“I can do that. I’ll drive up on Friday night. Oh, Taylor I’m so excited. I need to go shopping. Do you have a car seat yet?” I almost started laughing.
“Uh, no. We haven’t really gotten that far yet, Dad.” He agreed that a car seat might be premature, but he warned me that presents were definitely happening anyway.
“Okay, Dad. I’ll let you get back to whatever you’re doing. I need to go to bed.”
“All right. I’ll talk to you soon. Call me after your appointment if you want. If not, that’s fine too. I’ll see you next Saturday.” We hung up and I set my phone next to me.
“So, we’re hanging out with my dad on Saturday, apparently,” I said, rubbing my fingers on the back of my neck. I felt a headache starting to come on. Hunter’s fingers replaced my own and he started rubbing small circles on the base of my neck.
“That’s great. I’m sure he’s really excited about being a grandfather.” It was weird to think of my dad that way, but he would be.
“I can’t really picture him dressing up as Santa and pretending to come down the chimney on Christmas to surprise Spawn, but who knows.” Hunter kept massaging and I felt myself getting really tired. And hungry. I hadn’t eaten much today because I’d been freaking out about the wedding.
“Can we order room service,” I asked, turning back to face him.
“Absolutely.”
An hour later we were in robes, eating our faces off and watching stupid crap on TV.
“Now this is my idea of Netflix and chill,” I said, finishing my soda.
“There should definitely be more nudity involved,” Hunter said, tugging on the sash of my robe. I’d taken off the dress earlier. I was pretty sure that I could never wear it again because it would always remind me of the time I failed to make it down the aisle.
“Oh my God, I just realized I’m a runaway bride.” Hunter chuckled.
“Not exactly. You didn’t do any actual running. It just wasn’t time for us. That’s fine with me. Our time will happen. I’m not worried.” He smiled, but I knew how much it would have meant to him for us to be currently on our honeymoon.
We both passed out in our robes in a tangle on the bed. For once I was grateful for Spawn because it meant that I didn’t spend the whole night thinking about what a terrible fiancée I was.
“I feel like I should take you to a strip club and buy you a lap dance to make up for last night,” I said the next morning when we woke up. I had absolutely no interest in going to the casinos or gambling or anything like that. I kinda just wanted to get home and forget that this trip had happened.
“As tempting as that would be, I’d rather see your sexy ass stripping for me,” he said, smacking my ass as I walked to the bathroom to brush my teeth.
“I’m pretty sure I’d be bad at it. You have to be really strong to pole dance. That shit is no joke.” There was a reason people used it as a form of exercise.
We headed to the airport a little while later. No particular reason to hang in Vegas.
By the time we got home, I thought I was going to die. Between the nausea and being crunched on the flights, I was miserable the whole time. Hunter was amazing, rubbing my back and letting me drool on his shoulder when I passed out on the plane.
“Can we stay here tonight?” I asked when we arrived in Portland. It was a drive to get back to Orono and I didn’t have the strength for it. He tucked me under his arm and we booked another night at the airport hotel.
I had missed calls and texts from Renee, Jos and Darah and Hunter had a few from Mase and Dusty.
“So, what are we going to tell them?” he asked me just before I shut out the world and went to sleep.
“Um,” I said through a yawn, “I don’t really want them to know about our attempt to get married. Just say that we decided on a spur-of-the-moment getaway. Just for the hell of it. I don’t know. I just don’t want them mocking me for the rest of my life.” And they would. That group could never let anything die.
“Yeah, agreed. I’d never hear the end of it from Mase, that’s for sure. Okay, random getaway it is.” I closed my eyes and didn’t think of anything else for at least twelve hours.
“You guys eloped, didn’t you?” was the first thing I heard when we walked through the door the next day.
I glared at Hunter, but he just shrugged.
“I didn’t say anything.” I was about to say something else, but we were both engulfed in an intense group hug.
“What is happening?” I asked when I could breathe.
“You finally got married!” Renee yelled and reached into her pockets, pulling out a handful of confetti, tossing it over us.
“Uh,” I said, looking at Hunter. He just gaped.
“You guys, we were supposed to do it all at once. We practiced this!” Renee said and then there was more confetti thrown in my face.
“Congratulations, you guys,” Darah said. “We’re so happy for you.”
“Hold up,” I finally said. “We didn’t get married.”
They all laughed.
“Yeah, like we believe you went on a random vacation,” Mase said, giving Hunter a playful punch on the shoulder.
“No, seriously. We did.” Way to come to my rescue, Hunter. Better late than never.
“You really didn’t elope?” Renee said. She looked totally crushed. Jos just rolled her eyes.
“I knew it. I knew they didn’t run off to get married. We totally should have made that bet,” Jos said to Renee.
“So you didn’t get married?” Renee said, as if she needed us to confirm it, yet again.
“No,” Hunter and I said at the same time. The mood deflated a little bit after that. Eventually the confetti was swept up, but not before Napoleon and Smoky had rolled around and attacked it. We were going to be finding little bits of it around the house for ages.
“So you really just… stayed at a hotel for a few days?” Mase asked.
“Yup. Just hung out and ate too much and banged a lot,” I said.
“TMI,” Renee said, covering her ears.
“Oh, shut up. You leave your freaking vibrator in the dishwasher,” I said.
“That’s one of the best ways to get it clean!”
A debate about vibrators ensued. It was good to be home.
I would have been lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit disappointed that my Vegas idea crashed and burned. I pushed it aside and just kept thinking about Taylor’s first doctor’s appointment on Thursday. We were both skipping class to go and I was so excited on Wednesday night that I could barely sleep.
“You act like we’re going to visit Santa at the mall or something,” Taylor said with a laugh as we walked over to the clinic from where I’d met her at the Union.
“We’re going to get to see a picture of our baby. I know it doesn’t look that much like a human right now, but still. It’ll be the first picture. It will make everything real. Or more real.” I had her hand in mine and I could feel the vibrations of nervous excitement coming from her.
“Here we go,” I said as I held the door for her. She checked in and we waited a few minutes before she was taken by a CNA to get her height and weight and ask a few questions. There was another wait until the doctor came in. Taylor kept shifting on the bed, the paper crinkling constantly.
“You nervous?” I asked.
“I keep thinking that I might have made a mistake and they’re going to tell me I’m not pregnant and then everyone is going to think I’m a loser.” I couldn’t help but laugh. She picked up her shoe and chucked it at me. I caught it and set it down on the floor.
“Shut up, it could happen.” I got serious.
“Would you be upset if that happened?” I knew how I felt, but she was keeping a lot of things close to the vest.
“Well, yeah. Obviously. I’ve gotten attached to Spawn.” There was a knock at the door that interrupted us.
“Hello, Taylor, I’m Dr. Howard,” the woman said. She was tall and thin as a reed a
nd had big brow-framed glasses on. Taylor and Dr. Howard shook hands and then I introduced myself.
“So, it says here that you are pregnant,” Dr. Howard said, looking at Taylor’s chart.
“It appears that way,” Taylor said.
“Okay, well, we’re going to do another test to make sure and then we’ll go from there, okay?” Taylor made me leave while she peed in a cup and only let me back in when she was covered in a paper gown that didn’t leave much to the imagination.
“You look so sexy right now,” I said and she narrowed her eyes.
“Shut up, Hunter.” Dr. Howard came back and confirmed the pregnancy.
I breathed a sigh of relief. So did Taylor.
“I was so worried you were going to tell me I made a mistake,” Taylor said as I got up and gave her a kiss.
“Nope, you are definitely pregnant,” Dr. Howard said with a smile.
“So, now what?” Taylor asked.
The appointment proceeded with a lot of questions and information. I was trying to remember all of it in case Taylor didn’t. Prenatal vitamins and do’s and don’ts and all that.
Finally, finally, we got to the ultrasound.
“Okay, I’m going to put some gel on your belly. Might be a little cold.” Taylor held onto my hand as Dr. Howard squeezed the gel and then spread it around with the ultrasound wand. I didn’t know what the thing was technically called.
“Okay, so here we have your uterus and here… huh…” I had no idea what she was seeing on the screen. It was just a lot of weird flickering to me.
“What’s wrong?” Taylor said, her nails digging into my hand.
“Well, it appears, my dear, that you are having twins.”
I almost hit the floor.
“Twins?” The word squeaked out of my mouth. “Are you sure?” There was just no way. It had to be a mistake.
Dr. Howard looked me right in the eye and smiled.
“Twins.” She turned the screen so I could see it and pointed out the two embryonic sacs. So fraternal twins.
“Holy shit,” Hunter said and then started laughing.
“I’m glad you find this funny because I’m not laughing right now,” I said, still completely in shock. I had just barely gotten used to the idea of one Spawn. Now I had two of them?
Two.
Babies.
“I think I’m going to throw up,” I said and Hunter rushed around to help me sit up while Dr. Howard handed me a vomit bag. The nausea rolled through me in waves, but it passed as I breathed deeply.
“I’m okay,” I said, putting my hand up. “Just a little shocked,” I added, with what I hoped was a reassuring laugh.
“I know that’s a lot to take in,” Dr. Howard said. “I’m just going to take some pictures and then I can leave you two alone to talk. Then you can ask me any questions you have. Okay?” I nodded.
The rest of the appointment was a blur. I didn’t check back in until we were outside and walking across campus toward my car, a sonogram in an envelope in my hand.
“We’re having twins,” I said as Hunter got in the driver’s seat.
“We’re having twins,” he said, shutting the door. We both just stared at each other.
“Holy,” he said.
“Shit,” I added.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening,” I said.
“Me neither. I honestly thought she was screwing with us,” he said, pulling out the sonogram and staring at where Dr. Howard had circled the two babies.
“So what do we call them? Spawn One and Spawn Two?” Hilarious.
“Hunter. I’m gonna get huge.” I looked down at my still-relatively not-pregnant stomach.
“Yeah, you probably are. You’re going to be a walking belly.” I smacked him on the arm. “Hey, it’s true! Two babies takes up more room than one.”
He had a point.
“Well now I’m mad at both of you,” I said to the Spawns.
“Guess I’m going to have to rethink the designs for the nursery since we’ll need to fit two cribs in there,” Hunter said.
“This is going to be nuts,” I said, shaking my head. Oh my God, two cribs. Two cribs and two babies and two screaming things in the middle of the night. It dawned on me what we were signing up for and my heart started to pound.
We weren’t even adults! Oh my God, what was happening? My thoughts just kept spinning faster and faster and I could feel myself starting to lose it. My hands shook and my breathing was fast and shallow. Hunter saw me starting to freak and took hold of my hands.
“Taylor, there are two of us. And we have a houseful of people who absolutely love us and are going to pitch in and help. Sure, it’s going to be crazy, but that’s us, Taylor. It’s our life.” I wanted to strangle him.
“Hunter. You are being awfully cavalier about this. You’re not the one who is going to have to grow two humans inside you. You’re not the one who’s going to push them out of your body. God, if I can even do that. I might have to have a C-section. Oh, God.” I put my head in my hands and tried to keep breathing. It wasn’t working very well.
“I know, I know,” Hunter said, rubbing my back. “You’re absolutely right. I’m sorry. Of course you’re going to be freaked out about everything. It’s your body that this is happening to.” I could hear him trying to placate me and it was just making me madder.
“I can’t be here with you right now,” I said, sitting up and pushing the door open.
“What do you mean?” He got out and started to follow me, but I put my hand up. I just couldn’t be with him right now. I had too much going in my head.
“I just… I need some time to think. Alone,” I said. He looked like I’d slapped him in the face.
“I’m going to take a walk. I’ll call someone for a ride. Just go home. I’ll be fine.” He opened his mouth to argue with me.
“Hunter. Please.” He clamped his bottom lip between his teeth and nodded, getting back in the car. I walked away, but it was a long time before I heard him start Sassy and leave the parking lot.
It was December, but the weather was mild for a Maine winter. Well, as mild as it could get. There wasn’t any snow currently on the ground, or ice on the sidewalk.
I wandered aimlessly around campus, up and down the grassy mall, around the dorms on one side all the way to the fitness center on the other. I didn’t have a destination, I just needed to keep moving.
Twins.
All I could hear in my brain was two babies screaming. Two babies demanding to be fed. How would I even do that? I mean, I had two boobs, but shit. How would that work?
How was I going to finish school?
There was just so much to think about. I wasn’t angry or upset about it, just… thrown. Totally thrown. I hadn’t even thought about this as a possibility. Being blindsided yet again was the thing that got me the most. I didn’t blame the Spawns, or even Hunter. There was no one to blame. It had just happened and now I was going to have to deal with it.
My mind drifted back over the past year. I’d only met Hunter in September of last year. And now I was carrying his twins. If I could go back in time and tell myself that the guy I opened the door to, the one who I’d thought was our third female roommate, would be my fiancée and the father of the twins I was carrying only a short while later, I would have asked you what you’d been smoking.
Finally, I got cold and texted all the residents of Yellowfield House—except Hunter—for a ride. Renee responded first. I walked toward one of the dorm parking lots and told her where I was.
She arrived a few minutes later.
“Hey, is everything okay? How was your appointment?” I just gave her a look and buckled my seatbelt.
“I’m having twins.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“It’s true.” She started to laugh, but I gave her an icy glare and she stifled it.
“I’m sorry. I’m so not laughing at you, but holy shit, Taylor. Holy shit.” I threw my hands in the
air as she pulled out of the lot.
“Don’t you think I fucking know that? Of course I’m the one who gets knocked up by accident with twins. Of course that would be me.” Renee snorted.
“You know it’s going to be okay though, right? You’ve got Hunter and you’ve got us and those babies are never going to want for anything. I mean, even though there’s two, I’m pretty sure we’re still going to fight over who gets to hold them.” Hunter had basically said the same thing. I would need to see the rubber meeting the road to believe it.
“I just can’t believe this is happening,” I said, leaning my head on the window.
“You’re in shock. That’s totally fine. I’m pretty sure anyone else in your position would feel the same. I can’t even imagine.” She shuddered.
“Well, I can’t either, but it’s happening.” I put my hand on my lower belly.
“Damn Hunter and his baby batter,” Renee said and I laughed.
“That is seriously gross, thank you.”
“Hey, you’re the one that’s had that in your body so don’t even say that to me.” It was true. When we were in the heat of the moment, I didn’t really think about it, but hearing Renee call it “baby batter” was just plain ew and yuck.
“See? Got you to laugh,” Renee said with a smirk.
“Oh, you’re good,” I said and she pretended to doff a cap.
“Thank you, thank you very much.”
Instead of taking me home, Renee drove us to a Starbucks.
“I know you can’t have caffeine, but they have good pastries and you can cool down for a little bit before we go home.” That was probably a good idea. I’d simmered down a little, but I was still on edge and I might go off again.
Renee hooked her arm in mine as we walked in and ordered. She told me that it was on her, so I got a vanilla bean Frappucino and a chocolate croissant.
“So, do you want to talk about it or not talk about it?” Renee said as we sat down with our drinks and snacks.