encourage her, and as soon as Stacey was undressed there was a wail in the room. Their daughter had arrived. Tammy lay looking stunned as she smiled at Stacey.
“I love you,” she said to Tammy, as an express train suddenly sped through her. Stacey could no longer speak, and Tammy told her she could do it with a firm grip on her hand.
“I can’t,” Stacey whispered to Tammy between pains, as a doctor sped into the room, and cut their daughter’s cord, while Stacey pushed with all her might. Tammy kept her hand in hers, and everyone told Stacey to push.
She felt everything within her force through her and a second angry wail filled the room, as Tammy and Stacey watched their son come into the world. They were laughing and crying as Stacey lay back, shaking. Their babies had been born within four minutes of each other.
Two nurses cleaned the babies, and weighed them, as two other nurses tended to Tammy and Stacey, still holding hands and smiling, shaken but victorious.
“That was easy,” Stacey said as a second doctor arrived to help, and a pediatrician came to check the babies.
Their daughter weighed eight pounds nine ounces, and their son ten pounds two ounces. Both labors had taken less than an hour. The nurse placed each baby in its mother’s arms. Their daughter went immediately to Tammy’s breast, and Stacey found herself nursing their son without effort, and she had none of the resistance she thought she would. Everything about the deliveries had been easy and natural, as the room full of doctors and nurses stared at them in amazement. The two new moms said they were calling the babies Annabelle and John.
Tammy called Kate then and she arrived at the hospital twenty minutes later, and tears ran down her cheeks, as she saw Tammy and Stacey peacefully holding their babies, looking like twin Madonnas.
“What are you two doing?” she said smiling at them. “The nurse said you both delivered in less than an hour,” and they were both big babies. They were the talk of the hospital and the nurses said they were lucky the babies hadn’t been born at home. The girls had been wheeled into a room by then, with the babies in their separate bassinets in the room with them. They were a family now.
Kate gazed at each of them as both of their mothers looked on proudly. They were beautiful babies. Stacey and Tammy were talking and laughing as though nothing had happened. They were on a high like no other.
“I think you’ve set some kind of a world record.” Kate beamed at them as nurses came and went to check on both mothers. Tammy wanted to leave the hospital that night since the babies were perfect, healthy, and had checked out with no problems. But Stacey convinced her to spend the night, and leave in the morning. Kate promised to bring a car to drive them home. She had to pick up their car seats to be allowed to leave the hospital.
Their return to their apartment the next day was chaotic and triumphant. It was going to take a little time to make the adjustment and a baby nurse Stacey knew had come to help them for a month. The two mothers were walking around their home, and looked radiant while the babies slept in the bassinets Kate had bought them, with pink and blue ribbons.
Tammy and Stacey looked like the poster children for motherhood. Stacey still couldn’t believe how easy it had been, and neither could Claire when Tammy told her. Claire sheepishly admitted she was pregnant again. Gregory was only six months old, and it had been an accident. Claire said she really didn’t want to be pregnant again, but Reed was over the moon about it. The baby was due in April by planned C-section this time. Claire made a point of telling her mother that they were not getting married. Kate just laughed when she said it. It no longer mattered. It was her decision. Claire seemed disappointed by the lack of reaction from her mother. Kate accepted whatever choice her daughter made. There was nothing to argue about this time. Kate had made her peace with Claire not wanting to be married. Reed was a wonderful father, and adored Claire and their son.
* * *
—
By the time Scott and Kate and Margaret were ready to leave for India three weeks later, Stacey and Tammy were on their feet and doing well, and the baby nurse had Annabelle and John on a schedule. Both mothers were nursing. They nursed whichever baby needed to be fed at the moment.
Scott and Kate left with Margaret to fly to New Delhi on a Saturday morning. They took an SUV with a driver to get them to the airport. Margaret was going to stay with Anthony while Kate and Scott spent two weeks exploring the country for their delayed honeymoon. They had planned the trip carefully to include all the temples and monuments that they wanted to see, including the Taj Mahal.
The trip was everything they had hoped for, and as they lay under a full moon on the verandah of their suite at The Raj Palace in Jaipur, Kate looked at Scott and knew they had done the right thing getting married. Events of the past ten months had proven to them they belonged together. Cast together by fate, their life was a celebration. It was their turn now, without children or babies taking up every moment of Kate’s time.
Kate was wearing a sari that Alicia had given her, and as Scott slowly undid it, they looked at each other and smiled.
“Thank you,” Kate whispered, “for everything,” she said as he kissed her. It was a prayer and a wish and I love you, all rolled into one for the man she loved. Marrying him was the best thing she’d ever done and he felt that way about her too.
It was exactly what they had both wanted and thought they’d never find, and miraculously they had. Kate’s children had grown wings in the last year, and so had Scott and Kate. Their wingspan was the broadest of all. The future awaited them and all the adventures they would share. It was their time now, as they walked back into the bedroom of their suite on a magical night. And whatever decisions and choices her children would make would be up to them, and hopefully, would turn out well. Kate and Scott had their lives to lead, and their time together with all its gifts and wonders, had only just begun.
To my wonderful so much loved children,
Beatrix, Trevor, Todd, Nick,
Samantha, Victoria, Vanessa,
Maxx, and Zara.
May you make wise decisions,
choose loving, caring partners
who treat you well,
keep you safe and protect you,
make you smile,
and share your dreams,
And to all of us, as parents,
who are constantly surprised
by our children!!
Thank you for the lessons you teach me!
I love you so very much!
Mom/d.s.