Mom removed only one hand to slide the glasses onto her face, then leaned over to peer at the pictures. “Oh, there you are. You little darling.” It took her a beat to figure it out. “Oh my God! There’s another one.”
She clapped her hand over her mouth, tears gathering in her eyes before they spilled down her cheeks. It wasn’t often I saw my mother speechless, but Addy seemed to have that effect on her.
“It’s twins,” she managed finally, throwing her arms around Addy’s shoulders. “I knew you were the one, baby girl. I knew it the first time I saw Marco’s face when he said your name. I’m sorry about that hiccup, but I’m so glad it’s you.”
Predictably, Mom was thrilled about the news. Some might even say ecstatic.
She hugged Addy for a long time before she waved me over. I enveloped both of them in my arms, surprised to find that some of my mom’s emotion had spilled into me.
We’d known it was twins for months, but we wanted to tell her in person. I was glad that we’d waited.
Just when she thought the surprises were done, I leaned over and pointed at the first picture where the doctor had spotted the second baby. “You see that? She was hiding behind her sister. That’s why they didn’t see her at first.”
Mom’s glassy eyes blinked up at me, her voice reverent. “Twin girls? That’s the most wonderful thing I’ve ever heard. You know what our family says about twin girls, Marco. You are truly blessed.”
I hadn’t told Addy the full story behind the superstition yet, but I would. For now, Addy had one last surprise for her.
Her thumb traced over the babies, a serene smile spreading on her lips. “That one is going to be named Amelie, after my mother.”
“That’s beautiful,” she said, fresh tears welling in her eyes. “I think that’s a very good choice.”
“I agree. This one?” She moved her thumb to the second baby. “This one is going to be Gracie.”
Mom looked like she hadn’t heard her at first, but then she absolutely broke down. Sobs heaved through her, and she held on to Addy for what felt like an eternity.
As I watched the two of them together, I gave a quick glance up at the sky outside the window. Stars were shining brightly above us, and I grinned.
Yeah, Dad. I’m also starting to believe the superstition might just have some truth to it now.
Epilogue
Addy
If anyone had bothered to ask me a year ago what I wanted to do with my life, working in a restaurant in Italy wouldn’t have been too far from the top of my list. At least it meant that I’d managed to scrape by and was still making my real dream of traveling come true.
Little had I known back then what was waiting for me. The year had passed in an absolute whirlwind. I’d met my boss and figured out he was the love of my life, and eight months later, I was holding one of our daughters in my arms.
Sometimes, I was too afraid to blink, scared I would jerk out of a daydream and that I’d find myself still working at Antonio’s. As I looked up from our bed at Marco cradling Amelie in his arms, humming as he rocked her from side to side, I had to pinch myself.
Gracie chose that moment to let out the cutest sigh, and I decided it was more than enough proof for me. There was nothing that could make it more real than seeing Marco’s eye color mixed with my own in our daughter’s hazel eyes.
Our girls were three days old, and we’d been discharged from the hospital mere hours ago. If I hadn’t been present for the baby-readying part of our story, I wouldn’t have believed this was the same bedroom I’d first seen when Marco had given me that tour of his house.
Everything had been so clean and orderly then. His furniture had been masculine and dark, the color scheme dominated by deep hues paired with gray. There hadn’t been so much as a stray sock on the floor.
Obviously, it no longer looked anything like that. A changing station had been set up where his mahogany chest of drawers used to be. Two cribs had been moved in and placed on either side of the bed.
The floor was covered in the luggage we’d brought back from the hospital, onesies and burp cloths littering the carpet. Pajamas spilled out of my bag. Just to add that extra level of sexy, there were some breast pads that seemed to have found their way out, too.
The diaper caddy had fallen off the changing table at some point, and the room smelled like baby supplies already. To add insult to injury, there was a baby monitor mounted where the giant flatscreen TV used to be.
In the months it had been since I’d moved in, we’d changed the bedding, too. We now had a mint-green comforter with gray accents, sunshine-yellow pillows on the couches, and the hot tub had been covered. I knew it would be more than a year before they were supposed to be able to get to it, but I figured it was better to do it while we’d baby-proofed the rest of the house.
Marco didn’t show any signs of even noticing the many changes, much less that they bothered him. After that first fumble, he’d been an absolute rock star throughout the pregnancy. His protective papa-bear instincts had kicked in early, but while I’d pretended to be annoyed by them at times, I’d secretly loved every second.
It had made me feel a sense of love and belonging like I’d never had before. It had been a daily reminder of his love for me and for us. Most of all, it had proven to me that when he’d said he was all in, he’d meant it. I hadn’t doubted him again, and I couldn’t imagine ever going back
