4 & Counting

by Toni Aleo

  Shea felt horrible, and nodded quickly. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

  “No,” Elli said shaking her head, “I’m just in a crappy mood, my cooter hurts and I feel so overwhelmed. Even though I’m supposed to be having babies and not worrying about my job, I can’t help but think of all the crap surrounding Erik and Phillip. I’m just tired, and I swear, I could sleep for a year.”

  “I know, baby,” he said, kissing her cheek, moving to the side of her mouth. “I’m sorry. Do you want me to beat the crap out of Erik and Phillip?”

  Elli smiled, which was what he wanted, “No, I love those knuckleheads, even if they are giving the Assassins a bad name. I just want to enjoy the kids for the rest of my maternity leave. I want to be a mommy, not worry about anything but these little miracles.”

  Shea nodded as he moved his nose along her temple, taking in her scent. Mangos, his favorite.

  “We did good. Four beautiful kids, two little girls that favor their daddy and two boys that favor their momma. What more could we ask for?”

  “For our shops to get shut down,” she laughed. Shea shook his head, he didn’t want that, but if it was really something Elli wanted, he would agree. She wanted the kids just as much as he did. She put on a front that he was knocking her up left and right, which he was, but she wanted it too. They wanted this life. Even if it was hectic and crazy, it was their life. One day he would retire and be the father his dad was to him. It wasn’t that he was not a good father now, but for almost nine months of the year he was working, which included a lot of travel and being away from home. Shelli noticed, and didn’t like it, but there was nothing he could do. He could quit, of course, but he wasn’t ready. One day he would be, and he couldn’t wait for that moment, but that was later in life.

  When a knock came at the door, they both looked up to see Grace, Shea’s sister, enter the room with Shelli and Posey on each hip. The girls were decked out in their ‘Big Sister’ shirts and had big bright pink bows in their hair. Shea rolled his eyes at the sight since Posey’s bow was bigger than her head, but he soon smiled when she reached for him. Standing up, he closed the distance between them, and wrapped both girls up in his arms. Posey in all her excitement smacked him in the face, knocking his glasses askew, not that he cared. He was happy to see them.

  “I just want to peek and then I’ll leave, you guys need your family time. Mom and Dad are in the waiting room along with Elli’s dad and uncle. Let us know when you guys are ready for us, K?” Grace said in a rush. She ran over to Elli’s side without waiting for Shea’s answer, and kissed Elli’s cheek before looking down at the boys. “Oh my gosh, they are gorgeous!”

  “Aren’t they? I just wanna gobble them up, they are so sweet!” Elli gushed as she grinned down at them.

  “You guys make the most beautiful babies, I swear,” Grace said admirably as she touched Owen’s cheek, “So sweet.”

  “Thank you. You didn’t do such a bad job yourself, you know. Ryan and Amelia are beautiful children,” Elli said with a smile.

  “They are, this is true. I just want to stay and look at your babies forever, but you guys need your time, so I’m leaving.”

  She stood up with one last glance at the boys before walking towards Shea and kissing his cheek on her way out, closing the door behind her. Shea loved his twin sister with everything he had. He was glad that their relationship had not suffered with his marriage and family. Grace was always there for him as he was there for her.

  Shea nuzzled Posey’s cheek then Shelli’s, asking them, “Ready to meet your brothers?

  Shelli nodded her head as Posey started screaming for Elli. “Mama!”

  “Hi, buttercup, come on over here. You too, sunshine,” she said, sitting up and moving the boys so that she could hold them better. Shea had always loved the nicknames that Elli had for the girls, ‘buttercup’ for Posey and ‘sunshine’ for Shelli. The girls wiggled in his arms as he made his way over to Elli. When they reached her, Posey reached out for Elli as Shelli said, “Aww, babies.”

  “Mamama,” Posey rambled as she continued to reach.

  “No honey, Daddy will hold you. Momma has boo boos,” Shea said, but Posey continued to reach for Elli.

  “Give her here, “Elli said scooting over, making room on the bed for the girls. Shea hesitated, but when Elli looked up at him expectantly, Shea placed Posey carefully beside her, then Shelli. Shelli knew to be cautious and leaned more on Shea than she did on Elli.

  “My babies?” Shelli asked, before smiling up at Shea.

  “Our babies,” Shea corrected as Posey moved her fingers softly on Evan’s face.

  “Ba,” Posey said slowly, with a little grin on her face, “Mama,” she said looking up at Elli.

  “Yup, I love you, Posey, so much. I love you too, Shelli.”

  “I love you, Mama,” Shelli said. She then leaned her head on Elli’s. “Baby name, Mama?”

  Elli said, “Owen and Evan.”

  Shelli giggled, “No Mama, names.”

  Shea had no clue what Shelli was asking but obviously Elli did, because she answered, “Oh, I don’t know. How about mac and cheese?”

  Shelli’s giggles practically shook the bed. “Noooo!”

  “Okay. Hmm, rice and crispy?”

  “Noooooo, Mama,” Shelli laughed.

  “Well honey, they gotta go together.”

  “Yeah, lightning and bug,” Shelli said just like her mom, with a little bit of country drawl. She was just like Elli and he couldn’t have loved her any more. Shelli was smart as hell, because he sure didn’t remember his niece and nephew talking this well at two.

  Elli smiled lovingly at her daughter before she nodded and said, “That’s perfect, my little lightnin’ and my little bug.”

  “Yay! Lightnin’ and lug, and luttercup,” Shelli said pointing at Owen, Evan, and then Posey, “My family.”

  Shea nodded, placing a kiss to Shelli’s head, “Yup, one big happy family.”

  There was another knock at the door, and Shea turned to see who it was. “Hello, all,” a nurse said as she entered the room, “How are the boys?”

  “Great,” Elli answered, kissing Posey’s head, “So are the girls. I think they love their brothers.”

  Shea agreed. Posey was smiling down at the boys as Shelli touched her finger along Owen’s cheek. The nurse gave them a bright grin as she came over to the little table that was beside Elli’s bed.

  Something caught Shea’s eye as he leaned in closer to look at the shape of Owen’s lips.

  Was it okay that his boy had a cupid’s bow mouth?

  Hopefully, he’d grow out of that mouth.

  “Okay, well I’m here to give you the paperwork for your tubal ligation that will be performed tomorrow at 4:00, P.M., with Dr. Resitra.”

  Shea looked up quickly, glancing at Elli, then the nurse before looking back at Elli. “What?”

  The nurse looked up from her paperwork, then glanced at Elli before answering, “I have paperwork for Mrs. Adler’s tubal ligation, also known as getting her tubes tied. I just need a few signatures.”

  Shea kept staring at Elli until she looked at him. When she did, Shea could see the nervousness in her eyes. She hadn’t even discussed this with him; he thought he had more time to convince her to have another baby. Surely she wouldn’t do this without discussing it with him.

  “Elli?”

  Elli turned to look up at the nurse, and then smiled, “I’m sorry, I need to discuss this with my husband first. Is there any way, you can put the boys back in their beds, and I’ll call you back when I’m ready to sign them?”

  “Sure,” the nurse said with a nod, “Do you want me to take them to the nursery?”

  “No ma’am,” Elli answered quickly. The kids never stayed in the nursery; they always slept with Elli and Shea. Grace, on the other hand, had insisted her kids sleep in the nursery. She said it gave her time to sleep as well. When he asked Elli why
she preferred the kids in their bedroom, she said she felt safer with them close-by where she could see them. Even when they worked, the kids were always with one of their parents. Grace helped a lot too, which was good, but only when there was no other option.

  Shea watched as the nurse moved the boys to their little crib and then made her way out of the room. He then took the girls and settled them in a chair, giving Shelli his phone to play with so he and Elli could talk. As he passed by his boys he couldn’t help but smile, knowing he was about to get into it with Elli. Leaning against the table, he pushed the tubal litigation papers to the side and looked directly at Elli.

  “Were you going to tell me?”

  She nodded, “Of course. I didn’t think they’d be able to get me in so quickly.”

  “So that’s it?”

  Elli looked up at him, “I told you, baby, I’m done. Four kids in three years? Come on. My body is tired, I’m tired. I’m already taking the summer off, when really I want to take the year. I’m tired, Shea.”

  “I understand that, and if you want to take the year off, please do, whatever makes you happy. But baby, I really wish you would consider having one more. Just one.”

  “Shea,” she whined, “I don’t want to get pregnant so soon aga—”

  “One year, give me one year before you do it. We’ll discuss having another one when the boys turn one. That would actually give us almost 2 years with the kids before we add another one into the mix.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Please, I just want one more.”

  “I know,” she said with a laugh, “but I also know that you‘ll have me pregnant again in a month.”

  “I promise, a year. If we decide then that we are done, we’re done, I promise. We’ll both get our shops closed, I promise.”

  Elli looked down at her hands resting on her swollen stomach. He loved the way she looked pregnant, all plump and voluptuous. But he could give her a year to get back to normal before he asked her to go through hell again. He just wasn’t done yet. One more and he’d be happy.

  He’d have a whole hockey team minus the goalie.

  But if she was done, he’d respect that. She’d given him the moon and the stars in the sky. If he hadn’t known that deep down she wanted the same thing, he would’ve thought he was being selfish. But he knew Elli, and they both wanted a large family. Soon the day would come when the kids would be bringing their children over for them to gush over.

  Glancing back at Shea, Elli shook her head. “I’m gonna be fat forever.”

  He smiled. “I’m gonna love you for forever. You’re beautiful to me.”

  Elli smiled as she glanced over to where the kids sat. “One more.”

  “One more, unless for some reason we have another set of twins, but I doubt that.”

  Elli glared and Shea smiled. “I can’t control what God wants.”

  Elli scoffed as she closed her eyes before letting out a long breath. “One year, then we’ll discuss it.”

  “Yup. I promise.”

  Elli’s shoulder’s fell and she gave him a look so full of love it took his breath away. “You’re lucky I love you, Shea Adler.”

  Shea knew he won. With a bright grin, he wrapped his arms around Elli, kissing her deeply. When they parted, he kissed her nose, and then the side of her mouth. “Damn right I am, and I love you more than anything in this world.”

  “I hope you love my expanding waistline.”

  “I do,” Shea laughed, “Every sexy, delectable, yummy, single inch of you.”

  ***

  “Let’s see if you left something in here for Daddy.”

  Elli smiled as she got up and waddled into the kitchen. She was still in a bit of pain. C-sections sucked. Pouring a glass of tea, she leaned against the counter, sipping it as she thought about everything going on. The boys were healthy, and perfect, so were the girls. Shea was amazing and sweet as always. Life at home was good. But her work life was another story.

  Elli had a lot on her mind; first and foremost, other teams were looking at the Assassins players that were now free agents. On top of that, Elli was still having problems with two of her players and their ongoing shenanigans. And then of course the usual with money hungry agents that thought their players were the best and needed the best. Which they were, but still, there was only so much money in the bank.

  But Erik and Phillip were the biggest headache. They were going crazy and causing all kinds of trouble. She never expected this; they were good men but they just could not keep their dicks in their pants. Unfortunately, it had all gotten out of control and something needed to be done.

  In the past couple months, five girls accused the guys that they were the father of their children. All allegations were unproven, but it created bad press for the Assassins. The tabloids had the boys featured everywhere, getting trashed and sleeping with just about anything that walked. When Elli had joined the company she had been given a team that was full of good strong men with morals, professionals. If they were out of line, the captains took care of them. But there was no taking care of Phillip and Erik, and Shea was also at wits end. Elli had never had this problem before so she didn’t know what to do. Their agent promised they would behave, but apparently only Phillip took that to heart, because Erik was still driving her bonkers.

  Leaning against the counter she listened to the commotion in the other room.

  “SCORE! Nothing! Okay, Owen, let’s see.”

  Elli listened as Shea groaned, and instantly knew that Owen had pooped in his diaper. With a smile she grabbed a water bottle pausing mid swig when the doorbell sounded.

  “Hey babe, can you get that?” Shea asked, sounding a bit frantic.

  Taking it kind of slow she grumbled as she walked through the house to the living room on her way to the front door and saw Shea covered with baby wipes. Shea had been amazing and so helpful with the kids; she wasn’t sure what she would have done without him. Even though she was sad that they hadn’t won the Stanley Cup, she was thankful because the Assassins would’ve still been in the playoffs and Shea wouldn’t have been home to help out. Although he was still bitter and a little touchy about losing, Elli was grateful to have her husband home. They’ll win next year, Elli was sure of it. This just wasn’t their year to win. Next year would be.

  Reaching the door, she pulled it open and a huge grin came over her face.

  “Hey you!” she gushed wrapping her arms around her ‘little sister’ Piper. She was actually Harper’s sister, but Elli and Piper had always been very close.

  “Hey, gosh, you’re always so beautiful,” Piper said with a smile as they parted.

  “Liar,” she teased as they walked through the house with their arms slung through one another. “But thanks. Come to see my little men?”

  “I did, and to see you, I need to talk to you about something.”

  “Awesome, come on, the boys are in here,” Elli said with a big grin as they entered the living room. Shea had his arms full of dirty diapers while Shelli and Posey ran around the living room. The boys lay all clean in their bassinets. Shea shot her a grin as Piper leaned over for a kiss on the cheek.

  “Hey Shea,” she said in greeting as she attempted to grab the girls for a big hug and kiss.

  “Hey, good to see you,” he replied as he got up and made his way into the kitchen. Elli watched as Piper chatted with the girls before making her way over to the boys. Something was different. She had known Piper almost her whole life and something seemed off. She thought maybe it was her hair, but it was still long and beautiful, down to the middle of her back. Piper looked as if she may have put on some weight, but that wasn’t it either. She just couldn’t put her finger on it, but before she could ask, Piper looked back at Elli with tears in her eyes and Elli’s heart stopped.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked immediately, taking Piper’s hand in hers.

  She shook her head, taking in a deep brea
th, and then she looked up, her beautiful blue eyes shining with tears. When one slowly dripped down her cheek, Elli began to panic. Piper never cried. She was the carefree one. Nothing ever bothered her, and it freaked Elli out to see her so worked up. Things had been good for Piper. She was working hard doing freelance work drawing illustrations for an author’s children’s book and she had seemed really happy, or at least Elli thought she was.

  Shit, she was a horrible friend. She should know what is bothering her.

  “I’m pregnant.”

  Taken by surprise, Elli sputtered, “Excuse me?”

  “I’m pregnant and I have no clue what I am going to do.”

  Elli was speechless. She didn’t know what to say, she didn’t know how to respond and she sure as hell didn’t know what to think. This was Piper. The sweet, carefree girl that never could decide on one thing, and she was pregnant. Surely she was hearing her wrong, but when she glanced down, it was then that Elli realized the extra weight she thought Piper had gained was actually the beginnings of a round belly.

  “Holy shit,” she gasped.

  Piper nodded, tears rolling down her sweet cheeks. “I know, my thoughts exactly.”

  Shea came back in the room and Piper’s eyes darted to him before looking down. Elli wasn’t one to hide things from Shea, but Piper looked as if it had taken everything she had just to tell her the news. Glancing over to Shea, offering him a shoulder shrug, Elli reached for Piper’s hand as they walked into the kitchen where they could talk alone.

  “How far along?”

  Piper’s lips wobbled before looking away. “Six months.”

  “Holy shit, Piper! Six months!”

  She nodded slowly. “No one knows and I, I, I, don’t know how I kept it quiet for this long.”

  Elli didn’t know how to feel. Was she that busy with her life that she didn’t notice that her friend was carrying a child? Things had been nuts for her—playoffs, pregnancy, kids, and stupid players—but for goodness sakes, she saw Piper at least once a week . . . How did she not notice this?