Love Triangle 11: Twins

Hanukkah that year wasn't an especially joyful one for the Wedemeyers. Peter's mother insisted that her son visit but refused to invite his wife. After an angry Peter refused to visit without Veronica, she reluctantly relented and agreed that her daughter-in-law could visit for a little while one night. Conversation was strained, and both couples were relieved when the visit was finally over.

In contrast, Christmas at the Petersons was cheerful and boisterous. Everyone patted Veronica's belly, and Spencer asked if they were planning to name the baby after him if it was a boy.

"Maybe for his middle name," Veronica told him.

As winter became spring, Veronica's abdomen grew larger and larger until she and Peter both wondered if she might pop. One night after her shower, she stood staring in the mirror at the stretch marks crisscrossing her belly like lines on a road map.

"I just want to cry!" she moaned.

"Why?" asked Peter from the bedroom.

"Just look at me!" She opened the door and walked into the bedroom.

"To me you're more beautiful than ever," he told her.

"Oh, Peter!" Tears were in her eyes as she covered his face with kisses.

During her last month of pregnancy, Veronica hardly moved at all, except to go to her weekly doctor's appointments. Her belly was so large she couldn't walk without feeling as if she were about to pitch forward. Her back ached constantly, and she got little sleep.

"I feel like this is never gonna end!" she moaned to Peter the morning of one doctor's appointment.

"It'll be over before you know it." He kissed her, then left for work. Half an hour later, she walked to the subway to ride to her appointment.

She waited about fifteen minutes before the nurse, Margaret, called her back. After weighing her, taking her blood pressure, and asking how well she'd been eating and sleeping, Margaret led her back to an exam room. About twenty minutes later, Dr. Abrams arrived and asked how she was.

"Miserable!" she exclaimed. "I can't even see my feet anymore, I can't eat more than four or five bites without getting the worst heartburn in the world, and my back feels like an elephant's tap dancing on it all the time!"

Dr. Abrams laughed. "Well, it'll all be over with soon." He moved his stethoscope over her swollen abdomen. "Heartbeat's still nice and strong." She lay back on the table, and he examined her. "You're two centimeters dilated. This baby will be here very soon. I wouldn't be surprised if you went into labor before your next appointment."

Several nights later, she was awakened at about two in the morning by contractions and nudged her husband awake. "Peter? It's time to go to the hospital."

Peter bolted up in bed. "Really?"

"Yes...oof..." She winced as another contraction hit her.

He dressed as quickly as he could, then helped her dress, grabbed the suitcase they'd packed a couple of weeks before, and headed for the subway. When they arrived at the hospital, they took the elevator to the maternity floor, where Veronica was taken back into a labor room right away and Peter was left to pace the floor in the waiting room.

"Please, can you give me something for the pain?" she begged.

She felt a stinging sensation as the needle went into her arm, and the next thing she was aware of was waking up in a different room, feeling woozy and sore. A nurse looked at her and smiled.

"Congratulations! You have two beautiful, healthy new daughters!"

Veronica couldn't believe her ears. "But Dr. Abrams never told me there was a second baby!"

"He was just as shocked as you are now," the nurse told her. "He said he never heard more than one heartbeat. One baby must have been behind the other, he said."

"Does Peter know?"

"Of course. I told him right after they were born."

"How long ago was that?"

"About an hour ago. They're in the hospital nursery. We'll bring them in to see you right away, and I'll also tell your husband you're awake."

Several minutes later, Peter entered the room, grinning ear to ear. "Mazel tov."

"Thank you. The same to you."

"Oh, I had the easy part." He chuckled. "Twins! I can't believe it!"

"Here they come now." The bassinets containing the two newborns were wheeled into the room, and Veronica reached for the nearer bundle. The baby was wrapped tightly in a light pink blanket, with only her round face and slightly conical head covered by soft tufts of hair visible.

"Hi." veronica cuddled her daughter, and the milky blue eyes squinted up at her. "I'm your Mommy, and I'm so glad to finally meet you! I think I'll call you Leslie. That's a pretty name."

"And what about her sister?" asked Peter, who was cuddling the other twin.

"How about Lauren?"

"Leslie Fay and Lauren Kay Wedemeyer," Peter decided.

"I like it!" Veronica exclaimed.