?
"Awesome!" Alex says.
"Alex, I don't think I can." Isa tells him.
I take her hand and give it a squeeze. "You don't have to do it if you don't want to, Isa. It's okay. I want everyone to have fun today. It's just a dance, nothing is going to change if Claire and I don't have one."
She looks at me and I see the determination landing on her eyes. "No. You have any idea how long it took me to find the perfect song? Plus, you guys deserve your dance. Grace, lead the way. We'll practice it a couple of times."
"Thank you, Isa." I hug her, and Isa and Alex follow Grace. The DJ presses a button and runs after them. The music keeps playing.
I walk back to the dance floor.
"Is everything okay?" Claire asks.
"Mmh. Technical problem, but Alex came up with a solution. You'll see in 15 minutes."
We keep dancing, and at some point I start doing the robot with Gray. Then the wave with Zach, and finally the shopping cart with Karen. Claire laughs at us, refusing to do any of the old fashioned moves.
"You feeling good, wife?" I ask her twirling her around a bit.
"I'm feeling great, husband."
"Babies?"
"I think they're asleep. I started dancing and they stopped moving." She gives me a peck.
"Awesome." I start doing the cabbage patch and she stops and stares at me.
"No."
I stop abruptly. "You're no fun, Dearing."
"I don't want to embarrass myself. Slight difference."
I shake my head and we keep dancing like normal people. About 10 minutes later, I see the DJ setting up his set of electric drums. He's connecting wires and double-checking everything. He goes down the small stage and brings a stand, places it diagonally to his drums and goes down the stage again and brings up the keyboard. I see him giving the thumbs up to someone and Grace steps on the stage with a microphone. The music comes down.
"The time has come to witness the first official dance of the bride and groom." Grace says and the crowd starts cheering. "We encountered some technical issues, but with the help of Isabella, Alexander and Daniel, the DJ, we're able to have the music for the dance. Clear the dance floor, please."
Our guests start clearing the floor and I take Claire's hand. "Ready?"
"Not really. Maybe we should've practiced something." She tells me as we walk to the dance floor.
"Don't worry. Follow my lead." I wink at her.
Isabella and Alex step onto the stage. Daniel passes Alex an electric guitar and sits behind the drums.
Isabella grabs the mic. "Hello everybody. Owen and Claire asked me to choose a song for them to dance to today. It took me a couple of days to find the song, but after a little digging I think I succeeded. They have no idea which song I chose, so I hope you guys like it." She's about to turn around, but addresses the audience once again. "FYI, it wasn't part of the plan for us to sing it, so if I toss the cookies, I'm very sorry."
"Isabella." I hear my mum mutter. I can picture her shaking her head. The crowd laughs though.
She sits behind the keyboard and gives Daniel and Alex a nod. She starts playing the keyboard, and I don't recognize the song, but if Claire's intake of breath is anything to go by, I think she does.
We start dancing to it. I guide Claire and I see her eyes shine. I don't say anything. Isabella starts singing and I pay attention to the lyrics.
"We were strangers starting out on a journey. Never dreaming what we'd have to go through..."
Alex starts singing. "No one told me, I was going to find you. Unexpected, what you did to my heart."
They start singing together. "When I lost hope, you were there to remind me, this is the start."
I start smiling. Was this song written for us?! I shake my head slightly. Claire starts smiling too.
"We were strangers on a crazy adventure. Never dreaming what we'd have to go through…"
Our dance is nothing elaborated or fancy, again we didn't practice anything, and yet, it feels fluent and natural and just perfect.
"Now I know that dreams will live on, I've been waiting so long, nothing's gonna tears us apart."
Yeah, that's for sure. Nothing is going to tear us apart. I pull Claire closer to me as much as I can. (our babies are in the way) The song ends with the most perfect line.
"In the end, I wanna be standing at the beginning with you."
Isabella continues playing the keyboard, and I rest my forehead against Claire's. The song ends and everyone starts clapping.
"We love you, guys." Isabella says.
Claire and I break apart and we turn to them. We clap and cheer for them too. I see Isa and Alex shake hands with Daniel and come down the stage and run towards us.
Claire motions for Isa to hug her first. "How did you know about that song?"
Isa smiles and tightens her hug. "You liked it?"
"Yes! That's the song from 'Anastasia'. That was the last movie Karen and I saw with mum in the movie theatre. We were obsessed with that song. I haven't listened to it since she passed."
Isa's eyes widen. "Well, that's one way for your mum to make herself present in your wedding day, huh?"
Claire laughs and closes her eyes. "Yeah, I guess it is. You both sounded amazing by they way."
I hug Alex and pat him on the back. "You really did. Thank you so much for that. It made it so much more special." I hug Isa and Claire, Alex.
The party continues, and Claire eventually caves and we do the cabbage patch together. The crowd goes ballistic.
4 hours later, Claire tells me she thinks it's time for us to leave.
"Are you tired?" I ask concerned.
She shakes her head. "Unbelievingly, no. But if I keep going at this rate, in about an hour, I will be exhausted, and I don't think you want me to be exhausted by the time we get to the hotel." She does that thing, were she lowers her voice, raises her eyebrow and caresses my arm.
My kryptonite.
Isabella walks by me and says. "You're drooling." And continues on her way to wherever.
Claire laughs and I kiss her. "You siren." I turn around and start walking to the stage and grab the mic. "Dearest friends and family, it is time for the missus and I to take our leave, but please continue the celebration. Thank you so much for coming and sharing this day with us. We love you. Be safe!"
I jump out of the stage and take Claire's hand and start walking out of the tent. They all clap for us. We go to the house, change into the more comfy clothes we brought and we head to the huge hotel room that is waiting for us.
Again, none of your business, but we had a lot of fun. 4 days weren't enough.
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"Son of a bitch!" Claire says.
I come home for work to find Claire pacing back and forth in our living room. She took her maternity leave about a month and a half after our wedding, so 7.5 months pregnant. A month later, Claire is positively huge. I obviously don't say out loud any of this, because I like to be alive.
"Hey, you okay?" I ask, nervous she might be going into labour. She's 34 weeks pregnant, Dr Moretuzzo tolds us the babies could be here any day now.
"No, I'm not okay! Your children keep kicking me on the ribs, I have to pee every 10 minutes and I haven't slept properly in a month! I swear to God, Owen, we are NOT having more kids!" She says pointing at me.
"Okay." I say walking to her.
"I mean it!"
I raise my hands. "I believe you. I actually thought 2 was a good number. We don't want to be outnumbered."
At that, she stops pacing and exhales. "I'm sorry. I'm being a complete bitch. How was your day?"
I shake my head. "Nothing interesting. You're not being a bitch. You're just anxious and tired. I wouldn't be handling half as well as you are. Your back hurt?"
She closes her eyes. "Yes."
"Come here."
I start massaging the lower part of her back. She moans and throws her head back.
"Is that any better?" I ask her.
"Yes. Thank you."
One Friday evening as I come back from the gym, I come home to find Claire in the babies' room folding all of their clothes. She looks very focused on the task. I lean on the doorframe and look at her. We've read about this; it's called nesting. Mothers have this impulse to suddenly start making sure everything is ready for when the baby arrives, or in our case, babies. I don't think she's realized what she's doing.
"What are you doing?" I finally ask her after a little while of watching her.
She looks up, just noticing me. "Oh, I'm just making sure everything is well organized and clean."
I start smiling and she blushes a little. "What?" she asks me.
"I think our babies are coming very soon." I point to the pile of clothes. "I'm pretty sure you're nesting."
She frowns and looks down at the clothes she was just folding. Her eyes start to widen. "Oh, wow. I didn't even realize. I thought I would be able to tell. I guess the books were right." Her hand goes to her mouth. "Oh my God, they are going to be here, literally, any day now." She lays a hand on her protruding belly.
I walk into the room and lay my hand next to hers. "Yes, they are. Are you nervous?"
"About having them or being a mother?" she asks a little flustered.
I shrug. "Both I guess."
"Yes to both. Especially being a mother."
"You don't have to worry about that. You'll be the best. You'll see." I tell her.
She smiles at me. "I would hug you, but you're sweaty."
I laugh and go take a shower.
A week later, I'm at work, I'm feeling out a report about the health of a polar bear who was just rescued from a shitty circus, when my cell phone rings. By the ringtone, I know it's Claire. I pick it up without looking away from the screen.
"Hey babe."
"I think my water just broke." She tells me. I can't tell by her tone how she's reacting to this.
"What?!" I say. I stop typing, report forgotten. "How are you feeling?" I ask her, keep her talking. I start gathering my things.
"Um, I think I'm okay. I just – I'm… come home." She tells me.
"I'm on my way. I'll be there in 15 minutes, okay? I'm coming." I start running through the office. People are looking at me confused.
"Okay. Just hurry." She says.
"I will. I love you." I press the button of the elevator.
"I love you."
I hang up and press the elevator button again. "Come on, come on."
"Owen, is everything okay?"
I turn around. "Claire's water just broke." I press the button again.
"Oh!" He looks at the elevator. "I think you may want to take the stairs, man."
I look at the small screen above the door and back at him. "Yep, I think I will."
I start running to the stairwell door.
"Good luck with those babies, Owen!"
"Thanks, Mark!"
I don't care that I'm running like a mad man and people look at me like I'm crazy. I fly down 10 flights of stairs (thank God I've been going to the gym for the past year.), and run into the parking lot. I throw my stuff on the back seat, pull out the car from my spot and drive home.
It's 11am, so the traffic is not that bad, but it's not moving fast enough. I get home 20 minutes later, to find Claire sitting on the couch, eyes closed, one hand on her belly.
When I close the door she opens her eyes. I walk to her and kneel.
"How are you feeling? Any contractions?"
She looks at me, eyes wide. "I felt something on my back about 5 minutes ago."
"Okay. You want to go to the hospital now or do you want to wait?" I ask her. Dr Moretuzzo told us to not feel like we have to go to the hospital immediately after her water breaks, but at the end, it was up to us.
She shakes her head. "I think we should stay a little longer. I don't want to be in the hospital for longer than I have to."
"Okay. What do you want? What do you need?" I stand up.
"Nothing. Just stay here. We should probably write down the time between contractions."
I sit down next to her and throw my arm around her shoulders. She rests her head on my shoulder. "I'll type them down on my cell phone." I pull it out from my pocket and show it to her.
"Should we let the family know?" I ask her.
She nods. "Okay."
I unblock my phone and write a mass text. It's easier that way. I include mum, dad, Isabella, Alex, Karen, Zach and Gray. I'll call nonna.
*Family, Claire's water broke. We're staying home for a little bit. We'll let you know when we're at the hospital. #twins *
I send it and I hear Claire chuckle. "Hashtag twins?"
I shrug. "Just emphasizing the point. I'm gonna call nonna." She nods.
I press her name and put her on speakerphone. "Ciao, this is Fran."
"Nonna."
"Amore, how are you? How's Claire?"
"I was calling about her. Claire's water broke."
She laughs. "It's time, then! Where are you? In the hospital?"
"No, not yet. We're staying here until the contractions are closer together."
"How's Claire feeling?"
"Nervous, Fran. Very nervous." Claire tells her.
"I would expect you to be. But don't worry about it. Women are built for this. You're strong, Claire. Just think that in a matter of hours, you two will be home with two beautiful, healthy babies. Focus on that."
Claire smiles. "I will. Thanks Fran."
"Well, I'll let you two go. Call me when you go the hospital, okay?"
"I will, nonna. Bye."
"Bye. I love you both."
"We love you too." I hang up.
People start responding to the text, telling us they'll catch a flight to Philly as soon as they can buy a ticket.
"They're coming. Maybe they'll be here tomorr-" I hear Claire hiss. She closes her eyes and her expression tightens. She opens her eyes. "Contraction?"
She nods. "Yeah, I think that one was definitely a contraction. This is going to be so much fun for me."
I open my notes on my cell phone. "This is the first time you've felt it properly, right?"
"Yeah."
I type it down and we wait. About 3 hours later, the contractions are coming exactly 5 minutes apart and Claire tells me they're becoming stronger to. "At first I felt it in my back, now I'm starting to feel it from hipbone to hipbone."
"Time to go?"
She nods. "I think so, yes."
I stand up and go to our room. I bring out the bag with Claire's and the babies' clothes.
"You ready?" I ask her.
"To go? Yes. For everything else, we'll see."
I help her stand up. "Come on. By the time we come back, we'll have 2 babies." I smile at her and kiss her.
"Let's go have these babies then." She tells me.
On our way to the hospital, I call Dr Moretuzzo's office to let them know we're coming. When I stop at the red light, I send the family another text letting them know.
Claire had 4 contractions on our way to the hospital. As I park the car, she has another one.
"This one happened before the 5 minutes." She tells me.
"Things are moving along kinda fast now then." I say turning the ignition off.
Claire huffs. "I don't mind that. I'm sure I'll like them very much, but I can't wait for them to get out of me. At this point, being pregnant is very unpleasant."
I take her hand. "It'll be over soon." I open the car door and get down. I open the door for Claire and help her out. We walk in through the hospital's main door and go up to L&D (labour and delivery). A wheelchair is immediately brought out for Claire and she gets taken to her room (we booked a suite) while I fill out some forms.
My phone starts vibrating and I see all the incoming messages. Unfortunately, there were no more flights for today, so mum, dad, Isabella and Alex won't be in Philly until first thing in the morning tomorrow. Karen and the kids are taking the earliest flight tomorrow and they'll be here close to lunchtime. Nonna won't be able to come because she's had high blood pressure for a couple of weeks and her doctor forbade her to fly.
I decide then, to send them audios updating them of Claire's progress. "Twins log 1, this is Owen reporting from Pennsylvania Hospital, Claire has been admitted and currently, she's being hooked up to a lot of machines. Her contractions are now 4 minutes apart. Owen out."
I sit by Claire's side, doing whatever she tells me to do. I bring her ice chips, rub her back, help her walk the length of the room. At one point, Claire rests her hands on the mattress and leans forward. She makes this weird, animalistic sound. Something between a moan and a scream.
"I want the drugs." She says.
"Now?" I ask her.
"No, tomorrow. Yes, now!" she yells at me.
"Okay. I'll… go see what I can do." I leave the room to look for a nurse. I pull out my cell phone. "Twins log 2, Claire has become hostile and is asking for the drugs. Owen out."
I walk to the nurses' station. "Hey, I was wondering if Dr Moretuzzo is already on her way? Things seem to be moving very quickly with my wife and she's asking for drugs."
The nurse smiles. "Oh, yeah that tends to happen closer to delivery. Dr Moretuzzo had an emergency c-section, as soon as she's done, she'll come see your wife. She shouldn't be long. The doctor will be the one to determine if she can get an epidural, we're not authorized to administer any drugs without the doctor's consent."
I nod. "Okay, thank you."
I pull my cell phone out again. "Twins log 3, the nurse just told me she can't do anything about the drugs, and now I have to tell Claire. I'm not looking forward to it. Owen out."
I open the door and find her in foetal position on the bed. "Uh, babe?"
"What?" she asks very aggressively.
"Dr Moretuzzo is performing an emergency c-section and as soon as she's done, she'll be coming to see you. The nurses can't do anything about the epidural; Dr Moretuzzo has to green light it."
She groans. "Of course. I hate this! I feel like I'm being split in two!"
I kneel next to the bed and rest my forearms on the mattress. "Do you want me to do anything?"
She shakes her head. "No. Just stay here."
"Okay." And just like that her whole demeanour changes. Her contractions keep coming every 4 minutes for about an hour. Dr Moretuzzo comes in with a chart on hand and a smile plastered on her face.
"Hello, you two! You've been here since about 2pm, they tell me. How are you feeling, Claire?" She starts reading the charts the machine has been printing for a while now.
"Like I want this to be over." She tells Dr Moretuzzo.
She laughs. "Yeah, I can't blame you for that. The babies look good. Now let's take a look at you."
She makes Claire put her feet up in stirrups. "You're about 5 centimetres dilated, Claire. That's very good. First time mothers don't usually have things move along this fast. You're lucky."
"Does that mean I get the drugs?" Claire asks her; hopeful.
She laughs at that. "Yes, if that's what you want."
"That's what I want." Claire says matter of factly.
"Then that's what you'll get. I'll be back in an hour." She smiles at me and leaves the room.
The same nurse I talked to comes in a few minutes later with another nurse, and they help Claire sit up and tell her what to do. I almost pass out when I see the size of the needle. I don't say anything though. I don't want to upset Claire. When the nurse inserts the needle she just keeps pushing the thing further and further in. I cringe, so I look somewhere else.
After that, Claire seems a lot more relaxed. She's even smiling.
"I love science." She says.
"I'm glad you feel better." I tell her.
She falls asleep. I guess the epidural did do wonders for her. I take advantage of her being asleep and pull my cell phone out again. "Twins log 4, Claire is 5 centimetres dilated and she got her epidural. She fell asleep about 15 minutes ago. Owen out."
I start reading the messages they all were sending me. When I told them Claire had gotten aggressive, mum replied with 'don't be surprised if she tells you she hates you' and Karen replies with 'Yeah, or if she throws something at you'. Thank God we didn't reach that point. I would prefer to not be physically assaulted by my pregnant wife.
Claire wakes up a good 3 hours later. She looks well rested.
"You managed to get a good nap. How are you feeling?" I ask her.
She sits up a bit. "Pretty good. It's weird, I can feel the contraction, but I don't feel any pain. Why can't things just be naturally like that? Mother nature is a cruel woman."
I laugh. "That's good though. That way you can have a more pleasant experience. Dr Moretuzzo came by. She read the charts and said everyone is doing great. She should be coming back again any moment now."
Claire nods. "Okay." She closes her eyes again.
Dr Moretuzzo comes not too long after and checks Claire. "Guess what?" She tells us.
"What?" Claire asks.
"It's time for you to have these babies, Claire."
"Already?! It's been, what? 9 hours?" Claire says.
"You're lucky. The nurses will come and get you prepped. I'll be back in 5 minutes." She leaves the room.
I turn to Claire. "Oh my God, this is totally happening right now!"
She looks at me, eyes wide. "Yeah."
Two nurses come in and start getting Claire prepped. They hook her up to new machines and unhook her from others. They adjust her bed and bring a lot of things, which I have no idea what they are or do.
"Okay, Claire. Do you feel anything different, anything new compared to the last 15 minutes?" Dr Moretuzzo asks her.
"I'm starting to feel a very strong urge to push." Claire tells her, eyes as wide as ever.
"That's perfect, but don't yet. Wait until I tell you. It's very important for you to understand that. Okay?"
She nods. "Okay."
Dr Moretuzzo starts doing who knows what down there, but I keep my focus on Claire. I can see the concentration on her face, trying to follow the doctor's orders. I hold her hand and rest my forehead against the side of her head. "You're going to do amazing. You're so strong." I whisper in her ear.
She turns to look at me and whispers, "I'm scared."
"I know. I am too."
"Okay, Claire. When you feel the next contraction I want you to push as hard as you can. Got it?"
She nods. I feel Claire's grip start to tighten. She starts pushing and Dr Moretuzzo starts counting to 10. "…9, 10. Stop pushing, Claire. That was very good. Next contraction, you do the exact same thing."
Claire pushes a couple of times before Dr Moretuzzo announces she sees a head.
"Oh my God! I wanna see." Claire holds my hand with a death grip.
"If you want us to keep having a sex life, do not look down there. I'm serious." She tells me between heavy breaths.
I think about that for a second. "Okay, whatever you want."
The next contraction comes and Claire pushes once again. "One more push, Claire. One more push."
Claire nods and I can tell she's exhausted, but the steel in her eyes is as strong as ever.
"Push, Claire." She does, and then the whole room is filled with a cry. The most glorious sound I think I've ever heard.
"You have a boy!"
Claire gasps and falls back on the tilted bed. "Is he okay?"
"Yes, he looks perfect. Dad, come cut the chord." Dr Moretuzzo tells me.
I take the scissors and cut the chord in a bit of a daze. That's my boy, right there! He's all gross and bloody, but he's perfect. A nurse takes him to clean him up.
"Pass me the ultrasound machine, please." A nurse passes her the probe and rests it against Claire's belly. "Your daughter seems ready to join the party. She's in perfect position. Same as before Claire, you feel the contraction and you push."
Claire nods. She waits a few seconds and then starts pushing again. I don't even know for how long she pushed; 2 or 20 times. The only thing I register is the second cry and another gross, but perfect baby.
"You have a daughter!" Dr Moretuzzo shows her to us and she's wailing her little lungs out. He was a lot quieter. "I think someone's pissed she wasn't born first!"
We laugh and I look down at Claire, she looks ready to pass out, but I see something else. I see complete and utter love in her eyes as she looks at our daughter. I cut the chord and the nurse takes her away, and another nurse brings our son and hands him to Claire.
"Hello. Look at you." She says crying, running her finger along his tiny nose. I see the nurse come with our daughter and hands her to me.
"I can't believe they're here." I lean down so Claire can have a better look at our daughter.
"So you two were the ones kicking me, huh? You are both so grounded." She tells them and we laugh through our tears.
"What are their names?" A nurse asks us with 2 birth certificates on hand.
I look at Claire and let her do the honours.
"His name is Nicholas. Nicholas Grady." She smiles down at him.
"And hers?"
"Mia. Mia Grady."
When the nurses are done with Claire's afterbirth and we're alone again, I take my cell phone out.
"Let's send the family a sneak peek." I tell Claire. She's now holding both babies. She looks like a complete natural.
Claire refuses to have her picture taken, so we lay one hand of both babies on Claire's hand and I take a picture.
*Perfect and healthy. * I text the family with the picture attached.
After, when Claire is resting, I move to the adjacent small living room that's attached to her suite with Nicholas and Mia, each on their own crib. They're both in the brink of falling asleep; Claire fed them before she fell asleep.
I look at them more carefully now. They both have Claire's eyes and chin. But they have blonde hair, like mine when I was a baby. I wonder if it'll remain just as blonde or if it'll darken like mine. I see Nicholas' eyes flutter and close. Mia is trying to stay awake. Her little hand has escaped the blanket. I run my finger through her palm and she closes her tiny fingers around mine. That little action feels me with pride.
"You look like you want to go to sleep but refuse to. Your brother's already out." I whisper to Mia. "You are as stubborn as your mum, aren't you?"
I start running my finger along the length of her tiny nose, like Claire did to Nicholas, and eventually, Mia's eyes close. I pull my cell phone out and take a picture of the sleeping babies. I text Anna the good news and ask her to please show the photo to nonna, since she won't be able to come to Philly.
She texts me back and tells me nonna just made everyone stop working so they can see her great grandchildren. I laugh and look down at my babies again. My babies. Unbelievable.
The next day, Claire looks and feels a lot better. She's all smiles by the time the family starts to arrive. Mum, dad, Isabella and Alex come first. Isa can barely contain her excitement. She hugs me and then Claire, and she whispers something in Claire's ear and Claire bursts out laughing, but then hisses.
"Isa! Don't make me laugh. It still hurts!" Claire tells her still laughing.
"Oh, I have my answer then."
They all hug us and congratulate us and then I go get the twins from the nursery. I bring the twins to the suite, each in their respective cribs and, as luck would have it, they're wide awake.
"Guys, let me introduce you to Nicholas and Mia." I close the door and walk to Claire's side.
Mum rests her hand on her chest. "Beautiful names. Ugh, look at them. They're gorgeous. "
"They're pretty alert too. Who wants to be picked up by grandpa first?" Dad asks the babies.
We laugh. Mum picks up Mia and dad picks up Nicholas.
"Who was born first?" Mum asks.
"Nicholas." Claire says. "8:27pm. Mia was born 8:35pm. Nicholas cried for a little bit and then stopped, but Mia was wailing for a good 2-3 minutes. Mouthy like her father."
"Or… competitive like her mother. Maybe Dr Moretuzzo was right, and she was annoyed she wasn't born first."
"We'll find out in time, I guess." Claire tells me.
"I guess we will."
Isabella walks in between mum and dad. "Claire, they have your chin! And look at those big green eyes! You two are so lucky, you don't look like your daddy at all." She says giving both babies her index fingers.
"Gee, thanks. You're always so kind and gentle to me." I tell her.
She smiles.
"Actually, cucciola, I think they're a pretty even mix. Yes, the chin and eyes are Claire's, but the hair and nose are Owen's." mum tells her.
Isa turns to look at me and I stick my tongue out to her.
The babies start cooing and everyone melts.
"Why are babies so cute?" Alex says.
Mum passes Mia to Alex and dad passes Nicholas to Isa.
"You guys are going to be so spoiled. Yes, you are. Your aunt Isa and uncle Alex are going to give you all you want. Yes, we are."
Claire touches my arm. I look down at her and she raises her eyebrows. I smile and nod.
"Hey, Isa. You do know you're the babies' godmother, right?" I tell her.
"What? Really?!" Her eyes widen in surprise.
Claire and I nod. "Really."
She starts squealing, but contains it to avoid rattling Nicholas. "You heard that, Nico and Mia? If you two want to rob a bank, you only need to ask." She gives them both a kiss on the forehead.
Alex and Isa start taking selfies with the babies. "We have to record this moment for ever." They say. And they do.
At lunch time, they tell us they will see us tomorrow. They came directly from the airport and they're a bit tired. They say their goodbyes to Nicholas and Mia and the 4 of us are left alone again.
I pick up Mia from her crib and pass her to Claire. I pick up Nicholas and sit on the chair by Claire's bed.
"Who in your family has a butt chin?" I ask Claire.
She looks at me bored. "Really?"
"What? I like your butt chin and I'm glad they have it."
Claire looks down at Mia and starts playing with her little hand. "My dad had a cleft chin." She raises her eyebrow at me. I smirk. "But his was a lot more pronounced than mine. I think they might've inherited his chin. Theirs is definitely more pronounced than mine."
I look down at Nicholas and run my pinky through his chin. "You know, I've never seen pictures of your parents." I say looking up at Claire.
She looks up at me and frowns. "Yeah. After they died, I didn't take any pictures of them when I went to university or when I moved to Costa Rica. I didn't want to look at their pictures and remember they were no longer here. I haven't – I haven't looked at any pictures of them in almost 20 years."
She looks down at Mia and starts sniffling. "They should know who their grandparents were. It wouldn't be fair to them for me to hide them."
I nod. "I agree. And I don't think it's fair for you to do that to yourself either. I think when Karen comes, you should ask her to scan you a few photos. What I learnt from when nonno Luca died, is to remember him by the amazing person he was, how he made me laugh and how he could make me see things that nobody else could. You shouldn't remember your mum in her days of sickness or your dad in his days of depression, you should remember them as the people who taught you and loved you so much. There's no point in remembering them at their worst, cause that's not who they were."
A few tears start running down her cheeks. "Yeah, you're right." She wipes away the tears with her right hand. "I keep having these moments, were I think them not being here all these years was just some messed up nightmare, and they're gonna come through that door at any moment to meet their grandchildren. And it hurts so much to realise that's never gonna happen." The tears start flowing freely now.
I look down at Nicholas and see he's asleep. I stand up and lie him down on his crib and I do the same with Mia. I sit down on the bed with Claire and hug her. "You will make sure they both know who your parents were. You're going to show them pictures, tell them stories and tell them how amazing they were. They're going to be fascinated to see they have your father's chin, and they're going to feel nothing but love for grandpa Eric and grandma Catherine, you'll see. I wish they were here too. I wish I could've met them and told them how amazing their daughter is. They will never know their grandchildren, but their grandchildren will know who they were. Okay?"
She nods and leans towards me. I pull her closer to me and give her a kiss on the side of her head. The babies remain asleep on their cribs.
Karen and the kids arrive 2 hours later. Karen starts fuzzing over the babies and Zach and Gray watch with smiles on their faces. At one point, Zach carries Nicholas and Gray, Mia. Claire chooses that moment to tell her about the photos and how she wants Nicholas and Mia to know who their parents were. They both started crying. Karen tells her she's been waiting for her to stop hiding the fact that she misses them.
"Always trying to be so strong." Karen tells her.
We talk about everything. Karen tells Claire of how much she was laughing by my logs.
"What logs?" Claire looks at Karen confused.
Karen frowns. "Owen was keeping us updated of your progress yesterday. He was sending us the most hilarious audios."
Claire looks at me and raises her eyebrow, asking for an explanation. "What? I wanted to keep them updated! What's the big deal?"
She shakes her head slowly and turns to Karen. "Play the one that made you laugh the most, Kar." She asks menacingly.
"Um, I'm not sure it would be safe for Owen for me to do that." Karen answers.
"Play it. Please." She adds the please as more of an afterthought.
Karen turns to look at me and shrugs. "Sorry, Owen."
"It was bound to happen. Not all could be complete happiness." I tell her.
Karen laughs and pulls out her cell phone and plays the audio that made her laugh the most.
"Twins log 2, Claire has become hostile and is asking for the drugs. Owen out."
I hear it play back and I start laughing. That was funny.
"So while I was in the process of having two human beings exit me, you were making fun of me?" Claire says crossing her arms.
"I wasn't making fun of you. I was just stating how things were. And if they happened to be funny, that's not my fault. I was just the messenger." I tell her.
She starts shaking her head, but can't keep the smile from creeping onto her face. "You're lucky you're the father of my children."
I nod. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."
Gray laughs softly and we direct our attention to them. I see Nicholas' hand has escaped the blanket and he's now touching Zach's nose and cheek clumsily.
Karen takes a picture of them and Zach doesn't even notice.
The next day, Dr Moretuzzo comes by and checks Claire and the babies and tells us we're free to go home. When she leaves, Claire and I look at each other. I'm sure she can see on my face the same nervousness I see on hers. Now what? There aren't going to be any nurses around to help us and walk us through anything anymore. It's up to us now. Today is the day that we truly become parents.
"You wanna change Mia? I'll change Nicholas."
"Sounds good to me." She answers.
Claire and I dress the babies with the onesies Phillip sent us. We chose the 'drinking buddies' one. Nicholas is wearing the onesie that says 'drinking' and Mia the one that says 'buddies'.
The nurses laugh when we walk out of the suite; the onesies' front in full view. They congratulate us and we walk out of the hospital. We put the babies on their car sits and we get into the car.
"Oh, I almost forgot." I open the glove compartment and pull out a sticker that says 'Twins on board'. Claire laughs. I pop the trunk open, get out of the car, paste it, and the four of us go home.
AN:
So this is the end of my version of Clawen's future together. It has been a pleasure writing this fic. I never thought I would enjoy it so much! Thank you to all of you out there who have always let me know how you felt about each chapter, you definitely were one of the reasons I was so motivated to write more and more everyday! Don't fret though! There's an epilogue coming and I'll try to make it as funny and fluffy as possible (You all like funny and fluffy, right?). Did you guys like the name I chose for the twins? Did you not like the names I chose for the twins? Which names would you have chosen? I always love hearing from you guys. See you next Saturday for that epilogue! From this Peruvian girl to all of you, muchas gracias!