Page 102 of Riff

And very pregnant.

Then both had to go home and tell our men the news.

Riff - 2 years

“Well, they do run in your family,” Rook said, looking down at the matching pumpkin seats where our babies were nestled in nearly identical masks of peacefulness, thanks to the full bellies they each got before we finally left the hospital.

“Doesn’t count in this case,” I said, shrugging. “Moms determine twins.”

“Yeah, man, I’m not an idiot,” Rook said, shaking his head at me. “I meant her family,” he said, nodding at Vienna who was seated on the couch, recovering from the pothole-laden trip back from the hospital.

“My family?” Vienna asked, turning her head to look over at Rook. “What do you mean?”

“Well, your grandmother was a twin.”

“What?” she asked, straightening. “No.”

“Yeah. She had a sister.”

“Gertrude, yeah. She died in her teens. Freak drowning accident at a summer camp.”

“Yeah. That was her twin.”

“How… how do you know that?” Vienna asked.

“Because I did some digging for a surprise I’ve been working on for you,” he said, his tone suggesting he was disappointed that the cat was out of the bag now. “Your grandma Anne and her sister Gertrude were born on October fourth. Four minutes apart.”

“How… how did I never know that?” Vienna asked, frowning.

“Did she talk about her sister much?”

“No. I guess… it was a sore spot, it seemed. She didn’t ever seem to want to talk about her, and I never pressed.”

“Your grandmother’s mother was also a twin. In fact, your great-grandmother had three sets of twins plus four regular births. You’re a fertile bunch,” he declared.

“I guess we should update Dr. Price,” Vienna said. Since, at the first ultrasound, when there were two heartbeats, and he asked about twins, she’d been quick to tell him no.

“Do you think they’re identical?” Raff asked, hovering over the carseats, gaze sliding from baby to baby.

“I see subtle differences,” I said. “Like with us.”

“But I know your ways,” Vienna said, shooting Raff a small smile. “These guys won’t get away with switching classes to take exams for the other.”

“You told her our secrets?” Raff asked, offended. “I was going to teach these guys all about our wicked ways when they got old enough.”

“I’m sure I’ve held some of them back,” I said, getting small eyes from Vienna. “By accident!” I insisted.

“Alright. Uncle Raff, you watch the boys for a minute while Riff helps me upstairs,” she said, holding out her arms for me to pull her back onto her feet.

Vienna had been one of the women who loved being pregnant. I mean, after the whole throwing up all day, every day thing died down three or so months in. From then on, she’d been glowing, floating on cloud nine, so excited for us to start our family.

We’d rushed through the process of finding and buying a house, wanting a place to really put down roots.

But we had gone with Morgaine and Delaney’s advice about spending at least the first week or two at the clubhouse where we would have a ton of extra hands to help us when we were overwhelmed or exhausted.

We figured the exhaustion would only be amplified by the fact that we had two babies instead of one. We were all too happy to accept as much help as they could all offer us.

Our room had been adjusted to suit our new needs. The couch was now under the windows, and the matching cribs were in its old position.

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