The Day Has Come (Counting on Hockey #4)

Chapter 7: Reveal

Three months later, December.

*

The flight from Saint Paul to Detroit took just about an hour and a half. I have the next few days off in between games to fly out to see my sister. She's almost five months pregnant now, and I've been waiting until I see her in person for her to tell me the sex of the baby. I really hope it's a little girl. Both Matt and Cara would do better with a daughter, I just know it.

I look around the airport when I see Cara sitting in a lounge chair near the baggage claim. Her arms rest around her baby belly. I'm only a few feet away from her when she looks up and jumps from the chair. 

"Oh my goodness, Meredith. I missed you so much". Cara wraps her arms around me. It's weird having something in front of her that I can't hug in the normal way. Her stomach isn't too big yet, but it's getting there. 

"I missed you so much", I say into her ear. 

We start to get to talking about anything and everything as we wait for my bag to come around the carousel. I grab my suitcase and Cara and I start to walk out to her car. I throw my luggage into the trunk and Cara gets into the drivers seat, I into the passengers seat. 

"So, when do I get to know if I'm going to have a niece or nephew, because you started to talk about baby names and all of their clothes the other day, and I have come up with two names for each gender", I say excitedly to Cara. She giggles a little. 

"When we get home, so you don't start to freak out in the car. Which, by the way, you get to stay in your old room. I'm turning my room into the nursery".

"Okay", I take an excited deep breath.

The drive takes about half an hour from the airport to the house. As soon as we get off the highway, it brings back nostalgia. The way to the house through the neighborhood, I could tell you where all of my old friends had lived, and where I spent most nights at my friend Lauren's house. Or the house where I spent my last team hockey sleepover, two nights before my accident in seventh grade. Where Luke lived before he had moved out to Maine. On my street, I could tell you where everybody lived and how many years I had known them. 

Cara slows the car and takes a left into the driveway. I turn back to look at the house, and so many memories flood back to me. So many pictures and videos were taken at this house, whether Cara and I were two and three years old, or right before we had moved to Maine, when we were fifteen and Cara was just turning seventeen.

The house is a cream color, with medium brown shudders. Our front porch was in between the outside wall of the dining room and the outside wall of our living room. I look up to my old window, the farthest window to the left on the top floor, above the dining room and part of the kitchen. Cara was just down the hall from me, and sometimes, we would have sarcastic fights while sitting on our beds, yelling to each other. Then, we would laugh it at dinner and our parents would really start to think we were going crazy.

Cara parks in the driveway in front of the garage and she cuts the engine. I get out and Cara pops the trunk and I grab my bag. Cara walks up to the front door and I follow her, still trying to remember all the memories I love from this place. Most memories though, come from before seventh grade, before the accident.

"We're home", Cara says in a high pitched voice as she opens the door. I follow her in and it all looks the same as the last time I saw it right before my family had packed everything up a few days before we moved. "Come on. I have something to show you".

I leave my suitcase by the stairs, and I follow her into the kitchen. "Okay", Cara starts. "So, you were the first person I told about my pregnancy, and you wanted to wait until I saw you in person to tell you the gender of the baby. so, the truth is, I only had the appointment a few days ago. I wanted to wait until you were here so we could find out together. Matt and our parents are the only people who know what it is. Matt was okay that he knew before I did and that I wanted to find out when you did, since you're my sister. While I was gone to pick you up and before he had to go to work for a few hours, he put two balloons in the kitchen, and we are going to pop them at the same time. It's filled with either pink or blue confetti".

"Really?" I ask excitedly. Cara nods and we head into the kitchen.

Two balloons filled with helium and confetti are held down by weights, the balloons fly at our eye level.

"Here", Cara says with a smile. She hands me a sewing needle with a bright yellow point on the back.

"On three?" I ask. Cara nods.

"One", I say.

"Two", Cara responds.

On three, we both plunge the needle into the balloon, and the sound shatters my ears.

It's a.......a...... Twins?