"Oh, really? What makes you think that I'd be comfortable with you staring at my lady bits?" Baylor asked.
"For starters, you know that your lady bits don't mean anything to me except that they are the delivery system for my future nieces and/or nephews." Terry grinned.
"This is true. And your next point?"
"I've seen your lady bits. You can't exactly hide them; as many times as you have found your bottom across my knee."
"Hey, I've been good lately!" Baylor protested. "And no more spanking."
"Has she been trying to convince you gentlemen that her bottom is off-limits?" Terry asked. Hayden and Jake nodded before he continued. "I can officially assure you that our sweet little ones are quite safe and sound in there. Except for hard impact, or anything that causes pressure or pain to her tummy, go for it. With her hormones adding to her general brattitude, we are going to need to enforce ourselves to keep this a happy household."
"That's what we were thinking," Hayden agreed.
"Are we still going to be monitoring her eating habits?" Matt asked, winking at the pouting girl.
"More than ever. With her history, she can swing either way with her blood sugars. We also will watch her blood pressure carefully since she's also got that past problem with hypertension."
"Hey! Pregnancy is supposed to be a time for me to enjoy, not be bossed around and treated like a baby," Baylor protested.
"Why would your being pregnant change how things have been for nearly six months? So stop pouting and give me a kiss. Right here." Terry pointed to his cheek. He waited for her to obey and then looked at her future husbands. "Jake? Hayden? Do you object?"
"To you being a midwife? Not at all." Jake laughed. "But I do defer the final decision to the mommy. I want her to feel as safe and comfortable as she can be."
"Then it's done. I'm going to deliver them."
Baylor rolled her eyes. She should be used to this by now! Her voice was strained when she asked, "Don't I get a say in anything here? I am going to be the mommy."
"T? Let's back off a bit, she's starting to stress," Matt said kindly. He looked at Baylor through soft, brown eyes, reminding her of a well-groomed mountain man with an endearing smile that rarely left his face. "This is your decision, Bay, so don't feel obligated to cave in to his bullying. He'll pout, but he will get over it. Isn't that right, T-bear?"
"I don't pout," Terry grumbled.
Matt smiled at his partner. "Of course you don't. Bay, you are the most important one here, and we all want what is best for you. Just speak up."
"You all know that it's nearly impossible for me to get a word in edgewise in this house, right? The truth is that I trust Terry over anyone to do this. I'm just really scared. I've never had a baby before," she admitted quietly.
"Neither have we, but I promise that we will all do whatever it takes to make this the best adventure that any of us have ever been on," Terry said. "You have my solemn word."
"If you are in the driver's seat, who is going to keep Jake from passing out and hurting himself?" she asked mischievously.
"I'll take Jake duty," Matt volunteered.
"Hey! That's not funny," Jake objected.
"Dude, you get all light-headed every time I have to take a splinter out of your finger, remember?" Hayden snickered.
Baylor laughed. "Be nice to Jake, gentlemen. Okay, then, Terry? You may deliver the baby. Now, back to the wedding…"
"We can have pie!" Matt suggested.
"We are not having pie at the wedding, Matthew," Terry rolled his eyes.
"But I want pie."
"And I want chocolate," Baylor added.
"That is all you want nowadays, little girl. How about if we have the ceremony here at the house with all our friends and then do a cruise for the honeymoon? There's more than enough pie on those ships to satisfy Matt," Jake suggested.
"Let's set a date. I'm for it. You guys?"
Matt nodded happily. "I'm in."
"Me, too."
Baylor shook her head, glancing at her future husbands. With all the chaos and male posturing, how could life be any happier than this?
***
"Well, Miss Parish and 'support team'," the physician said, sliding the cold Doppler unit over her tummy, "the good news is that I found a heartbeat. It's strong, and falls in the perfect range. Let me put it on speaker so that you can hear it."
The sound of the rapid tapping brought smiles to the faces of the four men, and tears to Baylor's eyes. "Is that our baby?"
"It is. In fact," he twisted a knob, "it's one of them. Let me find the other. Just give me a second."
"The other? Are you saying…"
"You have a lovely pair of twins snuggled in there, my dear. Congratulations." The man smiled warmly.
"Yes!" Terry shouted, erupting into a happy dance. "I knew it! I'm doing hearts for the nursery!"
"Are you the father?" the doctor asked.
"Nope, we are just the uncles." Terry hugged Matt warmly. "These two shell-shocked manly men are the daddies." He gestured to his silent and stunned friends.
"Again, I offer my sincere congratulations, gentlemen. Here you go; this is the heartbeat of baby number two. Mommy here is expected to hand over your bundles around November twenty-first. I've got a nice visual for you, too," the physician went on.
"Those are my babies?" Baylor whispered, as the doctor pointed out the two small walnut-sized images.
"Yes, they are. They are in two different packages, so we have a set of fraternal twins here. That is the head and the arms…" he said, pointing out the features of the tiny fetuses. "We have the option to do an amniocentesis and determine which one—or both—of you is the father at twenty weeks, but I would not recommend it unless there is an issue of paternity," he said cautiously.
"There is no issue, doctor," Baylor whispered, dumbstruck as she watched the tiny new humans move sporadically in their little bubbles.
"We are committed in our relationship to her and each other," Hayden explained, his eyes never leaving the monitor. He reached out an index finger to touch the images on the screen. "Baylor will be officially marrying me, but the babies will share the same last name. Can we both be declared the fathers on the birth certificate?"
The doctor shook his head. "Unfortunately, only the biological parents can be named—or it can be left blank. You do have two options, though. You can both have your name on either one of the birth certificates or, after they are born, we can do a DNA check and see."
"That could show that one of us isn't the dad," Jake said, his expression registering disappointment.
"It could also prove heteropaternal superfecundation. In that case, each baby will have the biological father listed."
"What's that?" Baylor asked.
"When twins are made from two different dads. Let's not worry about that right now, and focus on celebrating your family," the doctor said.
"Do you have any instructions for us?" Hayden asked, holding Baylor's hand as the gel was cleaned from her belly.
"Keep her eating and hydrated. I know we've had some issues with that in the past, haven't we, young lady?" the doctor asked, waiting for her to nod. "Also keep an eye on her stress levels. My concern is that a severe increase in blood pressure might cause complications, so let's really stay on that. Try to be patient with any mood changes and talk her through them. A lot of new moms also have strange dreams, their tastes change, and they can feel overwhelmed for no apparent reason; so be gentle when handling her, or else you might get more tears than you bargained for."
"What about sex?" Hayden asked. Baylor rolled her eyes.
"Her sexual appetite might change a bit." The man patted her shoulder and looked at her with affection. "Do only what you are comfortable with and don't push yourself. Your body is going to be going through a lot of ups and downs."
"No restrictions, though?" Hayden asked.
"What he wants to know is how far he can go in play." Baylor sighed. "We en
joy being together, and things also get a little rough at times."
"How rough?"
"Um…" Baylor looked to Terry for help.
"For crying out loud, there is nothing to be ashamed of. They like to take her at once, and are into domestic discipline. Our girl gets her backside reddened if she gets too mouthy or acts irresponsibly."
"She did mention that dynamic before, but did not give me any details. I'm glad that you asked about it," the physician said. "Every pregnancy is different and should always be evaluated for safety. In Baylor's case, I instructed her that you need to be aware of excessive rough-housing and pressure to the tummy. You don't want any jarring beyond normal activity. If in doubt, don't play it out. Incidentally, my wife and I also practice domestic discipline, and she got her bottom smacked during all five her of pregnancies without any problems. Just be alert to anything unusual. Nature does a great job in protecting the little ones, but we don't have to make her work harder than she does."
"I'd say you were the best doctor ever, except you just gave these perverts permission to keep spanking me." Baylor wrinkled her nose.
"Well, if you behave, maybe you will be spared." The doctor grinned, winking at the men.
"That's not going to happen." Matt chuckled. "I don't think she is capable of staying out of some sort of trouble."
"You usually instigate most of it," Baylor retorted.
"It sounds like she is in good hands. Would you all like a family photo? Stand around the monitor and I'll take your picture."
Eagerly, Jake and Hayden handed him their phones and grinned like Cheshire cats as they posed for the photograph.
After the doctor had left the room, Terry slipped Baylor's sweatpants over her ankles and lifted her off the table to pull them up. He then kissed her nose. "How are you doing?" he asked.
Her hands trembled as she gazed at the image that had been printed from the monitor. "I'm having twins. Two babies. Two…"
"Yes, you are, just like I told you. Since I won the bet, that means I get to decorate the nursery. It will be with hearts. Tons of hearts to represent all the love in this house."
"What if they are boys?"
"Boys can have hearts, too. Blue ones. Told you that there were two. I can't believe you doubted me." Terry rolled his eyes.
"I'm never going to hear to end of the 'told you so's, am I?" Baylor asked.
"Probably not. Is there anything we can get for you?"
"Absolutely. Food."
"Let's see if we can pull the new daddies away from their phones and get them to take you out to lunch," Terry said, pointing at the two men, who were staring at the ultrasound picture in silence.
"Guys? Pay attention. I'm talking here. I'm hungry and you need to feed me. Hello? Anybody home?" Baylor said.
"We're really going to be daddies," Jake and Hayden whispered to each other. "Real daddies."
"Yes, you are going to be real daddies. And right now, I need you to be my daddies, uncle and brother, and feed me!"
"I'm sorry. I'm a little overcome right now. What would you like, baby?" Jake asked, looking up at her.
Baylor glanced at Matt and grinned. "Chocolate pie, of course!"
Chapter Three
Two weeks later, Baylor headed out for a follow-up assignment for her job as a forensic photographer, leaving Jake sleeping off his shift on the couch, and a vague note of her whereabouts next to the phone. The address took her to a quiet spot off the main road, where she carefully inched her way down into a wide ditch. The sparse remnants of a rollover collision were scattered all over the area, and she sighed as she tried to determine the throw pattern of the debris, which would help with the biomechanical analysis. Once that was completed, she snapped more artistic pictures of the terrain in daylight; including the position of the sun and the shadows cast upon the road.
Something bright in the brush caught her eye and she went to investigate. Jake had briefly told her about the accident but had spared her the details, so she was unprepared for the discovery of a child's toy. Tears welled in her eyes as she picked it up and held it to her chest; the realization of what had happened striking her hard in the heart. Her hand trembled slightly as she pulled up the summary report on her phone and read that the driver had been drinking, got into an argument with her husband, and left in the vehicle with her infant son. Her anger, coupled with the effects of alcohol, had made her take a turn too quickly, lose control on the narrow gravel road, and tumble off the steep slope. By the time the vehicle finally came to a halt at the bottom of the trench, the roof had been flattened under the weight of the roll. The car seat was found undamaged, but the angry woman had not taken the time to buckle either her child, or herself, in place.
Baylor sat down on a rock, still clutching the toy to her chest. It was beyond her understanding why a mother would be so careless with the life of her child. It made her think of her past, and take note that it was a miracle that she and her siblings had managed to survive the reckless behavior of their own mother. Anger boiled within her as she recalled her upbringing, and how alcohol and drugs had played a large role in stealing her childhood from her. She thought that she could escape the abuse by marrying Felix Kasaab, believing that the good-looking Chaldean man and his wealthy family would give her a home, life, and the love she had always desired. How wrong she had been! The marriage had allowed her to completely break ties with her family but had also put her into another, equally contemptuous, situation.
Who could have imagined that karma would have brought her here—that it would give her a fulfilling and purposeful life, love beyond anything she could ever have dreamed, and even a job that allowed her to pursue her passion? And now she was going to be a mother of twins, who would be shared by two devoted fathers and two equally committed uncles. She pulled the toy away from her breast and looked at it, wondering if this child's father felt loss or relief. She rebuked herself for such an awful thought, but how was she to know any better? There was one way to find out.
It was easy to obtain the registration address from the department. The secretary did not even ask why it was wanted, and simply rattled off the information over the phone upon recognizing Baylor's voice. With one last glance at the shattered glass and pieces of broken metal strewn across the ground, Baylor climbed back up the slope, got into her car, and followed the GPS south to her destination in Victorville.
She pulled in to a small, quiet community, complete with white picket fences and children playing ball in the front yards. Parking her car across the street, she paused to study the house. Shame filled her heart as she recognized her sense of surprise for, instead of a broken down trailer, piles of trash and a beaten-up car, there sat a nice sized, well-kept house, with a clean newer sedan in the driveway. What had made her immediately assume that a drunk driver who killed both herself and her child would be poor and uneducated? It was her past speaking; a reflection of what alcohol abuse and neglect looked like that influenced her thoughts. Am I as bad as those who judge me based on my lifestyle? Shamefully, she knew she was. Well, that would have to change—starting right now.
Exhaling loudly, Baylor exited her car and walked towards the house, clutching the toy tightly in her left hand. She lifted her fist to knock on the door and froze as questions poured into her mind. What should I say to the poor man, assuming that he's home? Will he find my actions kind or cruel? Will he be offended by my boldness, or bothered that I came uninvited? Why am I even doing this? Deciding her decision to come was foolish and invasive, she turned to leave.
"Hi," a man said from behind her. "Can I help you?" He was dressed in loose-fitting shorts and a t-shirt, and looked as though he was returning from a run. His eyes were red and his face flushed with a flat effect; as though everything was drained from him.
Baylor felt her heart break. "I'm Baylor Parrish. I'm sorry I came uninvited. I'm a photographer for the accident division."
His face fell even further, if that was possible. "You saw the accid
ent remains, didn't you? My family—"
"Yes, sir. I am so, so sorry for your loss." She tried to control her emotions as she stood before him.
"Please come inside where it's cooler," he said, his voice catching. He opened the door for her. "Have a seat. Can I get you anything?"
"No, thank you. I wasn't sure if I should come, but I found this at the site today. I wanted to give it to you."
The man's hand trembled as he took the toy from her and slowly sank down upon the leather couch. She saw the silent tears drip down his face and quickly went to get him a glass of water. She handed it to him and held his hand steady as he sipped carefully.
"I can't believe he's gone. It's my fault. All because—"
"It was an accident. An ugly, stupid accident," Baylor interrupted him.
"I shouldn't have let her leave. I knew she'd been drinking. That's why we were fighting. She had just lost her job because of alcohol. I told her it would ruin her life and that of everyone around her. She called me a paranoid idiot and a weakling. I didn't even realize that she'd taken my son when she left until I went to check on him. He'd been sleeping."
Baylor was grateful that she was accustomed to being around men, and allowed him the silence he needed to gather the strength to continue.
"We were married for six years before she finally conceived. We had given up completely when our miracle happened. All that time—and it's over in an instant." He looked up at her with empty eyes. "Please tell me that he didn't suffer. Please. I need to know."
"He didn't suffer. I swear," she assured him.
"Thank you." He stared at the toy again. "Did you just come to bring this to me?"
"No. It gave me a reason to come to you as a stranger and see if you needed anything. I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing."
"I don't understand."
"People are suspicious of strangers. At least, I am. But if someone had found a toy belonging to one of my babies," her voice caught in her throat, "I would want it. At least to have something they held before I lost them. I'm sorry." She wiped away the tears on her cheek.
Loving a Little Heart Page 3
