Sunny Moore Times Four

Four Rays of Sunshine

I got dressed in a t-shirt and leggings for my super-early doctor's appointment. I tiptoed past Luna's room, since I knew she'd be fast asleep from the concert she went to last night. Even though we were identical twins, we were polar opposites.

I skipped down the stairs and to the kitchen, which had an aroma of coffee, as usual.

"Good morning! I see that someone is her bright, chipper self as usual!" my Aunt Linda said.

"I know. I can't wait to see what they say!" I went into the living room to the little old lady in the recliner. "Good morning, Grammy! Are you all done with your tea?"

"Hey, there's my Sunny Sunshine!" she said. "I'm still working on it, but thank you, dear. Want to watch some TV with your old grandma?"

"Of course!" I said.

"Well I'm off to work. We have another hiring event today. We can never seem to keep these employees at the Double D. Hopefully I'll secure some good cashiers for the summer. See you guys later. Sunny, text me when you're done over there, okay?" my Aunt Linda said.

"I will! Good luck with the event!" I said.

I went back into the kitchen and fixed myself a bowl of cereal with a glass of juice, then sat down on the couch. My aunt called our house the "Girl Party House." No boys in sight here. My dad walked out on us when we were young, and once my mom found the career of her dreams on the other side of the world, she signed the rights over to my aunt. They don't allow civilians at her science station in Antarctica, and they don't have good wifi to call. She sends letters every now and then, though.

We were so little, I don't even really remember my mom. Aunt Linda has basically been my mom this whole time. Grammy is like my bonus mom.

"Sometimes you amaze me, Sunny girl," my grandma said. "You're pregnant in high school and you're still smiling."

"How can I not? I've always wanted to be a mom. Everything happens for a reason, so this was meant to be. I don't question it," I said.

"You always have your head held high. I don't know how you do it sometimes."

I shrugged. "I dunno. I just...do."

I finished my cereal, brushed my teeth, and then drove straight to my OBGYN's office. I hadn't seen Dr. Andrews in a few months, so I was excited to chat with her again. I went to get myself checked in, and the lady at the desk said I was all set. As a minor, my Aunt Linda did all of my forms for me ahead of time and told them I was coming alone.

I sat in the waiting room and looked at the fishtank, then the real estate show playing on the TV. It got me thinking about different nursery themes.

"Stop. Stop. That can't really be her name. Is that a mistake?" I turned around when I heard the whispering behind the counter. "Sunshine? Are you kidding me? That poor girl."

I sighed. It's not like I hadn't heard that one before. A lot of people felt bad for me, but I loved my name. It was unique and special. I'd met a lot of people in my life. There's a million Steves and Joes and Emilys and Olivias, but I think I was the only Sunshine out there.

"Sunshine?" said a lady in scrubs as she opened the door.

"That's me," I said, getting to my feet. "You can call me Sunny, if you'd like."

"Sure thing. You can come right down the hall with me. My name's Brittany. I'm going to be your ultrasound tech today." She led me to a darkened room and shut the door. "You can lay right down on that table for me. Do you have a guess on how far along you are?"

"Well, I'm almost three weeks late on my period, so maybe somewhere around five or six weeks? The lines on my pregnancy tests were really, really dark," I said.

"Okay. Typically we do an internal ultrasound at first, but I think you may be slightly farther along than five or six weeks. I see that you already have a bit of a bump there. So we'll try an external ultrasound first, and then if I can't see well, we'll try an internal one. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great! I'm actually really excited to see my baby!"

"Alrighty. Can you just lift up your shirt for me?"

I lifted up my shirt and she squirted some warm jelly onto my bloated stomach. I always imagined this day a little differently, like Leo and I being married after a few months, moving into a dream house and finally starting our little family. I snapped out of my imagination when I noticed Brittany's face turning white.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

"Sunny, have you taken any fertility drugs or done IVF?" she asked.

"Um...no."

"No Clomid or anything like that? No fertility drugs at all?"

"No. Nothing."

"Okay." She nodded. "I don't want to alarm you, honey, but I've been working here for about ten years, and I've never seen this. It's going to be okay. Can you take a couple of deep breaths for me? I'm going to put a picture up on the big TV on the wall over there."

"Oh, sure." I took a few breaths as an image appeared on the big screen on the other side of the room.

"So do you see these four circles over here with the little white dots in them?" she asked, circling each one. "One. Two. Three. Four."

"I...what?"

I'd seen a lot of crazy things before, but this one had me in complete disbelief. Was I dreaming? Was this actually real?

"You're having quadruplets, Sunny."