⇾ 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐁𝐄 𝐈'𝐌 𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐃 | 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐌𝐜𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐈𝐈

𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙮-𝙎𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 ➪ 𝙄𝙣 𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝘼𝙧𝙚 𝙏𝙤𝙤 𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙉𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙏𝙤 𝘾𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙁𝙧𝙤𝙢!

ꕥ October 22, 1969 ꕥ
27 weeks

By the end of the movie, Paul, Thisbe, Eddie, and Martha were all asleep too. I slipped off of the couch and went back to the kitchen, figuring I'd finish up my strawberry fool while it was just me. I finished mixing the strawberries and the purée into the whipped cream and put it back into the fridge. Then, I turned around and basked in the quietness of the atmosphere around me. As much as I loved my family, I was still a huge fan of some alone time.

I made my way upstairs and crawled into bed. I sat up against the headboard, pulling the blankets over my legs and putting my hands to my belly. As I moved my hands, the babies kicked as if they were responding to me. I smiled to myself, watching my belly change shape as the tiny hands and feet pressed against it from inside.

I began to think about how I could have these babies in less than ten weeks. I was certainly hoping they'd hold out a little longer, though. Our daughter didn't even have a name yet. We'd been throwing names back and forth that would fit well with Samuel, but it was proving quite difficult to find S names that we both liked. Stella was my favorite, though. As for a middle name, I had no idea.

"Stella," I said aloud as if I were testing it, trying to decide if I liked it.

"Stella?"

My head jerked up and I saw Paul leaning against the doorway with his hands in his pockets. His face still looked tired and his hair was a mess, but there was still a smile on his face.

I nodded, smiling back at him. "I like that name. I've been thinking about it for a few weeks now. Isn't it pretty?"

He smiled. "Yes, it is," he responded, coming to sit down next to me. My lips pulled upwards into a smile.

I leaned over to place a kiss on his cheek. "Did you have a good nap?" I asked with a wide grin.

He nodded. "I can see now that it wasn't very long," he responded. He moved so that he was sitting cross-legged in front of me.

"Watch this," I said to him, pressing my hands against my belly and then pulling away to wait for one of the babies to respond. To my delight, I felt a kick on the right side of my stomach. I looked up to Paul and saw him biting his lip in excitement.

"I'm so excited to meet them," he said quietly, his voice so low that it was like he was revealing a deep secret.

"So am I," I answered. "I am a bit scared though. I'm scared that I don't have enough room in my heart for three little babies!"

"Oh, love, you've got the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met," he said. "If anyone has enough room in their heart for three babies, it's you."

"Well, three babies and a Paul," I teased.

Paul wrinkled his nose jokingly and leaned forward to steal a kiss from my lips. I hummed lightly as our lips moved together.

"Oh, dear, you ought to calm down," Paul warned me, pulling away and leaving me with a smile. "Mary will be awake soon."

"Sorry," I giggled. "I just love you so much, you know?"

"I love you too," he said. "Always and forever, okay?"

"Okay," I replied, stealing one more quick kiss before returning my attention to my belly. "What do you think about Stella?" I asked him. "Samuel and Stella McCartney?"

Paul smiled. "You know what?" he responded. "I think that's perfect."

I smiled triumphantly. "You do?"

He nodded. "I think it's beautiful." He paused and watched my belly as one of the twins moved around again. "What about a middle name?"

I shrugged. "I don't know about that yet."

Paul stopped to think. "Stella Marie?" he said.

"Stella Alise?"

"Stella Olivia?"

"Stella Avery?"

"Stella Lucille?"

We both stopped to think it over. "You know what? There're too many names! I can't decide!" I crossed my arms stubbornly.

"Ooh, ooh, what about Stella Rose?" he said.

I cocked my head to the side, then nodded. "Actually, I like that one. Marie is good too."

"How about Stella Lee?" he asked.

I scrunched you my features. "How about no?" I joked.

"Stella Jade?"

"No," I replied. "I like Rose. Stella Rose and Samuel James. What do you think?"

He broke out into a sly grin. "Stella Rose McCartney and Samuel James McCartney," he corrected. "You forgot the most important part!"

I grinned. "Yes, they're your children. I remember!"

"I wonder when they were actually conceived," he said curiously and I raised an eyebrow.

"That's what you're thinking about?"

"No, think about it. We knew the exact day that Mary was conceived. These babies, however, came in the midst of lots of sex." He gave a mischievous smile. "And I mean, there's two, so maybe I was trying a little too hard."

I rolled my eyes. "You're ridiculous," I told him.

"You seriously don't think about that?"

"No because I'm not a bloody pervert!"

"How does that make me a pervert?" he asked.

"Why are we still having this discussion?" I chuckled. "Tell me when you think they were conceived," I said. "I'm curious as to what your thought process is."

"Well, I don't bloody know," he said. "It would have been in April, so...ooh, maybe it was that night we had spaghetti for dinner!" he said. "Or that night we took a nice warm shower together." He grinned smugly. "Those were some nice nights, weren't they, Juliette?"

I rolled my eyes. "To be quite frank, I can't really remember them. These babies are making me stupid!"

He leaned over and kissed me, effectively shutting down my sentence. Then, we heard Mary cry out for us from downstairs and he pulled back again. "I guess that means our alone time is up," he said. "But only for right now." He smirked.

"Let's go see what Mary thinks of our name choices," I said to him and he nodded.

"Good idea," he responded.