I’m not having doubts about you. I’m…”
“What? Allison…what is it?” I was seriously about to lose my lunch.
Allison let out a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.”
I stood there for a moment replaying what she just said, making sure I heard it right.
Pregnant.
She said pregnant, right?
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She was having my baby?
Is this really happening?
I placed my hand over her stomach, gently. “You’re…pregnant?” My lips trembled as I pulled her into me, kissing her hard and then releasing her.
“Wait…are you…sure?” I asked.
“Yes…I took a test a few days ago and this morning, before work, remember I told you I had a doctor’s appointment? Well, it was an ob-gyn. I wanted to be absolutely sure before I told you. He did an ultrasound.
I was going to tell you tonight…but then—”
“Oh, my love, come here!” Tears poured from my eyes as I hugged her tightly.
“How could you think this would change my wanting to marry you? I want to marry you even more now. I love you so much. This is my dream come true, don’t you know that?” I placed my hand on her stomach. “It’s… a little sooner than I expected…but we have nine months to prepare, right?” 704/727
“Actually, we have six months to prepare. I’m three months along. I think it happened the night we got back together…one of the several times…that we, you know…”
I took a deep breath from the shock of the news and exhaled with the realization that I wasn’t about to lose her.
I am going to be a father.
I grabbed the glass of water from her and gulped down the rest of it before speaking. “Sweetheart…this is wonderful news.
Don’t you know we can handle anything together? There is nothing I can’t handle as long as you’re by my side.
“I’m so glad you feel that way, Cedric.
Because they’ll be here in late May. They’ll be Geminis.
My water glass slipped out of my hand and shattered on the sidewalk. “They?” 705/727
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EPILOGUE
Gemini, you are feeling perky and positively elated. Celebration is in the air. You have overcome dramatic obstacles and you may actually be feeling on top of the world. Con-grats on coming through the storm.
“Okay, this might be a little hot,” Vanessa said as she held the blowdryer to my breasts.
Trying not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, I clenched my vagina praying not to piss my pants, because there was no way I could get these spanx off under my gown.
“This cannot be happening right now.
Please tell me it’s drying?”
“Patience…we’re getting there, baby,” she said.
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“I can’t believe this.”
Elaine walked into room holding one of the twins who was sleeping in the infant seat. She looked beautiful wearing a long sleeveless brown two-piece dress adorned with a corsage. “What on Earth?” she asked.
“Hey, Elaine, come join the fun!” I said sarcastically.
“What happened, Allison?”
“My tits leaked through the satin. I forgot to slip the breast pads into my bra.” Elaine covered her mouth, trying to stifle a laugh. “Oh, honey…”
“Could you imagine Cedric’s face if the first thing he saw as I came down the aisle were two giant wet milk spots?” Vanessa cracked up and the dryer accidentally blew some of my hair. “Hey!” I said.
“Sorry, sweetie, sorry,” she apologized, stifling her laughter.
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Vanessa’s long dark hair was done up in a French twist. I had asked my birth mother to be one of my bridesmaids, along with Sonia, Denise and Callie. After all, she wasn’t all that much older than me and looked gorgeous in the strapless emerald green satin dress.
“What the—” Jake said looking at the ridiculous scene in this hotel room as he walked in dressed in a black tux, holding the other baby.
“Don’t ask, little brother. Don’t ask.” Jake lifted her toward me and said,
“Um…Holly just tried to suck my nipple…I think it’s time for her meal. What can I feed her?”
“There are some bottles of pumped milk over in the cooler over there.” I gestured to a blue cooler in the corner of the room. “I’ll pump after the ceremony, so you’ll have extra for the reception.” 710/727
Just then, Ed walked into the room and I smiled. “Hi, Dad.”
Ed’s eyes began to well up as he caught sight of me in my dress. “Oh, Allison…”
I had pictured this moment for some time…just not with the hot blowdryer on the tits thing.
Vanessa stopped the dryer, as I stood up to hug Ed, fanning the tears away from my eyes.
After the birth of my girls, Ed and I had a tender moment at the hospital, where he thanked me for making him a grandfather and he asked me if I would call him Dad. I had wanted to for so long, but hadn’t done so until I could be sure it was what he wanted. I knew I could never replace the little girl he lost, but I knew he truly loved me at that moment.
***
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Holly Amanda and Hannah Allison came into the world three months ago, at the end of May, born naturally at seven and six pounds respectively. It was best day of my life. Cedric was by my side the entire time and when the babies came out, the look of wonder and love on his face and the tears in his eyes would be an image I’d keep with me and replay until the end of my days. He told me he had never loved me more than the moment I made him a father.
It’s been hard balancing summer grad school classes and breastfeeding twins, but with the help of my family, by some miracle, I’ve been able to juggle it all.
My family. It felt so good to say that.
It wasn’t a conventional one, but I went from having almost no one just a couple of years ago, to having a true blended family now.
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Vanessa had moved to the Boston area to be closer to Jake who just started his freshman year at Northeastern as an electric-all engineering major. My relationship with her is still a work in progress, but we have gotten much closer and she and Bettina help watch the twins two days a week when I have classes. On the other days, she works as a waitress at the Stardust. She and Jake moved into my old apartment in Malden when Sonia moved out to live with her now fiancé, Tom.
Jake is everything I could ever want in a brother. He helps out with the twins too and has turned into quite the tattooed
“manny.” Holly, in particular, has taken a special liking to her Uncle Jake.
Ed continues to be in remission and he and Elaine purchased a summer home in Dennisport, on Cape Cod to be able to spend more quality time with us. Ed is able to work remotely from there for his consulting job.
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Cedric, the twins and I spent most weekends this summer down there. Ed and Cedric like to fetch quahogs and we often steam the clams for dinner, which we’d eat on the candlelit screened-in porch while listening to Jimmy Buffet on low volume, as the babies slept upstairs.
Denise gave birth to a baby boy named after Cedric’s father, Paul. They call him Pauly and his middle name is Cedric. I am excited about my daughters having a cousin so close in age and I am sure they’ll be wreaking lots of havoc together, like Caleb and Cedric did when they were younger.
Even though I had to stop working with Callie, she’s still my favorite girl and refers to the twins, her nieces, as ‘Teletub-bies’. (She’s watching that show on her iPad now as a matter of fact, as she gets her hair done for the ceremony.) She’s still as in love as ever with Anderson Cooper.
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Cedric and I moved from his condo to a single-family house in the Boston suburb of Brookline. He was promoted to senior agent at J.D. Westock and tries his best to make it home by 6:00 each night, so that I can study in between breastfeeding the girls. I can often be found sandwiched between two heads on a Boppy pillow.
We had decided on a late August wedding and wanted to wait until after the twins were born, so that I could at least try to squeeze into a presentable dress. I had lost about half the baby weight and very voluptuously managed to squirm my way into my dream Pnina Tornai dress which I picked out with Elaine and Bettina at Kleinfeld in Brooklyn before the babies were born.