looked at Jonathan and seemed dazed. But everything had gone well. The first twin had weighed nine pounds, and the second twin weighed just over ten. She had been carrying nineteen pounds of baby, and felt as though she had given birth to twin elephants. They were strapping, healthy baby boys, no matter what they had cost their mother.
“I’m not going to die like Charlotte, am I?” she asked Jonathan with glazed eyes.
“You’re not going to die, my love. I’m so proud of you. We have two big beautiful boys. Who’s Charlotte?” he asked her then, and she shook her head and cried, as the doctor put another mask over her face and gave her a whiff of chloroform to put her out.
“She’ll sleep for a while now,” he said softly to Jonathan. “She did very well. Twins aren’t easy. And you have two great big boys there. I’m surprised she went full term.” They were fraternal twins, not identical, but they looked very similar to their father. “You can go to the nursery now if you like. We’re going to clean her up, and take her to a room. The nurse will call you when she’s awake.” Jonathan thanked him, and followed his sons to the nursery. It was the happiest day of his life, and he couldn’t wait to show the twins to their big sister.
He took turns holding them in the nursery, and he was sitting at Lucy’s bedside when she woke up. She looked as though she had been through an ordeal, and she had. He kissed her as soon as she was awake.
“I thought I was going to die,” she said in a hoarse voice.
“I wouldn’t have let you. We all need you too much.” He had never thought there was a risk of that, and the doctor seemed calm throughout. “Who’s Charlotte?” he asked her again, now that she was awake.
“Why?” She looked panicked at the mention of her name.
“You asked if you were going to die like her.”
“She’s a woman I used to know, who died a few hours after she gave birth.”
“That’s not going to happen to you,” he said firmly, as a nurse came in and asked her if she was going to nurse her babies. Lucy said she was, although it seemed daunting with twins, but she wanted to try. Now that she had survived it, she wanted to enjoy her baby boys to the fullest. She had been terrified for nine months.
“Did you nurse last time?” the nurse asked her, since she was listed as a second-time mother on her chart.
“No, I didn’t,” Lucy said, and seemed awkward about it. “But I want to this time.” The nurse told her how to do it with twins. It sounded complicated and she was going to need all the help she could get when she went home. But her mother-in-law had promised to be there, and Jonathan would help her at night.
She spent five days in the hospital, and the babies were nursing well by the time she went home. Annie couldn’t wait to meet them. They let her hold them, sitting down, one at a time. Jonathan was a natural father, and managed to make Annie still feel special too. He even cooked her favorite dinner of shepherd’s pie, and ice cream. Overnight they had become a family, with a mother, father, and three children. Their cottage felt as though it was bursting at the seams, and Jonathan enjoyed it thoroughly. Lucy was overwhelmed, but Annie did little chores for her, and her mother-in-law was a huge help. Three children were a lot for Lucy to cope with, and it was even harder than she expected. In comparison, Annie had been so easy. Twins were a lot to deal with. One was always hungry and crying, and sometimes both of them.
A month after their birth, Lucy was relieved to go back to work. All of her colleagues had come to see the twins while she was at home, and Mrs. Markham had sent them lovely gifts, in duplicate, with little matching outfits. But it was nice getting out of the house and going back to her job. She stopped nursing when she did, and she went home at lunchtime to help her mother-in-law give the twins their bottles. After the terror of the last nine months, thinking she would die like Charlotte, she hadn’t, and Lucy felt complete with the family she and Jonathan had. She was emphatic