Page 95 of The Summer of ’98

“This is lovely,” I held a box, the picture on the front was of a mobile, one with baby animals on it, glowing animals with dozens of different tune options. “Thank you.”

“How is the feeding going?” Eleanor asked, rocking from side to side, her enthralled stare on Abigail. “They latching okay?”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s going great, actually. Leroy was amazing last night. He helped get them on and he got them back to sleep and I think he’s had less sleep than I have.”

Her expression was one of absolute pride when she looked at Leroy. It was a look that I’d become familiar with. In fact, that smile might have been my favorite of hers because it mirrored how I felt about him and how I felt about the sort of man and father he was shaping up to be.

“Oh,” she gasped. “What are their names? I can’t believe we haven’t asked that.”

Leroy and I shared a look of excitement because we’d been waiting for them to ask. “That’s Drayton Jacob Lahey,” he said, and we watched his father’s lips press together, emotion evident, “and that’s Abigail Eleanor Lahey.”

The room fell quiet; both Eleanor and Jacob seemed overwhelmed. “Well, that is . . . that’s a big honor.” Eleanor sucked in a sharp breath and smiled, teeth baring and all. “Beautiful names. Drayton and Abigail. Just beautiful.”

Leroy draped his arm across the pillow behind me. “Where’s Noah?”

“He’s at school, honey. He wanted to come but he had an important exam that he couldn’t miss. He did want us to pass on some good news, though.”

“He got accepted to Baylor?” Leroy guessed and Jacob lit up, nodding with excitement. “Good for him. That’s . . . good. He must be pleased.”

“He is,” Eleanor was oblivious to the strain in Leroy’s tone. Leroy didn’t want to come across as though he didn’t want Noah near him, but the space had definitely helped their relationship. There were more phone calls, and when we did see Noah, the get-togethers were generally pleasant. Leroy was nervous that being together again would push them back into old habits, but it wasn’t as if they were going to be under the same roof. I wasn’t as worried as he was.

“What about Cass?” I asked. “Has she heard back?”

Eleanor’s smile slipped. “She wasn’t accepted. Quite an unfortunate thing, but I’ve tried to tell them that it might not be so bad. There are other colleges, and besides, I don’t think them being apart would be so terrible. I think they’ve both got a lot of growing to do, and it might be best done alone.”

“You didn’t actually say that to them?” Leroy said, bewildered. “It’s not as if they would listen.”

“No, I didn’t say that part out loud,” she said and ran her finger down Abigail’s soft cheek. “I was just thinking it. I love them both, but I don’t know that I love them together. Still, it’s their relationship. I won’t be the one telling Noah how to navigate it.”

“He’ll get there,” Jacob murmured. I could hear the smile in his voice as he kept his stare directed on Drayton. “He’ll no doubt get to college, get focused, and realize that there are some priorities to get in order. He’s a smart kid. He’ll be fine.”

“Speaking of priorities,” Eleanor cooed as Abigail began to get restless in her hold, “I think we should consider moving back to Waco so that we can see these little darlings every day.”

Jacob chuckled. “Leroy and Ellie don’t want us in their faces every day. We’ll come and visit every other weekend.”

“Every other weekend?” Leroy said, but there was no chance that I would turn that sort of offer down right now. Having helping hands around the house while the twins were brand new would be incredible. Not to mention, I loved his parents as if they were my own. I could never tire of their company and I know Leroy couldn’t either, which is why he smiled and said, “That sounds perfect.”

Ellie

Fitting a single stroller through the aisles in Target would be a challenge—even shopping cart jams happened from time to time—so when I tried to move the double stroller through the baby clothes aisle and bumped the wheel into a stand of pacifiers, causing them to spill all over the floor, I wasn’t surprised. Embarrassed, but not surprised.

“Sorry,” I said to a store assistant who came jogging over to help me clean up.

“Don’t be,” she said. Her name tag read Yuke. “These aisles are not practical for strollers at all. Which is ridiculous considering this is the baby department.”

We made quick work of picking up the pacifiers and Yuke told me that she would organize them properly herself. “Twins,” she whispered with awe, peeping into the stroller at my two swaddled bundles, a beanie on each head. “How old are they?”

“Three weeks,” I pulled the awning back to make sure they were still sleeping. Yep, snoozing, oblivious to the rest of the world. It made shopping a lot easier when they were out to it.

Yuke stood up straight, lips parted. “So young. You should be at home, sleeping when they do.”

Unsolicited advice was a given at this point. This was the third time I had left the house with them since they’d been born but I’d been told what I should be doing as a parent far more than three times.

“I had to get some thermals,” I said. “It’s hard to find preemie-size clothing, though. They’re too small for most of the outfits that I bought before they were born.”

“Oh,” Yuke gestured for me to follow her. “We have a small range, you’re right, it’s hard to find little clothes. How big are they?”

“Just over six pounds.”

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