Friends Forever (12 page)

“Why is it that I don’t believe you?” she said, smiling at them, but whatever they’d been doing, it was probably harmless. They were all good kids. She was going to miss them terribly in the fall, almost as much as she knew they would miss each other. “I just put your favorite cheesecake out on the dessert table, and some pies,” she told them, and they all went outside. They were looking very smug about something, and as all five helped themselves to cheesecake a few minutes later, they exchanged a long, mysterious smile. Friends forever. It was real—the pact had been sealed in blood.

And at ten o’clock that morning, they were all seated in chairs and lined up. An area had been roped off in Golden Gate Park, near the museum, for the graduation. It was the day they had all waited thirteen years for, from kindergarten through twelfth grade. And everyone was there, parents, grandparents, old friends, new ones. Izzie’s father had invited Jennifer, which infuriated Izzie since he hadn’t asked her, and her mother was there too and didn’t seem to care that Jeff was with a woman. It had been five years since their divorce, and she had her own life. She hugged Izzie and told her how proud she was of her and looked as though she meant it. Larry Norton was there for Billy, and had brought a
young bimbo with him, who looked like a hooker he had rented for the occasion. Billy knew she was just typical of the women he went out with, and his eyes glazed over when he saw her. Brian was there, sitting with his mother and Jack, four rows ahead of Larry and the woman he had with him. Kevin was sitting with his parents. Michelle was wearing a pretty, long-sleeved flowing print dress that hid how thin her arms were. She was still struggling with her weight but looking better. And for once, both of Andy’s parents were there. His father had flown in from an important psychiatrists’ meeting in Chicago the night before, and his mother let Marilyn know where she was sitting just in case things started to happen quickly. The parents who had cheered them on for thirteen years, and the teachers they had grown up with, were all there.

The class was waiting to file in, in the procession, and the head of the school and president of the board were waiting onstage to give out diplomas. The seniors had on their caps and gowns, ready to toss their hats in the air when the ceremony was over. And then the music began, and the teachers filed in and took their seats in the front rows. Two hundred cameras were pointed and poised at the ready when the procession came by, and to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance,” the senior class filed in, looking grown-up and dignified, and took their places onstage.

Andy was the valedictorian and made a moving speech. It was eloquently written, and his classmates cheered for him when it was over, and all through the audience parents were starting to cry with the emotions of the moment. This was a long-awaited day, and the beginning of their lives as adults. As Andy had just said in his speech, life would never be the same for any of them again.

Izzie made a speech as class president then, and reminded them all to remember how important they were to each other, and how much they had shared as they grew up. She wished them all a safe journey, and encouraged them to come home often. She promised each of them she would never forget them, and she looked at her four very special friends as she said it. “I’ve loved you since kindergarten,” she said, “and I don’t intend to stop now. So go out there, make something of yourself, be important, and Billy Norton, you’d better be the best damn quarterback in college football!” Everybody laughed when she said it, and then she addressed the class again. “But no matter how important any of you get, or how far you go, or how big a deal you become or think you are, always remember how much we love you,” she said in conclusion, and then went back to her seat next to Andy, since they were Wallace and Weston, the last two names on the alphabetical list of their class. And then the diplomas were distributed, and it was over. Their hats flew in the air after they removed the tassels to save them. They all ran around hugging each other and crying. It was happy chaos in the park, and Izzie couldn’t believe it was over. Thirteen years at Atwood were finished.

They all had plans with their families for lunch and had promised to get together that night. There was a rumor that someone was giving a party, and they all waved at each other as they drove away. Brian and Billy were going with their mother and stepfather to Jack’s restaurant. And they had invited Larry and his date to join them, just to be nice. He ordered scotch on the rocks the minute they got to the restaurant, and a bottle of expensive wine for lunch. His date said she was twenty-one years old, had never
gone to college herself, and drank her way through a whole bottle of champagne. They both left the table early and said they had to be somewhere, but at least Larry remembered to tell Billy how proud of him he was. He said he could hardly wait to see him in his first college game, and Billy was just as excited to play it. He had wanted Gabby to come to lunch, but she had to be with her own family that day, and Billy had promised to meet her after lunch.

After Larry left, the cook brought out a graduation cake for Billy, with a football player on it in the Trojans uniform in scarlet and gold, and after that they went home. Billy drove over to see Gabby, Brian went next door to play with a friend, and Marilyn walked up the stairs to their bedroom, and felt as though she couldn’t walk another step as she collapsed on the bed and looked at her husband.

“Thank God we didn’t have triplets. I can hardly carry these two around anymore.” Helen had told her they were a good size, and they didn’t seem to be in any hurry to be born. Jack sat on the bed and smiled at her and rubbed her ankles.

“Why don’t you stay in bed the rest of today?” he suggested. She had been up since early that morning, helping all of them get ready and celebrating Billy. She had taken a thousand pictures of him during graduation. She was so proud of him, and she had cried when they handed him his diploma. She closed her eyes to take a nap then, and it was nearly dinnertime when she woke up, and felt like there was a war inside her. The twins were hopping all over the place. It took a major effort to go downstairs and see where Jack was. He was making himself a bowl of soup in the
kitchen, and he said the boys were still out. Brian was having dinner at his friend’s next door and then going to a movie, and Billy was at Gabby’s, and had called to say he was staying there for dinner. There was nothing much happening at their house these days, since Marilyn could hardly move now, and it was nice for her and Jack being there together, with everything so quiet.

“So, are we going to meet our girls tonight?” Jack asked her with a hopeful expression, and she laughed and shook her head.

“I think they’re having some kind of dancing party, but I don’t think they’re going anywhere. I’m hardly having any contractions. Maybe I should run around the block or something.”

“Maybe not,” Jack said, and offered to make her something to eat, but she wasn’t hungry. There was no room to fit even food into her body. She was always full now after two mouthfuls and had heartburn even looking at food. It really was time for it to be over. She kept saying she was ready, but apparently the twins weren’t.

She kept Jack company while he ate his soup, and then she lumbered back upstairs, feeling like an elephant, and Jack put a movie on the TV in their bedroom. She got up to go to the bathroom before it started, and was saying something to him about the movie as she walked into the bathroom, and the instant she did, she felt as though there had been an explosion, and she was being hit by a tidal wave of water. It felt like it was everywhere and for a minute, she didn’t know what happened, and then she remembered.

“Jack …,” she said in a small voice and at first he didn’t hear her. “Jack … um … my water just broke …” She was looking dazed as he walked into the room to hear what she was saying.

“What?… Oh my God—” Everything she had on was soaked
from the waist down, and she looked like she’d been standing in the shower. “What happened?” And then he knew too, but wasn’t sure what to do next. Marilyn started laughing.

“I look like I’ve been swimming.”

“Lie down or something,” Jack said nervously, and handed her a stack of towels. She took her wet clothes off, put on a terrycloth robe, went back to the bedroom, and lay on the towels. She could still feel the fluid leaking, but it seemed like most of it was gone. Jack was cleaning up the bathroom and came to check on her. “Are you having contractions?”

“Not one. But the girls have gotten very quiet. No one’s moving,” whereas half an hour before they had felt like they were dancing. Maybe they knew what was coming and were resting.

“I think we should call Helen.”

“She’s probably having dinner, and I’m not having contractions. Why don’t we wait awhile and call her later? She won’t want me to come in if I’m not having contractions.”

“I think twins are different,” he said cautiously, looking nervous.

“Yeah, they take longer,” Marilyn reminded him. “Let’s watch the movie.” Jack had lost interest in the movie, but he turned it on to relax her and lay down next to her, watching her closely.

“Stop looking at me, I’m fine.” She leaned over and kissed him as she said it, and at that moment, she felt like she had been hit by a bomb. The worst contraction she could ever remember having ripped through her, as she grabbed Jack’s shoulder and couldn’t speak for a full five minutes. The minute it was over, Jack jumped out of bed and grabbed his BlackBerry.

“That’s it, we’re going. I’m calling Helen.” As he said it, she had
another one, and she reached for him again. She squeezed his hand tightly while he called, and the minute Helen saw his name come up on her own BlackBerry, she answered.

“Hi there, what’s happening? Any action?” Helen sounded calm and cheerful.

“Yeah, a lot of it, all of a sudden. Her water broke about ten minutes ago, and she just started having huge contractions, about two minutes apart, long ones. They lasted about five minutes.” Helen was frowning as she listened to him.

“It sounds to me like your two little ladies are in a hurry.” She thought for about two seconds and made a decision. “Just let Marilyn lie there. Don’t do anything. I’m going to send you an ambulance. They can take her downstairs on a gurney. I’m sure nothing will happen, but I’ll feel better getting you to the hospital in an ambulance, just in case they’re in a bigger hurry than we think. I’ll meet you there.” She cut the connection, called an ambulance, and this time as the contraction hit, Marilyn screamed, and he wouldn’t have admitted it to her, but Jack was scared. Everything was happening much faster than they’d expected.

The ambulance was there in five minutes. Jack let them know it was twins as he followed them upstairs, but Helen had already told them. They got Marilyn on a gurney and were out the front door, with Marilyn and Jack in the ambulance, less than three minutes after they arrived.

Marilyn was clutching Jack’s arm and screaming now with every pain, and they never seemed to stop. The siren was on, and they were whizzing through the streets toward California Pacific Medical Center, where Helen had promised to meet them.

“I can’t do this,” Marilyn said, panting between contractions.

“Yes, you can,” Jack said quietly. “I’m right here. You’re going to have them really soon, baby.… It’ll all be over soon.”

“No, I can’t—” she insisted. “Too much.” And as she said it, she screamed again, and when she laid her head back on the gurney, her eyes rolled back in her head. Jack was panicked, and the paramedic gave her oxygen and her eyes opened again. Her blood pressure was low, but she wasn’t in any danger.

“You’re doing fine,” he said to reassure them both, and then they were at the hospital, and Helen was waiting for them. She took in the scene with a practiced eye, and smiled at both of them.

“Well, I can see you didn’t waste any time,” she said to Marilyn. She could tell from looking at her that she was probably already dilated to ten, or close to it. She would have had the babies at home, if Helen hadn’t sent the ambulance for them. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get you to the delivery room, so no pushing,” she said to Marilyn in a firm voice, as Marilyn’s face contorted, and she screamed again. “Fast!” Marilyn said to the men who took the gurney out of the ambulance. Helen led the way at a dead run, they followed her, and Jack was running next to them, holding Marilyn’s hand. She never stopped screaming from the ambulance to the delivery room, and Helen had a team waiting for them. They barely got Marilyn’s terrycloth robe off, slipped a gown on her, and lifted her onto the delivery table, when she screamed such a fiercely piercing wail that Jack thought she was dying.

And what he heard instead seconds later was a long cry replacing hers, and a little face with a mane of red hair had appeared between her legs. Their first daughter had been born. Marilyn was
smiling at him through tears, and Jack cried as he held her hand, and Helen cut the cord and handed the baby to a nurse. They still had work to do, and within seconds it all began again, the hideous contractions, the agonizing pain, Marilyn screaming as Helen helped her this time with forceps, and then another wail. Both babies had been born in less than ten minutes, forty-five minutes after it had all started. Helen said it was the fastest delivery of twins she had ever seen, but she also knew how hard it was when it went that quickly.

Marilyn was shaking violently, alternately crying and smiling and clinging to her husband, who kept looking from her to their beautiful babies. One of them had red hair like Marilyn’s, and the other one had dark hair like his. They were fraternal twins, not identical, and they decided immediately which was Dana and which was Daphne. Jack still looked stunned. He had never seen anyone in so much pain, but it was all over so quickly.

“Thank God you sent the ambulance,” he said gratefully to Helen. “She would have had them at home.”

“I think so,” Helen said, smiling at them. “You certainly made things easy for me. You did all the work here,” she said to her patient. Marilyn still looked shaken, but she looked instantly better when they handed her the babies, and Jack looked at them proudly.