Rhett — 6
You know what’s great about twins? There’s two of them. One for each parent. You know what’s not so great about twins? There’s two of them, and if you think they’ll sync up at two days old, think again.
Logan was completely passed out when I came out of the bathroom, and not five minutes after I’d crawled into bed for a nap, I heard the sounds of a quiet cry. I was up and in the nursery before Abi could get worked up and wake up her brother. I should have known better; she hadn’t taken nearly enough of her bottle, and of course she wanted the rest.
I carried her downstairs with me and quickly whipped up another two ounces of formula, and then it went in her mouth after I’d checked the temperature. As I stared down at her, I thought about how beautiful she was, and if she grew up this pretty, we were going to be in trouble.
Unfortunately, after only taking another ounce of formula, she was sound asleep again. That wasn’t going to work. I wasn’t interested in having a baby that wanted to “graze” every hour. Logan and I would have to do things in shifts, and although that wasn’t ideal, I knew he’d be willing to do it, just as I was. But he was going to have to go back to work soon. He had responsibilities at the ranch that he couldn’t push off onto Boone for long. They all had their own things they were responsible for, and it wasn’t fair to expect Boone to cover for Logan for an extended amount of time.
I must have been so tired and dozed off because the next thing I recalled was Logan gently taking Abi from my arms. I looked around and we were still downstairs, on the couch.
“What time is it?” I asked. When I sat up, I cringed, realizing my shirt was soaked. Oh joy. “Careful, she’s soaked,” I tried to warn Logan.
“Already discovered that. Ash is fed, changed, and back asleep. Why don’t you go take a quick shower, and I’ll give her a sponge bath and get her cleaned up? When did she eat last?”
“It was right after my shower, so…wow, three hours?”
“Shit. She’s going to be starving,” Logan said just as Abi started fussing.
“You go start cleaning her up, and I’ll make a bottle before I come upstairs.” Logan nodded before he took off for the stairs. I’ll admit, I wasn’t unhappy that he was the one doing the sponge bath thing. I was nervous about that, and Logan had experience from when Boone’s girls were little.
After the bottle was ready, I rushed upstairs to find my husband in the master bathroom, Abi lying on a towel on the counter between the two sinks.
“Where do you want the bottle?”
“You can just sit it down. We need to remodel the twins’ bathroom. There’s not enough room on the counter,” Logan told me as he used a soft baby cloth to gently wipe Abi’s skin.
“Well, okay. But by the time it’s complete, they’ll be in the bathtub or something, so will it really matter?” I asked as I stripped out of my wet clothes. Yep, cold, wet pee was not a comfortable thing to feel.
“You’re probably right, but there’s not enough room in there. Maybe we should have it remodeled anyway?”
“We can if you want. Once they get older, they might not want to share a bathroom anyway,” I said as I climbed back into the shower. Usually I only ever took multiple showers a day because of other messes. Yeah, sadly, those days were probably over. At least, for a little while. Who knew when Logan and I would have time for each other.
When I got out of the shower, Logan and Abi were gone, but I knew they weren’t far away. After I got dressed in another pair of sweats and a shirt, I put on socks and shoes. The floors weren’t exactly warm, and I didn’t like to walk around in socks. I picked up my wet clothes and carried them down the stairs, stopping at the nursery door on my way. I held them up when Logan looked at me from the rocker. Abi was in his arms, hungrily sucking on her bottle.
I threw my clothes in the washer, leaving Logan’s shirt in for another cycle through. It couldn’t hurt, especially with how difficult it could be to get formula out of things. As I was leaving the laundry room, I just about screamed when I was met with Isaac’s smiling face at the back door.
“Damn, you scared me,” I said as I opened the door for them.
“Sorry, but I have a certain lady here who has missed her daddy,” Isaac said as Scarlett came bursting into the house. She started whining, barking, and dancing at my feet. I hit my knees, and when I went to wrap my arms around her, she plowed me over with her enthusiasm.
“Yeah, I missed you too, girl,” I said as I giggled at her kisses. They tickled. I was finally able to get up off the floor, and it was then that I realized Jacob was with Isaac. Of course he was. The man was crazy about babies, and I had a new set of them.
“They’re upstairs with Logan. I actually just got out of the shower because Abi leaked all over me,” I told them.
“Oh man, I remember those days. What brand of diapers are you using?” Isaac asked.
“I’m not sure. The kind in the green bag. They had the smallest preemie ones. And technically, they aren’t preemies, but with them being twins…”
“Yeah, they’re small. I get it. I was both lucky and not. I didn’t get Mack until he was three months old and he was already fifteen pounds. He was a little butterball back then, but I would have loved to have him those first three months,” Isaac said.
I nodded before I looked down at Scarlett. “Hey, girl, you wanna go see Daddy? He’s with the babies, and I hope you love them.” I couldn’t help it; I started to worry. What if Scarlett didn’t like the babies? Would I have to…no. I couldn’t. I’d have to figure things out.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and when I looked up, Isaac was smiling at me. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be fine. Scarlett loves you, and Logan. Those babies are a part of you, and they’re going to smell like you two. And have we ever had any issues with her around Mack, Chloe, or Phoebe?”
“No, and she’s been around the girls a lot. Kait and I spend a lot of time together now that I’m not at the bakery all the time.”
“Exactly. Scarlett loves kids. She might not know what to do at first, but I’m sure she’ll be okay.”
I nodded; it was all I could do. Scarlett, the amazing girl she was, sensed my stress and came over and started licking and nuzzling my hand. I looked down and gave her some ear scratches before I took a deep breath and headed for the stairs. It was now or never, I guess.
“I have to make a bottle real quick, but if you two want to go meet the two newest members of the family, you’re welcome to,” I told Isaac and Jacob. They were more than ready to finally meet the twins in person, although they’d gushed over the pictures we’d bombarded everyone with while we were in the hospital with them.
“We can wait. I know you’re stressed, but I’m sure it will be okay, just like Isaac said,” Jacob told me. I nodded before I went and washed my hands. Once I had the bottle mixed, I put it in the bottle warmer, and in no time, we were headed upstairs.
“Those things are a lifesaver, aren’t they?” Isaac said as we climbed the stairs.
“What?”
“The warmer. Just wait until it’s the middle of the night. They really do save your ass then.”
“In the hospital we had those ready-made bottles, but the powder and water seems to sit better with both of the twins, so that’s what we’ve used since we’ve gotten home.”
“It did with Mack, too.” I watched as Scarlett darted ahead of me at the top of the stairs and took off to the master bedroom, but she skidded to a stop at the doorway and just stared before she started creeping in.
“She’s checking things out. Something’s new,” Jacob said as he came up behind her. I peeked into the nursery as we walked by, but it was quiet in there. But when I walked into the master bedroom, I saw Logan and Abi. He was smiling and quietly talking to Scarlett while holding a fussy princess.
“I do believe you need this,” I said as I held up the bottle. Logan reached for it, and when I joined him, I got down on my knees. Jacob and Isaac were at the door, watching.
“Come here, Scarlett. It’s okay,” I told her. She came over, but she was still a little unsure. Logan got down on one knee, which made me a little nervous, but all Scarlett did was sniff Abi. A lot. Then she started whining.
“Yeah? Is she okay? She has a brother, too. You want to meet him? I know Jacob and Isaac are waiting to get their hands on one of them,” I told her as I got up from the floor. All seemed to be going well so far.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll feed Abi. I need to wash my hands first though,” Isaac said. Logan chuckled but nodded, and Isaac took off toward the hallway bathroom that we’d set up for the babies. Jacob followed behind, which caused me to laugh.
“Come on, girl. Let’s go meet your new brother,” I said as I left our bedroom and went to the nursery. Scarlett didn’t quite know what to think at the doorway again, but she came in easily enough. I went to the crib and carefully picked up Ash and knelt down, allowing Scarlett to sniff him as well. She whined and then lay down on the rug in the middle of the room.
“I still love this room. It’s perfect for twins and it’s cute, too,” Jacob said as he entered. He plopped down in what had quickly became my favorite chair when it was delivered a month ago, and I took Ash over to him.
“Oh wow, he’s so tiny.”
“He’s six pounds four ounces, which is a really good size for a twin.”
“Are you kidding? That’s just under what Jasmine weighed when she was born. I think he’s tiny because he is. I mean, he’s tiny, just look at him.”
“It’s because you’re used to Mack, babe,” Isaac said as he sat in the rocker and put his feet up on its ottoman. Logan handed Abi off, causing Isaac to smile.
“You know, you’re probably right. Mack is so much bigger,” Jacob said, agreeing with his husband.
I watched as our babies were held by my cousins by marriage, and I had to smile. Things were going to be okay. We had a large family, and they stuck together. I just needed to be sure to ask for help if we needed it. Logan gave Scarlett some ear scratches, causing her to briefly take her eyes off the twins before quickly looking back at them.
“You think she’ll be okay? I don’t want to stress her out. Maybe we should have asked the trainer before we brought the twins home?”
“Munchkin, calm down. She’s going to be fine. The babies are new, and she’s probably simply trying to figure out what exactly they are.”
“I hope so. Come on, Scarlett. You want to go eat?” I asked but got nothing. Scarlett didn’t even look over at me.
“We’ll be down in just a bit if you two wanted to go relax. Has she been changed, and are you using both cribs?”
“Yes on the diaper, no on the cribs,” Logan told them. Jacob and Isaac both nodded, and Logan tugged me out of the nursery.
“They’ll be fine. They both have plenty of experience with babies.”
“I know. I’m just worried about Scarlett.”
“Don’t be. She’s not shown any signs of aggression, and she’s all but claimed the twins. They’re new. Give it a few days. And remember, she’s a Shephard, they protect and watch over pack. I’m pretty sure she sees the twins as pack and she’s not sensing a lot of stress from you right now.”
I nodded and descended the stairs and headed straight for the living room, where I flopped down on the couch. It was comfortable, which was probably why I’d fallen asleep earlier. That and the fact that I was just worn-out.
“Logan?”
“Yeah?”
“How are we going to do this?”
“One day at a time, sweetheart,” Logan said as he lay down on the couch and maneuvered to where I was on top of him. I sighed and relaxed, listening to my husband’s steady heartbeat.