Her Little Saints Are Born
Fifteen minutes.
That was how long it took between when she gave birth to one baby then the other. But Annabelle MacManus was so tired that she didn't remember which one the doctor said had come out first. All she knew was she was overflowing with love for the two little bundles sleeping in her arms.
One of them had a smattering of light brown hair and the other had a smattering of dark brown almost black hair.
"My little angels," Annabelle said while the door opened and her husband, Noah, walked in the room. His dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but it was his blue eyes which caught her attention. They were filled with love and pride as he walked to the bed and he leaned over, kissing her cheek.
"Well done," he said in a soft voice. She knew Noah to be a man of a few words, but she also knew he was a man of many secrets. He looked at the sleeping twins as he frowned and she wondered what he was upset about. "If they're twins, why don't they look th'same?"
"Th'nurse said they don't look th'same because they're fraternal twins," she said.
"Fraternal twins?"
She remembered the nurse leaving a pamphlet as she nodded her head to the small table near the table and he picked up the pamphlet. He read the information then he placed the pamphlet on the small table.
"Well….," he said as his eyebrows arched up and he reached over to barely touch the top of the head of one of his sons. "What are their names?"
"I named this one "Connor"," she said as she looked at the baby with the light brown hair then she looked at the baby with the dark brown hair. "An' this one is called "Murphy"."
"Those are grand names," Noah said while he reached over to lift Connor into his arms.
Connor, who was awake enough to notice he wasn't near his twin, became cranky and he sucked on his bottom lip. He made a tiny whimper when Murphy woke up and he noticed his twin was missing. A sudden, piercing cry filled the air as large tears rolled down Murphy's cheeks and Annabelle started rocking him.
"Oh, Luv, what's wrong?" Annabelle whispered and Noah started rocking a crying Connor. The door opened as the nurse walked in the room and she quickly headed for the bed. "Sister, what's wrong with them? Why are they cryin' like this?"
"Maybe they're hungry," the nurse said as Noah made soft hushing noise, but Connor wailed even louder. "Oh. This isn't good. I think I should take them to th'nursery an' let th'doctor look at them."
"Wait," Annabelle said when she thought of something and she looked at Noah. "Hand Connor back t'me."
Shrugging a shoulder, Noah lowered Connor back into her arms as the twins' toes touched and Connor and Murphy made little sniffing sounds. Being reunited with each other, the twins settled down and she looked at the nurse then at Noah.
"See. They're fine now."
"Ah. I believe I know what happened. They noticed they had been separated an' that upset them," the nurse said with a small smile.
"They noticed they were no longer t'gether?" Noah asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Most twins have a very strong emotional an' mental bond. They are, after all, one soul in two bodies, hearts an' minds."
"That's rubbish."
"No. It's not. My sister has twin boys an' those two can always tell when one or th'other is in a certain mood, are sick or hurt or if one of them is missin'. They also seem t'know what th'other is thinkin'."
"I knew you two were special," Annabelle said, smiling as she looked at the twins then she yawned.
"I'd better take them so you can get some sleep. I'll bring them back later so you can nurse them."
The nurse carefully lifted Murphy out of Annabelle's arms then the nurse placed him in the crib. She quickly took Connor from Annabelle then she placed him next to Murphy before the twins noticed they had been separated again. She moved the crib to the door as she looked down at the sleeping twins and Noah opened the door. She pushed the crib out of the room as Noah closed the door then Noah walked to the bed, carefully sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Why do I have a feelin' those two are goin' t'be a handful?" he teased, but Annabelle had fallen asleep and he leaned over to kiss her cheek.