“I’m not joking. I wake up with a knee or foot in my rib almost every morning.”
She rolled her eyes, turning to the bed. “Whatever, Aaron,” she whispered.
We placed both children, who at least had been put in their pajamas by their Uncle Ty, into the bed. Patience changed into a pair of long flannel pajama bottoms, similar to the ones I often wore, and a sleeveless T-shirt. I put on a pair of my own flannels before doing my nightly routine. Right before crawling into bed, I went to Kennedy’s room to grab a book from one of her shelves.
“Can’t have bedtime without story time,” I told Patience.
She grinned and crawled into bed. Kyle moved to lay his head on her belly. She began stroking his hair the same way she often did mine. Kennedy crawled up and laid on my stomach, as I began readingLast Stop on Market Streetto the children. By the time I read the final words, their light snores could be heard. Laying my head back against the pillow, I stared down at the two creations the woman I love and I made together.
“Tell me about your pregnancy.”
Patience lifted her head. Our eyes met.
“Were you sick a lot? Like Michelle?”
Her eyes widened. “You know?”
“I saw you exchange her champagne for sparkling cider the other week at Mother and Father’s. Carter mentioned her not feeling too well that night.”
She laid her head back down, still stroking Kyle’s hair, smiling. “I was very sick the first trimester. Once, I had to go to the hospital for fluids because I was so dehydrated. That’s when I found out they were twins. I wanted to wait until they were born to find out their genders but the ultrasound tech messed up and told me.”
“Do you have pictures? Of being pregnant?”
“I didn’t take many. It wasn’t exactly the happiest time for me. But I have a few.” She lifted slowly, being mindful of Kyle, to turn to the nightstand and open the top drawer. She pulled out a small photo binder.
My breath caught as soon as she opened it. The first picture was of her, six months pregnant.
“My friend, Judy, took this picture a few months after we started working at the library together.”
“Judy. You were at The Cage with her,” I stated, still staring at the picture but I felt her eyes on me.
“You remember her from that night?”
I looked from the picture to Patience. “I remember everything.”
Her lashes lowered but she remained silent, flipping to the next picture. My heart muscles squeezed yet again at the sight of the newborns nestled side-by-side in an incubator.
“I was about thirty-five weeks when they were born. Kennedy was fussy and wasn’t responding well to the medicine they were giving her to develop her lungs. They put them together and it helped. She calmed down next to her big brother.”
She continued to flip the pages and aside from my having to dodge one of Kennedy’s flailing limbs every so often, I listened intently. I enjoyed listening to story after story about the twins. The way Patience’s face lit up as she talked about them as babies and toddlers drew me in. I looked down and found myself stroking Kennedy’s hair. That seemed to relax her restlessness a little. A lump formed in my throat when I stared at them both. I regretted every moment I’d lost with them, but the gratefulness of them coming back to me was immense. It nearly overshadowed the constant cynicism I held for the world around me. Almost.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Patience
I stepped off the elevator and proceeded toward the glass door that led to my husband’s outer office. As soon as I pushed through the door I heard his deep, booming voice from his office, down the hall. He was ripping into someone for some infraction on their part.
“For their sake, I hope he’s on the phone,” I said to Mark as I approached his desk.
He gave a derisive snort. “Conference call,” he responded.
“Ouch.”
He nodded. “Yup. He’s reaming out a whole upper management team. They deserve it though. Screwed up royally.”
“I’ll bet.” Shaking my head, I leaned over Mark’s desk. “I’ll admit I’m a bit of a masochist, but I don’t know how you do it.”
Mark chuckled. He and I had grown a friendly rapport over the last few months. The fact that he outwardly never judged me for exploding on Aaron that day months ago, earned him a few points with me. Not that he needed my approval.
