Til We Meet Again (20 page)

The pain began to rip through Katie’s abdomen again and she sucked in another deep breath and, with Dean’s help, pushed as hard as she could.

“Great Katie, stay there, stay there,” Dr. Stevens coached. 

Katie held on to Dean and pushed with all her might.

“Okay, slow down a bit,” the doctor advised. 

Katie eased back towards Dean’s arms and moaned as she felt pain between her legs.

“We’re there Katie, just one last little bit of a push,” Dr. Stevens told her.

Katie did as she was told.

“Relax now Katie,” the doctor said.

Katie could feel movement between her legs and then she heard a cry and she started to cry.

Dean looked on as the doctor extracted the baby and placed it across her new mother’s stomach.  “It’s a girl,” he whispered to Katie.  “And I know exactly what her name should be.”

“Grace,” Katie said.

Dean nodded.

“We need to take the baby for now,” one of the nurses said.

Katie nodded and a new wave of pain shot through her and she instinctively pushed.

“That’s it Katie but not to much this time,” Dr. Stevens told her.  “Just little pushes now.”

Katie clung to Dean as she felt more pain.

“Okay Katie, you’re there,” Dr. Stevens said.  “Just relax.”

Katie rested back and Dean hugged her.  Another cry rang out in the room and Dean pulled away from Katie to smile at her before he looked at the second baby now lying across her stomach.

“Would you like to cut the cord this time dad?” Dr. Stevens asked.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Dean replied taking the outstretched scissors and cutting where he was directed to.

He returned to Katie.  “It’s another little girl,” Dean told her.

Katie smiled at him.  “Guess we might have to think about that name,” she teased.

“Nope, we can’t have two ‘Graces’ can we?”

Katie shook her head as she felt Dr. Stevens continuing to work between her legs and she felt more contractions but she realized it was just the placenta. 

They had been advised at her checkup after their wedding that there had been two heartbeats and an ultrasound confirmed she was carrying twins.  They refused to know what they were but were advised that they appeared to be identical.  It certainly made sense to them why Grace had been telling them to take care of their
babies
.  They had thought she just meant their children, however many they had.

“I think we should name her ‘Dawn’,” Katie said. 

Dean smiled at her and nodded.  “Definitely.  It’s beautiful.  Grace and Dawn.”

“Kinda reminds you of someone we know huh,” Katie said.

“I love you,” Dean said still unable to believe how lucky he was.  Katie’s pregnancy had been uneventful except for the news of the twins and she had just had a natural delivery.  He was impressed.  “How are you feeling?” he asked genuinely concerned.

“Very tired,” Katie answered.  “And sore.”

Dean nodded and wished he could take the pain away.  He put his arms around her and could feel she was shivering.  “Are you cold?”

“I’m freezing,” Katie replied.

“Dr. Stevens, can’t we do anything to warm her up?  She’s freezing here,” he told the doctor.

“That’s common,” Dr. Stevens said.  “I’m just about done here.  Betty, can you get Katie a blanket from the warmer,” Dr. Stevens asked one of the nurses who was just wrapping one of the babies in a blanket.

“I certainly can.  How would mom like to see baby number one?” she said as she turned with the pink bundle in her arms.

Katie nodded quickly and stretched out her arms to accept Grace. 

Dean got up and took a picture of mom and baby while Betty left the room.

The other nurse, Angie, turned and asked if dad wanted baby number two and he declined saying he wanted to take a picture first so the nurse handed Dawn to her mother as well.

Dean snapped the picture before he sat down and took Dawn into his arms.  He turned to Angie, “Could you take a picture of the four of us?” he asked.

“You bet,” she replied.

Betty returned with an armload of blankets just as Dr. Stevens told Katie she could take her legs out of the stirrups and move onto the stretcher that had remained in the room during the delivery.  Angie took Grace while Katie moved and then she helped Betty open up a couple of the warmed blankets over Katie.

“That better?” Betty asked tucking the blankets around her.

Katie nodded as Angie left the room and Dr. Stevens walked over to her and took her pulse.

Betty bustled about the room gathering things up and Angie came back with a cup of juice for Katie to drink.  “Thought you might be thirsty.”

Katie nodded and drank the entire glass.

“You
were
thirsty,” Dean said as he took the cup from her and handed it to Betty as she walked by with an armload of linens.

They brought her another and checked her blood pressure as well as checking in on the babies who were getting restless.

“They’re probably getting hungry,” Dr. Stevens told her.  “We can get you some formula for them.”

“When will I go to my room?” Katie asked.

“We keep you here for an hour and then we’ll move you,” Dr. Stevens explained.

Dean left her for a few minutes to go make a few phone calls.  He had already called Katie’s parents when she went into labour.  Maggie wasn’t working anymore and had found a hobby she enjoyed and loved her time off.  She was planning on spending some time with Katie after the babies had been born to help out; especially after she’d found out it was twins.

When he returned, they were getting ready to move her and he was glad that he would have some time to be alone with his new family.

They wheeled her into a private room with two bassinets in tow and after the nurses from that department had come in and checked everything out, Dean leaned on the side of the bed.

“You were amazing in there,” he told her.

“You think so?” Katie asked grinning.

“Yeah, you were,” he told her.  “I don’t think I could have done that.”

“You couldn’t have done that in a lot of ways,” she teased.

They had brought them two bottles of formula and when the babies started to fuss, they each fed one.

“Definitely hungry girls,” Dean said.

“Yeah,” Katie said.  It was all she could say as she watched Grace drink eagerly.

They drifted off to sleep and Katie let Dean take them and place them in their bassinets the way the nurses had shown them. 

Katie let her eyes drift close and was aware of Dean sitting back down beside her.  She felt him slide his hand around hers but she didn’t have the strength left to open her eyes.

“You worked hard, sleep and I’ll be here whenever you wake up,” Dean whispered.

Katie could feel he was close to her face and wasn’t surprised when she felt him kiss her cheek.  That was the last thing she remembered as she drifted off to sleep.

“Congratulations Katie,” Grace was saying to her.

“Thank you Grace.  Thank you for everything,” Katie replied.

“You’re welcome but you did it all.  My story just got told.  I will tell Donald when I see him that you named the babies after us.”

“Why didn’t you tell us it was twins?” Katie asked unsure of why it mattered.

“I couldn’t tell you.  I could hint, as I did, but couldn’t tell you,” Grace explained.

Katie could feel the warmth of her great-grandmother’s presence.  “Will we have more babies?” she asked uncertain she wanted to know the answer.  They were going to have their hands full with two.

“That’s up to you,” Grace told her.  “You’ll be pretty busy with the two you do have.  Take care of them Katie and love them.”

“I will Grace, we will.” 

Grace smiled.  “They’re absolutely beautiful.”

“Yes they are,” Katie agreed.

“Goodbye Katie.”

“Goodbye Grace.”

Katie stirred and felt Dean move.

“Hey, how was your nap?”

“How long was I asleep?” Katie asked.

Dean looked at his watch.  “About an hour,” he told her.

“I talked to Grace.  She’s going to tell Donald we named the babies after them,” she told him.

“I think he’ll like that,” Dean replied.  “What else did she have to say?”

“She told me that she couldn’t tell us that we were having twins, she could only hint and she says their beautiful.”

“They are beautiful, just like their mother,” Dean agreed.

“Thank you Dean,” Katie said then.

“For what?”

“For being you, for everything, for loving me, for being such a wonderful husband,” she said as tears filled her eyes.

“Katie, I wouldn’t have wanted my life to be any different.  When I first met you, I just knew that you were going to be a much larger part of my life than just my employee.  I love you with all of my heart and soul.”

“Sounds like you’re replaying your wedding vows,” a voice in the doorway said.

“Mom!” Katie said surprised.

Maggie came over and hugged her daughter, and then Dean as Bruce walked through the door carrying a large bouquet of flowers.

Dean took Maggie to see the babies while Bruce arranged the flowers on the bedside table and hugged his daughter.  “How are you feeling?” he asked her.

“Extremely tired and sore,” she told him.

“I bet.  Twins eh?  Well, can’t say I have much experience with that,” her dad said.

“Well, can’t be much worse than those two brothers of mine,” she teased.

He crossed the room to see his new granddaughters as well and they were a little surprised by the names.

“Why Grace and Dawn?” Maggie asked.

“It’s a long story mom.  It’s one of those things that I’ll have to tell you about sometime when you’re ready.”

They chatted quietly while the babies slept and the room slowly filled when Dean’s parents arrived, followed by his brother.

“Your brothers will be up on the weekend.  They couldn’t get off of work,” Maggie told Katie.

Katie’s eyes felt heavy but then the nurse brought in a tray of food and Katie looked at it with hungry eyes.

“Why don’t we go get something from the cafeteria,” Bruce suggested.

Everyone cleared out of the room except Dean who had asked his dad to bring something back for him.  He helped Katie with the stuff on her tray and they talked quietly.

The nurse came in and asked what time they were thinking of leaving the next morning and Katie was surprised, but relieved, that she would be going home so soon.

The next day Dean picked her up with two infant carriers.  “Are you ready?” he asked her when he walked into the room and he stopped when he saw her.  She was showered and dressed already.  She had put on a sundress and pulled her hair back.  She looked radiant, even without makeup. 

Katie nodded.

“How did you sleep last night?” he asked.

“I slept great,” she told him.  “I even slept on my stomach.”

Dean laughed knowing that she’d been very uncomfortable sleeping the last few months and knew the one thing she missed was lying on her stomach.

He looked at his daughters and said a silent vow that he would watch over them always.

They buckled them each into their own carrier and double checked the room to be sure they hadn’t left anything behind.

They went to the desk and the nurse did one last check of the wristbands to be sure the right babies were with the right parents and said goodbye.

They left the hospital and talked quietly on the short drive home.

Dean had a surprise for Katie at home and that was a room filled with flowers. 

They put the babies in the same crib in the nursery and Dean led Katie back downstairs where he pulled her into his arms and slowly led her around an imaginary dance floor.  “It feels so good to hold you,” he told her.

“You too,” she whispered to him quietly.

They stayed like that for a long time, while their babies slept and knew that life would be wonderful for them.

Acknowledgments

            
 
I would like to say a very special thank you to Dan Valkos, a dear family friend, and psychic, whose input in the initial stages of this book was greatly appreciated.