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“Enough of that,” Marie said, approaching with her baby in her arms. “Kissing leads to the things that got us here in the first place.” She winked.
“Let me hold him a minute.” Rose stretched out her arms for Armonde. She cooed over her nephew, hoping her child with Leo would be just as perfect.
Marie’s husband wrapped an arm around his wife’s waist. “Thanks for inviting us.”
“As if you wouldn’t come.” Rose laughed.
“Well, you did send the plane,” Marie said. “How could we say no?”
Adonis ran up. “Can we have cake now?” he asked for the billionth time.
Leo looked at Rose for permission, and she nodded.
“Yes,” he said to his son. “But first we must sing.”
Rose handed the baby back to Marie.
Dianthe lit the birthday candles, all thirty-one of them, as the group gathered around the cake.
Rose looked around at her family as they sang to her with smiling faces. Her parents. Her sister and brother-in-law. Both sets of Nefeli’s and Adonis’s grandparents. Rose had worried about how Nia’s parents would feel about Leo’s remarriage, but they were delighted to have another heart to love their grandchildren. Leo’s siblings and spouses had also opened their arms to her. And Stavros. Dear Stavros. He needed someone to love.
Rose made a wish and blew out the candles. She needed two breaths with the baby taking up some of her lung capacity.
When everyone had cake, Rose and Leo stood by the silver balloon.
“We’re happy you could all come to celebrate Rose’s birthday,” Leo said.
Everyone cheered.
“As you all know, we elected to learn the gender of our baby in a special way. Inside the balloon is confetti in the color of the gender, pink for a girl, blue for a boy. Stavros did the honors for us. He’s very good at keeping secrets.”
Stavros waved at the group.
“Shall we pop the balloon?” Leo asked.
A chant of “Pop” went up.
Leo pulled the pin tied around the balloon ribbon and aimed it at the balloon above their heads.
Rose covered her ears.
POP!
A shower or pink and blue confetti rained around them.
Everyone clapped and cheered.
Rose saw her confusion mirrored in Leo’s face.
“Stavros, is there a mistake?” she asked.
He pointed to the ground, where Leo picked up a gold piece of paper that fluttered down. He unrolled it and looked at her with astonishment, before he gulped and handed it to her.
She read it. “Twins?” She looked at Leo and then at Stavros, who nodded.
“Twins,” Leo whispered. “A boy and a girl.” He sank into a chair.
She sat on his lap, while Nefeli and Adonis danced around them, yelling out potential baby names.
“Well, that explains a lot,” Rose said. “I wondered why I was so much bigger this time. I thought it was because my muscles and skin were stretched from before.”
Leo seemed to pull out of his trance. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
She shook her head.
“We’re going to need a bigger nursery.”
“It means we’re outnumbered,” she said. Rose laughed and kissed Leo, her heart full and bursting. Twins.
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