25. Sophie
CHAPTER 25
Sophie
“ T his looks incredible,” I gasped, refusing to think about how much it all cost.
The custom pink-and-blue balloon arch couldn’t be cheap, neither could that personalized neon sign with Alex’s and my initials on it, or that dessert table that looked like it belonged in Queen Elizabeth’s tearoom. Even the scones looked far too fancy to eat.
Becks had outdone herself, and with Danny’s input—he had been more than eager to help with everything—, my baby shower was bound to be nothing less than over-the-top.
That reminded me. Where was my brother?
Glancing around the deck—an expansive space that extended from the wine-tasting area of Silver Hill Vineyards and overlooked endless rows of grapevines—, I spotted my parents. They had flown out from Seattle last night, together with my nonna, who was sitting in a chair beneath a cream-colored umbrella chatting with my aunt Pearl. There was also my uncle Jimmy, who appeared to be boring Caleb with something or other, and Valerie, my cousin from Morro Bay, talking to Erica, another cousin who had flown out from Vancouver. Amongst them all were a few nearest and dearest friends—both mine and Alex's—with drinks in their hands. Sam and his wife Maya were scrambling after their littlest one, who kept trying to squeeze himself through the railings.
Danny, however, was nowhere to be seen.
“So, there are two cakes,” said Becks, oblivious to my search. She pointed to the big table set up beside a smaller one already stacked full of baby shower gifts. “Later, you and Alex will cut into each, and we’ll be able to see if the twins are boys or girls or one of each. Danny wanted a plane to fly over us dropping pink or blue powder, but I convinced him not to.”
“Thank goodness for that.”
“He thinks cakes are far too boring for a gender reveal.”
“Everyone loves cake,” I replied, relieved that Becks had been there to mitigate the day. Danny’s plans were always a little outrageous, a little illogical. “I’m shocked he didn’t convince you to hire those sumo wrestler suits that have been making the rounds on social media.”
“That’s still not off the table,” said Becks bitterly. “He did say he’s got a surprise for you.”
My stomach clenched. A Danny surprise was always more of a shock than anything else. I would’ve let those angsty nerves get to me, but Alex walked over, his lovely lips tugged into a smile, and all my worries just faded away.
“You look beautiful,” he said, kissing me on the temple. He then stepped back as if he had just noticed something and scrunched his nose. “Wait,” he said, pointing at my pink dress.
“Weren’t you wearing blue like a minute ago?”
“I was ,” I said. “But Becks brought me a change of clothes.”
The surprise on his face was almost comical, and I would’ve reached over and smoothed the furrow between his brows if he didn’t look so damn cute.
“I thought we both agreed that our babies are going to be boys,” he said, frowning. “Didn’t you say you had a dream the other night of two little monkeys driving race cars? That was a sign, wasn’t it?”
I laughed, remembering how convinced I'd been after the dream. So certain that we were having boys I rushed to the store and bought two matching onesies with little blue dinosaurs on them. But then this morning, on the way to the venue, the feeling had changed suddenly, as if something deep within me had shifted, whispered that maybe, just maybe, we were expecting twin girls instead.
“This feels like a betrayal,” Alex said, his face a picture of deadpan seriousness. But then his eyes sparkled and his lips curved in that familiar crooked smile, sending the butterflies that had flapped in my stomach so many months ago, under that pergola at the joint replacement seminar, fluttering back to life.
Despite everything we had shared—moving in together, navigating the humdrum of everyday life—, I still experienced those lovely fluttery nerves whenever Alex looked at me with that smile or traced his finger along my cheek, or kissed me on the temple for no other reason than that he wanted to.
I secretly hoped that it would never change, and if it did—because that was life, wasn’t it—, I wished these feelings would only grow bigger and stronger, and my love for Alex would only get deeper. As deep as the ocean.
“Maybe you’re both right,” said Becks. “Maybe the twins are a boy and a girl. You know, I never knew that could happen with identical twins, not until the other day when Caleb was reading a list of twin facts. Did you know that identical twins can be mirror images of each other? One might be left-handed and the other right-handed.”
“ Really ?” asked Alex, shocked, as if he was surprised he had missed that specific fact when all he’d been doing the last few weeks was reading up on everything and anything about raising twins.
Becks was just about to open her mouth to respond when Danny showed up as if he had manifested out of thin air. He clinked a teaspoon against a glass of bubbly and cleared his throat. “Can everyone come a little closer? I just want to say a few words to get the afternoon started.” People scuffled closer, including myself and Alex.
Alex had his palm pressed against my lower back. I shifted closer and leaned into him, and he wrapped his arm around my waist and held me close.
“First off, can we all agree that Becks and I did a fabulous job getting the venue set up? If I do say so, we really outdid ourselves.”
There was a round of applause to which Danny did a half bow before he raised his hand, silencing the crowd. “Thank you everyone for being here today. This is a very special day. As you all know, I’ve known Sophie my entire life, and I’ve never seen her happier than she is with Alex. Getting knocked up was probably the best thing that could’ve happened to—”
“Hey!” I shouted, not wanting my poor grandmother to hear that I had a one-night stand. Thankfully, the woman was hard of hearing, and judging by the big smile on her face, she either hadn’t heard or wasn’t bothered. Today, I chose to believe the latter.
A few laughs echoed across the deck, including those of my parents, who had gotten over the initial shock months ago.
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” said Danny, obviously enjoying his five minutes of fame. “We’re all just glad it happened. We were starting to wonder if you’d ever meet someone who truly deserves you, Soph. It seems the universe agreed and brought you Alex.” Danny’s smile softened, and he raised his glass in the air once more. “So, whether it's two little boys or two little girls or one of each, I know these babies are going to be loved beyond measure . . . And, of course, they’re going to have the best uncle ever . . . ”
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a head of strawberry blonde hair, a set of big blue eyes, and a short, soft body carrying a present. Vicki looked as out of place as a fragile white snowflake in the hottest desert, and when she caught my eye, she stepped back as if she wanted to run.
Instead, she blended in with the crowd.
Nudging Alex with my elbow, I whispered when he tilted his head toward mine. “Vicki’s here. I thought she wasn’t coming,” I muttered.
When Becks had sent out the invitations more than a month ago—one to Vicki just to be polite—, I hadn’t minded when Vicki had said she couldn’t come. We were no longer at war with each other, but we were also not friends—far from it. For the past couple of months or so, Vicki had been giving me a sort of silent treatment, avoiding me as if she were in a battle with herself, processing what I had said and what she had said.
I understood her absence and respected it. That was why seeing her here, at my baby shower, was such a shock.
“Where is she?” Alex whipped his head toward the place where Vicki had stood just a second ago. “Are you sure it’s—”
“To Sophie and Alex,” interrupted Danny, his voice loud and cheery, slicing through the new Vicki-related tension. “Now let’s cut those cakes.”
The deck erupted in cheers and applause, and Becks pressed her hand against my mid back and pushed both Alex and me forward, until we were standing in front of the two cakes— each was topped with a glittery question mark.
I shot Alex a glance, and he gave me that nervous grin that made my heart do a little flip.
Who knew finding out the gender of the babies growing in my belly would be this nervewracking?
“No matter what,” he said, “we’ll love them equally.”
I laughed and picked up the knife. Alex did the same. We both hovered them over the cakes for a few anticipating seconds while the chatter died down and everyone held their breaths.
“On a go of three,” said Becks, clapping us down. “One. Two. Three.”
Together, we sliced into the cakes, the knives gliding through the frosting like butter. When we lifted the slices for everyone to see, there was an eruption of applause, a few “I told you so,” some more, “Her stomach was sitting way too low,” and a few more, “I can’t believe it.”
The cake slices were both bright pink. We were having twin girls.
In that perfect moment, time seemed to stretch and yawn, the universe pausing to savor the revelation just like I was.
And then, just as suddenly, everything snapped back as laughter exploded, glasses clinked, and my mother exclaimed that she had always known I was pregnant with girls.
There were also some groans by those who had lost their bets—including Danny, who had wagered actual money.
Before I could turn to Alex to check his response, he'd given me a hug so lovely and tight and an electric buzz settled deep in my chest. "Twin girls!" he exclaimed, punching the air with a fist. "Can you believe it, Soph? We're having twin girls."
Alex kissed my cheek at the same time Danny swooped in and pulled him away to the food and drinks table, eager to get the future dad a celebratory drink. I was just about to follow when a voice spoke from behind me.
“Sophie,” said the voice—one I had heard almost every weekday for the last four years, and one I’d often had to duck and dive from whenever it screeched through the gym doors.
I spun around to see Vicki standing behind me.
She was out of her scrubs, and in a pink chiffon dress that came to just below her knees. She looked not only gorgeous but innocent too, as if she couldn't hurt a fly, couldn't possibly blow dragon fire, and hadn't made my life a nightmare.
“Congratulations.” She smiled. “I’m happy for the two of you.”
“Thank you,” I replied, since there wasn’t anything else to say, especially when all I really wanted to say was, I know I sent you an invite but that was honestly just to be polite. Why are you here?
At least Vicki took the lead in the conversation. “I know me showing up here is a bit weird for you . . . But there’s something that’s been weighing heavily on me for the last few weeks.” She took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry, Sophie.”
“Sorry?” I asked, not expecting it at all. I had made peace with the fact that Vicki was never going to apologize, and I was fine with that. But this apology, so out of the blue, was probably one of the best baby shower gifts she could give me.
“Yes,” said Vicki, nodding. “I'm terribly sorry. How I’ve treated you during your pregnancy hasn’t been fair. Not even in the slightest. You were right when you said that it has nothing to do with me. It doesn’t. Alex and I weren’t together anymore. I had no right to get so angry, so cruel—”
“What’s going on here?” asked Alex, sliding in next to me.
Vicki turned to look at him. The expression on her face was both sad and guilt-ridden. It was hard to see, and despite all the maliciousness on her part, I felt bad for the woman. Beneath her hard exterior was actually a soft, loving woman who had felt betrayed and taken her feelings out on me.
“I came here to say that—”
“She’s sorry,” I interrupted, noticing Alex’s face scrunch up as if all that anger from before was resurfacing. I knew Alex wasn’t happy with Vicki, that he was still angry at her for how she had treated me, but today wasn’t a day for a fight. “And I believe her. And that’s all that matters today. So, let’s get this party started. I know Danny’s got another surprise for us.”
It was then that Danny sidled up beside Vicki and slid his arm around her waist.
For a moment there, my body went completely still, and so did Alex’s beside me. Neither of us even breathed, as if we had just witnessed something so unbelievable our minds couldn’t quite process it. But then Danny kissed Vicki on the cheek, and every inch of my skin erupted in millions of prickly goosebumps.
“What the hell is happening here?” I asked, stunned, my jaw hanging halfway down to the floor. Despite my gnawing suspicion that Danny was secretly seeing Vicki, I had never thought it would actually happen.
Danny laughed—though it wasn’t a laughing matter—and Vicki, who I’d never seen blush before, flushed pink as she leaned her head against his shoulder. “I know this must seem a bit much to the two of you, and I know I probably should have waited for another day to tell you guys about us.”
“Hang on a second,” said Alex, obviously struggling to make sense of what was happening. He had a bewildered expression on his face that I was sure mirrored mine. “Are you . . . Are they?”
But it was terribly obvious, wasn’t it? As clear as day. As apparent as the gender of our twin babies.
“Yes, Alex.” I pointed a finger at each of them as the realization of what was happening slowly set in. “These two are together.”
“How did that even happen?” Alex asked.
“Do you remember the pain in my elbow?” Danny lifted his arm. “Well, I went to the hospital, hoping you were there, Soph. But you were at one of your scans, and Vicki was there.”
If there was ever a time to regret leaving work early for a scan, it would be now. But then again, maybe Becks was right. Maybe fate really did have a hand in all of this; maybe my leaving that afternoon was always meant to happen, to open the door for someone else’s story—Danny and Vicki’s.
Vicki’s smile dropped. “You don’t mind, do you, Alex? I know this must seem ridiculous, and I promise it has nothing to do with you.” She looked up at Danny, her eyes glossing over with that blissfully happy look people got when they were falling in love.
“No.” Alex shook his head. “I don’t mind.” He still looked somewhat flustered, but was managing to gather himself far better than he had just two minutes ago. “It might not seem like it, Vicki, but I want you to be happy. Just like I am happy.” He then snaked his arm around my waist, his palm brushing along my hip.
The warmth of his touch spread through me like wildfire.
At that moment—with my brother grinning like he’d won the Powerball, Vicki all placid and looking like she was falling in love, and Alex beaming with happiness—, I knew that everything was going to be fine, perfectly fine.
I reached forward and squeezed my brother’s wrist. “I hope this is the only surprise for today.”
His smile was as cheeky as ever. “Oh, come on, Sophie, where’s the fun in that?”