Chapter Three
Hadley had been asleep for close to an hour when her phone rang.
“On the way to the hospital,” she heard Kate’s clipped voice say upon answering. “You’re first on the phone tree Autumn handed me.”
Hadley bolted upright, a huge goofy grin taking shape on her face. She hadn’t been wrong. The tiny kids were on their way! “I’ll take it from here, Lieutenant!” And she did just that, blowing up the phones of her best friends and Autumn’s mother, Vicki, who would be a lot to wrangle at the hospital, but Hadley was up for the job. She’d mentally prepped for this for weeks: ways to keep Autumn calm, ways to occupy Vicki so Autumn could remain calm, ways to keep Isabel from swearing too much in front of the nurses. She was born for this day!
The hospital, which Hadley had gotten an early taste of when Autumn had been admitted weeks before for low blood pressure, was overrun that night. It was nearly a full moon, which might have played a role. Didn’t matter. This was the night that her honorary niece and nephew would make their debut into the world, and nothing could dampen her spirits. With an excited grin on her face, she made the drive with Isabel and Gia, who were overflowing with just as much energy as Hadley was. They were allowed to visit with Autumn prior to delivery and help her work through some of the harder parts of the process. She’d long ago okayed their presence right up until time to push.
“Where’s the epidural guy?” they heard her say as they entered her hospital room, which appeared to be a rather spacious birthing suite. Labor and Delivery knew how to do it right! Across from Autumn’s hospital bed was a long, comfortable-looking gray couch for friends and family. Oh, this was going to be lovely!
“Hi,” Hadley said, as they approached Autumn’s bed.
“You hanging in there?” Isabel asked.
Autumn grabbed Isabel’s arm forcefully and squeezed. “I need the drugs. Do you know where the guy is who has them? You’re the kind of girl who could find him, Iz. Do it! Find the guy.”
“I don’t know where the guy is.” Isabel shook her head violently and looked to Gia. “Vise grip. Help!”
“On it,” Gia said, and stepped forward. “Isabel doesn’t know where the drugs are,” she told Autumn, “but I might.”
Autumn released Isabel and grabbed Gia, who winced at the force of her hold. “Find that person,” she bit out. “Quickly.”
Gia exchanged a quick glance with Kate, who smiled apologetically from the other side of Autumn’s bed. “It’s been a whirlwind of contractions since we’ve arrived. I think we’re moving pretty fast.”
“Not too fast for drugs, right?” Autumn said, breathless.
“Not yet,” a friendly nurse said as she breezed past. “But if you don’t slow down, we’re gonna have babies in no time.”
Hadley stared down at Autumn. “See? You’re an overachiever!”
“No perkiness right now,” Autumn said, through gritted teeth. “None at all allowed.”
“Got it. I’ll just be over here glaring,” Hadley said, and fixed her face as she moved to the gray couch. She sat there and watched as Autumn’s nurse brought her ice chips, her doctor popped in to say hello, and Kate counted through each contraction. Hadley counted along silently, too, holding Isabel’s hand on one side and Gia’s on the other, willing Autumn her extra strength but in not too perky a manner. She glanced out the window at the luminous moon, hanging bright and full over all of them. Keeping watch, she imagined, as a sense of calm washed over her.
An hour later, the epidural was administered and the Autumn much resembling Satan had been replaced with the Autumn they knew and loved. Her features relaxed and she laughed and joked with them all, fully enjoying the anticipation of what was to come and playing grateful hostess at the same time.
“Anyone need a drink or a snack?” she asked the room, sporting a serene smile.
“We’re all good,” Gia told her. “Vending machines are just down the hall there. They even have free coffee.”
“I don’t know that you want to drink that,” Autumn-the-coffee-snob said.
“Any bets on time?” Kate asked the room, once the doctor took her leave.
“Five dollars says 2:34 in the morning,” Autumn predicted, leaving her only another forty-five minutes to deliver. “Do you have five dollars?” she asked Kate quietly.
“I can spot you,” Kate said, and placed a kiss on Autumn’s forehead.
“No way,” Gia said. “Too early. Going with 4:05.”
Isabel looked over at her. “Going with 4:06 just because I’ve always wanted to be on The Price Is Right and kick your ass.” Gia blew her the sweetest of kisses.
Kate typed their guesses into her phone. “Hadley?”
“Five minutes before five,” she said calmly. Everyone nodded their approval and forked over their cash to Kate, who registered her own guess at 5:32 a.m.
Just then there was a commotion in the hallway and a loud clicking of high heels. “Wait, is it through here, sweetheart? What was your name? Kendra? Just point for me. This way? Great. I’m here! I didn’t miss it, right?” Vicki yelled, rounding the corner into Autumn’s room. “There’s my baby girl!” Vicki yelled and kissed Autumn’s cheek, leaving a noticeable fuchsia lip print. Kate handed a grateful Autumn a tissue. “Where are they?” Vicki asked, turning in a circle. Hadley and Gia exchanged a knowing look. Vicki, who lived a leisurely lifestyle with no job except the capturing of men, had clearly been drinking.
“I’ll handle her,” Hadley said under her breath to her friends.
“Vicki, why don’t we walk down to the cafeteria and see if they have some water and something to eat?”
“I love you, Hadley,” Vicki said, laying on the affection pretty thick. Yep, Vicki had slammed back at least three glasses of wine that night. Two prompted her to criticize. Three made her affectionate. She pulled Hadley into a lasting hug. Vicki’s long acrylic nails scratched across the back of Hadley’s neck while they embraced. “I could use a snack. Do they have Chardonnay?”
“Nope. The hospital we’re in is fresh out.” She did her best to keep her tone light and playful. This wasn’t the time to make any kind of point to Vicki, though Hadley had been known to stand up to her on Autumn’s behalf in the past and wouldn’t hesitate if it came to that again.
“Damn. Oh, well. I guess the fun part of the evening is over, right?”
“Well, we are here for something pretty fun, if you think about it. Life changing, even.”
“Well, yes. That, too.”
Aghast at the afterthought status of her grandchildren, Hadley remembered her purpose, to keep Vicki in check. “All right, Vicki. Let’s go. Back in a few, everybody. Don’t go having any babies without us. I have my phone if anything happens.”
“On it,” Gia said with a grateful nod.
Hadley wrapped her arm around Vicki and passed Autumn an “I’ve got you” wink as they exited her hospital room. Autumn made the shape of a heart with her hands and passed it silently to Hadley.
She kept Vicki occupied for the next thirty minutes in the small portion of the cafeteria that was still open at such a late hour, listening intently to her detailed stories of how wonderful Taggart was. Taggart, whose name she’d heard about eight times already, was apparently Vicki’s man du jour. Hadley didn’t spend too much time memorizing the details Vicki dished out, as there’d be another guy next month. She could set her watch by it.
“He has the best shoulders, Hadley Bear, you should really see them,” Vicki said, as she scarfed down a strawberry Pop-Tart.
“He sounds fabulous. He has shoulders,” Hadley said, bored. “Very important.”
Vicki closed her eyes, placed a hand on her heart, and swayed. “And the sex! The sex is simply delicious. Do you know that he can easily put my leg behind—”
“Is that Leonardo DiCaprio?” Hadley practically screamed. Anything to end that terrifying, impending sentence. Some things one cannot unhear.
Vicki squinted. “I think that’s just a custodian, sweetheart. See his broom? Do you wear glasses?”
Hadley laughed it off, feigning a double take. “Oh, you’re right! Might need to get my eyes checked. Not at all a Leo sighting. One day, though.”
“No problem. I know a guy. Very handsome optometrist with the best hands. Trust me, he’d love you.” Hadley closed her eyes at Vicki’s hundredth attempt to set her up with a man, ignoring her sexuality yet again. For Vicki, the idea that everyone wasn’t man crazy was incomprehensible.
On the slow and even walk back to Autumn’s room, Hadley learned that Taggart took Vicki to all the best restaurants, and had multiple Swiss bank accounts, and leather shoes in both brown and black. Maybe even charcoal. Vicki wasn’t sure but she could check. She’d not once mentioned her arriving grandchildren, however, which was really all Hadley could think about, but Taggart apparently loathed bleu cheese and demanded it be taken off his salad, so that was something to take note of.
“How are we doing in here?” Hadley asked, as they arrived back in the room.
“The doctor was just here. Getting ready to push in just a few minutes,” Kate said, with a grin on her face. It wasn’t her typical lazy smile, or even the reserved one Hadley had become so familiar with. No, Kate was glowing full on, which only tripled Hadley’s excitement level. Autumn, however, looked nervous. She smiled up at Hadley briefly, faltered, and then smiled again. Yep, no doubt about it. She was scared, Hadley could tell, and Isabel and Gia must have sensed it, too, as they’d gathered around her bed. The three of them would be sidelined in the community waiting room when the pushing began, and this was their last chance to say goodbye to Autumn and leave her words of encouragement.
Isabel leaned close to Autumn’s face and spoke quietly to her like a coach would to her team. “You’re gonna fucking go out there and kick some delivery ass,” Isabel said, with an intense smile on her face. “You will slay every step of the way. You are Ms. Pac-Man. You got me?”
“I think so,” Autumn said. “Good advice, Iz.”
“I’m so excited for you,” Gia said, taking Isabel’s spot. She was bubblier than her usual self, which spoke to how over-the-moon she was about meeting the babies.
“Thanks, Gia Pet. I’m so glad you guys are here.”
Autumn nodded and squeezed both Gia and Isabel’s hands. She turned to Hadley, her eyes searching, as if needing something. Hadley knew exactly what it was. She spoke sincerely from her heart. “It’s okay to be scared,” she told her calmly. “That’s part of all of this. Embrace it. Listen to everything that the doctor says because she is not at all worried.” Autumn seemed to latch onto the words, and nodded. “You’re so close now, Autumn. You’ve wanted this for so long. I remember in the car on the way back from Tahoe when you first told me you wanted to be a mom. That’s about to happen, and it’s the most wonderful day ever.”
Autumn’s eyes filled and she smiled through the tears. “I remember. I can’t believe they’re almost here, Had.”
“Think about that,” Hadley said, and brushed a strand of red curls from Autumn’s forehead. “You’re about to make some amazing memories.”
Autumn nodded, her eyes brightening. “Thank you, Hadley.” It was clear she meant it.
Hadley kissed Autumn’s cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Autumn said. “I love all of you.”
Hadley glanced up at her friends who, along with her, had encircled Autumn and Kate. “You let us know as soon as there are new people in this world, you hear me?”
Kate nodded. “Of course. I’ll be out there as soon as I can be.”
With a few final long looks, and happy tears, Hadley, Isabel, and Gia moved to the hospital waiting room. They gave Vicki a moment alone with Kate and Autumn, and Hadley prayed she wouldn’t say anything to detract from the joy of the occasion. She joined them a few moments later, and the four of them waited. Time seemed to crawl by, and for Hadley the wait felt agonizing. She searched for anything to occupy her brain. While immensely happy, she was also a tight bundle of nerves, and her palms were sweaty. Talking generally helped. In fact, when she was nervous, she talked way too much.
“Who do you guys think looks good going into the preseason?” she asked her friends.
They exchanged a puzzled look.
“For what sport?” Isabel finally asked.
“I don’t know,” Hadley said. “Just thought that was something people said.” She shook her head in defeat. “No?”
“Hey, they’re gonna be fine,” Gia told her, and hopped seats so they were sitting side by side.
“I know.” Hadley took a deep breath. “It just feels like it’s been a long time. How long has it been?”
“Thirty-two minutes,” Gia said without missing a beat. Isabel and Hadley stared at her. “So maybe Had isn’t the only one watching the clock. I just think—”
But Gia didn’t get to finish. A singsong chime came over the loudspeaker, the one they’d been told about, Brahms’s Lullaby! This was the public notification that a baby had just been born in the hospital. Passersby paused their conversations and smiled up at the ceiling in gentle recognition of the new life. For a moment, no one in their group moved, no one breathed.
“That’s ours. It’s gotta be,” Isabel said, leaping to her feet.
“I’m a Gigi?” Vicki asked in disbelief, looking up from her phone. It was as if the gravity of the occasion had penetrated her self-involved bubble for the first time.
Hadley laughed and cried at the same time. “You are!” She pulled Vicki into a tight hug as the chime came to a conclusion. They traded people and did the hugging dance until everyone was sappy, crying, and smiling like idiots.
“It’s a boy!” Kate said loudly, as she bounded into the waiting room with wide eyes and a happy smile. “He’s beautiful and pink and already crying! One down, one to go!” With that, she bounded off again as they applauded her exit.
Hadley sat down, absorbing the joyful news, and then stood up again. She was lost in overwhelming emotion and unsure how to process it. She sat down once more. Then up. “Had?” Gia said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “You gonna make it? You’re looking a little uneasy there.”
“I’m fine,” she said, wiping her cheeks. “Just really, really happy. He’s finally here! And Autumn must be doing great, because Kate was glowing, so all is well, and we can just relax, everyone, and wait a little longer for more happy news. I just think maybe I should sit down again. Or stand.”
“Good idea,” Gia said, laughing. “I’ll sit. You should join me.”
“One more!” Isabel said, with a loud clap. She jumped around like a football player about to go into the game. “Let’s do this. C’mon, Vicki!”
Not knowing what else to do with herself and her newfound sentimentality, Vicki joined Isabel hopping. Hadley stood up again. Then sat down. What a sight their group must have been. Twenty minutes passed and the second lullaby hadn’t chimed.
“Didn’t Autumn say that the average time between twin births is twelve minutes?” Hadley asked. “I’m pretty positive she said twelve minutes, and we’re past that.”
“Something like twelve,” Isabel answered quietly. She’d settled back into her chair with the rest of them, hopping put on hold for now. In its place, concern seemed to have crept in, drawing her eyes pensively to the floor. Hadley felt it, too. The tension in the room was palpable and pressed down on her. She could feel it on her skin, causing her to rub her arm back and forth.
At the thirty-minute mark, Hadley took to walking the length of the waiting room, hoping for that darn chime. Surely any second. But nothing came.
“There are a ton of possible reasons for the delay. Maybe they’re just giving her time to rest,” Gia offered. “Delivering a baby is supposed to be exhausting.”
“Maybe,” Isabel said, and bit her thumbnail.
Vicki stood. “You know what? I’m the mom. I’ll go back there and check. Let them try and keep me out!”
Gia caught her gently by the shoulders. “Maybe that’s not the best idea. Let’s give them some more time. I’m sure everything is okay.” But from the look on her face, Gia didn’t believe that any more than the rest of them did.
Forty minutes hit. Forty-five. Way too long. Hadley glanced down the hallway each time anyone with a badge walked through the automatic doors into Labor and Delivery, looking for any sign of Kate, the doctor, Kendra-the-nurse, anyone. The hallway remained eerily quiet. Too quiet.
Fifty minutes. “If the baby’s in trouble, they won’t leave her in there too long,” Hadley said to the room. “That’s what Autumn said, that twelve minutes was average but that an hour would be too long. We’re close to an hour now.”
“But we’re not there yet,” Gia said. She’d clearly emerged as the leader of their little group, keeping everyone calm, and under control. Hadley had no idea how she was able to speak in such a collected and measured tone, but then again, her job demanded nerves of steel.
“It’s been fifty-seven minutes,” Isabel said, with her hands laced behind her head. “Maybe it’s time to be concerned. I’m thinking it is. You with me?”
“I’m already there,” Hadley said just as the second chime began. She covered her mouth, as tears of relief hit. Isabel tossed both hands in the air in victory. Gia slung her arm around a very quiet Vicki, who now grinned proudly.
“Gooooooal!” Isabel hollered, and jogged in place, knees bouncing to her chest.
After a short wait, the nurse arrived in the waiting room and offered to bring the group back to meet the new little ones. Hadley hung back as they walked, wanting to take her time with this moment, to recover from the worry and shift to absorbing the happiness. Happiness was the best part, and she wanted to be ready for it. It’s what she did in life, always seeking to savor the key moments so she could pull them back out and relive them later. She refused to take moments like this for granted, because they were what made life special.
Once she was ready, she peered around the doorframe like on Christmas morning. The sight she was met with, the new little family, was enough to warm Hadley from head to toe. Autumn held the tiniest baby wrapped in a pink blanket and Kate held a tiny baby, eyes wide open, wrapped in blue. Both Kate and Autumn peered up at their friends as they entered with looks of happiness and wonder on their faces as if to say, “look what happened while you were gone!”
Everyone oohed and ahhed at the new little ones while Hadley stood in the doorway looking on.
“Hadley?” Autumn said gently. “Want to meet her?”
Hadley nodded, the lump in her throat preventing her from saying any actual words. She walked slowly to Autumn’s bedside and looked down at the perfect little face, all scrunched up and fresh.
“This is Caroline,” Autumn said. “We think we might call her Carrie.”
“Hi, Carrie,” Hadley said. Big green eyes looked back up at her. Hadley gasped. “Look at her. She has your eyes!”
“Do you think? They could still change color over time.”
“They won’t,” Hadley said. “I can already tell. They’re just like yours.”
“Want to hold her?”
She glanced up. The little guy across the room was already in Gia’s arms. “Can I? Is that okay? I wouldn’t want to overstep.”
Autumn nodded and Hadley scooped up little Carrie, who blinked up at her curiously. “I’m your Aunt Hadley and I picked out your going-home outfit. I hope you like it. We can discuss it when you’re older if you don’t. It won’t hurt my feelings.”
Autumn laughed quietly. “You’ve told her that several times through my stomach, if I recall. I imagine she knows your voice pretty well.”
Hadley beamed. “I hadn’t thought of that!” Carrie yawned and shoved the back of her fist into her mouth in about the cutest motion Hadley had ever witnessed. Her stomach tightened. The little girl was warm and wrinkly and wonderful. Carrie’s whole life was stretched out in front of her. She could be anyone she wanted to be.
Autumn shook her head in wonder. “I can’t believe she’s real. I just keep staring at her.”
“She’s real,” Hadley said, and reluctantly handed her back to her mother. “How are you doing? The labor?”
“Was not so awful on the epidural. Mainly I’m just exhausted, but too thrilled to care.”
“Congratulations, Autumn,” Hadley said sincerely, and leaned down to hug her friend, who held her tightly. “Your family is amazing.”
She pulled back and met Autumn’s glistening eyes. “They really are, aren’t they? I have a family, Had.”
Hadley nodded. “And don’t think I’m not borrowing these kids. You have built in babysitting, and don’t you forget it.”
“Holding you to it.”
Hadley met William next, named after Kate’s dad, whom she’d lost a few years back. They planned to call him Will, which seemed so fitting once she had him in her arms. “You look like a Will, don’t you?” she whispered. He blinked in response. Will was the more curious of the two, taking in his surroundings with wide-eyed wonder. Hadley walked him to the window while the others doted on Carrie. “That’s the great big world out there, little guy. Just look. You’re going to take it by storm one day soon. And if you ever need anything, you or your little sister, you just give me a call. I’ll be there.” She placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.
“Want to hold him?” she asked Isabel, who immediately shoved her hands into her back pockets.
“I better not. He’s breakable, and I’m a bulldozer. You’ve met me. A total klutz.”
Hadley scoffed and approached Isabel with the baby. “Don’t be afraid. Here, open your arms.”
Isabel shook her head eight times. “No, bad idea. I’m serious, Hadley.”
“Don’t argue with me,” Hadley said, employing her stern voice.
Isabel swallowed and allowed Hadley to place Will gently into her arms. In that moment, Isabel’s entire face relaxed as she stared down at him. “Oh, wow,” she whispered. She looked up at Hadley as if to say are you seeing this?
Hadley nodded.
“He’s so small,” she breathed.
“He says, ‘nice to meet you, Aunt Isabel.’”
“He can talk, too,” Isabel said reverently, with a smile on her face. Kate came up behind Isabel and wrapped an arm around her.
“Alert little guy.”
“Right?” Hadley said. “He’s a little investigator.”
“Hey, who won the bet?” Gia asked, as she stood next to Vicki, who held Carrie.
“Oh, right!” Kate said, and pulled out her phone. “Will, the first baby, arrived at 4:55, so that means…Hadley was right on the nose.”
Everyone turned to her in mystification.
“How’d you manage that?”
“I just had a feeling,” she said, with a victorious shrug.
“Had’s always had a close connection with these two,” Autumn said, with a knowing look in her eye. “I’m not surprised.”
“And I’m out five bucks,” Gia said. “Dinner this weekend is on Hadley.”
“Oh, we’ll see about that,” she said, with a scoff.
With a final kiss and wave, Hadley, Isabel, and Gia headed home to allow the new family some alone time. Plus, after everything she’d gone through, Autumn surely needed the rest. As they walked outside into the brisk morning air, the sun was peeking out over the horizon in a glorious glow of pinks, oranges, and yellows.
“Isn’t that just the perfect ending to this whole thing?” Gia said, pausing a moment to take it in. “Damn.”
Hadley linked her arm through Gia’s and pulled Isabel to her. “To new beginnings,” she said quietly. “This is a pretty monumental one.”
“I can get behind that,” Isabel said, giving Hadley a squeeze. “Even if those terrify me.” Hadley picked up once again on Isabel’s recent unease and made a mental note to check in on her more. She seemed to need it.
“You’re gonna be just fine, Izzy,” she said, kissing the side of her forehead. “I think there’s a lot in store. For all of us.”
Gia nodded. “There is. But can we go home and crash first? The future wants us rested.”
They exchanged a fist bump and headed to Gia’s Jeep on a sleepy, loopy, fantastic high from the historical night they’d just experienced.
When she arrived home, Hadley dropped into bed with a thump, falling asleep with a smile on her face almost instantly. When she woke up sometime close to lunch, there was a message on her phone from Spencer Adair, which sent a pleasant flutter to her stomach: I’ve decided to revamp the line. And though this is hard to admit, I welcome your help. I probably need it.
Hadley sat up and grinned at her phone.
To new beginnings indeed.