I run down the hall and open the door to my parent’s bedroom.

“Shit!” Dad screams, sliding off Mom.

Mom laughs as she buries herself under the covers while Dad sits up.

“Brady, we’ve been over this. You need to knock.”

“What were you doing?”

Mom rolls over and laughs into the pillow. They must have been having a tickle fight or something.

“What’s so funny?” I ask, starting to walk toward the bed.

“No!” my dad holds his hand out in the air. “Give your mom and I a few minutes.”

“It’s Christmas morning,” I whine. “Santa came. I saw the presents.”

Mom’s laughter stops and her body is sliding around under the sheets. Her head pops out.

“Santa came? It’s only Christmas Eve!” she exclaims.

Dad rolls his eyes. Mom leans over and kisses his cheek. “Good morning,” she says and my dad’s face loses that mad look he gets when I play video games too long.

“I was just about to give you your present.”

Mom laughs again, her hand touching dad’s arm.

“Presents! Let’s go!” I turn to run out of the room.

“Brady, no. Those aren’t from Santa, those are the ones from your aunt and uncles.” She waves me toward the bed. “We need to talk to you about something,” my mom says.

“Now?” my dad asks. He sounds like he doesn’t want to.

“No better time than the present.”

Present?

I run in and jump on their bed. Dad pulls the blanket tighter to him while mom reaches for a present on the nightstand and hands it over to me.

“I can open it?” I ask, my insides getting that funny feeling inside them.

Mom nods and Dad slides closer to her. “Just this one. Tomorrow morning you can open the others.”

I tear off the paper and the excitement falls. Clothes?

“Open the box,” Dad nudges it closer to me.

I try to remember what my dad always says about being thankful for anything anyone got you, but clothes?

My fingers pull the top of the box open, great, probably a new set of pajamas. Please tell me mom hasn’t lost her mind and we’re all going to have matching pajamas for Christmas morning.

A shirt. Yippee.

“Thanks,” I say, trying to put a small smile on my face.

The two share a look.

“Brady.” Mom leans forward, taking it out of the box and holding it up. “Did you read it?”

I blink and then read the shirt that has two pointing thumbs on it. “This awesome guy just got promoted to Big Brother.”

Mom drops the t-shirt and the two of them stare at me.

“Big brother?” I ask, not really sure… “Really?” I yell.

Mom nods and water fills her eyes again. She’s been crying more than my grandma did after mom and dad told her they got married.

Dad places his hand on mom’s belly, rubbing back and forth.

“Your mom is pregnant,” he says and kisses her cheek.

“Like a baby is growing in there?” I point to her stomach.

She nods, swiping another tear from her cheek.

“Actually, bud, two babies,” Dad holds his arm out for me to get closer. I sit in front of them and they wrap their arms around me. “Our family is growing. You’ll be having two brothers, or two sisters, or maybe one of each.” My dad keeps talking.

“They’re not going to live in my room are they?” I ask.

Mom laughs, grabbing me and hugging me tight to her. “Nope. You’re the big brother, you get to be the helper and,” she lowers her voice, “boss them around.”

“Lennon,” Dad sighs, but she waves her hand at him.

She does that a lot.

“So I’m in charge of them?” I ask, the idea sounding better.

“Yep.”

“Len,” Dad repeats.

“Let the boy enjoy the moment.” She grabs the t-shirt and throws it over my head. “Now you’re wearing this because your aunts are driving me crazy with all their questions.”

“You don’t want to make a big announcement?” Dad asks her.

Her hand touches his cheek. “You know I like low key.”

My dad stares at her. “Brady, go wake up your aunts and uncles. Give Mommy and I a moment to get dressed.”

I jump off the bed. I love waking up Uncle Lucas. He always pretends to wrestle with me.

“Shut the door on your way,” Dad says and Mom laughs again.

“Dad?” I turn at the door to find the two of them hugging.

Each of them look at me. “Yeah?”

“How did the babies get inside Mom’s stomach?”

The two turn to each other and point.

“This is you,” Mom says.

Dad smiles. “Let Mommy and I figure it out and then we can talk about it.”

Mom smacks his arm, but Dad pulls her closer.

I shrug, slam the door and run down the hall to wake everybody up.