Page 47 of The Omega's Surprise Baby

“That’s right,” I told her as I whisked the both of them off to the car. “Two little girls, isn’t that great?”

“I’m a girl!” Mary announced proudly.

“Yes, and tonight, you get to stay up past bed time.”

“Yay!”

Conner climbed into the back of the car. “I remember when Mary was a baby,” he said. “She wasloud.” He didn’t seem too excited at the idea of two girl babies.

“Babies can be loud,” I agreed. “But it’ll be fine. Just be glad they’ll be staying with grandma rather than us.” Even I was secretly grateful for that. I loved my kids, but babies were stressful. I was glad both Conner and Mary were out of the worst of it.

The drive to the hospital took us about half an hour.

When we got to my sister’s room, my mother was already there.

“Say hello to grandma,” I told the kids, and to her I said, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t find a sitter.”

“Oh, it’s all right. Hello, my little darlings.” She gave each of the kids a hug while I went farther inside the room to greet my sister. She looked at me with a tired smile, two newborns napping on her chest. I took a seat at the side of the bed.

“Hey. How are you doing?”

“A lot better now than I was doing an hour ago.” She laughed.

“The girls are beautiful.” Especially now that they were sleeping, but I feared that wasn’t going to last long once my offspring laid eyes on them.

And just as I was thinking it…

“Babies!” Mary screeched, bounding toward the bed.

I laid a hand on her shoulder to keep her from jumping onto her aunt. “Be careful.”

She nodded, looking at the infants with wide eyes. Sharon smiled at her.

“You were this small once,” she said.

“I wasn't!”

“Yes, you were. It's not that long ago.”

Mary turned to me. “I wasn't!” she insisted.

“I'll show you pictures when we're back home,” I promised, running my fingers through her soft hair. Conner came up behind her, eyeing the babies with curiosity, as well as a little more reservation than his sister displayed.

“Come meet your cousins,” Sharon said, trying to encourage him.

Conner looked to me, as if needing reassurance that it reallywasfine for him to say hello to the babies. I nodded at him. Tentatively, he stepped toward the bed and reached a hand out to stroke one of the girls' cheeks. “Hi there,” he said to the sleeping baby. Then he glanced at Sharon. “Do they have names yet?”

“Amy and Anna,” she informed him.

“Those are pretty names.” He turned his attention back to the babies. “Hello Amy and Anna.” A smile bloomed on his face, and seeing him like that mademesmile as well. Celebrating new life was good for all of us.

My mother stepped up behind my children. “Why don't I take you two downstairs for some ice cream?”

“Ice cream!” Mary instantly forgot about the babies. Conner wasn'tasenthusiastic, but he wasn't going to turn down ice cream either.

“Thank you,” I mouthed to my mother as she left the room with my offspring.

My sister sank back into her pillows with a sigh. “This has been a long day,” she muttered.