Chapter 26
FLYNN
I sat in the chair beside my wife’s bed and held our youngest son. Ryker William Robeson was born second and he came screaming into the world where his brother had been stoic and needed to be coaxed into showing off his lungs for us.
Courtney went into labor five weeks early, but the twins still weighed around five pounds each. I glanced up to see that she was done feeding our oldest boy, Rylan Jacob Robeson.
“Switch?” I asked. She grinned and nodded to me. I gently laid Ryker across her lap and then took Rylan from her.
“Don’t forget to burp him,” She reminded me.
“Whatever you say, Momma.”
I grabbed one of the burp cloths and threw it over my shoulder. It was a lesson I learned after the first feeding when my son threw up inside my shirt. “Is he still being a pain in the butt about latching on?” I asked.
“A little, but I think he’s finally getting the hang of it.”
“We get to go home tomorrow. Are you ready?” I continued to pat my son’s back as Courtney’s eyes swung up to meet mine.
“We’ll have privacy again, which will be nice. I’m a little scared of not having professional backup in case something goes wrong though.”
“We’ll be okay, and if not, Mom and Aunt Gayle are on tenterhooks waiting to swoop in and save the day so they can have grand baby time.”
“I’m grateful that Gayle wants to be in our lives considering everything my mom did.”
“Your mom didn’t have an affair by herself. Your dad was a willing participant.”
“I know, but she has to hate me, at least a little. If it wasn’t for my relationship with her son-”
I cut her off there. “Nope. Your parents and his were friends for a long time, before you two even knew what dating was. I love you, sweetheart, but you have to stop taking responsibility for everyone else’s bullshit.”
“You’re right, and you need to figure out new words before our boys start to talk. There’s no way I’m dropping them off at their Grammy’s house one day to tell her all about the bullshit they got into at home.”
I quietly laughed with my wife until someone wrapped their knuckles gently on the door. I moved to open the it and found my parents standing there. “We weren’t sure if it was okay to come up or not.”
“Of course, it is. Come on in.”
“We found a straggler in the hall on our way up,” My mother said. I glanced behind my dad to find Reed there.
“Hey Reed, come on in. There’s plenty of room.”
“Oh, this is perfect,” Courtney said as she started to burp Ryker. I was glad she had finished up because I didn’t even think twice about the fact that she was breastfeeding. “Dads,” my wife called out. That got both of their attention. “We would like to introduce you to your grandsons.”
“What am I? Chopped liver?” My mom asked. I chuckled and held my finger up to my lips to tell her to be quiet for a minute.
“Courtney grinned at my mom, gave her a wink, and then turned her attention back to our fathers. “We want you to meet, Ryker William Robeson,” She called out and her father’s eyes immediately misted up.
I moved in closer to my own dad. “And this little guy is Rylan Jacob Robeson.”
“Are you serious? You named him after me?” My dad asked.
“Both of our boys got their middle names from their grandfathers. The men who helped to mold us into the people we are today.” My dad swiped at his eyes about the same time Reed did. “Do you want to hold your grandson?”
“Are you kidding? I thought you’d never ask!” My mother swooped in and stole my oldest son right out from under my dad.
“Snooze you lose?” I questioned.
“I know better than to stand between your mother and a brand new baby.”
“Smart man,” I told him.
“Happy wife, happy life,” He threw back at me. I didn’t miss the way Reed’s face fell at the declaration. The fact that his wife cheated wasn’t on him. That was a choice she made, but he obviously felt it deeply.
“Love you, Dad,” I heard my wife tell him.
“Love you too, baby girl. Real damn proud of you. These are some fine boys you brought into the world.” Reed turned to me then. “Maybe next time, you try for a little girl. I swear to you, she will be the joy of your whole damn life.”
My wife sniffled and then started bawling so hard her dad had to take the baby from her. I went to the bathroom and grabbed some tissues for her. “You okay?” I asked as the grandparents pretended they couldn’t hear us while they all three fawned over the boys.
“Happy tears,” she whispered as she blew her nose and let the tears fall unchecked.
Our first night home, we stood over the boys crib staring at them, as if we were to look away they would poof out of existence. At least, that’s the reason Courtney gave me. I couldn’t believe we made two perfect little humans together.
“We’re going to need to buy a much bigger house.”
“Why?”
“Because I already want to get you pregnant again.”
My wife laughed, like I was joking. I wasn’t. Her dad’s comment earlier lit a fire in my brain that had already been on a slow simmer. When Courtney saw that I wasn’t laughing with her, she turned serious.
“I just gave birth to two of your children at once! I think we can wait a while.”
I smirked at her. “We’ll see.”
“Flynn, you’re going to see when you’re neck deep in shitty diapers and squalling babies.”
“I can’t wait,” I told her as I leaned in and kissed the top of her head. She wrapped her arms around my waist and snuggled close.
“I love you so much, I’m almost crazy enough to agree with you.”
“As soon as the doctor green lights your health, Nemesis.”
“You’re going to need a new nickname for me soon.”
“Why is that?”
She shrugged. “I haven’t felt particularly vengeful lately, considering I have everything I ever dreamed of.”
I squeezed her into a tighter hug. “I think we’ll hold off on a name change until the first time someone insults one of our boys. I have a feeling Momma Bear is going to be one tough-”
“Cookie,” She cut in to say. It hadn’t been the word I would have used, but hers sounded better.
“Exactly what I was about to say.”
“Sure, Pal. Come on, we need to sleep when they do,” My wife whispered. We both tiptoed out of the room and just as we pulled the door shut half way, one of my boys decided, “Fuck naps!”
“Well, we tried,” Courtney huffed. We had to laugh. It was still funny on day one of being alone with them.
There was no need to talk about how the next eighteen years with twin boys went for us, though. The bright spot was that they became their little sister’s protectors and I didn’t have to worry so much about the dumb boys trying to run games on my little girl.