In Love With An Older Man 7: Success

October 1991

"You check the result," Cindy told Gary. "I'm too scared to look. I'm afraid I might just be disappointed again."

"Aww." Gary stuck his bottom lip out in a pretend pout. He knew how tired his wife was of looking at the results of negative pregnancy tests. "Okay, I'll be brave for both of us." He disappeared into the bathroom and returned a moment later, still wearing his pout. Cindy was crushed. A moment later he grinned widely at her. "Just teasing you! It's positive!"

"Hurray!" Cindy ran to him and hugged him tightly.

"We did it, Cyn." Gary's face was positively glowing.

"Well, mazel tov to us both!" Cindy quipped.

Gary burst out laughing. "You're really something else," he said, shaking his head.

"I have to warn you, this is going to feel cold," Dr. Young's sonographer told Cindy as she applied gel to Cindy's lower abdomen. Cindy was about to have her first ultrasound to make sure that her pregnancy was healthy and to get a better estimate of her due date.

"Yikes! You're not kidding," Cindy complained. She and Gary watched as the sonographer's hand moved over Cindy's abdomen and the black and white images appeared on the screen.

"Do twins run in either of your families?" the sonagrapher asked suddenly. Cindy and Gary looked at each other, puzzled. "No."

The sonographer indicated a spot on the screen. "Here's one baby." She moved her instrument a short distance. "And here's the other baby."

Gary and Cindy looked at each other in stunned silence, for a minute, then laughed.

"Well, we never do anything halfway, do we?" Gary said.

"Do they both look healthy?" Cindy asked.

"Everything looks fine to me. Your estimated due date is June 17, 1992."

"Just out of curiosity, on about what date would conception have occurred?" Cindy asked.

"I'd say around September 25, 1991."

"Guess what, Gary? September 25 was the afternoon we played hooky from the radio station," Cindy announced later, looking at the calendar on her kitchen wall. "Remember? I thought that it couldn't happen that day because I thought it was the wrong time of the month."

"Of course I remember. How could I ever forget?" Gary grinned. "I guess you'll listen to me from now on, won't you?" He hugged her from behind and kissed her neck.

"God, Cindy, how are we ever going to be able to afford twins? In less than a year I'll have Carly's college tuition to worry about." The two of them were lying in bed talking it over that night.

"I can help, Gary. I'm still working, remember?"

"That's another thing we're going to have to think about. If you keep working, child care for two infants will cost more than child care for just one."

"So we'll work opposite shifts. One of us will stay home with the babies while the other goes to work."

"And then how much of each other will we see?"

Cindy sighed. "We'll work something out, Gary. Other couples have done it, and so will we. Now shut up and go to sleep." She hit him over the head with a pillow, and he laughed.

November 1991

"See you later," Cindy said brightly as she gave Gary a hug and kiss.

"Enjoy yourself, Cindy, and please, please be careful." Gary seemed reluctant to let her go, and Cindy saw something in his eyes that made her feel hesitant for just a second as well, but she told herself not to be silly.

"Of course I will be, but what's going to happen? It's only a couple of miles away." Cindy was on her way to Jan's baby shower. Jan was eight months pregnant now, and huge. Cindy wondered how much bigger you got with twins than with just one baby.

Cindy turned the radio to KBLA's setting and sang along with it on her way to meet the others. Carla, Miranda, Nina, Lacy, and a few of Jane's friends from work were all going to be there.

"Cindy! I'm so glad you could make it!" Jane ran to her younger sister and gave her a hug.

"How are you feeling?" Jane looked at her sister with concern.

"Fine."

"What about morning sickness?"

"It was pretty bad at first, but now I drink iced tea and eat crackers first thing in the morning, and that helps a lot. Also any food with ginger in it."

"Cindy's going to have twins!" Jane announced to the group.

"Billy and I are planning to start a family soon too," Lacy added.

"You mean using donor sperm?" Miranda asked.

"With modern day technology, we have a couple of other options before we would have to resort to that. I've been talking to Nina about it."

"How does Penny feel about the new arrival?" Cindy asked.

"She's very excited," Jane told her. "At first she felt insecure, afraid that we would love the new baby more than her. We assured her that we had plenty of love for both her and the new baby, and now she feels a lot better about it. She's been using her dolls to practice taking care of the baby. She can't wait until her baby sister is here."

"Have you chosen a name yet?" asked Lacy.

"We've decided on 'Peyton Renee'. We wanted a name beginning with the letter 'P' because of Penny. We thought that that would help her not to feel left out once the baby's here."

Hors d'oeuvres were passed around, and the women laughed and chatted while they ate. Then Jan opened her presents and squealed with delight over all the frilly little pink dresses and booties. Cindy wondered whether her twins were two boys, two girls, or one of each. It didn't really matter to her, as long as they were both healthy.

The evening wore on, and soon Cindy realized that it was getting close to dinner time. Most of the other guests were departing, so Cindy said good-bye to Jan and got into her Toyota to drive home. A few minutes later she realized that another driver was coming toward her in the opposite lane, slowly weaving back and forth between the lanes. He swerved into Cindy's lane, and Cindy had to jerk the steering wheel sharply to the right to avoid a head-on collision. Her car left the road and collided with a telephone pole head-on.