“You have done so much for me. I’ve been a complete pain in the ass and I want to do something for you. So, I booked a hotel in Portland and you are going. Go out, have fun, or stay in and watch porn. I don’t care. Just have a good time. The girls will be here to take care of me. Renee has already been charged with texting you periodic updates.” She’d cut down all of my objections before I could even raise them.
“So, that’s what you’re doing.” She crossed her arms. There was no fighting with her.
“Okay, okay. But not just want one text a day. Several times a day. And probably at night.” She rolled her eyes but agreed to humor me. Her pregnancy was higher risk because of the twins and there was definitely a possibility of early labor. I hated to leave her, but she had a point. The longer I waited, the harder it would be to go at all.
I did need some time away, and I knew the other guys did as well. Plus, Mase wanted to scope out the going out scene he was going to have for next year.
When I told them what was happening, none of the other guys were surprised. I was a little pissed that I was the last one to know, but I sucked it up, packed a bag, kissed my girl, kissed my babies and headed out the door.
“To senior year, babies and good times,” Mase said as we all raised our glasses at the small tavern we’d found in the Old Port. Dusty was a little upset that he couldn’t have a beer, but the rest of us were sampling the craft brews on tap.
“Damn, that’s good,” I said after the first frothy sip. “We should put in a bar downstairs.”
“Now that is a good idea,” Mase said. “Then you could have something on tap for whenever you wanted it.” Dusty and Paul nodded.
“Yeah, but I don’t really need a bar when my kids don’t currently have a place to sleep.” Mase snorted.
“That’s probably a good point. So, you’re excited about fatherhood?” It did feel a little weird to be the only one of my friends who was in my situation, but something told me at least one or two of them would be following in my footsteps very soon.
And then who would they be asking for advice? I was going to become the Yoda of parenting.
“Yeah, man. I couldn’t be more excited. Sometimes I feel like I’m actually going to explode.” They all shook their heads.
“More power to you,” Paul said. “I don’t see Ne signing up for babies anytime soon. Or ever.” I could see that. Renee had had enough of raising her siblings, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she was done with kids.
We talked about work and school and our girls and I felt myself really relaxing for the first time in weeks. Of course I missed Taylor, but it was nice to be out of the house with the guys for a little while.
After we ate and had drinks, we wandered around and then had a nightcap at another bar before crashing at the hotel.
True to her word, Renee sent me my updates on Taylor. She was doing fine, watching movies and pigging out with the girls. Renee sent me a picture of Taylor with a bowl of ice cream balanced on her belly and it made me smile. I was glad she was having fun too.
The next day we went bowling (Zaccadelli/Mason vs. Sharp/Buckley; Mase and I smoked Paul and Dusty. It was almost embarrassing for them, but they were good sports and lost gracefully. Or at least they didn’t complain too much), toured a brewery and got a little drunk again while listening to a terrible band at another bar.
You’d better be sober when you get home Taylor said and I just laughed.
“We should do this again for your bachelor party,” Dusty said when we drove home the next morning. I yawned and nodded. We were all crammed into his Golf, since it was the only vehicle that could fit all of us that also was currently working. Dusty had been taking things slow so we didn’t completely bottom out. Mase and I had most of the backseat, which still wasn’t much room.
“That would be great but I still have no idea when I’m getting married. Might be a while now with the twins coming. I’m pretty sure Taylor doesn’t want to put on a gown with her belly and have all of our wedding pictures like that.” Definitely not. I could tell her she wasn’t fat until I was fucking blue in the face, but she was still going to criticize what she saw in the mirror.
“Dare and I might get there before you,” Mase said and I turned in my seat to glare at him.
“Why is this the first I’m hearing of this?” I said and his face got a little red.
“Yeahhhhhh, um, I kinda picked out a ring.”
“What the hell, dude?” Paul and Dusty started laughing at me for being so mad.
“When did you decide to propose?” He shrugged. Mase was so chill about everything.
“Honestly? Like, two seconds after I met her, but I figured it would be a good idea to wait a little bit.” It was true. Mase and Darra had hit it off from day one.
“When we get back I want to see. And you’d better not propose better than I did. Girls compare this stuff.” I was totally happy with how I had proposed, but if Mase outdid me, I was going to be pissed. Mase and I had always been competitive, though.
“You’re going to outdo me in the baby category. I’m pretty twins are not in the future for me and Dare. Unless there’s some twin gene that we both have.” That would be crazy. Hope would lose her mind in the best way with that many grandchildren.
“What about you, Paul? Any plans on proposing.” He snorted and shook his head.
“Renee is not a fan of marriage. So I’m thinking we’ll just stay together and maybe when we’re fifty we’ll head off to Vegas one weekend.” There was a little twist in the pit of my stomach when he mentioned eloping to Vegas.
“So don’t get married. You don’t have to,” I said.
“Right. I mean, my mom would like it, but she doesn’t really get a say. My priority is Ne.” The spotlight turned to Dusty and he just smiled and shook his head.
“Dude, my house just burned down. I can barely afford underwear right now let alone a ring. And I’m pretty sure Renee would kill me if I proposed. Besides, I feel like we’re not even close to being ready for that. No offense, but holy shit, the idea of marriage and babies scares the shit out of me.” He laughed and I couldn’t blame him.
“Um, they scare the shit out of me and I have twins coming in a few months.”
The minute Hunter was off with the boys, Darah, Renee, Jos and I sprung into action. Well, they did the springing and I waddled along behind them. Even though the wedding was still a few months away, I was paranoid about getting everything done in time. The dresses might require alterations, which would take time to get done. I wasn’t leaving anything to chance.
Mom, Tawny, Hope and Harper met us at the boutique so they could add in their two cents. I had quite the entourage.
“I look fat,” I said, pouting in the mirror.
“You’re not fat,” Darah, Renee, Jos, Megan, Tawny, Hope and my mom said in unison.
“You look purty, Taylor,” Harper said, giving me a thumbs up.
But all I could see in the mirror was belly. Since I was going to be seven months along when I wore this dress, I’d brought a fake belly to add over the one I already had so I could get the fit right.
“So this one is a no?” Stacey, my consultant asked.
“Yeah, I feel like it’s just not right.” I felt bad for being so picky, but this was her job and I was pretty sure she got paid well for it.
She helped me navigate back to the dressing room. This was the third dress I’d tried on and so far I wasn’t feeling it. Unfortunately, my options as a pregnant bride were a little limited. Not that I had really cared what kind of dress I was going to wear before now. I knew some girls planned out their weddings when they were five, but I never had. So now I was totally lost and had no idea what I wanted.
“Don’t get discouraged. We have a lot to try on yet,” Stacey said. She was painfully upbeat and it was almost making things worse.
Stacey helped me out of previous dress and grabbed the next. This one had lace sleeves up top and then a little ribbon just befo
re it flowed out into soft tulle. I loved the ivory color. I didn’t want a glowing white dress and not because of that whole white-purity thing. It just didn’t look good on me.
“Oh,” I said as Stacey arranged the skirt and finished tugging here and pulling there.
“I don’t look like a walking belly,” I said, totally amazed.
“It’s gorgeous on you, really.” She was paid to say that, but I could tell she really meant it. “Want to go show?” I nodded.
I really liked this one, but I wanted to see what everyone else thought. This dress definitely wasn’t what I would have initially chosen, but the longer I had it on, the more I loved it.
The minute I came around the corner, my little entourage gasped. My mom put both hands to her mouth and tears formed in her eyes.
“Stop it,” I said, pointing at her. Now I was getting choked up.
“It’s so beautiful, Tay,” Darah said.
“It’s perfect,” Renee added. Jos gave me a thumbs up and blew me a kiss, while Megan sobbed into a tissue. Tawny, Hope and Mom were clutching onto each other. Harper clapped her hands in glee. It was all very dramatic and wonderful at the same time.
I looked at myself in the mirror and turned side to side.
Perfect. It was perfect. You could still tell I was pregnant, but a pregnant woman wearing a beautiful dress.
“And now we’re going to ‘jack you up’ as we say in the business,” Stacey said, pulling my hair back, pinning it in a loose bun. Then she added the veil. I didn’t want my face covered, but I did want there to be something.
She spread the veil over my shoulders and I lost it. I wanted to blame the hormones, but that wasn’t all of it.
“I’m guessing by the reaction that we like this one,” Stacey said, handing out tissues.
“That’s an understatement,” Mom said, wiping her eyes and then blowing her nose. “Kid, you look so beautiful and I’m so proud of you.” That just made me cry harder. I wiped and wiped my eyes so I wouldn’t drip on the dress.
“Hunter is going to shit his pants,” Tawny said and Mom didn’t even admonish her for cursing in public.
We all laughed and then things calmed down a little.
“Do you want to try on any more, or is this it?” Stacey asked.
“This is it,” I said. “This is definitely it.”
With my dress safely tucked into a garment bag, it was time to find dresses for my bridesmaids, maid of honor, Hope and Mom. Harper’s dress was being custom-made and would be arriving in a week or so. Hope, saint that she was had found it on Etsy and I’d just fallen in love. It had already been a long day, so I was relieved to put my feet up and let them do the work while I watched Harper, who was attempting to touch all of the dresses in the store.
For colors, I wanted to go with the shades from a peacock feather. I mean, what else would I do?
Mom found an absolutely stunning royal blue lace dress that made her look like she was my older sister, and Tawny found an olive green silk dress that made her skin glow. Jos, Renee, Megan and Darah found dresses in different styles, all in varying shades of blue from light to turquoise. Hope’s dress was an unbelievable shade of blue silk that was almost purple. It made my head hurt how gorgeous she looked.
They all stood together in front of me.
“Momma, you’re a princess,” Harper said and Hope blushed.
“Thank you, sweetheart.”
“Wow. You are all ridiculously beautiful. How did that happen?” They laughed. I was shocked that I got not only my dress, but all of their dresses in the same day. That just didn’t happen ever.
We all went out to dinner together to celebrate.
“Have you guys picked out names?” Mom asked. I groaned.
“We’re making a short list, but we are not telling anyone because we can name our children without the input of the peanut gallery, thank you very much,” I said, glaring at all of them.
“We just don’t want you giving your kids crazy names. What’s wrong with that?” Renee said.
“When you become a human factory, then you can be in charge of naming babies. But these two are ours.” I put my hand on my belly and one of the babies gave me a little bump, as if to say “That’s right, Mom.”
“I think we should have a toast,” Tawny said. “To Taylor and Hunter and the two little Zaccadellis. May their lives be filled with hope and happiness.” We clinked our glasses together and I thanked them all for being such good sports.
Not one of them had hesitated when I’d sprung the idea on them. They’d just dropped everything and asked how they could help.
I was so beyond lucky.
We hit the jackpot the next day at the craft store when we found bundles of peacock feathers.
“What if we do them as arrangements with these flowers,” Megan had suggested. She had already done a bunch of planning for her own wedding, so she’d brought me a stack of magazines and sent me tons of pictures to get me inspired. Along with the feathers, we found containers for the centerpieces, ribbons, bows, candles and a kit to etch wineglasses with our names and the date on them as favors.
We also found a purple headband that we were going to put feathers on for Harper, who was going to be our flower girl. Her dress was white with colored ribbons flowing from a belt that had a peacock feather on it. Hope had sent me a video of Harper wearing it and singing “Here comes the bride” at the top of her lungs. It was going to be so painfully cute.
By the end of day two, I was so tired I wanted to cry, but we had gotten so much done. Mom had taken the gowns and all the other supplies to stash at her house. The only things left to deal with were the cake, the menu and making sure that everything made it to the location and got set up on time. Thankfully, I had minions for a lot of that.
I was starting to feel like this idea hadn’t been completely insane in the first place.
“This is so cool,” Jos said, sitting next to me on the couch. I had my head resting on my hand and the other on my belly. Spawns were dancing away in there.
“Yeah? You don’t think it’s sappy?” She laughed.
“Of course it is. That’s what makes it so great. Seriously, Hunter is going to die.” I honestly didn’t know how he would react. I just hoped he was going to be happy.
It was a little weird planning everything without him, but I knew he would have just told me to do whatever I wanted anyway. He was good like that.
“I hope he loves it,” I said through a yawn.
“He will. He definitely will.”
The boys came home from their weekend none the wiser that we had done anything but sit around, watch movies and paint our toenails.
Hunter came back much more relaxed and I kicked myself for not making him go sooner. The two of us were going to be parents, but that didn’t mean we weren’t still people. It was hard to remember that I was still Taylor when all I could think about was Spawns.
The weeks dragged on and Spawns, and by extension I, got bigger. I worried every single at appointment that Dr. Howard would tell me that something was wrong with one or both of the babies, but so far everything was progressing just the way it should be. The wedding plans were moving along as well. I’d finalized the menu, picked the cake (one main cake—half chocolate with Nutella filling and half red velvet—in tiers of peacock colors, along with cupcakes to supplement.) We’d also gotten a lot of the centerpieces done.
More than once, Hunter caught me talking details with one or more of my friends, but I just told him that it was baby stuff and he seemed to accept that. I thought it was because he was so distracted by everything, including the addition.
Summer’s friend, Kate, had shown us her ideas for the mural in the new nursery and I was totally in love. It was all images from books along with quotes Hunter and I had picked out.
Before we knew it, it was time for my baby shower.
Since we weren’t traditional, Hunter and all the guys came to Hope’s house, along with my girls,
Meg and Jake, Tawny and Mom. I’d thought about inviting some people from classes or the clinic, but I wanted it to be smaller. I’d never been big on those huge celebrations and I didn’t have any intention of starting.
The big present came from my mom and Hope in the form of a top-of-the-line double stroller.
“This is nicer than my car,” Mase said, wheeling the thing back and forth.
There were also onesies and diapers and two bath sets and books and toys. There was so much stuff that we’d had to Hunter’s new Ford Escape which had been dubbed the “Spawnmobile” to haul it back to the house.
“Thank you everyone for showing us and the babies so much love. We don’t know what we’d do without all of you, so thank you,” I said, toasting everyone with my sparkling grape juice as Hunter stood at my side.
I consumed twice as many cupcakes as I promised myself I was going to. Seriously, you’d think I wouldn’t have room with two little humans in there.
“You’re eating for three,” Hunter said in my ear as I stared at yet another one sitting just a few feet away.
“Good point. I knew I loved you.” I grabbed the thing and shoved it in my face. I barely remembered to take the paper off. Spawns were big fans of sugar. Hunter had found me this chocolate that had chili peppers in it and I had been eating it by the block.
My entire body had started to swell, even my face, but I told myself it was temporary and it was all for Spawns and I could embarrass them in the grocery store for years to come to make up for it.
“You almost ready for graduation, Mr. Zaccadelli?” I asked Hunter as we drove home. He would be walking in his cap and gown in about a month and a half. All we had to do was get through finals. I was pretty sure it was going to kill me.
“That I am, Miss Caldwell. Are you happy about being done with junior year?” I nodded, but I was also a little sad. With the arrival of Spawns, I was saying goodbye to the traditional college experience. No frat parties and staying out all night and waking up on the lawn in my underwear.