The nurse called out, “Here she comes now! She’s a fighter! 8/9!”
The doctor smiled, “Yes, she got off to a slow start, but she’s fine. Can you push?”
“You’ve got the first one!” Alexander kissed the side of her head. “Just the one to go now! You can do it!”
Lucy seemed to have renewed strength. She gritted her teeth and pushed until she had nothing left to push with and with one final grunt, out came the second baby, who fell into the doctor’s hands screaming like she hated the whole world.
I had to sit down and collect myself.
I watched Alexander take my sister into his arms, “They’re here!” He told her, “You did it! Two girls, Honey! Two little girls!”
“Oh!” She looked across the room, “Can I see them?”
“In just a moment,” The doctor said kindly, “You’ve suffered an awful tear. Let me stitch you up and get the bleeding stopped.”
The nurse dug away at her belly. Lucy didn’t seem to even notice. She was too lost in kissing her husband, too lost in the ecstasy of being a new mother. She had forgotten I was there.
It didn’t matter. It was not my place to be there. Not anymore.
I got to my feet and made my way down the hall. “She did it!” I said as brightly as I could, “Two girls, they have!”
“You look a little peaky, Dear,” Ana reached out for me.
“No, I’m just very pregnant,” I replied. Oliver helped me into a chair. “It was stressful. Lucy was so frightened and then just so tired. The first baby struggled a bit at first. I’m not sure she was breathing, but she’s fine now. She won’t shut up! She’s angry at us all, I reckon.”
“That’s wonderful!” Edmond pulled Ana close, “Two more girls for Grandmum!”
Oliver sat beside me, “It was bad, yeah?” He whispered.
“It was awful,” I admitted, laying my head against his shoulder, “I want to go home.”
“OK, Sweetie.”
Nigel came running in from the hall, “Auntie Sil!” He put a hand on each of my knees, “Did Mummy have our babies?”
I tried my best to seem chipper, “Yes, Nigel. Everybody’s fine.”
“Boys or girls?” He asked, “They had a picture and said it was girls, but I couldn’t tell.”
“Girls. Definitely girls.”
“Well, that’s OK,” He said as if he’d been considering it for a while.
Carolena was suddenly beside him. She removed her lolly from her mouth and looked me right in the eye, “I saw you go in there.” She said this as if no one else knew, “Tell me, Mummy, was it grotty?”
There was something in the way she said it that made her Dad and I both laugh. “Actually, Muffin,” I told her, “It was really quite grotty!”
“It’s always grotty, you!” Oliver gave her a poke. “Grotty babies!”
About that same time Natalie came running into the room, “Gran!” She shouted, “I got you a pee-an-nut butter cup!” She turned the corner too sharply, however, and slammed into a potted plant, which fell over and spilled Spanish moss everywhere. Ana let out a surprised scream and Gryffin, who was toddling in with his Granddad, immediately toppled over.
“Blimey,” Nigel slapped his little hand against his chest, “Everything all at once and you lot will give me a stroke!”
Oliver and I decided to make sure that Lucy was resting comfortably in her recovery room before we went home. We wanted to make sure Alexander was doing all right as well. Alex never said much about how he felt, but he was easily upset when someone he loved was hurt. And when Alexander got upset, it wasn’t always a simple thing for him to calm down. We’d seen him go on for days in misery.
When we entered the room, Ana was leaned over Alexander in his chair. Her chin was on his shoulder and her arms were around his chest. She held him for a long time, rocking him like he was a child, even though he was probably twice her size. He patted her arm gently in return.
“Are you all right, Dear?” She whispered, “Is there anything you need?”
“No, Mum. Thank you.”
“Supper?”
“No, they said they’d bring me something to eat from downstairs.”
She kissed the top of his head and stood.
Edmond stroked a piece of hair away from Lucy’s forehead, “She’s white as a ghost.”
“She lost a lot of blood, so she’s pale. They gave her something after,” Alexander whispered, “Something to bring down her blood pressure. They said she’d rest for a good while.” He glanced at his brother and then at me, “That was bloody terrifying. I don’t think we ought to do that again.”
“Maybe not,” I said honestly, “But it’s over now.”
He nodded.
“Well, we’re taking the children home with us,” Ana announced, “So Silvia can get some sleep. She doesn’t need any more excitement in her condition,” Everyone was worried that I’d go into labour and being ridiculously pregnant, I did not pass up the chance to agree to some quiet time. Ana smiled suddenly, “Two girls, Alexander! I’m so happy!”
“Yes,” Edmond mussed Alex’s hair, “We both are!”
We hugged and kissed the parents and children goodbye and left Alexander alone with his wife, but Oliver and I didn’t leave the hospital for a while. Instead we stood in front of the nursery window and stared in at our new nieces.
“I thought twins skipped generations,” I rested my cheek against the rough wool of Oliver’s sweater.
“They usually do,” He responded quietly, “Which is which?”
“I have no idea.”
“I asked Mum once how she kept Alex and me separate. She said she kept the tag on our wrists as long as she could. Then she put an O and an A on the bottoms of our feet with magic marker. After that, she made sure she dressed us different, but she lost track when we started switching clothes on her. Eventually, she just knew. Nobody’s identical. There’s always something that tells us apart.”
“I thought I was going to lose my sister in there,” I said softly, “I was so scared for her.”
“I knew she was in trouble. I could hear her. I was worried, but you Cotton girls, you’re fiery.” Oliver put his hand on my swollen belly, “Too bad we didn’t have the twins.”
“What would we have called them?”
“Certainly not Antonia and Elizabeth! Awful names, those are! Now Heloise and Gertrude, I’d have named them!”
“Oh, yes, Antonia and Elizabeth are just terrible! But I like Helga and Euphemia much better than your choices.”
“Oh, can’t we have Euphemia and Heloise, Love? If we have twins?”
“Definitely!”
We laughed quietly.
“I can’t see them well enough,” Oliver said. “I’m too tired.”
“Me, too. This is boring. Let’s go home and have sex. Maybe I’ll go into labour.”
“Excellent! I’m all for that! Sex is what got us into this predicament and it’s what’ll get us out!”
“With any luck! My back is killing me!”
“At least I can’t get you pregnant, yeah?”
“No more than you already have.”
Oliver wrapped his arm around my shoulder for support as we began to walk away. “Maybe we ought to find a linen closet and try it here. We won’t have to come back if you do go into labour.”
Oliver could always make me laugh, even when my back was in knots and I was exhausted.
We went home, but any ideas of fooling about were gone as soon as we saw the bed. Once on it, we were both immediately asleep.
It was one in the morning three weeks later when I shook Oliver awake, “Sweetheart! Sweetheart!” He was never easy to wake up even on his best day. I licked my finger and stuck it in his ear, “Oliver, wake up!”
“W-what?” He sat straight up, “Is it Duncan? Did he win?”
“Oh, wake up!” I popped him on the side of his head, “Your mum’s on her way over. I’m contracting. They’re twenty minutes apart, let’s go.”
I was hot and cranky and not at all in the mood to have a baby.