“Hi, you must be Isla? I’m Ellen, Callum’s mom. It’s so great to finally meet you. I’m sorry for the last minute change of plans. I was going to fly out to Florida to be with my parents, but they decided on a last minute cruise. I hope that’s okay?” she stares at me worriedly.
“Of course, that’s perfectly fine! I’m so happy to meet you, too. I know Callum was sad you weren’t going to make it. Why don’t you follow me, and we will see if we can't find him?” I happily reply, reaching out for her to take my arm. She smiles and takes it.
I’m leading her through the main floor when the man in question comes around a corner and comes to a complete stop.
“Mom! What are you doing here? I thought you were going to see Mimi and Pops?” he says, rushing over to hug his mother.
“I was going to, but they decided to go on a cruise last minute, plus I wanted to see you and meet the woman who has all of my sons enamored as well as my three new grandbabies,” she tells him, patting his cheek.
All three kids come running in at that moment. “Daddy! Mommy! Let's go eat!” Arden whines, coming to pull my hand as the other two grab Callum and Ellen’s hands.
“Hold on a minute. There is someone I want y’all to meet. This is my mom, Ellen.” He turns to his mom and points out each child. “This is Arden, Lochlan, and Vivian.”
She kneels down so she is eye level with them. “Hello, little ones. Looks like I have a lot of spoiling to catch up on. I’m so happy to meet you all.”
Arden looks at her and smiles. “So you’re our Maw-Maw too?”
I ruffle his hair. “How about we come up with another name so it won’t be confusing?” I ask, glancing at the woman in question to see what she thinks.
Lochlan starts bouncing around. “My friend Katie at school has a Noni, so can we call you Noni?”
Ellen taps her chin like she’s thinking very hard. “I think that sounds perfect! How about we go find the rest of the party and y’all can show me around?”
Lochlan takes her hand as Arden starts talking her ear off about all the people that are here.
“Daddy, hold me!” Vivian asks, tugging on Callum’s pants.
“What’s my pretty girl doing? Are you hungry, sweetheart?” he asks between peppering her with kisses.
“Daddy! Stop, that tickles!” she giggles.
“Okay, okay. Let’s go get some food for my beautiful girls.” He grabs my hand with his free one, and we go find the rest of our friends and family.
Everyone is seated around the table, laughing and having a good time. I pull out my phone and send a text to all the guys.
Isla: Ready to make the announcement? Callum, do you still want to with your mom here?
Callum: Of course Kitten! She will be so excited.
Bodie: Ready when you are, Angel.
Odin: Let’s do it, Babygirl.
Silas: I can’t wait till everyone knows, Wildflower
Orin: Ready when you are, Darlin’.
I stand up with my glass of sweet tea and tap my spoon on it to get everyone’s attention.
“Hey, everyone, if I could have your attention for a moment, I’d like to say something.” I give everyone a minute to quiet down.
“First, I’d like to thank everyone for joining us to celebrate today. I'm so blessed to be here. After everything my kids and I have been through the last couple years, we are so grateful to be somewhere safe with friends and family that mean the world to us. With that being said, the guys and I have some news.” I take a breath for a moment and look around the room, as everyone except Maw-Maw stares back expectantly. “We’re pregnant with twins!” I shout.
You can hear a pin drop as they all soak in that information. The first one to come to their senses is Ellen. She jumps up. “Are you serious? More babies! I’m getting more grandbabies? When did you find out?”
“We found out when I was in the hospital. I’ll be ten weeks pregnant tomorrow. Before you ask, we don't know the genders yet, it’s a bit too early. We did a genetic test, but we won’t have the results back for a couple of weeks.”
“That’s so great, hon! I’m so happy for you!” Chris comes over to pull me in for a hug.
