Julia

“Twins?” asks Leo. “As in more than one baby?”

Dr. Wilks laughs. “Yes. You and your wife are going to have two babies.”

I smile a little to myself, still not over how much I love hearing people say I’m his wife. I look down at the ring on my finger, watching how the diamonds catch every bit of light and reflects it back out in a thousand different colors. It has only been four months since everything happened, and only three months since he proposed, but it feels like a lifetime ago.

Dr. Wilks gives me a warm wipe to clean off the lubricant she used. She talks more, explaining some of the possible complications in giving birth to twins and other things to look out for, but it all fades to background noise.

Twins.

Roman is going to be thrilled. He hasn’t stopped talking about all the things he wants to do with his new baby, and I can only imagine how excited he’ll be to learn there will be two babies. I sneak a glance at Leo, a little worried that he might be upset, but there’s an almost comical smile on his face. I cover my mouth, laughing at seeing him so happy.

He catches me noticing and smiles a little wider, reaching to hug me tight and kiss the top of my head. “If we don’t want to end up on a reality TV show, we had better look into some powerful contraceptives after this,” he says.

Roman and I spend the evening watching Leo get everything set up at his new office. I love watching Leo here. When I first heard that he wanted to fly, I wasn’t sure if he was kidding, but after seeing how much it energizes and excites him to talk about the business and get things set up the way he wants, I know he’s serious, and I love how happy it makes him.

Roman can’t wait until the Cessna Leo ordered comes in. I was a little surprised that Leo had enough cash on hand to just order a plane, but he cryptically mentioned that he has a comfortable amount of money put away from his previous life. We’ve moved into a modest ranch-style house about fifteen minutes from my practice and twenty minutes from where Leo’s new business is being built. My practice. I still can’t believe Ted handed it over to me. He said he had so many debts that he couldn’t afford to keep it anymore, but I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t try to sell it, and most of all, why he would give it to me.

I don’t know how, but I’m sure Leo had something to do with it. He won’t give me a straight answer when I ask though, just like both he and my mom won’t explain how her medical bills suddenly disappeared. I’m not so blind that I can’t see Leo is helping me behind the scenes, but for the first time in my life, I don’t mind being helped, not if it’s by him. He doesn’t help me because he thinks I can’t do it without his help, he just helps because he loves me, and he wants to make me happy. Whether I realized it or not, I think that was the distinction that mattered.

I finally hired the secretary our practice desperately needed and made sure we no longer see parolees. I finally love going to work again because I’m helping people who want to be helped. I’ve also been surprised by how much I enjoy running the business side of things, and it turns out I’m pretty good at it, too. I offered Lauren a job back at the practice whenever she’s ready to work again, but she seems content to keep watching Amelia and Roman. I wonder how she would feel about watching the twins too. The thought makes me smirk.

Mom’s last checkup was the most encouraging yet. The cancer may not be completely gone from her system yet, but the tumor is responding really well to treatment, and the doctors have finally started giving us encouraging predictions. The best part is seeing how much her strength is coming back. She’s more like her old self every day since she has been able to transition off the chemo to some less aggressive medicine.

Leo picks up Roman, letting him ride on his shoulders as he moves around the construction site, checking build quality and joking with the workers. I watch my two men, proud in the fading sunlight. I rub my stomach and wonder how these two new little babies are going to fit into all of this, and how they are going to make us even happier. It’s a little scary, thinking about having two babies, but I know I have Leo here to help now. I know he’s always going to be here. A feeling of love blossoms so strongly in my chest that I can barely contain it. I love him. I love him so damn much, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him.