Chapter 9
Over at Adam and Abby’s house, Abby was trying to get comfortable with four babies sitting on her bladder and other important organs. She had months to go and couldn’t fathom getting any bigger than she already was.
Be careful what you wish for had become their slogan.
All she’d wanted was to be pregnant. Her wish had come true four times over, which would’ve been amazing if they’d come one at a time. But no, she’d had to be an overachiever with quadruplets.
Four boys, no less.
She was going to be the mother of five boys under the age of two.
Five.
Four babies.
All at the same time.
Even weeks after getting the news about the quads, she was still reeling, and if she was being honest, she was scared. Not even the raging hurricane could overtake the storm inside her, where panic was ever-present as she contemplated the next few months.
Adam came into the living room, carrying their son, Liam.
“Mama!”
Abby held out her arms to the child who’d made her a mother through adoption.
They’d been told their chances of conceiving were infinitely small due to her polycystic ovary syndrome.
Her doctors had been as shocked as she was that she’d not only conceived naturally, but she was carrying two sets of identical twins, a result so rare as to be considered a miracle.
She was a marvel, or so they all said.
As Liam snuggled into her embrace, she pushed aside her troubling thoughts so she could focus on her little boy. “Did you take a good nap, buddy?”
“He did,” Adam said. “Two whole hours.” Adam had been working in his office upstairs while Liam napped, and Abby tried to get some rest downstairs.
She’d fallen into the habit of coming downstairs in the morning and staying there until bedtime.
Stairs had become a problem already, and it was frightening to think that everything she was feeling now was only going to get much worse before the babies arrived.
“How are things down here?” Adam asked.
“Just fine, as you know because you texted ten minutes ago to check on me.”
She loved his sexy grin, his handsome face, his thick dark hair and those dreamy McCarthy blue eyes. Would their babies look like him? She hoped so.
“Can I get you anything?” he asked.
“A hand up so I can use the bathroom would be great.”
“We can do that, can’t we, Liam?”
The child nodded and got up to pull one of her hands while Adam pulled the other.
As she rose to her feet, the pressure on her bladder was so intense, she nearly wet her pants.
She walked as quickly as she could to the half bath and made it just in time.
There was no doubt in her mind that she’d be forced to wear diapers before this pregnancy was finished. Something else to look forward to.
She emerged from the bathroom to find Adam waiting to give her an escort back to the sofa. “My hero,” she said, smiling at him.
“Sure I am. After I knocked you up with four babies, I’m lucky you even speak to me.” Adam was taking much more pleasure in this pregnancy than she was, bragging to his brothers every chance he got that his boys were the most potent of all because he’d made four babies at once.
“Yes, you are, but I’ve decided to forgive you.”
“Thank goodness for that.”
“I’m scared of how bad things will get before they arrive.”
He sat next to her and took her hand. “Don’t be, love. Whatever you need, we’ll get it for you.”
“I need a bigger body, skin that stretches, a bladder that doesn’t need to be emptied every three minutes… To begin with.”
“I’ll get right on that list.” He helped her back to her spot on the sofa, where she spent most of her time.
She worried about gaining massive amounts of weight from being inactive, but what choice did she have?
She couldn’t do much of anything. Her doctor had told her to take it easy, and Victoria was coming to the house every other day to check her blood pressure and other vitals.
They were doing everything they could to ensure a safe delivery, but she was still unnerved by the challenges that lay ahead.
“Mama! Truck!” Liam held up the new truck she’d ordered for him in the last inventory she’d purchased for her Abby’s Attic store in town. Two employees were now running the store, while she helped from the sidelines with ordering, payroll and other paperwork.
“That’s the best truck ever,” Abby said.
“Best truck. Ever!”
“He’s becoming a regular chatterbox,” Adam said.
“What are you hearing about the storm?” Abby asked, casting a concerned glance toward boarded windows.
“It’s still a Cat 2, but the wind and storm surge will be a problem. We’ll probably lose power overnight, if not before.”
“Thank God Mac told us to get that generator.”
“I would’ve thought of it,” Adam said indignantly.
“Whatever you say.”
“I would’ve!”
“You guys are so ridiculous with your posturing.”
“It’s what brothers do. You’d better get used to it. We’re going to have five of them.”
“Five more McCarthy boys. Just what this world needs.”
Adam leaned over to kiss her. “It’s exactly what this world needs.”
Lily Harris was very unhappy about the storm. She hadn’t stopped crying for more than an hour as the wind got louder and the rain beat down on the roof, making a sound like a hundred boots stomping.
“Shhhh, my angel,” Sydney said as she walked her around the living room. “Everything is just fine. Mama is here, Daddy is on the way home, and poor Buddy is sad that you’re sad.”
The golden retriever who’d once been so protective of Syd’s late children, Max and Malena, had transferred all his love to Lily, and seeing her upset had him agitated, too.
Syd had never been so happy to hear the door open along with Luke’s nightly whistle for Buddy, who went running to him.
“What’s going on, family?” Luke asked.
Lily shuddered from an hour of sobs.
“Our little darling is not enjoying the storm,” Syd said.
“I’m filthy, so let me grab the quickest shower ever, and then I’ll take over.”
“We’ll be here.”
Hearing Luke’s voice had had the magical effect of calming their daughter. It never failed. He walked in and whatever was going on was forgotten so she could give him her full attention.
“Dada.”
“He’s taking a shower, and then he’ll be right here.”
“Want Dada.”
Smiling, Syd cuddled her closer. “I know, baby girl. I do, too.”
Buddy seemed relieved that Lily had stopped crying and had settled in his dog bed, eyes still vigilantly watching his favorite person.
Even when her daughter cried for an hour, Sydney was so thankful for this new life she and Buddy had found with Luke and Lily.
The first boy she’d ever loved, and their baby daughter, had helped heal her broken heart after losing her first husband and children to a drunk driver.
There’d been a time when Sydney was certain she wouldn’t survive the loss of her family, and now, several years later, she’d been blessed with a second chance that she never took for granted.
That was especially true since the accident she and Lily had had at the marina earlier in the summer when Syd’s foot had slipped off the brake, and they’d ended up in the water inside the car.
She hoped to never again experience the terror of the few minutes that had followed before Luke and others had come to their rescue.
She couldn’t even think about that without breaking into a cold sweat, so she tried very, very hard never to think of it.
Easier said than done.
Sydney held Lily a little closer, eternally thankful for her and Luke and the joy they’d brought back into her life.
Luke emerged from the bedroom in the back of the house, wearing only a pair of basketball shorts. “Where’s my best girl?”
“Dada!”
Sydney handed Lily over to Luke and then shook out her tired arms. Their little one was getting bigger and not as easy to tote around as she’d once been.
She thought of something she’d read once, a long time ago, about how there would be a last time you pick up your child, but you wouldn’t know in that specific moment that it was the last time.
The message had been to appreciate every time you held that precious baby in your arms, because the time would come when they were too big for such things.
She wanted to slow down the passage of time to keep Lily small for a while longer, but she already knew how time marched forward, and babies grew quickly into little people with minds of their own.
Yesterday, she’d received the most exciting news possible from Victoria, who’d confirmed Sydney’s suspicions that she was expecting again.
Luke had been working nonstop and had gotten home after she and Lily were in bed the night before, so Sydney hadn’t yet gotten to share the news with him.
She couldn’t wait to tell him as soon as Lily was down for the night.
“Dada to the rescue,” Syd said when she sat on the sofa next to them.
Lily had her head on Luke’s chest and her thumb in her mouth, her eyes heavy the way they got this time of day, especially when she hadn’t had a good nap and hadn’t been able to watch Dora, due to the power flickering.
The storm had thoroughly disrupted their lives, and Sydney would be thankful to see the last of Ethel.
“How was everything today?” she asked Luke.
“Not too bad. Just a lot of running around and trying to make sure we’ve thought of everything.”
“I’m sure you guys did a great job getting ready. And you’re doing the usual great job of settling our baby girl. Nothing Mommy did worked this afternoon. She was so unsettled by the storm.”
“It’s loud. Probably scared her.”
The lights flickered again, and then the room went dark.
“Welp, there it goes,” Luke said. “I’ll get the generator out for the fridge once she’s down for the night.”
They worked together to get Lily down, and then Sydney cooked burgers on the grill while Luke got the generator hooked up on the deck. He ran an extension cord into the house and connected it to the fridge.
“How long will that cover us?”
“I’ve got enough gas for a few days.”
“After this, we need to pull the trigger on the whole-home thing Mac told us to get.”