Whiskey & Vows

T H I R T Y F I V E

T H I R T Y F I V E

CHARLIE LOOKED STUNNED AT MY CONFESSION. Staring at me in confusion, she parted her lips together to speak. Speechless, she blinked quickly. Looking at the ultrasound again, she squinted at the dots that were supposed to be my future babies. Nodding, I popped another ice cube in my mouth and tapped my leg anxiously on the chair.

"Four weeks." I murmured, still shocked at the news myself. After a few days, Derek and I decided that we were just going to tell everyone; no grand gestures. Despite what he wanted, he couldn't make a decision and I was too impatient to tell everyone.

Looking at the picture once again, she grinned madly at me. Throwing herself at me, she squeezed me tight and muffled her words. Laughing, I pulled her tiny body off me and grabbed her shaking arms.

"You're having a baby!"

"Two," I corrected. Shaking her head, she looked at me in excitement.

"I'm so happy for you, Anna! This is everything you wanted. Oh my God! I'm also totally right! I told you there would be a happy ending!" She practically yelled. Rolling my eyes, I tried to fight off my smile.

"Yeah, yeah."

"I bet Derek is ecstatic!"

"He is," I laughed. "He's already bought books and talked to doctors." I sighed, rolling my eyes. "He's not even the one giving birth and he's preparing himself." Laughing, she pulled her hair into a messy bun.

"That's not a bad thing. He's finally doing everything right; and you have Andy! It's perfect!"

Scowling, I drank my tea.

"You're not the one devoting your body to twins."

"That's the miracle of life, hon."

"Tell me about it."

"So you didn't know?" She asked curiously. This part was quite embarrassing. Honestly, how do you not know you're pregnant? There's usually subtle signs or a missed period, but I guess I wasn't paying attention.

"Not at all," I admitted pathetically. "I was so wrapped up in everything else going on, I didn't think twice about a missed period or bloating." I shrugged. "Besides, it's only four weeks; I thought it was too early."

"Possibly," she shrugged. "But you're having twins! How exciting is that?"

"You can have them for me." I grunted. Shaking her head, she smiled at me.

"You're a piece of work."

"And so will my children."

***

"What's this?" Andy asked, holding up the ultrasound. Freezing, Derek looked at him carefully as he held up the picture to the light.

"It looks like it's from the old age. Dad, did you take this?" Looking at each other, we tried to come up with an answer. Rubbing his jaw, Derek flushed before snatching the picture away from Andy.

"Bud, we have something to share."

"That this is horrible?" Grimacing, I looked at Derek. Sighing, he sat next to Andy on the couch and held up the imagine.

"Remember when Mom broke her foot again?"

"Yeah?"

"We had to take her to the doctor, right?"

"Dad, I'm not stupid." He said, wiping the drool from his mouth. Sighing, Derek looked at the image one more time.

"Your mom is pregnant. This is the inside of her stomach, and these are the babies." Andy stared at the image in silence for quite a bit of time before looking back at me. Glancing at my stomach, he looked at the image again.