Boomtown

by Lani Lynn Vale

  “How are they?” she asked.

  I looked down at them, both sleeping peacefully. They were wrapped up in new blankets and hats that were pure pink.

  “They’re perfect.” I answered her.

  “Baby A was born at 12:09 A.M. weighing in at five pounds three ounces. Baby B was born at 12:11 A.M. weighing in at four pounds eleven ounces. Both were healthy. Apgar was nine both times it was performed for both babies. Do you have any names yet?” she asked us.

  “Uhhh, no. We’ve been fighting over this for weeks.” Cheyenne said.

  “That’s normal. It happens all the time. Just let us know soon so we can write it down and get it on their charts and birth certificates.” She said. “It might be a while before they are ready to eat. Since you were completely put under for your C-section they’ll be a little tired until it works out of their system. We’ll give it another thirty minutes or so, and then try to feed them. You missy, we will get you up from bed tomorrow morning. You sir, will be able to move around once you are up to it. Just don’t overdo it. Do you want to do a baby swap while I’m still in here?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I said to her. “But can you move us closer together?”

  “I can do that.” She said and went about rearranging us.

  She put the railing down on both of our beds and locked the beds as close as they could get together. She moved both babies into Cheyenne’s lap and situated Cheyenne and then left the room.

  Wait for it. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

  “What. The. Fuck. Is going on?” she seethed.

  Chapter 22

  CHEYENNE

  It had taken me a while to get with the program. Our night had been wonderful. Blaine, Ember and I teased Elliott throughout the night. I had fallen asleep at some point while watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. I was woken by hushed panicked voices and a hand smoothing my hair back. I peeled my eyes open to see Elliott crouched down beside the couch, his face serious and grave.

  “What is it?” I asked him.

  “Sam’s been shot. It’s not good. He was taken to ETMC in Tyler. We need to get you to the hospital.” Elliott said quietly.

  I didn’t really comprehend what he said. How did he get shot when he was at a bar? I went to that bar all the time! My heart felt like it was ripping to tiny little shreds. I closed my eyes and pleaded with God not to take him away from me. Our babies haven’t even gotten a chance to meet him yet.

  The trip to the hospital was hazy. I remember going up to James and then nothing. I woke up and knew something was wrong. A nurse was by my bedside and explained what had happened. I started looking around frantically for the babies or Sam. I turned left first to see a blue curtain, then right, and my heart started to mend in my chest. Sam was staring at me with love in his eyes. I fell back to sleep shortly after that; woke up again to find myself in this new room.

  Sam was beside me talking to an older lady that I assumed was a nurse. What caught my attention though were the two little tiny babies nestled into the crook of his arm.

  They were so tiny wrapped up all in pink. I yearned to hold them, but Sam looked so happy right then that I wouldn’t have pried them away from him for anything. Once I ascertained that they were alright I surveyed Sam. He had an IV in the arm not holding the babies. His hospital gown was sagging and I could see a white bandage pasted over his collar bone area. He had dark circles under his eyes, but that didn’t make him any less handsome. His right hand looked bruised and the skin was broken in places.

  The nurse was looking at me expectantly, and obviously I had missed something. She nodded and moved Sam’s bed closer to me, lowering the rails, and then she moved the babies over to me, and I got my first good look at their faces.

  They were so freakin cute! Sam and I made pretty babies. Their faces were red and scrunched up. They eyes were shut in sleep, and I could see their chests rising and falling with each breath. They almost lost their father today, and I was starting to get pissed. I had almost lost the love of my life, and I didn’t even know why. I was seething mad in no time, and not even the sweet innocent faces of the girls could control the amount of pain and anger I was feeling.

  I turned my head from the girls and stared into Sam’s eyes. He seemed like he was bracing for something, and I was going to oblige him.

  “What. The. Fuck. Is going on?” I asked him.

  He let out a slow breath, and then went into his explanation. I was shocked. He had lied to me, and I knew there was a good reason behind it, but I still couldn’t help but feeling a little hurt over him keeping such a big secret from me.

  “Why didn’t you just tell me?” I asked him softly.

  His extra-long holding and multiple I love you’s and kisses from this afternoon started making a little more sense now that I knew that he had gone out to hunt down Malcolm.

  His hand grabbed mine.

  “I needed him out of the way. I wanted my babies to grow up without this shadow lurking over them. I didn’t want to lose you or them to this piece of shit. I would die if I lost you. Hell, I almost did lose you!” he ended on a growl.

  “It was your fault for getting shot. Jesus. Our babies almost lost you. And they never even had you! I have barely had you!” I said.

  Sam sat up, grimacing slightly and turned to me as best as he could. He placed his hand on the side of my face and whispered, “Its okay baby. It’s over now. I will never leave you again. I love you.”

  I let out a slow breath and said “I love you too.”

  The babies took that time to wake up. Of course it was at the same time, so I paged the nurse to have her come in and help me get them fed. She breezed in a short while later to help.

  “It’s best to do this skin to skin at first.” She said as she slowly unwrapped the babies from their little cocoons. Ten fingers. Ten toes. Oh so cute. Once they were unwrapped down to their tiny little diapers she pulled the hospital gown down and revealed my boobs. I was skeptical. Not sure if my tiny little boobies would produce enough milk for one baby, let alone two!

  “Let’s go ahead and do a tandem feed for the first time.” She said popping pillows all around me. She laid one baby on one side, and one on the other and we latched them on.

  They clamped on like little tiny Hoover Vacuums. It was the weirdest sensation I had ever felt. I glanced over at Sam to see his eyes glued to my boobs.

  A burst of laughter shot out of me and his eyes met mine. He looked a little sheepish at being caught, but his eyes trailed back down to where I was nursing the babies.

  There was a knock at the door and Ember poked her head through.

  “Can we come in?” she asked, but then her head shot back out the door.

  Obviously she caught on to the fact that I was nursing and was telling everyone to wait a few minutes. However, it didn’t stop Ember from coming in. She walked right up to me and stared down at the babies. At least I hoped it was the babies and not my boobies.

  “They are so cute!” Ember said.

  “Her boobs or the babies?” Sam asked with a smile in his voice.

  “Her boobs.” Ember deadpanned.

  Sam burst out laughing, and then groaned. I looked over at him and gave him sad smile. Yes, we were both going to be hurting for a while.

  I finished feeding them, and Ember helped me wrap them both back up in their blankets.

  “I went back to the house and got your suitcase. It’s all outside with the rest of the herd. Do you want me to let them in now?” Ember asked.

  I agreed, and Ember went to the door and opened it wide to let them in. Everyone was there. Gabe, Ember, Jack, Max, Blaine, Elliott, Janie and my mom.

  Everyone oohed and ahhed over the babies, and we started dropping names.

  Sam and I were really trying not to bust guts, because it hurt both of us tremendously. Some of their ideas were just plain crazy. No way I naming my kids Orangejello, pronounced O-ran-gel-o. Where do these people come up with this stuff?

  Eve
ryone left after about an hour of visiting, and we settled down for a little nap. The babies woke every two hours to eat, and I could see now that it was going to be a full time job.

  Around nine the next morning the day nurse came in to get me up and moving around. Sam had both babies between his legs, sleeping soundly. He had gotten up around six this morning to go to the bathroom. He made it look easy, and only had a slight grimace of pain.

  I on the other hand felt like I was dying. I had an arm wrapped around my middle, and the nurse had her arms under my armpits to help me stand. Once my legs were under me I was able to move more easily. I went to the potty, showered with the help of the nurse, and then dressed in yoga pants and a nursing tank from my bag.

  Once I was done I felt like a million bucks. Childbirth is disgusting, and I never truly understood how messy it was until I had the girls. Instead of sitting back down in my bed, I hunched walked over to the chair that was on the other side of Sam’s bed. He watched me with a slight pitying look. I didn’t know who had it worse, but neither one of us was in good shape at the moment.

  I glanced at his body and drooled a little. I was such a horn dog. I just gave birth to two babies, and here I was panting over Sam less than twenty four hours later. He was wearing flannel pajama bottoms and nothing else. He had put his dog tags back on though.

  “I want to get their NB photos taken. One of the pictures is gonna have them holding on to your dog tags.” I said matter of factly.

  He smiled and ran his finger down the side of Pru’s face. We decided earlier to name them Piper and Pru. I was a big fan of the TV show Charmed, and have always loved the name of the two of the four sisters. Sam was tired of arguing with me, so he let me have my way. Or so he said.

  He looked up into my eyes and smiled.

  “You have given me one of the most special gifts in the world. I love you, baby.”

  EPILOGUE

  CHEYENNE

  “Eeeeek!” I squealed when I saw Pru take her first step.

  The girls were eleven months old now. They both were on the verge of walking. That is until just a few minutes ago when Pru decided to finally let go of the chair arm and take off. She was tottling all over the room now, not even stopping to grab a hold of anything as she passed it.

  I scooped Pru up and gave her sloppy wet kisses on her cheek. She smiled huge at me and took hold of my hair like she usually did. Piper sat on the recliner watching the festivities with a bored look on her face.

  I decided we needed to go visit daddy so Pru could show off her new skills.

  I stuffed my phone in my pocket that was sitting on the coffee table, moved Pru to one hip, scooped up Piper off the recliner, settled her on the other hip, and walked towards the garage.

  I walked around the whole building instead of going in the side door that would cut the walk in half. I wanted Pru to have an obstacle free area to walk, not to have to dodge transmissions, jacks, and oil stains.

  When I entered the garage bay I saw Max in the corner working on some POS car, and Elliott in the other corner working on a customer’s bike.

  Sam was in the middle, sitting on a stool that was next to a project bike that they whole team was working on. I did a quick scan and noted that there were no oil spots or obstacles, and then set Pru down on her feet.

  One thing I forgot to mention is that the girls are daddy’s little girls for sure. They can get him to do absolutely anything. They could also be in god awful demon spawn harpy moods and instantly be little angels when he walks into the room. When he was there, they were with him. No ifs ands or buts. Now was not an exception either.

  “Go get daddy!” I whispered to her.

  That was all it took.

  “Dadadada” she babbled and walked.

  Sam turned from what he was doing and beamed. Sam didn’t feel any differently about his girls either. They were perfect. Could do no wrong. Their shit didn’t stink. Blah blah blah. He also didn’t spend the entire day with them. Didn’t get up in the night with them to breast feed them. Didn’t stay up with them when they were being little shits and wouldn’t sleep. Didn’t change very many dirty diapers. So of course he only saw the good in them.

  Pru made it to Sam rather fast for a baby who just learned how to walk. She didn’t fall once. He picked her up and spun her around cheering her on the whole way.

  Piper however was not happy. She sat on my hip quietly crying her little crocodile tears. Her lip quivering. Oh she was really laying it on thick.

  “Uh, Sam?” I said to him.

  He looked at me, and then his eyes zeroed in on Piper, and he was at my side in a flash, trading Pru for Piper.

  “What’s wrong with daddy’s little girl?” Sam said in a sing song voice to Piper.

  I rolled my eyes, and turned to the guys who were now leaning on the tool box drinking a beer. I walked over to them, grabbed Max’s beer out of his hand, and took a swig handing it back to him when I was done.

  “Sure. You can have a drink, Cheyenne.” He said exasperated.

  “Thanks.” I said to him. “Little Ms. Drama Queen drives me to drink. I don’t even think he noticed me standing there.”

  I was laying it on thick too. Sam worshipped us. He may be rough around the edges, but he was perfect for us. It melted my heart to see him interact with the girls.

  The past eleven months had flown by. I was a stay at home mom and student. Sam’s business was booming. Everyone I loved was healthy, and I was so very happy.

  “What’s going on?” I heard called from the doorway of the office.

  All of us turned and saw Blaine. She was glowing. And of course she would. She looked so cute pregnant. She was so tiny and petite, with the cutest little baby belly. She was wearing a floor length yellow spaghetti strap dress that fell loosely over her belly. It had a gathered top that accentuated her big ol’ boobies that had grown with her pregnancy.

  I wasn’t that lucky. I still had small boobs, no matter if I was breastfeeding or not. They never grew one inch. Isn’t that what was supposed to happen when you were pregnant? Sam said that my boobs had grown, but I didn’t see it. I still fit into my A cups, so it must not have been that significant.

  Blaine walked up to Elliott and hugged him around the waist. He curled his hand around her shoulders and pulled her in tighter.

  “It’s the Piper show.” I said. “I came to show him Pru walking, but of course Piper pulled out her crocodile tears when her daddy didn’t show enough attention to her.”

  Blaine laughed and pulled Pru out of my arms giving her a big kiss on the neck, making her shriek in laughter. Sam finally ambled up to us, but only because Piper had an evil smile on her face that meant she got what she wanted.

  He threw his arm around my neck, and dragged me closer to him, giving me a kiss on the top of the head. He didn’t let go though. This was the thing he did since I had the babies. He never stood next to me without touching me somehow, whether it was handholding, hooking a finger in my belt loop, or wrapping an arm around my neck as he was doing now.

  Something changed in him when that night happened eleven months ago. He was now a little more serious, a little more protective, and a lot more open about his feelings.

  I heard a car pull up behind us and Ember slammed her door shut with an excessive amount more force than was needed.

  “Where is he?” she said angrily.

  We all knew who she meant. Gabe.

  “Uhhh, he went to pick up some lady so she could take her car home.” Max said gently.

  “Oh, really? The same lady that I just saw him leave with at Deacon’s?” she seethed.

  Uh oh. This was how they acted now. They tried their best to avoid each other. They fought like cats and dogs whenever they were in the same vicinity.

  “I’m pretty sure that picking up some lady to bring her to her car doesn’t require lunch and hand holding!” she shrieked.

  I glanced at Sam and told him with my eyes not to say anything else,
and then walked towards Ember taking her hand. I dragged her behind me and walked with her into the office. I sat her down in the chair, and then parked my hiney down on the desk in front of her.

  “Talk to me.” I said.

  “He kissed me. He came over, and we got into a fight. He backed me into a corner and trapped me with his body. He kissed me and I finally admitted my feelings for him. He left shortly after that when he got a call from Sam. I have been waiting for him to call me for two whole days, and I haven’t gotten one single word from him. Here I am walking into Deacon’s, hoping he is there, and he is there alright. Just not alone. He is there, with another woman!” She was crying at this point.

  I didn’t know what to say.

  “I’ve got to go. I decided I don’t really want to see him right now anyway. It might make me say something that I don’t want to say. I gotta go. I love you, Chey Chey. I’ll call you later tonight.” She whispered.

  She walked out through the front of the office, got into her car, and backed out of the driveway just as Gabe was pulling in. He rolled down his window and was making a gesture at her for her to roll down hers, but she didn’t even wait. She zoomed off.

  Gabe pulled up and parked his truck in the only open spot. He eased out the truck, and walked up to us, a cute little brown headed hussy following in his wake. I glared daggers at her, and then transferred that glare to Gabe.

  “What’s up?” Gabe asked.

  “You fucked up. That’s what.” I said to him bitchily.

  “Why?” He asked.

  “Did you have a good time at Deacon’s?” I asked.

  His eyes widened a little, and he glanced quickly at the tart next to him.

  “She saw me.” He stated the obvious.

  “You bet your ass she saw you, buddy.” I said. “Hope it was worth it, because she can hold one hell of a grudge. You’ll be lucky to even get a nod from now on.”