Page 26 of Quadruple Daddy

“Can we pick anything?” Ava asked, eyes wide as if she already knew what she wanted to ask for.

“Anything at all. As long as I own it or can find it on a streaming service,” he said.

Ava and I shared a look, smiling at each other since we knew what movie we both wanted to watch without uttering a word.

Gabe chuckled and said, “Alright,The Princess Brideit is.”

“Yay!” Ava exclaimed. “I feel like a kid all over again. Thanks, Gabe.”

“Yes, thank you, Gabe,” I said, opening the top of the container to my pad Thai. “This smells amazing.”

Gabe took the chair next to me, with Ava on the other side. We chowed down as we watched the movie that Ava and I had seen at least a thousand times over the years.

“What do you think about naming one of your kids Wesley?” Ava asked Gabe.

“Wesley is nice,” Gabe responded. “What do you think, Bella?”

I nearly choked on my food. “I, um, well, I haven’t given it any thought since I didn’t think it was my place to help name them.”

“Of course it is,” Gabe said with a sweet smile. “I’d love to hear your thoughts on names.”

“Okay, so what were you thinking?”

I was curious to hear what Gabe had in mind.

“Well, after you asked about names a while back I realized I needed to start thinking about that so I came up with two; one for a boy and one for a girl.”

“What names did you pick out?” Ava asked eagerly.

“Lucia, after our mom, obviously,” he said, averting his gaze and staring down at his food. I knew that Gabe had been very close to his mother and losing her was difficult for him.

“I love that. It’s such a beautiful name and holds so much meaning.”

“I agree,” Ava said. “And what about the boy's name?”

“Vincent, after Mom’s dad,” he said.

“Ahh, yes, you two were very close,” Ava replied, her tone softer and gentler. I didn’t know the entire history of Gabe and his relationship with his grandparents, but it was clear that they had meant a lot to him.

“Vincent is a nice name,” I said.

“Thank you. Now I was thinking you could help name the other two?”

“We don’t know if they’re boys or girls yet.”

“We can find out, if you’d like,” Gabe said.

I looked over at him, and he was staring right at me. The look in his eyes nearly took my breath away. Sometimes, it felt like maybe we could raise the babies together, maybe it was possible to co-parent, or even better, be together as a family. I found myself wanting that, yearning for it more and more by the day. The more time I spent with Gabe, seeing the way he took care of the people he loved, the more I wanted to be the true mother of his children.

My childhood crush was gone, replaced by something more real, more grown-up, but I couldn’t put it into words.

“I am leaving that up to you,” I said, my voice barely a whisper.

“They’re your babies too,” he reminded me.

“Only because I’m carrying them,” I said. “I can’t forget that.”

“I still want your opinions, and your involvement,” he said.

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