Chapter Two
When Anna was growing up, she could always tell she was different. When her sister or friends would talk about cute boys, she just couldn't find it in her to join in on the fun. She wasn't very keen on boys, and even if she had been, she would have been very careful about voicing that because of her protective mother and stepfather. In high school, she had started doodling loving scenarios between two girls such as walking hand-in-hand, at a picnic, and even kissing. Even though she still wasn't sure what that meant in the context of her life and her feelings towards women, when her mother found her drawings and approached her about it, she felt she had no choice but to come out as queer. Her mother and stepfather were very distant with her from then on and unsupportive of her dreams to go to a dance with another female student. She did it anyways and was nearly disowned for it. When she went away to uni, she had to support herself. Her sister, Abigail, supported her in secret but never outwardly protected her from their stepfather's hatred and eventual abuse. Now, she lives in Canada with her husband and children, and Anna only keeps in touch with her through the occasional Facebook post.
Despite the lack of support, Anna found solace through campus ministry. She built a relationship with God and shared in that faith with some of the other students. She worked as a peer tutor and advisor and library assistant in order to make it through school and eventually earned her Bachelor's Degree in English after spending 6 years in school. At that point, she moved to Ripon and started her job as an editor for a local publishing company. She became friends with Elsie and Mary right away, as they also worked there.
Elsie and Charles ended up becoming the parents she never had. They loved her like their own and fully accepted her for who she was, and they fully supported her plan to eventually get a Master's Degree in writing and become a professor and author. They were constantly buying her notepads and pens and helping her keep her laptop software up-to-date so she could write in whatever fashion she enjoyed. They even baked a cake to celebrate her birthday every year starting when she was 25. They had only known her for a few months at that point, but they were committed. And that commitment to Anna never ceased. She was their daughter through and through.
Not long after her 25th birthday, she and Mary had gone out on their first date. They had immediately hit it off, and that initial attraction between them had only grown in the months and years that followed. After four years of dating, they got married, and now two years into their marriage, they were looking into having children together.
They had had several conversations with one another about their desire to become mothers, and they had also decided to babysit their nieces, five-year old Siobhan and 18 month old Saoirse, more often as a way of helping out Tom and Sybil and practicing for their chance at motherhood. In those conversations, they had both revealed they had a desire to become pregnant, but they had decided Anna would go first due to her age. She was only a couple years older than Mary, but they both knew that with IVF, maternal age could impact its success.
Tonight, they were watching Siobhan and Saoirse, and tomorrow afternoon, they'd go for their first embryo implantation. As they were putting the girls to bed in their spare bedroom, they told the girls a story. Siobhan was fascinated by Mary's reading of a tale of two princesses who fell in love, even interjecting in certain spots to point out similarities between the story's protagonists and her aunts. Saoirse was almost fast asleep in Anna's arms being gently rocked as she sat on the edge of Siobhan's bed with her wife. The sound of her Aunt Mary's voice must have lulled into sleep as she wasn't being as fussy as she sometimes could be.
When the story had finished, they kissed Siobhan goodnight and tucked her in and then laid Saorise down on her small cot in their room, turning on the baby monitor before heading back out into the living room to cuddle on the sofa. As they settled down next to each other with the TV on low, they couldn't help but speak about the changes that were coming in their life. "Soon we'll need a proper bedroom for a little one of our own," Mary said.
"True," Anna agreed, "We could turn the empty room into the baby's room and keep the spare room as the office with the pull-out bed. That way it's still there for Siobhan to stay over. She does quite well sleeping through the night in there."
"I like that idea. You know she'll be at us constantly to see her baby cousin," Mary teased, knowing how spirited her niece could be around her younger sister and cousin Marigold. She'll likely behave similarly around her and Anna's children.
"And that's totally fine with me," Anna said, happy about the prospect of her niece coming over to visit with her baby. "But let's not get too ahead of ourselves."
"Love, we're going for an implantation tomorrow. I don't think imagining a future with a baby is too far ahead. Sending the baby off to school, maybe. But actually having a baby is a realistic goal we can imagine."
"I guess you're right. I'm just a little nervous about tomorrow I guess," she admitted, nuzzling her nose into her wife's neck. Mary wrapped her arm around her wife, gently running her hand along the small of Anna's back as she held her close.
"Anna, love, everything will be alright," she said soothingly, pressing a gentle kiss to her hair.
"With you by my side, I know it will," Anna responded, looking up at her wife with a soft smile before meeting her lips for a kiss. "I love you," she whispered breathily before they kissed once again.
"I love you, too," Mary echoed in between yet another kiss. They were engaged in a wonderful stream of kisses with no end in sight. They loved each other too much not to show it. And that was just fine with the both of them.
The implantation procedure had gone smoothly, but the embryo hadn't stuck. Anna didn't have a viable pregnancy. She had just received a call from the fertility clinic letting her know that her HCG levels were not showing signs of a pregnancy. She was bummed and seeking solace in Mary's arms. Mary hugged her tightly as they sat together on the couch. While they both knew this was not the end of the journey, they allowed themselves some time to be sad before planning to try again. The doctor had informed them they could try again with another implantation the following month, so they had booked that appointment and then put it out of their mind until they were ready to talk about it.
A couple days later, they were ready to have their conversation about the next procedure. They had only implanted one of the four successful embryos they had, so they still had three tries left. However, Anna suggested something a bit different, "I think we should tell the doctor to insert two embryos next time. We'll have a better chance of at least one of them sticking. And if they both stick, twins can be manageable, but I think we both know triplets would be too much."
"Oh yeah," Mary said, agreeing with a chuckle. "Triplets would be chaos."
"But twins are fine?" Anna asked. "If it works, that is."
"As long as you're sure this is what you want, I'm on board," Mary said sincerely. "I love you so much, Anna. I want to have a family with you. Twins might be hard, but not having any children would be harder. We're a team, and we're a team who deserves to raise children together."
"It's what I want," Anna confirmed, tears welling in her eyes slightly at the sweetness of her wife's words. "Thank you, Mary. I love you so much, and I want to be on your team. You're the best partner I ever could have asked for."
The implantation had been successful. Anna and Mary had received the best call they'd ever gotten when their fertility doctor called them and told them the procedure had worked and Anna's HCG levels were showing signs of a healthy twin pregnancy. They could go to Anna's regular OBGYN for an ultrasound in a week or so to hear the heartbeats and have everything confirmed officially, but all signs from the bloodwork they had run pointed to everything being okay with Anna and the babies.
"Anna, this is fantastic," Mary said excitedly after the call, taking her wife's hands in her own. "We're going to be mommies."
"We are," Anna said in awe, giving Mary's hand a small squeeze to express her gratitude to her for being there alongside her on this journey.
"I love you," Mary exclaimed, tears welling in the corners of her eyes, "And I love you both, too," Mary said, pressing two gentle kisses to Anna's stomach through her shirt.
"They don't have ears yet," Anna teased, "But I'm sure they would say 'we love you too' if they could."
"You're going to be an amazing Mummy," Mary said.
"And you're going to be an incredible Mama," Anna said.
"Come here," Mary said, gently taking Anna's face in her hands and guiding her to her for a passionate kiss. She loved this woman more than words could possibly express, but that kiss said it all.
They were at the ultrasound. It was time for Mary and Anna to meet their babies. And they couldn't be more excited. Granted, they were a little nervous because they knew there was a chance one or both of their babies could end up not having a heartbeat when that machine turned on. But they also had to have faith. Anna had a little morning sickness, and both her and Mary had a really good feeling about this.
In addition to the positive report they had gotten from the fertility doctor, Anna had also been given a good bill of her health from her OBGYN, Dr. Henley. The only thing they had left for this appointment was the ultrasound. "Anna, if you could, go ahead and pull your pants down just a little," Dr. Henley instructed sweetly. Anna did as she was told and then took Mary's hand within her own. They were both nervous and excited, but holding onto each other helped them stay grounded.
Soon, Anna felt the gel on her stomach and looked up at the doctor's face as she spread the wand around on her stomach. She could tell Doctor Henley was pleased with what she was seeing even though she was trying not to give anything away just yet. Eventually, she turned the monitor around to show the women. Immediately, they could see two distinct sacks. They were definitely having twins.
"Here's Baby A," Doctor Henley said, zooming in on the baby. "And here's Baby B," she said while also turning on the volume on the doppler so the mothers-to-be could hear their babies' heartbeats. Immediately, both women were consumed by happy tears upon hearing that marvelous sound.
"Oh, Anna, we're really having two babies," Mary said through her tears. "My brilliant girl," she praised her wife sweetly, brushing a strand of hair off her forehead and pressing a soft kiss there.
"I love you so much," Anna whispered lovingly. "I love all three of you," she said, turning her attention to the screen once again, feeling the most intense sense of joy welling within her as she watched her babies once more. They were real. She and Mary were really going to be mothers to twins. It would be an adventure. It would be a hard adventure; there was no denying that. But she couldn't wait to have her wonderful wife beside her every step of the way. She really couldn't wait. This was going to be incredible.