Page 50

MAKAYLA

“ M ommy, get my dog,” Laney says from her car seat, her sentences growing more complex by the day.

“Give Mommy a second,” I mutter, reaching behind my seat for the stuffed dog—right as my water breaks.

I can feel it leaking all over my seat, soaking the fabric and staining my pants.

It must have been that sharp turn I took when I was looking for the toy.

“Oh, crap, crap, crap!” I gasp, realizing what’s about to happen.

I plant myself in the soaked seat, close my eyes, and force a few steady breaths. Still parked outside the grocery store, I grab my phone and hit the group call…

Silly me thought I had plenty of time and that it would be no big deal to pop out and get a few supplies for the weekend.

Kellan and Alex are both at home working on different things, but Oscar’s still in the city, several hours away by car. We have an alert protocol—a drill we ran last time and have practiced faithfully at Oscar’s insistence. My location is already shared; I just have to say the word.

“Yes, love of my life?” Kellan picks up, his voice as sweet as honey.

“The baby’s coming,” I announce into the speaker.

“Mommy! The baby!” Laney shouts from the backseat. Thank goodness she’s buckled in and I don’t have to worry about her for the moment.

“Oh, crap!” he echoes, already springing into action. “Oh, okay, got your location. Do not move!”

“I can’t really move—the contractions are about to—OUCH!” I cry.

“We’re coming!” Alex calls in the background before Kellan passes him the phone. I already know they’re on their way.

Alex stays on the line to talk me through it. “Okay, baby, deep breaths. Kellan is coming to pick you up, and I’m going to bring the baby bag straight to the hospital.”

“Yes… OUCH! Oh, crapsies!” I manage before the real first contractions hit.

“Crapsies!” Laney mimics me again.

“Sorry!” I say. “Can’t really help myself…”

“Relax, Kay… Breathe, don’t forget to breathe,” Alex says.

I hear him rummaging through the closet for my baby bag—diapers, swaddles, comfy clothes, phone charger, the works. He’ll meet us at the hospital and warn my doctor we’re en route.

“I’m on my way!” shouts Oscar, hanging up on his end of the group call.

“Drive safely, please!” I insist.

I picture him sprinting through the corridors at work, desperate to shave minutes off his commute. I close my eyes, palm spread across my belly. Kellan will be here in minutes.

“Mommy!” Laney reaches her cute, chubby fingers out to me.

“I’m okay, honey… I promise,” I manage in-between deep, panting breaths.

Minutes later, Kellan appears to my right, damn near startling me. “Hey there, sugar tot,” he says, voice tight with nerves, as he helps me from the driver’s seat to the passenger side and makes sure I’m belted in before peeling out of the lot.

“Wow, you got here fast,” I groan from another wave of contractions.

My belly is huge, and I can barely breathe at this point.

“I flew here, Kay. Pretty sure I broke a few traffic laws along the way, but I don’t see any sirens. Do you?”

“All I see are white stars because I’m about to deliver a pair of Anderson twins—bless Callie and her golden, frickin’ mouth!”

Kellan understands the urgency behind my statement and floors it.

A bout eight hours later, I lie in bed, spent and limp as a boiled noodle, surrounded by soft white—walls, lights, sheets. It’s standard hospital style, but quiet and tranquil because my husbands secured a private room in the recovery wing.

Our babies, two gorgeous little boys bundled tightly in pale blue cotton, rest in their elevated cots next to my bed.

My husbands hover between the bassinets and me, taking turns admiring the perfect little lives I just delivered before coming back to pepper me with kisses. Laney perches on the edge of the bed, half-asleep yet determined to stay, while I drift in and out.

Slowly but surely.

“You were incredible,” Kellan says, planting a sweet kiss on my lips.

“Bless that doctor for allowing all three of us in the delivery room,” Oscar says, dragging a chair beside Laney and me. He lovingly takes my hand in his.

I smile weakly. “Bless Janet for keeping an eye on Laney for so many hours…”

“You pulled through,” Alex says, gazing down at our sons. “By the stars, they’re beautiful.”

“A little red-faced right now,” Kellan says with a soft laugh. “Birth knocked the wind out of them. I thought they’d be louder already.”

Oscar laughs lightly. “Oh, give them a day or two. It will begin soon enough.”

“What about your parents?” I ask.

“They’re on the way. Janet’s going to take Laney back to the farmhouse to greet them,” Alex tells me. “They’ll be here in the morning.”

“Good… Good…”

“You’re beautiful, you know that?” Oscar says, unable to take his eyes off me.

“Bu-bu-ful…” Laney mumbles, stretched across my blanket-covered legs.

I reach out and caress her curly brown hair. “You’re bu-bu-ful, too, honey… And a big sister, now, too.”

“Big sis!” she declares, her eyes still droopy.

“It’ll be lights out for Laney, soon enough,” Oscar concludes.

I give him a long, thoughtful look. “I cannot believe we pulled through…”

“YOU pulled through,” Kellan reminds me. “All we did was help out with the logistics.”

“Oh, I’d have gone bananas without the three of you,” I reassure him. “Thank you.”

“No, no, thank you, Kay, for being the incredible woman you are,” Alex says. “The only way is up from here, remember?”

“UP!” Laney chimes in.

I reach my hands out. “Give me my boys…”

Kellan and Alex gingerly pick them up and bring them over. With two eager arms and despite the exhaustion, I cradle my twins and let the love shine through, filling me to the brim. I can almost feel myself glowing from within.

“I wonder which one of you did this,” I quip, holding back a laugh as I admire my perfect little men, their eyes closed and their cheeks plump and pink, both sporting fine tufts of dark hair at the top of their heads.

“We all did,” Oscar says. “And I know I would do it all over again.”

“So would I,” I reply, genuinely considering the possibility. “Raising a family with you three has been nothing but fun and wonderful… and exhausting.”

“I admire the enthusiasm,” Alex replies with a wry smile.

I crinkle my nose at him. “I’ll need a minute, though.”

“Good grief, Kay. You just gave us two more children. Hold your horses,” he laughs. “We’re good.”

“Hold your horses,” Laney also advises.

“Your daughter makes sense,” I reply, looking at my husbands. “I will hold my horses. We’ve got all the time in the world, don’t we?”

“All the time in the world,” Oscar agrees.

All the time in the world. All the time to keep building, to keep turning our dreams into a beautiful reality. All the time to enjoy this precious moment, to watch my daughter swooning over her baby brothers, to witness my husbands as they shower me with so much love and affection.

All… the… time.