Bobby and I rarely saw each other on a regular basis anyway, we were both pretty busy. Between teaching dance, taking dance and working I stayed pretty busy, not to mention all the time I spent with Jess while Alex worked double shifts to get enough money together to make a down payment on a house. She was only a month and a half along, but I thought I could already see a small belly starting to show. She had been small to begin with, so any change was pretty noticeable on her. I was glad that she had chosen to keep the baby, but it wasn’t going to be easy, and a part of me, a selfish part, wished that she had never gotten pregnant to begin with and would still be dancing by my side. I could tell that Jess was sad too, she missed dancing and she missed Alex now that he worked all the time, but she was stubborn and refused to show it, choosing instead to throw herself into planning for the baby and taking a summer English class so she could graduate early.
This routine of working, running, dancing, and spending time with Jess was how most of the summer passed. Before we knew it we were facing the end of July and the ultrasound appointment where Jess would find out the gender of her baby. Alex was going to try to get home from work in time to go, but we all knew that it was a long shot, so I had traded with Rachel at the restaurant and had Caitlin cover our afternoon class at the studio.
When we arrived at the office for the ultrasound I quickly realized why Jess hadn’t wanted to come alone. Aside from the obvious reason that this was a special moment, the office was so uncomfortable. Her parents had good insurance, so the office was nice, and most of the women there were much older than us, holding hands with their husbands, looking so excited about their pregnancy, while Jess was there with me, wearing a sweatshirt in July to cover her emerging belly, and holding her English Lit textbook to get some studying done while we waited. Aside from the office staff, no one spoke to us, and it seemed like everyone was quick to look away. I was used to the reaction, for years people had looked at me like that, a quick glance at the girl who had lost her mother, but I knew that this was new to Jess.
“Alex isn’t coming,” she whispered quietly after we’d been waiting for about 15 minutes. “He can’t get out of work.”
“Well, we knew it was a long shot,” I replied. “It’s okay, we’re here together. And we can come up with a fun way to tell him about the gender afterwards.”
“You’re right,” Jess said. “We can do this.”
They called us back a few minutes later, but no matter how prepared we thought we were and how much we thought we “had this”, neither Jess nor I were prepared for the news she was given.
“Jessica,” the tech said softly. “The good news is that you are healthy, but the other news is, you’re not just having one girl, you’re having two.”
“What?” Jess and I said at the same time.
“Twins,” the tech said. “You’re having twins.”
The rest of the appointment passed in a blur. The doctor gave Jess more information on having twins, we scheduled more appointments now that her pregnancy was considered “high risk”, and we walked out to the car.
“Maddie I don’t think I can do this,” she said softly once I had started driving. “One baby was going to be hard enough, but two? I haven’t even told my parents about one baby. How do I tell them about two?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “That’s one thing I can’t help you with. You know I love you and I love your parents, but I have no idea how you should tell them about this. Maybe you and Alex should handle that together.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Jess said. “I just can’t even think about this right now. I need to figure out how to tell Alex that we’re having two babies. How am I supposed to tell him that all the hard work he’s doing might not even be enough because now we’re having twice the number of babies that we thought we were?”
“You guys have made it this far,” I said. “You can get through this part too. I promise. Now let’s go get some ice cream, think of some cute twin names, and then we can worry about everything else.”
“Twin names are fun!” Jess said, starting to smile a little bit. “Although I won’t let them have names like those twins in elementary school. What was it again?”
“Annmarie and Annamary?” I questioned.
“Yes!” she cried. “Ridiculous! I mean, sorry, but ridiculous. I’m thinking of something that will go together, but not be the exact same.”
So we spent the next hour sitting at the ice cream stand on some picnic tables discussing twin names and how she should tell her parents (soon, and with Alex) and how lucky she was that he was a decent guy. Finally we headed home, and I waited with her at her parents until Alex came over, and then I waited in her room while she told him about the twins. They came inside a few minutes later.
“Twins!” Alex said with a tired smile on his face when he saw me. “I can’t believe it. But thank you so much for going to the appointment today Maddie. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.”
“You’re welcome,” I said. “I guess the double shifts aren’t going to stop anytime soon.”
“No, I guess not,” he said. “Probably not for a few years. But it will be worth it. But hey, we’re going to go get some dinner, do you want to come along?”
“I can’t,” I said. “I have to work on this new dance that I’ve been developing for auditions, and it’s really been kicking my ass lately.”
“Alright, well, you know you’re always invited to come along with us,” Alex said. “We’re lucky to have you around, Maddie.”
“Thanks, Alex,” I said. “I appreciate the offer, but I really have to get home and get to work.”
