Chapter 21

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It’s the three year anniversary of moving into the house. It’s not generally an anniversary people celebrate, but Sookie and I celebrate since it was the beginning of our new life. In this house we’ve raised two well behaved dogs, fought like assholes, fucked on every single surface, including on a fishing boat in the pond; on the dock and other random places on the property. The guesthouse when it was being built, after it was built and even during the wedding reception when we snuck away for a quickie. It turned into twenty minutes and I called her Mrs. Northman the whole fucking time. It was glorious.

 

We’ve been through a lot of shit in that time too. There was one almost relapse, but I stopped myself before I went through with it. It was after a particularly bad fight with my dad during therapy. I sat at the bar with an untouched beer in my hands for two hours before I called Sookie to come get me.

 

Now I’m sitting on the dock, throwing sticks into the pond for the dogs to fetch, waiting on Sookie to come out with our dinner. It was the first meal we had in the house, which was pizza, but we do it homemade now. I hear the twigs snap on the ground and turn around to see my wife heading my direction with a goofy smile on her gorgeous face.

 

“Come here, beautiful,” I smile back at her, holding out my arm, when she reaches the dock.

 

“Sorry, it took longer than I expected,” she says as she approaches me with a pair of plates in her hands and a bottle of water for us to share sticking up out of her cleavage.

 

Mmm… Still the best tits in the world.

 

“Have a seat.” I pat my lap before I reach out for a plate.

 

Sookie parks herself on my lap and immediately dives into her pizza.

 

“Hungry?” I chuckle as I take a bite of my own pizza. She gets better and better at this cooking shit everyday.

 

“Uh huh,” she replies with her mouth full. “I feel like a bottomless pit.”

 

I rub her belly with my free hand and say, “Hopefully you won’t feel like that soon.” We’ve been trying for a baby going on a year now.

 

“Sooner than you think,” she says with a small smile.

 

I can feel the smile spread across my face. “How soon?” I ask.

 

“St. Patrick’s day,” Sookie grins. “At least that’s what Dr. Merlotte said.”

 

“Baby, really?” I ask as my smile gets a little bigger.

 

“Yep. I saw him yesterday but I wanted to wait until today to tell you,” she says. “Don’t be mad.”

 

“Why would I be mad?” I ask, tilting my head to kiss her.

 

“I almost told you a dozen times last night,” she admits. “It was hard keeping it to myself.”

 

“I’m glad it worked either way.” I’m so fucking excited, and nervous, I want to throw a fucking party.

 

“Me too,” Sookie agrees. “Are you okay with this?”

 

“Why wouldn’t I be? We’ve been trying for this for damn near a year.”

 

“I’m just checking. Trying and talking about it is different from actually waiting and expecting a baby to actually appear in our lives.”

 

“Honestly, if you’d come to me six months ago I would’ve been a mess, excited, but more scared than anything. I think after having the dogs and the extra time to get used to the idea helps me. I’m perfectly fine with this.”

 

“Good,” she smiles.

 

We finish eating our pizza and all I can think about is the fact that Sookie is now growing a little Northman inside of her. This is a huge deal. This is a place I didn’t think I’d ever get to. I’m happy though. This is what we wanted and still, after three years, Sookie is my best friend and the one person that I can say anything to. Raising a little one isn’t going to be that hard. We agree on most things when it comes to kids, the few things we don’t agree on I know we can compromise on.

 

“You ready to go in?” I ask after a while. The dogs came out of the water when we started eating and I’m sure they’re dry by now.

 

“Yeah,” Sookie nods and gets off my lap.

 

I get up and take the plates from her. The dogs automatically follow us back to the house. I take the plates to the kitchen, with Sookie right behind me.

 

“Should we call our parents?” I ask as I rinse the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

 

“We can if you want.”

 

“We can wait. What do you want to do? And will you throw something at me if I start calling you Mother?” I chuckle.

 

“You can call me that if you want to kiss your sexing privileges goodbye,” she says seriously.

 

“So I guess Daddy is still off the table, too?”

 

“I thought you preferred Master,” she smirks.

 

“I do love Master,” I smile. “How sexy are you feeling right now?” I ask as I dry my hands.

 

“Depends on what you have in mind.”

 

I wrap my arms around her waist, swaying us from side to side. I dip my head down to kiss my wife on the jaw and whisper, “I want to make love to my beautiful girl. Nice and slow. I want to let you feel every inch I have to offer while I watch your gorgeous body writhe below me…”

 

“Mmm… that sounds good.”

 

“Want to go to the bedroom?” We rarely make it to the room anymore.

 

“We might as well get used to being confined to the bedroom,” she smiles.

 

“Baby, we’ll never be confined to the bedroom. The kids will learn to leave us alone,” I chuckle.

 

“That’s what you think,” she snorts.

 

“We have another whole house we can hide in. Jump,” I say, bending my knees slightly so I can grab her thighs.

 

“We can’t leave little kids in here alone.”

 

“The dogs will make excellent babysitters,” I joke as I carry her toward the stairs.

 

“Oh you mean Allie, who gets in the garbage for revenge and Noah, who chews your shoes?”

 

“As long as he doesn’t chew on the baby we’ll be fine.” Noah is still ridiculously jealous of me. He only loves me if Sookie isn’t around.

 

“Nah, this breed of dog is good with kids,” she says and starts to pull her tank top over her head.

 

“See, perfect babysitters.” I get to the room and set her on her end of the bed. I pull my shirt off before slipping my shorts off. “Get comfy.”

 

Sookie scoots back on the bed and lies back against the pillows. I pull her shorts and panties off. I climb up on my knees between her thighs and gently stroke her lower lips with my thumb. I spend the next two hours making love to my wife exactly how I planned to.

 

***

 

“Yes, Mom, we’re sure,” I chuckle when Mom asks if we’re positive Sookie is pregnant.

 

“Do you have ultrasound pictures? Text them to me immediately,” Mom instructs.

 

“Not yet, Kirsten. I’m not far enough along yet, but after my next appointment in two weeks I’ll make sure to send them to you,” Sookie promises.

 

“Are you guys going to come out when we find out the sex?” I haven’t seen Mom in a couple months and I miss having her around.

 

“I’ll talk to your father about it. He’s got some stuff coming up for the new record.” He went solo two years ago.

 

“You don’t have to bring him, you know?” We get along now, but we’re still not close. I don’t think we ever will be.

 

“I know, but I’d like to if I can.”

 

“It would be nice to see him,” Sookie adds.

 

“He’ll be thrilled when I tell him. Don’t be surprised if he sends you a drum set so Eric can teach the baby,” Mom warns.

 

“I already make her crazy with the piano,” I joke. The dogs howl along with me when I play and sing. It’s adorable.

 

“Nonsense. I know she loves when you play,” Mom replies.

 

“I do,” Sookie agrees.

 

“So how are you feeling, sweetie? I had terrible morning sickness with Eric.”

 

“I feel pretty good. I get nauseated once in a while and I’ve been more tired than normal, but otherwise I’m good.”

 

“She has an unnatural addiction to peanut butter too,” I tell Mom.

 

“I had that before I was pregnant,” Sookie chuckles.

 

“Eric wanted garlic,” Mom says. “Whole. Cloves.”

 

“Which is funny because I can’t have too much garlic now,” I chuckle.

 

“You overdosed in the womb,” Sookie chuckles.

 

“So when are you due?” Mom asks.

 

“Somewhere around St. Patrick’s Day,” Sookie answers.

 

“I’m predicting a boy,” I tell Mom. “Something about this feels manly to me.”

 

“He just wants a boy so he doesn’t have to worry about little shitbag punks molesting his princess,” my lovely wife snorts.

 

“I know what kind of shitbag I was. I’m going to teach the kid right from wrong either way, but I’m just not ready to go to prison for murder one.”

 

“You sound just like your father,” Mom tells me.

 

“Well it’s a good thing he didn’t have any girls.”

 

“No kidding.”

 

“Excuse me,” Sookie says and quickly bolts for the bathroom.

 

“Annnd, I think she’s having her first bout of morning sickness,” I smile.

 

“It had to kick in sometime. I’ll let you go. Congratulations, honey, I’m so happy for you,” Mom says sincerely. In the background I hear Sookie heaving and gagging.

 

“Alright, Mom, I love you,” I say as I get up to head to the kitchen for a glass of water and some crackers.

 

“I love you too. Kiss my grandbaby for me.”

 

“I will.” I hang up with Mom and go to the bathroom with the water and crackers. I set it down before I pull her hair back and start to rub her back. I feel like a dick for smiling, but I’m happy that she’s throwing up because she’s carrying my baby. Finally.

 

SPOV

 

I spoke too damn soon about the morning sickness, but our nearest neighbor, Dawn, puked all through her pregnancies. It could be way worse. That’s what I’m going to tell myself every time I get sick. At least Eric’s good about bringing me water and rubbing my back when I get sick.

 

At the moment we’re waiting for the ultrasound tech to come in so we can have a look at the baby. Dr. Merlotte is a family doctor and doesn’t have a machine in his office, so we have to go somewhere else for these appointments. I’m only eleven weeks along so we won’t see much.

 

A petite brunette in scrubs comes into the room with a friendly smile. Her name tag says her name is Maria.

 

“Hello, Mrs. Northman. I’m Maria, I’ll be your ultrasound tech today,” Maria greets me. “I hear you guys are having your first baby?” she smiles and reaches her hand out to shake mine.

 

“Nice to meet you, Maria, I’m Sookie and this is my husband, Eric. This is our first baby,” I say as I shake her hand.

 

“Nice to meet you, Eric,” she smiles, moving to shake his hand.

 

“Likewise,” Eric responds politely.

 

“Do you know how far along you are?” she asks as she turns the ultrasound machine on.

 

“Doc says eleven weeks,” I reply.

 

“We’ll probably get a better idea today.” She looks Eric up and down and adds, “Maybe not. Looks like you might be working with giant genes.”

 

“Oh I definitely am,” I laugh. “I’m prepared for an enormous baby.”

 

She adjusts my shirt and pants, tucking a towel into my waistband.

 

“Was this a surprise, or planned?” Maria asks as she pulls the warm gel from the warmer.

 

“Planned,” Eric provides. “We’ve been trying around a year.”

 

“Then congratulations,” she smiles, placing the wand on my lower abdomen.

 

“It took a while for the Depo to get out of my system,” I chuckle. That didn’t stop us from fucking like rabbits.

 

“Usually does. I tried for almost two years before I got pregnant,” she says. “Do you see this little pulsing spot?”

 

I see the flickering on the monitor and nod.

 

“That’s the heart beating,” she smiles. She points to another one an inch or so away and says, “This is the second heartbeat.”

 

The second?!

 

“The baby has two hear… Oh…” Eric goes eerily quiet as his eyes fix on the screen.

 

“Whoa, whoa… Dr. Merlotte didn’t say anything about twins,” I tell her.

 

“Dr. Merlotte hadn’t seen them,” she chuckles.

 

“I know, but wouldn’t my blood test tell him it was twins?” I know they look at hormone levels for confirmation of pregnancy.

 

“Generally, yeah, I don’t know why he didn’t tell you. Maybe your bloodwork didn’t indicate twins,” she says. “It’s not unheard of.”

 

“You’re sure it’s twins?” I stare at the monitor and I can clearly see two flickering spots. Then I notice there are two heads. It’s definitely twins. Holy fucking hell. “Babe, you knocked me up with a vengeance.”

 

“Uh huh,” he says quietly as he stares.

 

“Do you guys want some pictures of this?”

 

“Yes,” I nod. “Can we hear their heartbeats? Are they growing right?”

 

She presses a button and the room is filled with two rapid little pulses.

 

“Wow…” Eric whispers.

 

“From what I can tell they’re growing just fine. Looks like they’re going to be identical, too.”

 

“How can you tell?” I ask. I can barely make out their teeny arms and legs.

 

“They’re sharing a placenta,” she says matter-of-factly.

 

“That’s how you know?” Huh. Interesting.

 

“Mmhmm. If they didn’t it would be more of a toss up, but it looks like these two are sharing. Better to start ’em young,” she snorts.

 

“That’s good to know. I had no idea that’s how doctors knew before the babies were born. I’m guessing it’s too early to know what their gender is?”

 

“Yeah, usually around twenty weeks or so we can tell,” she explains.

 

Eric looks a little green when I look over at him.

 

“Babe, are you okay?” I squeeze his hand.

 

“Yeah,” he sighs. “I’m just royally fucked if it’s girls.”

 

“You’ll be okay,” I smile.

 

“Hopefully,” he smiles and leans over to kiss me.

 

“Ah, you guys will be fine,” Maria giggles. “I can give you my husband’s number and he’ll tell you what it’s like to have a girl hitting her pre-teens.”

 

“Unless he knows how to stop puberty from happening, I’m not sure he can help,” I chuckle.

 

“Unfortunately, that’s not an option,” Maria smiles. “You’ll be okay, big guy.”

 

“I’m definitely hoping for boys now.”

 

I laugh and squeeze his hand again. “Girls with stubble, remember?”

 

“Stubble for the win,” he snorts.

 

“What are the chances of having twins a second time if I have more kids?” I ask Maria.

 

“Hmm, one in seventy thousand. You should be safe.”

 

“You’d think but I beat twenty-two million to one odds to win an Olympic gold medal,” I snicker.

 

“Then unless you two want another set, you shouldn’t try,” she laughs.

 

“My father-in-law will be disappointed. He’s convinced we’re going to have six kids,” I tell her. “At this rate he might be right.”

 

“He just says that because I can’t keep my hands off of you,” Eric chuckles.

 

“Then you may be giving him twelve grandkids with your luck,” Maria points out.

 

She finishes snapping the screenshots and hands me a towel to clean up my belly.

 

“I guess I’ll see you two when we find out the sex,” she smiles. “You can pick up the pictures on your way out. Congratulations and good luck.”

 

“Thank you,” Eric smiles back. He’s still a little shaky from the news.

 

“Thanks, Maria,” I smile and pitch the towels into the trash. I slide off the exam table and fix my clothes. I thought it was a little soon to be showing, but then I figured it’s just because Eric is a giant. Now I know it’s because I’m incubating two future giants.

 

We leave the exam room and I stop to make my next appointment for eight weeks from now.

 

“Are you okay to drive?” I ask as we walk to the car. I’m going to need to get books about twins. I know from my skating days that twins like being together. There was a set I skated with that were fraternal and got into pairs skating.

 

“Yep, I’m fine,” he smiles. “It’s just not news I was expecting. I’m happy, though.”

 

“Me either. I just assumed my bump meant we were having a giant,” I chuckle. Climbing up into the Escalade isn’t going to be easy in a few months.

 

“I figured it was the jars of peanut butter you devour,” he says before closing the door.

 

“Haha,” I laugh humorlessly. I’m getting tired of peanut butter but it’s become a compulsory thing. Maybe it’ll go away after the first trimester.

 

Eric gets behind the wheel and we head for home.

 

“Now we need to call the grandparents with this news so they know to buy two of everything,” he says.

 

“We’ll call when we get home,” I say and then yawn. I need a nap.

 

“Do you want to stop for anything on the way home?”

 

“Hmmm… I would love one of those French onion soup bread bowls from Panera,” I reply.

 

“Done,” he nods.

 

“You’re the best,” I smile. “Looks like we’ll each get to name a kid. No rhyming names though, okay? Especially since they’re identical that seems mean.” I rest my hand on my bump.

 

“Oh, fuck no,” he laughs, “That is cruel and unusual punishment.”

 

“I’m glad we agree.”

 

“I’m also glad we have two dogs. They’re gonna be pissed when we bring home babies so they’ll need each other for comfort.”

 

“They’ll be fine. Betcha Noah likes the babies more than you,” I snicker.

 

“That’s a fucking given,” he laughs.

 

“Baby proofing the house is going to be fun.”

 

“Yes it is,” he chuckles. “If they’re anything like me we might need to put them on a leash from walking age to twenty-five.”

 

“If they’re anything like you, you’ll probably end up back at Eagle Creek.”

 

“That too,” he nods.

 

“You know with twins it’s more likely I’ll need a c-section. That means pain medication afterwards,” I say nervously.

 

Eric reaches over to grab my hand and says, “There are non-narcotic options and I know the signs of addiction. I won’t let that happen to you, I promise.”

 

“I know how to hide it, Eric. I don’t want to get dependent on anything but I didn’t want to get hooked on OxyContin either.”

 

“Sookie, I have faith that you won’t, but in the event that you do become addicted again I’ll be here to help you clean up.”

 

“Oh that’ll be great for our kids. Gee, sweetie, I wish I could remember your first steps but Mommy was in rehab.”

 

“And that’s why I have faith that you won’t become dependent on prescription pills again. Even if your body is screaming for the pills, you wouldn’t jeopardize our babies like that.”

 

“I hope not,” I sigh.

 

“Baby, your love for these two will always far outweigh your desire to get high,” he says, rubbing my belly.

 

“I’m scared it won’t,” I admit. It’s possible I could fall down the rabbit hole again. “I’ll talk to some of the moms that are in my narcotics anonymous meetings and see how they dealt with it.” I go to meetings once every two weeks and I have a sponsor, but I don’t rely on Isabel like I did years ago.

 

“Good plan. Also, inform Dr. Merlotte that you’re in recovery,” he reminds me.

 

“He already knows. I told him years ago.” It’s noted all over my medical records.

 

“That’s already a start.”

 

It would be even better if I never got addicted in the first place, but if I wouldn’t have I probably wouldn’t have met Eric and these growing babies wouldn’t be happening right now. Eric pulls into the Panera parking lot and parks near the door.

 

“Want me to run and get it to go?”

 

“If you don’t mind. Oh, and a nutty chocolate chip cookie if they have any.” They always seem to be out. Jerks.

 

“If they don’t I’ll make those bitches bake fresh ones for you,” he smiles and leans over to kiss me.

 

“Best husband in the world,” I reply.

 

“Happiest husband in the world,” he says as he hops out of the Escalade and goes into Panera.

 

I lightly drum my fingers over my belly as I watch Eric walk up to the counter to order our food. Never would I have thought, on the day we met three years ago, that we would end up married or raising children together, but here we are. More than once I’ve said that the judge hearing my case did me a real favor. I should find out his name and name a baby after him if we have boys.

 

Eric smiles at me from inside the restaurant and I get this feeling deep in my gut that we’re going to be okay no matter what. We’ve come too far to give up on each other now. The results of all our hard work and dedication to each other and living a healthy, clean life are growing inside me. I’m not going to miss a moment of it.

 

End