Thank you to everyone who is still interested and your continued support. Getting a child with special needs the rest of the way through high school as well as researching and planning the next chapter in life took all my time outside of work. I hope to pick this story back up in the fall of 2023. Here's a chapter I had written but hadn't had time to proof.
Chapter 17 - 22 Weeks
Norman and Oliver had taken the bulk mail into a separate room preferring to get some distance from the music playing in the main office. "Norman, I was never a fan during their original rise to fame."
"Somehow you not being a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers doesn't surprise me Oliver. I also think it's a bit of a stretch as the musketeers are the size of a bell pepper not a chili pepper."
"Know any songs about bell peppers?" Oliver asked with a grin.
"No but isn't there a children's cartoon about Veggies. Something about Veggie Tales. Maybe the creators wrote one?" Norman thought he'd have to have Shane google it later.
"I'm still not sure why the musketeers are driving the musical choices around here. That's a lot of power for ones so small."
"Oliver are you and Shane going to eventually find names for the little peppers?" Norman asked as he dripped some solution on a package trying to get the address to show up.
"Funnily enough she asked me that this weekend. We hadn't discussed it yet. She was asking if I preferred family or Irish names." Oliver was working on opening another package while trying not to rip the paper.
"And your response?" Norman asked when Oliver stopped talking.
"I hadn't had time to think about it. We've been rather busy."
"She's got a sonogram again tomorrow. Maybe that will help you focus on boy or girl names." Oliver found it interesting Norman had kept such a close eye on Shane's medical appointments ever since the start of the pregnancy. He preferred to think it was a brotherly protectiveness but was afraid it was still leftover concern from when Shane had been so sick at the start of the pregnancy.
"Possibly. If they're cooperating this time."
"Oh no."
"What's wrong?" Oliver asked looking up.
"I got the address back from the package."
"That's normally a good thing Norman."
Norman sighed, "It's right in the middle of where people were evacuated. The recipient could be anywhere right now."
"Well, we have a start with the coordinators at the convention center. Let's brave the Red Hot Chili Peppers and see if Shane can help. She spent a lot of time on the phone with them last week."
Fortunately, the music paused right at that moment as they heard someone come into the main office. Thinking it was great timing they walked out in time to see several bins of mail being brought in by another department lead by Hazel. "This is the mail that would normally be going to the post office in the middle of the evacuation area. We need to store it in here until they can open again."
"That fire is not even 15% contained. That could be quite some time," Oliver said concerned.
"They're sending two of their employees down to help reroute what they can. The rest will have to hang out until they open again. I think the employees are bringing trucks full of what was in the post office as they evacuated."
"When will they arrive?" Norman asked.
"Tomorrow. They needed to get their families situated since they're houses are in the burn area as well."
"Do they need somewhere to stay?" Oliver asked.
"The two employees they're sending happen to have family in Denver. That's why they were picked to relocate to this office."
After Hazel left Rita stood looking at the bins, "If this is just from this last week, it's unfortunate they couldn't have sent more than two people. It's going to take time to figure out where to send all this."
"We'll start where we can. Norman has a package to add to the pile. He got the address back only to realize it's in the burn zone." Norman gingerly piled the box on top of an already full bin.
"How should we start sorting?" Shane asked Oliver not sure where to even start.
"Some of it can be rerouted through other offices. We're going to need evacuation lists from the burn zone to see what needs to be put on hold."
Shane returned to her desk, "I'll call the county coordinators to start getting evacuation location boundaries. They're going to think I'm making things up and missed them after how much I talked to them for the Foundation last week."
Rita went to find a map they could put on a bulletin board to track boundaries of what needed to be put on hold versus rerouted. Oliver turned to Norman, "If we're going to be adding two employees to the department, we should probably have some type of workstations put together for when they arrive."
"On it," Norman said leaving to requisition more furniture.
Rita returned with a blown-up map of the area around the closed post office. Oliver helped her pin it to the board. "I brought different colored highlighters in case the boundaries get moved as the fire status changes."
"Good thinking Rita," Oliver said. "While you're working with Shane on the map, I'll start clearing space for what may be arriving with our new people."
That evening Shane and Oliver were sitting on the porch swing watching the sun set. They could see a hazy cloud in the distance that was an odd color. Smokey debris from the forest fires were starting to drift towards Denver. Oliver had his arm around Shane's shoulder as they watched the doodles watching the neighborhood kids play in the street. Moving his hand to run it across her belly Oliver asked, "Do you have a preference?"
"For?" Shane asked puzzled.
"Boys or girls? Norman thought it might be easier to start picking out names if we knew what we're having?"
"I just want healthy babies Oliver whichever way they come."
Hearing the fear laced response he realized they hadn't ever addressed the elephant in the room since they first found out about the triplets. Remembering when she'd had the miscarriage, she initially blamed herself. "Everything the doctor has told you to do Shane you've been great about following. You're fighting so hard to be a great mom you don't realize you already are."
Shane looked up with him with tears in her eyes before biting her lip, "Oliver I'm scared it's not going to be enough."
Taking his hand from her belly to cup her cheek he used his thumb to wipe away a tear, "Shane no matter what happens…I'll always love you. I'm praying every night for God to watch over you and the little musketeers."
Shane smiled slightly through her tears, "Me too. We really do need to start working on names."
Oliver tried to reassure her, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough of its own trouble."
Shane leaned her head against his shoulder, "Just take one day at a time."
"I'm sure you've looked names up. What's on your short list?" Oliver asked.
"No Juniors. They need to be their own little people," Shane said apologetically.
"No worries. I wasn't looking for a mini-me. So, we're tackling boy names first?"
"What about Liam or Donovan?" Shane suggested.
"Going full on Irish, are we?" Oliver asked with a bit of a smile.
"Well do you have suggestions or just questions?" Shane said nudging him with her elbow.
"I'm not into Juniors but I was thinking for a middle name if we had a boy Joseph would be nice," Oliver said it with a questioning tone of voice.
Shane leaned her head back, "I think that would be very nice. What about Connor?"
"Connor Joseph O'Toole. That has a nice ring to it. You realize he'll be C.J. in no time when he starts school."
"I can be ok with that," Shane said smiling. "What about girl names?"
"Mmm…Valerie?"
"Nope."
"That was quick," Oliver commented questioningly.
"Mean girl in high school. Kind of ruined it. What about Rose?"
"I like it. What was your grandmother's name?" Oliver asked.
"On my dad's side Fiona. On my mom's side Hedvig." Shane made it clear by her tone of voice neither were making the list.
"Wait Hedvig wasn't that the Harry Potter owl?" Oliver asked with a confused look on his face.
"Close it was Hedwig. The author might have derived it from a Swedish name. How do you know about Harry Potter?" Shane asked giggling slightly at the thought of Oliver reading about the boy wizard.
Feeling him stiffen beside her she looked up shocked, "Wait you've really read Harry Potter? How did I not know this?"
Clearly uncomfortable Oliver squirmed a little, "I saw all the lines at the bookstores when they came out and I wondered what all the fuss was about? They were an interesting read. It's a classic tale about good versus evil, social justice. It's about finding yourself during the trials and tribulations passing from childhood to adulthood during wartime." He sounded like a literary professor defending his reading choice.
"I can't believe it," Shane managed to get out somehow through uncontrollable laughter.
"What can't you believe?" Oliver asked increasingly annoyed.
"I married a closet Potterhead and didn't even know it." Shane managed to gasp. "Oh no, I'm laughing too hard. I've got to go to the bathroom." Shane managed to scoot off the porch swing still giggling as she hurriedly made her way inside.
"Shane I am not a Potterhead," he huffed as the doodles trailed along behind him when he followed Shane inside. As she exited the bathroom still giggling, he was leaning against the wall arms crossed defensively across his chest, "What may I ask is a Potterhead?"
"Someone who's a Harry Potter fan," Shane said giggling. "I just never pictured you as part of the fan club." She patted him on the chest, "Don't worry I won't let your secret out." She leaned up against him kissing him gently on the lips before relenting, "They were actually a good read. I enjoyed them as well."
He uncrossed his arms to steady her returning the kiss hoping to change the subject. Nibbling his way down her neck to her shoulder he heard her sigh contently snuggling closer to him before she asked, "Which one was your favorite?"
He snorted disgruntledly, "Really that's where your thoughts are right now. I must be losing my touch." His mouth returned to her lips. Armed with renewed motivation he ardently kissed her running a hand through her hair cupping her head possessively against him not giving her any recovery time. His other hand ran down her back pulling her closer against his body. When they finally broke apart, Oliver breathlessly asked in between gentle kisses nuzzling her neck, "It's been a long day. How about we get ready for bed a little early?"
"Hmmm…" Shane responded hazily still in a daze as he gently rubbed his hand along her lower back where he knew it sometimes ached from her pregnancy. She tilted her head giving him more room as he moved from her neck to gently nip her ear. Her hands ran up his arms with one hand cradling his neck encouraging him to take his time kissing her. "What..." She didn't even finish asking focused on how he was making her feel instead.
"Bed-time," Oliver gently nudged her down the hall hand still at her back rubbing as they walked.
Leaning into him as they walked back to the bedroom she asked innocently, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"Hmm…" He echoed her from a minute ago completely unsuspecting.
"Don't you want to bring your favorite Potter book?" Shane grinned at him mischievously.
Oliver rolled his eyes and before she could move away his hand at her waist quickly moved to tickle her side in retaliation. "Sorry I won't mention it again," she said through laughter as she tried to escape his tickling.
They crashed onto the bed with her rolling away from him. His arm wrapped around her rolling her back towards him. When her belly came up against him, he could feel a nudge as one of the triplets moved. Oliver stopped moving putting his hand there wanting to feel it again. Shane placed her hand over his moving it slightly where she could feel the movement. "It's amazing," Oliver said softly.
"I read their ears start to hear about two weeks ago."
"Is that why you've been playing all the music at work?" Oliver asked waiting to feel them again moving closer. "Your mom should be playing classical music not the Red Hot Chili Peppers," Oliver said it with a smirk having previously had many discussions about their different taste in music.
"I can feel them move more with some music than others. Like they already have an opinion of what they like." Shane watched the awe on his face as she ran a hand through his hair. He laid his head near her belly.
"We're getting everything ready for you guys. Your room is painted, and the furniture arranged."
Smiling at him talking to her belly she asked, "What about Finley for a girl?"
"Finley Rose O'Toole," Oliver said testing it out. Shane gently ran her fingers through his hair as they talked. "I'll always remember the look on your face the first time I gave you a rose."
"From my mother's roses…" Shane remembered standing on her mother's property that had been sold shocked when she realized he'd bought it through the O'Toole Foundation. It was one of the times she realized he was showing how much he cared without saying 'I love you.'
They laid talking about those early times together for quite a while with Oliver intermittently talking to the triplets about different moments when they were dating. Shane's heart swelled watching Oliver tell their children how they fell in love.
The next day Shane was laying on the exam table while the technician prepared the sonogram gel. "Are you ready to see if they're cooperating today?"
Shane nodded feeling the cold gel getting placed while Oliver stood next to her his hand on her shoulder.
"Any preferences?" The technician asked.
Looking at each other Oliver and Shane both answered smiling slightly, "Healthy babies."
The doctor stepped in right at that moment looking over the technician's shoulder, "That's the goal. Looks like baby number one is a boy."
Shane grinned up at Oliver, "Good thing we started with boy names."
"Baby number two is definitely being awkward. Let me move around and come back. Baby number three is a girl. Why don't you shift around a little and see if they'll move?"
Shane rolled to her side and the technician tried several times to get different angles, but the last triplet kept hiding behind the others. "Must be shy."
"Definitely doesn't take after Shane then," Oliver said with a grin.
Shane rolled her eyes, "Maybe next time. At least we found out two of the three. Makes shopping a little easier."
Her doctor asked, "How have you been feeling?"
"Really good actually. I feel like I spend most of my time snacking and going to the bathroom, but I haven't been nearly as tired as I was early on."
"That's great, but don't overdo it. Keep resting regularly. You're still monitoring your blood pressure?"
Oliver nodded, "I remind her if she forgets."
The doctor turned to Shane, "You've had low blood pressure in the past but moving into this next time period as the body is working harder, we get more concerned about high blood pressure. Since you tend to run low, we need to know as soon as possible if it starts creeping up. Next visit is the glucose test."
Shane grimaced, "I've heard stories."
"You haven't had any labs come back that we'd be concerned about it. We complete it as a precaution. Keep taking care of yourself and we'll see you next time."
As the left, Shane and Oliver looked at each other thoughtfully as Shane said, "How long do you think the third one will hold out for the big reveal?"
Oliver answered as he pushed the elevator button, "Well, we both can be a little stubborn. The little pepper may come by it naturally."
"Little pepper?" Shane said questioningly.
"That's what Norman was calling them this week when you kept listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I've been meaning to discuss your listening selections by the way. I can't in all good conscious call the Red Hot Chili Peppers music. Shouldn't they be a little older before exposing them to such a raucous calamity of sound."
Shane giggled at his obvious distaste of this week's music list, "Oliver, I'll tell you what. After I listen to the musketeer's music for next week for a day or two you can pick out everything the rest of the week."
"What is next week?"
"The musketeers will be the size of pomegranates," Shane said stepping out of the elevator looking back as she realized he wasn't following.
"Surely you jest. Someone actually made music about pomegranates?" Oliver stood in the elevator shocked.
"More than someone. Hotel pomegranate. Pomegranate sky. There's a group called Pomegranate as well." Shane stood holding the elevator door. "Are you coming Oliver?" She asked as he stood there still contemplating a week's worth of music lists about Pomegranates.
"I'm still in shock at the artistic musical endeavors surrounding a fairly ugly fruit." Oliver had a look of confused horror on his face.
"I wouldn't be too shocked Oliver. You never know what's been created with a little recreational help," Shane said with a grin while finally taking his hand to pull him off the elevator.