Happily Ever Addendum (14 page)

"Do you want to hold your
son?" Lilli’s beautiful hazel eyes looked up to me, she was exhausted.

I nodded and took him from her arms.
"He’s beautiful, just like his mother." I smiled to her.

She shook her head. "I don’t think
so. That fuzzy tuft around his head looks awfully auburn to me."

That was when I pulled the blue cotton
cap from his head. Sure enough, there was my hair in a wild tuft on his head. I
couldn’t help but smile as I sat down next to Lilli’s bed. I looked over to say
something to Lilli, but her eyes were closed and her breathing was starting to
even out.

Placing my son down into my lap, I
unwrapped him from his blanket and examined his body. From his fuzzy head to
his small fingers, down to his small curled and wrinkled toes. I sat back in
the reclining chair, staring down on him in complete awe.

"Aidan?" I looked up to see
Liam enter the room.

I put my finger in front of my lips and
then pointed to Lilli. He smiled and nodded.

"Here he is." I whispered as
Liam came around the bed toward me.

"He is very handsome." Liam
whispered.

"He is perfect." I smiled down
on him. "It was amazing, Liam. I don’t know how women do it."

Liam shook his head and placed his index
finger into my son’s hand.

"They are amazing creatures; beautiful,
soft, compassionate and capable of so much."

I smiled at his words. He was so right.

After about thirty minutes of baby
watching, Liam handed the baby back to me and excused himself from the room. I
greedily held onto the baby until Dixon came bounding in. Surprisingly, he was
very quiet.

"Hi." I whispered.

"Hey there, Daddy." He
whispered back.

I held up the baby for him to take a
look. Dixon smiled largely and lightly ran his hand over the baby’s cap-covered
head.

"Perfect." He whispered. I
nodded.

One by one, each person came back to see
the baby while Lilli slept. She had been asleep for around three hours.
Suddenly, she started to stir.

I heard her whimper and quickly stood,
cradling the sleeping baby securely.

"Lilli?" I whispered.

She groaned and her breathing started to
pick up. I turned to the monitor and saw that she was having contractions
again. I pushed the call nurse button on her bed. The nurse arrived quickly and
started to move around Lilli’s bed.

Lilli opened her eyes and gripped the
railing tightly.

"Here we go again." She
groaned.

I placed the baby in the hospital
bassinet and returned to Lilli. Quickly, I picked up her hand, intertwining our
fingers.

"Here comes another one." I
told her while watching the monitor. This time I was going to help her more.
She started panting and breathing through the contraction.

"I can’t do this." She
whimpered into her arm as she lay on her side facing me.

"Yes, you can." I looked into
her eyes. "You already did it." I motioned to our son. "Squeeze
my hand, okay?"

She nodded and then grimaced with pain.
My head shot up and I realized that she was having another contraction.

The doctor arrived about thirty minutes
after her contractions had started again.

"Let’s see where we are." He
performed his check between her legs and then furrowed his brow. "Hmmm…the
sack hasn’t broken but she has moved down and into position. We are going to
break your water and watch for progression.” He looked over at the nurse who
was busily going through drawers.

She handed him a long, plastic stick with
a hook on the end. He pushed Lilli’s legs apart further and went to work.

"There we go." He smiled
lightly and the nurse brought towels over and started placing them under Lilli.
"It’s clear, a good sign." He patted her knee. "I’ll be back in
a little bit to check on you again."

For the next seven hours we went through
breathing and panting. It was nine at night and dark outside. Lilli was getting
tired.

Finally, she had progressed well and far
enough that the doctor allowed her to get the epidural injection. Once she got
it, she felt much better and was able to sleep again.

A nurse had taken the baby to the
nursery for feedings and to be looked over by the pediatrician on duty. I
decided to try to get some sleep in the recliner.

Being shaken awake was not a fun way to
be woken up. But, when I heard Lilli groaning, I got up quickly. I rubbed the
sleep from my eyes and realized that Viola had woken me. I stood next to Lilli
and Sarah was on the other side of the bed.

"Okay, Lilli, we are going to need
another good push from you." The doctor instructed just as he had before.

Lilli’s face turned red as she pushed
down.

"Good, good…take another deep
breath and, with the next contraction, push again."

She did as he asked, collapsing back onto
the bed when it was over.

"I can’t do this anymore." She
exclaimed with labored breathing.

"Yes you can." the doctor said
firmly. "Come on, we are almost there."

"You can do this." I looked
directly into her eyes. "Come on!" I pulled her up and watched her
push with all the strength she had left in her.

"Okay, we have her head. Control
your push, Lilli."

Lilli took a couple of breaths and
slowly pushed down. Crying resounded through the room, our second baby was
here.

"We have our girl." the doctor
announced, "and we just made it. They will have the same birthday." I
looked up at the clock and realized that it was now eleven forty-eight at
night.

There was no holding back my tears this
time as the doctor placed my daughter on Lilli’s stomach and wrapped her up in
a cotton blanket. I laughed and cried at the same time, kissing Lilli on the
side of her head.

Tears were now streaming down Lilli’s
cheeks. I looked up and took in the room, noticing everyone with tears
streaming down their face. Sarah and Viola were huddled together, smiling and
crying. I had never felt so fulfilled in all of my life.

Once the doctor was finished, one nurse moved
to clean Lilli while the other cleaned our daughter. The nurse brought her back
to us and Lilli took her into her arms, cradling her.

"Can we have Walsh, too?"
Lilli asked the nurse, who looked at her funny. "The other baby."
Lilli fought laughing at her. The nurse smiled and left to get our son.

"Did you say Walsh?" Sarah
asked curiously.

"Uh-huh." Lilli said, smiling
at the little girl wrapped in pink, lying quietly in her lap. "You are
quieter than your brother." Lilli cooed to her.

"So, you’re naming the baby after
Aidan?" Sarah asked.

"Yes." Lilli said again, still
focusing on the sleeping angel in front of her. "It’s a family name."

The nurse returned to the room, pushing the
bassinet that held Aidan.

"There he is…" Lilli said with
a smile and then turned to our little girl. "Did you miss your brother?
You want to see him don’t you?" The nurse handed Walsh to Lilli. She laid
the babies side by side on her lap, her smile never faltering. She looked
beautiful.

"I’m going to go tell everyone."
Viola said happily.

"Viola." Lilli called after
her.

"Yes, dear?"

"Can you just have them all come
back?" Lilli smiled as Viola nodded, even happier, and hurried to get
everyone.

"Are you sure that you want
everyone in here at once?" I asked her without taking my eyes from the
babies. She scooted over a little and patted the bed. I sat next to her easily
and wrapped my arm around her as we both lay there with our new additions.

"I say we get it over with in one
shot. Like pulling of a Band-Aid." She laughed.

Everyone filed into the room. Everyone,
Lilli smiled warmly and greeted them all.

"Everyone, meet Aidan Walsh Iverson
IV and Olivia Arwen Iverson. Walsh and Livy, this is everyone." Lilli
smiled wide and I smiled with her.

"Walsh and Livy?" I asked with
a raised eyebrow. She nodded with a smirk.

"Arwen?" Phoebe asked as she
moved to get a closer look. Celia was close on her heels, a large smile on her
face.

Lilli nodded and held up Livy.
"Olivia was Aidan’s grandmother’s name, the grandmother he knew. Arwen is
his grandmother Isobel’s middle name." She shrugged. "I saw it in
some of the things Aidan had gotten and fell in love with it."

I hadn’t even realized Isobel’s middle
name. My eyes filled with more tears at her explanation.

"Thank you." I whispered to
her. When she turned to me with a smile, I kissed her and cupped her cheek,
"For everything." Then she kissed me.

"Okay, enough! Stop scarring my
little cousins!" James walked over and picked up Walsh.

"I’ll save Livy!" Phoebe
swooped in and picked her up.

Everyone passed the babies around and
‘oohed’ and ‘awed’ over them for about four hours before everyone started to
leave.

Lilli lay on her right side, snuggled up
to me, her head resting on my chest and her arm over my stomach. Both of my
arms were wrapped around her tightly and there was no stopping the kissing I
was compelled to shower on her.

Dixon was holding Livy and giving her a
goofy smile.

"I think that a little girl would
suit you, Dixon." He looked up at the sound of Lilli speaking to him.

He shrugged. "I guess." He
turned to Celia. "What do you think, baby? Wanna make a little girl
tonight?"

Celia leaned in seductively. "Sure."
She purred out and Dixon’s eyes widened.

"Really?" He spit out
anxiously.

"I’m joking." Celia shook her
head. "I thought that you would be scared away from the idea if I
agreed." Celia looked flabbergasted.

"Hell no!" Dixon earned a
‘shush’ from Phoebe. "I can just see it now, a little girl with your eyes
and lips, my smile and curly brown hair." He shrugged and turned back
Livy. I think that we all watched Celia fall even more in love with Dixon in
that very moment.

"But, if you aren’t ready…" he
handed Livy to Sarah, "I’m all about the practice makes perfect
motto." He wiggled his eyebrows at her while swiveling his hips. Everyone
burst into laughter and Celia hid her face.

Looking at the time. I realized that it
was almost four thirty in the morning. I ushered everyone out of the room and
the nurse took the babies to the nursery.

I was instructed to use the recliner
next to Lilli’s bed. However, there wasn’t anyone or anything that could keep
me out of that bed with her. Even if she hadn’t just given me the two most
precious things in my life, I had slept next to her for so long that I didn’t
think that I could ever not sleep next to her.

Two days later, we were making our
arrival home. Jay, Rachel, Mrs. White and Alex were all in the foyer awaiting
us.

Lilli was still sore but feeling really
good. Though, she was upset that I didn’t allow her to carry anything, not even
a baby. Once inside, the things were taken to the nursery and we let everyone
visit with the babies before we headed to the nursery with them.

"I’ll prepare something to eat."
Rachel called up the stairs after us.

"Oh, Rachel, do you know how much I
love you?" Lilli exclaimed. "That hospital food has nothing on yours!
At all!"

I could hear Rachel laugh as she headed
toward the kitchen.

"We’re home." I announced as
we walked into the nursery with both babies.

"Finally." Lilli exclaimed as
she laid Livy into her pink crib.

Having already laid Walsh down, I quickly
moved behind her and put my arms around her waist. She leaned back into my
chest and sighed.

"I love you." I whispered into
her ear and kissed her neck.

"Mmm…I love you too." She
whispered back.

"You have made me the happiest man
on the planet, you know that?" I turned her around.

She smiled up at me.

"I’m not sure about that, but I am
glad that you are happy." Placing her small hand on my cheek while she
spoke, I covered her hand with mine and leaned into her touch. Before letting
her pull away, I kissed the palm of her hand.

Lilli went to shower and change her
clothes while I stayed in the nursery. I sat in the reclining chair between
both cribs, listening to their steady breathing and the small noises they made
while sleeping. Walsh was definitely the wild child already; he was very vocal.
Livy was quiet and peaceful. I wondered if it was a sign of what their
personalities would be like as they grew up.

My mind started to drift, thinking of
Lilli at my side while we watched our children grow. I started picturing the
future years to come. Surprisingly to me, I saw Walsh with wild auburn hair and
his mother’s hazel eyes, full of depth, emotion and intensity. Livy shared the
same hair color with more curl, as well as my green eyes. Her skin was the mirror
image of her mother’s; soft, porcelain and perfect. Then, there was Lilli. Still
as beautiful as ever, her stomach swollen with another child. It was the last
part that surprised me the most. I already knew that I wanted to have as many
children as she would allow me, silently praying that she would want more, too.