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“Leave, now,” Liam points to the house while everyone laughs.
“You too, Little One. You’re still a baby in my eyes,” JD says.
Poor Rush seems embarrassed.
“I’ve seen him without a shirt on, Daddy,” Eden says.
“I didn’t need to hear that!” JD sighs.
I can’t help but laugh. Eden is going to give JD a heart attack.
“Anyway, Peyton and I know the gender,” Noah says, interrupting everyone. “Here’s what’s going to happen; I’m going to count to three and the men in our family will pop their balloons. Their shirts will either turn blue, pink, or remain white.”
“Wait, what?” Mack asks.
“What did you think was going to happen?” Nick asks him.
“Ah, man.” He shakes his head as he looks to the ground.
Everyone laughs at him.
Noah holds his phone out to video our family. I eye Nola and am surprised to find her paying attention.
“Guys, are you ready?” We all hold up our safety pins. “Assume the position.”
Noah drags this out while I mentally prepare for cold water to seep into places I don’t want cold water to seep.
“Go.”
So much for him counting to three.
“You’re having a . . .”
“Boy.”
“Girl.”
“Wait.”
“Oh my God.”
“Peyton, what’s going on?” Mom asks.
My sister puts her hand on her stomach and beams at Noah.
“You tell them,” he says to her.
“Yesterday, we found out we’re having triplets,” she says excitedly. “Two boys and one girl. The boys are identical.”
Holy shit, I’m going to be an uncle of triplets. I hold my arms out and imagine what it’s going to be like to hold three babies at once. I’m not sure I can do it, but I’m sure as hell going to try. I’m happy for my sister. Over the moon, actually. She and Noah have struggled for so long, trying to get pregnant, and now they are. They’re like super pregnant.
Elle’s pregnant too.
And then there’s me, wanting to get married and I suppose start a family. I almost said as much earlier when Nola said her birth control made her sick. As soon as she said she wasn’t ready to be a mother, I mentioned condoms, because whatever she wants, I’ll do.
Nola and I have to wait our turn to give Peyton and Noah our congratulations. I hold her hand and she looks at me. When she does that, it makes me think everything is fine and I’m imagining shit.
Finally, I get to hug my sister. My arms wrap around her tightly, and I whisper that I love her before I step over to Noah. It’s then I hear Nola ask if she can touch Peyton’s stomach.