The next morning, Samantha and Ashleigh had breakfast at Ruthie and Hope's. Sam and David were getting ready to go into town to get stuff for their babies-to-be, so could not attend the meal.

"I wish my brothers were here," said Ruthie, as she served the sisters bacon and scrambled eggs, as well as tall glasses of orange juice. "Because I owe them a huge apology for flipping out at them last night. Actually, I was initially mad at you too, so I want to say I'm sorry."

"Whatever for?" asked Samantha.

"I was mad you guys got knocked up at your age, and that Sam and David are responsible for that. I had no right to be angry."

"It takes two to tango," pointed out Ashleigh. "We're as much to blame that we're in this situation."

"No, hear me out," said Ruthie. "Peter and I lost our virginity - to each other - when were just fifteen. A few weeks later, during a night of wild sex at his place, I got pregnant with a son."

"What?"

"And the crazy thing was, I was still having my periods. I didn't even realize I was pregnant until that pedophile case my brothers no doubt told you about really heated up, and a couple of friends of Peter's and mine almost walked out on the case because the prick tried to buy their silence. No sooner than Peter and I persuaded them not to give up, than I started pouring a lot of blood down from you know where. I immediately realized what was happening and we went to the hospital. I was heartbroken when I saw my precious baby - he was so damaged he never had a chance!"

Ruthie started to cry. Violently. Hope hugged her wife. It was the first time Hope even heard about this - she now realized her spouse had miscarried not just once but twice - but she was heartbroken too. It was only after a few minutes, after Hope told Ruthie, "Shhhhh" several times and they finally kissed each other on the lips that Ruthie finally calmed down.

"What happened when your parents found out?" asked Samantha, after Ruthie was silent for ten seconds, wanting to make sure her future sister-in-law had indeed stopped crying.

"My whole family found out, at the same time, during the trial where I was a key witness. I got the silent treatment, but otherwise my parents didn't ground me or do anything else. The way I figure, they thought getting knocked up after warning me what would happen if I carried to term - meaning Peter and I would be alone in raising our baby - then losing the baby, was my punishment. They still let me see Peter, and everyone turned a blind eye to the fact he and I were still having sex - although after my loss, we were a hell of a lot more careful."

"I'm sorry, Ruthie," said Samantha and Hope together.

"I am too," said Ashleigh. The sisters were also shedding tears as was Hope.

"Well, know this," said Ruthie. "Hope and I, indeed the whole posse here, have your backs. We'll be with you every step of the way, just like all the other unwed mothers here. Since you're getting married to my brothers, we'll help you a bit more - not give you special treatment, that will make the other couples mad - just, we'll give you some extra advice as you're going through your stages."

"My wife and I can't wait to find out what you're having," added Hope.

"We know what we're having," said Ashleigh. "Sam and I are having a daughter."

"You haven't had your amniocentesis yet! Even though you could have already."

"God spoke to both of us in a dream, last night. We're having a girl, no question. And Sam and I already picked out a name for her!"

"I know we all talk to God quite frequently, not everyday as you-know-who claims. But that's our extended family, as well as Rod and Shelby and their daughters. You're not even part of our clan yet, not technically. How do you know it was God?"

"When you know, you know, Hope."

"So what are you two going to call her?" asked Ruthie.

"Harriet Lane Atkinson-Camden," said Ashleigh.

"Why does that name sound familiar? Harriet Lane?"

"I know," said Hope. "Remember civics class in high school, darling? Harriet Lane is the first and so far only case of a niece serving as First Lady, in the absence of a spouse. There have been sisters, sisters-in-law, or daughters who have been First Lady because the President was a widow and he need someone to fill in the role. James Buchanan was a lifelong bachelor. When Harriet lost both of her parents by the age of eleven, she asked the authorities if her uncle - who was her mother's brother - could be her foster parent. They readily agreed. By all accounts she was a gracious hostess at the White House, but history shows she was also her uncle's liaison with Congress. She made a very sincere effort, way more than Buchanan himself, to get Representatives and Senators from the North and South to try to resolve their differences. She failed, but was very respected for years afterwards for having at least tried."

"Right, Hope," said Ashleigh. "She was the embodiment of public service for her day. Samantha and I admire her for that. It's why we want to get into the federal bureaucracy. I want to join the Secret Service, and Samantha, the EPA."

"Not the easiest of jobs in the government, either of them, but I wish you the best of luck - both of you."

"Let me guess, Samantha," said Ruthie. "You and David know what you're having, even though you're at just sixteen weeks."

"We having twins, a boy and a girl!" said Samantha proudly.

"Names?"

"Our daughter is Abigail Tanya Rose ... Atkinson-Camden. And our son is Ryan James Noël ... same last name."

"Three names for each?"

"So they know, when they're old enough to speak, that David and I would love them three times over if we could."

"Ladies, between now and then," said Hope, "what are you doing to take care of yourselves? At your young age, your pregnancies are already quite risky. For you, Samantha, twice as much."

"Everything we can, Hope," said Ashleigh. "But even we're surprised at how much our appetites have changed, as well as the size of our stomachs. By the time I'm due, I'm going to be huge ..."

"... and with my twins, I'm going to be enormous," said Samantha.

"But given that," said Hope, "there's going to be a point where your doctors are going to say you and your boyfriends ..."

"Um, they'll be our husbands by that point. We just learned this morning in our e-mails that the courts in California have officially emancipated us from our parents. We're technically adults, and we want to get married as soon as possible. If we could it'd be today but this is Christmas Eve and we don't want to step on the birthday of our Savior, so we were thinking January 7th, the day after Epiphany when Christmas technically ends in the Christian Church."

"We'll get to that in a minute," said Ruthie in shock. "But what my wife is trying to say, you'll be told at some point you'll have to stop having sex until you ladies give birth. It could be even in the next couple of weeks if not sooner. Your husbands won't even be able to touch your breasts because that might induce labor. You've been having sex with your respective partners, my guess is as many as three or four times a week since you started becoming intimate?"

"Yes," said Ashleigh and Samantha together.

"Well, can you stand not having sex for at least the next eight or nine months - for the rest of your pregnancies and another three to four months after that? Take it from me, that long wait can really put stress on a marriage. Lucy and Kevin were nearly driven apart a couple of times. It was really hard on Simon and Deena, especially when her cancer came back right when she was due and she lost a breast the very same night little Annie was delivered - in fact the double surgeries took place less than an hour apart. To this day, even with breast reconstruction, they only have sex once a week, which is enough for them and they're still together - thank God - but they couldn't have sex for a whole year after that night, and it changed their view of intimacy, and how they viewed each other, forever. They have different ways to be intimate now like going on dates twice a week, and that saved their marriage, but the cancer news was a blow to what their sex lives had been up to that point."

"You don't think we've thought about that, all of us?" asked Ashleigh. "Sam and I don't need sex for us to know we love each other. On the nights we don't have sex, we spend time together in other ways. But know this, if we need to be apart for a while, even a few hours, we always kiss each other goodbye, and we kiss each other before we go to bed, whether we have sex or not. Actually, he and I have only slept together once a week for the last four or five weeks, and it's only been spooning ... we don't want to harm Harriet in any way."

"David and I stopped altogether four weeks ago," said Samantha. "We suspected we were having twins anyway, and we agreed too not to risk harming them. We're intimate in other ways, too. We love our boyfriends so much, and that would be case and at the same level as if we weren't pregnant. Our love is complete, and when we have our children, our joy will be complete."

"But how are you two otherwise taking care of yourselves?" repeated Hope.

"Modified exercise classes, bed rest for at least a couple of hours a day, which will get longer as we progress ... what else can we do?"

"Our in-house team of counselors will help you both there," said Ruthie. "Especially your diets. Have either of you drunk or smoked?

"We don't do either anyway, and that was before we conceived," said Ashleigh. "We know the risks there."

"Good, but it's important that you eat healthy and stay away from junk food, even if you have cravings. That was so hard for me when I was carrying Heather and Jim, but I wanted to make sure they had the right start. It's a good thing I did. You've heard of how smart and wise they are, even at the age of eight.

"But I have to say right now that I - and I suspect my wife too - are a bit concerned, very concerned, you ladies want to get married, at the age of sixteen. I know you think you want to be in it for the long haul with Sam and David. Marriage is for life, or it's meant to be. Peter and I married when we got right out of high school. A lot of high school sweethearts manage to stay married, but our marriage was rocky for most of our eight years together. You know how we broke up. When we cheated on each other - he fucked Felicity while Lisa did me - it was almost a relief to know it was finally over. We create four children together, two of the very last time we made love, but it just wasn't meant to be.

"I'm the only one of my siblings who got divorced. The only one. I don't want it to happen to my brothers. If you get married, at your age, you're looking at a life sentence of sixty to sixty-five years. Can you imagine spending that much time with only one human being to be intimate with?"

Ashleigh and Samantha were taken aback. They thought maybe, twenty, thirty years until their children were grown up then they'd serve divorce papers. But then they realized such would break the hearts of their husbands-to-be, maybe even kill them.

"Ruthie, I don't know if we should be telling you this, but none of us were virgins when we met each other," said Samantha after a long silence. "Sam and David had their first experiences when they were both thirteen; Ashleigh and I were both twelve. We've all been around the block to know what to look for in a partner. The difference up to now is we've only had sex. Your brothers make love to us, respectively of course. When you've been made love to, even at our ages, you know it's for real. And we created loves. A baby born of fuck buddies has a huge disadvantage. Even a baby who is loved by parents who don't love each other can be 'screwed' for life. We know what love is. I'll admit the though has crossed my sister's and my minds, but we swear to you and Hope that we will never abandon your brothers. We will work every day on our marriages. And if, for some reason we have to divorce it will only because we've exhausted all our resorts - and we'll make sure our children are not hurt, like yours were."

"We love our guys with all our bodies, minds and souls," said Ashleigh. "We now know what it means when someone says 'Love is a Many Splendored Thing. Sam and David love us completely. We love them. And we all love our babies. We want to get married and that's all there is to it."

"Well," said Hope, "when you go to the clothing bank this morning, pick out two business suits each. One of them has to be white! We'll get matching hats with veils. And we can't wait to welcome you both into our church tonight!"

At this point, the sisters left. After they did, Ruthie turned to Hope.

"You know, Hope," she said, "I've been thinking about it for a while, but I've made up my mind after speaking to Ashleigh and Samantha this morning. I want to have another baby after all. Your child deserves a brother or sister!"

"Thank you!" said Hope, kissing her wife. "But who will be the father?"

"Not Peter, I can assure you. But I have an idea."