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"Hey hun," Shawn caught my attention as I watched our two twin boys run around the living room with their super hero toys. "What would you say if I asked to get a dog?"
"A dog?" Shawn nodded. "I would say that's crazy because you're allergic and if we did have a dog you'd be constantly popping antihistamines and suffering the drowsiness you get from them."
"So... no dog?" His eyes were pulling the puppy dog look that the twins had mastered from him and I almost caved in... Almost.
"No, Shawn. No dogs."
Throughout the course of the next three weeks, Shawn and the twins were very secretive; something they were never with when it came to me.
They would go and play in the twins' room instead of in the living room and they'd have whispered conversations which were over as quick as they had started as soon as I was in the room.
Everything was making me very suspicious and, of course, very worried. But, how could I not be? I'm a mother.
Eventually, I'd had enough of the whispering and the tip-toeing around me and decided to speak to Shawn about what was happening.
"Hey, Shawn? Are you still awake?" I whispered in to the darkness of our bedroom one Friday night once the boys were sleeping in their own beds.
"Yeah. What's up?" When I didn't answer fast enough for his liking, he spoke again. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay." He sighed in relief. "I'm just confused I guess."
"About what?" He pulled me closer to his body and I rest my head softly on his chest.
"Why you've been so secretive the past couple weeks. Even the boys are in on it and it's like I'm walking on egg-shells around my own family." I began to feel the tears settling themselves on the waterline of my eyes and I refrained from letting them fall for I knew that Shawn hated to see me crying.
Shawn's low chuckle was all I could hear as I tried to hold back the tears in my eyes.
"Hun, I promise you that it's nothing bad." He kissed my forehead. "I'm sorry the boys and I have made you feel so upset. But, you'll find out why tomorrow."
When the next day came around, Shawn and the twins left early in the morning claiming that they were having a boys day and allowing me to have a relaxing day with no stress.
That, of course, didn't happen because all day while the boys where out, I cleaned the whole house from top to bottom and when I had finally finished and sat down to rest, my head began overthinking about how the boys where and what they could possibly be doing.
Shawn and the twins eventually came home around dinner time with Chinese take-out and a suspicious look on their faces.
"So, we've got something to show you." Shawn spoke and I eyed him carefully. Usually I could guess correctly about what Shawn was hiding just by studying his body language but this time was hopeless. "Other than the Chinese food for dinner."
"Okay?" The Twins took one of my hands each and Shawn led the way through the door in the kitchen that connected to the garage where the jeep was parked. "I'm kinda scared."
"Don't be scared, mommy." Theo's little hand squeezed mine and when I looked down at him and his brother, they both sent me identical, heart warming smiles.
"Yeah, don't be scared." Cole agreed. "You'll love this surprise, mommy."
"The last time you two surprised me I ended up with slime all over me." I teased the boys, tickling the palms of their hands as they giggled their cute little giggles in return.
"You'll love this surprise, though." Shawn spoke with a suspicious smile."We promise, right boys?"
"Promise, mommy." Theo and Cole agreed simultaneously.
The car had fully tinted windows for privacy reasons and so when we stopped beside the back seat door, I could literally see nothing of what was inside.
"Is this something bad? Because if it's bad-"
Shawn cut me off.
"It's not bad, Baby." I narrowed my eyes at him as a way of showing that I didn't trust a word he said in this moment in time. "I promise you'll love it. The boys picked it out so you have to love it."
The fact that the boys had picked out this secretive surprise was enough to make my stomach turn. Don't get me wrong, I love our boys more than anything in this world but, when they usually surprised Shawn and I, it never tended to be a good surprise that's for sure.
Shawn carefully opened the door of the car and ducked inside before I could take a peek at what they were hiding inside. The twins started giggling excitedly and jumping up and down as the intensity of the wait dwelled on them.
Eventually, Shawn eased himself out of the car, closed the door gently again and looked over his shoulder with a teasing smirk on his face.
"Are you ready to see the surprise, hun?"
"More than ever, I guess."
"Ready boys?" Shawn, Cole and Theo counted down from 3 and as soon as they did their usual routine of three, two, one, blastoff! Shawn turned around to reveal a tiny little husky puppy which was snuggled up in his arms, sound asleep.
"Do you like her, mommy?" Theo gazed up with sparkling brown eyes filled with hope. "We called her Harley after baby sis."
Now that right there was enough to break any mothers heart.
"It was the twins idea to pick a girl and name her that; I thought it was really sweet." Shawn's eyes were watery (just like mine) and we sent each other sad smiles.
After we lost our first girl, Harley, in labour, we had to explain to the twins why we couldn't bring her home and, although they were still young themselves, they understood what had happened.
They were extremely upset for the longest time since they were so excited to finally have a girl to run around with and when we didn't bring her home, their little hearts broke in half.
"She sleeps a lot like Harley, too." Cole was less mature than Theo and so his twin understood the situation a bit better than Cole did. "Do you like the surprise, mommy?"
"I love the surprise;" I squeezed their tiny hands gently and watched with glassy eyes as they hugged my legs in happiness. "And I love you guys; all of you."
"I'll take her in and get everything set up before I run to the store for a lifetime supply of antihistamines." Shawn mumbled embarrassed and I laughed at his expression.
"Oh yeah, you're gonna need a shit tonne of those, Mendes."
