Months passed by, everything was moving in a blur of pregnancy shopping and trying to keep Lani and Sam happy, or me and Jake would have to pay if they weren't. Lani will be having our baby girl in just a month and Sam has four months left.
"Owen," Lani called out in her sweet voice. I sighed and stood in the doorway. She grinned innocently at me.
"What food do you want this time?" I asked, knowing she wanted to me to get her something.
"Peanut butter and pickles."
I scrunched my nose up but nodded. "I'll be right back with it." I watched her as she grinned down at the twins, who were lying on our bed, waving their arms about before they held each others hand. I go downstairs into the kitchen and get the jar of peanut butter out of the pantry and the pickles out of the fridge and a fork with napkins.
I walked back upstairs and handed them to Lani. "I really hope you don't keep this habit," I tell her.
"What habit?" she asks.
"The eating peanut butter with pickles," I tell her.
"Oh." She giggles. "Well you know I only eat peanut butter when I'm pregnant."
"At least I'll know in the future what signs to look out for," I said thoughtfully, looking down at the twins.
She smiles. "Don’t worry we aren’t having another for quite a while, well two three years anyway."
I chuckled and looked at her. "Two years," I say quietly. "And you'll want another baby."
"I don’t want our children to be too many years apart, you know that."
"I do, Lani-bear," I said, kissing her temple. She smiles and starts eating.
"Dad," Matt said, wiggling on his spot and holding his arms out. I grin and pick him up. I love that he knows what that means now. He and Nicole can only say a few things but that’s what’s right for their age. Lani grinned at me as I bounced Matt up and down.
"Are you tired buddy?" I ask, smiling. He yawned and his eyes closed, but he was forcing them to stay open. I kissed his forehead. "Go to sleep, Matty." I rock him gently until he falls asleep.
Lani leant back against the headboard and watched me. "You're too good with them," she said, biting her pickle.
"What do you mean?" I turned my head so I could look at her.
"You can get them to sleep and eat and even calm down when I cant."
I smiled. "I guess I can, but so can you, Lani-bear."
"No I can’t they never do any of that for me. And Nicole won’t let me change her clothes! Only her diaper."
I pulled her against my side. "I don't know why they listen to me more now. Maybe as they get old they'll become mummy's little angels," I say, hoping to make her feel better.
"Matt lets me change him and he sometimes calms down and stops crying for me but not always." she says. "It’s bad when you're at work, they won’t do barely anything for me."
I kissed her softly. "I'm sorry that I can't be here to help you, Lani-bear," I said quietly, a frown pulling at my lips.
"I know you have to work." she says. "I just wish you'd let me help more."
"Help how?" I ask, settling back so I could look at her properly.
"With the bills and everything."
"How would you help me?" I frowned. "You can't do anything while you're pregnant."
"I'm pregnant, not useless Owen."
I snorted. "I didn't mean it like that. Lani, you're gone eight months. No one would let you work right now."
"I know that, but you wouldn’t let me a few months ago either."
"Because you're pregnant," I stated, grinning at her. "I don't want something to happen to either of you."
"Owen, we're perfectly fine." she says.
I placed Matt in his crib along with Nicole before I crawled onto the bed. "I worry, Lani-bear, you know that."
"But you don’t need to worry so much, we're fine." she says. "Why have you been so weird lately?"
"Weird? What do you mean?" I leant back and looked out the window.
"Acting different, staring off into the distance as if you're thinking about something and yet you never tell me."
I felt my heart start to thud. I hated lying to her, but I had to wait until next week to find out who the baby belonged to. "Nothing is wrong, Lani," I said quietly.
"You see that's where I don’t believe you."
"What do you mean?"
"I feel like you're hiding something."
"Don't worry, Lani-bear," I said, kissing her forehead. I didn't exactly answer her, but I didn't want to disagree just yet. As I looked at her from the corner of my eye, I realized she hadn't noticed I didn't give her an actual answer. She moves and lays her head on my chest. I ran my fingers through her hair and sighed. Her fingers drummed against my knee as she hummed quietly to herself. After sometime, she falls asleep.
I took my phone out my pocket and texted Sam. How long until you find out?
I find out in three days, but we need to talk before that.
Sure. Are you free tonight? I text back, shutting my phone and putting it next to me.
Yeah, where do you want to meet?
Café across from the park where we met?
Sounds good. See you at six
I text back my agreement before putting my phone on the side and closing my eyes.
What am I going to tell Lani I'm doing tonight? I managed to fall asleep for a few hours. When I woke up, Lani was sitting on the edge of the bed with Matt on her lap.
"Hey." I murmur.
She turned around and smiled. "Hey, sleeping beauty," she teased. I rolled my eyes and chuckled.
I move to the edge of the bed and kiss her cheek. "How our little boy?"
"Well, he kept saying dad a while ago," she told me, smiling. "I think he wanted you, he tried to crawl over to you but you were asleep." I smile and take him from her.
"Hey, little man." Matt grinned and grabbed the front of my top. "I'm going to go out tonight, is that okay?" I ask her, setting Matt down on my lap and looking over at her.
"Yeah," she smiles. "I'm just going to watch some TV with the twins and eat."
I nodded and smiled. "Okay. I'm going to get ready and leave soon."
"Going anywhere nice?" she asked, picking Nicole up and nodding her head towards the stairs. "I'm going to go down."
I get up and put Matt in the crib for now. I change and pick Matt up, heading downstairs. I see Nicole squirming and crying. "Dada!"
"What's wrong?" I asked Lani, who was trying to hold the wiggling toddler.
"She started calling for you," she told me, stroking Nicole's cheek. I placed Matt down on the sofa and took Nicole from her. "I have a feeling they're going to be a handful while you're gone," she said quietly, rubbing her eyes.
"How about I take Nicole with me?" I ask. "That way it won’t be so hard on you."
She shook her head. "No, I need to learn to deal with the twins on my own," she said, sighing. I nodded slowly, feeling bad that she wanted to do it by herself while I met up with the girl that was possibly carrying my unborn baby.
"Lani-bear, just this once." I say. "She won’t stop until I get back if I don’t take her with me."
"I'll be fine, Owen," she said, looking up at me. "What will happen when you're at work and I have to deal with all three of them myself? Will you just let me try?" she asked quietly.
I wrap my arm around her. "Alright Lani-bear, but call me if you need me." I kiss her cheek and take Nicole. "Bye baby girl." I kiss her forehead and hug her. I kiss Lani softly and then leave.
It took me just under twenty minutes to get to the café where I was meeting Sam. I didn't know whether she would wait inside or out, so I walked inside and got a table near the back so no one could over hear our conversation. I hear the bell at the door chime and then Sam is in front of me.
"Hey, Sammy," I said quietly, pulling her chair out for her.
"Hi," she said, flopping down into the chair and giving me a small smile.
"So...." I say. "What should we do?"
She ran her hand through her hair and sighed. "I don't know. Are you coming with me for the test?" she asked, then smiled at the old lady who tapped her pen against her notepad. "I'll have a tea, please."
"I'll have the same." I say. "Yeah, if you want me to."
"Thank you, I don't think I'd have felt comfortable being there on my own," she told me quietly. I squeezed her hand and smiled.
"Thank you for doing all of this Owen, it really means a lot."
"It's the least I can do, Sammy," I say quietly before kissing her forehead. "I promise everything will work out, okay?"
She nods. "What will we do if the baby is yours?"
"I don't know," I said softly, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't want to break mine or your family up by this. What do you want to do?"
"Well you should be involved in the baby's life if it is yours, it wouldn’t be right if you weren't."
"I know that, Sammy," I said, looking at her through narrowed eyes. Did she expect me just to leave her without my support?
"Um, I don’t know if we should tell Lani and Jake.... It'd break their hearts..."
"You want to lie to them?" I asked her, feeling surprised.
"Owen, I don’t want to hurt them. I know you've had enough problems with Lani and you don’t need anymore and I don’t want to lose Jake."
I sighed and rested my head against the table. "I don't want any problems with Lani, but I can't lie to them. What do I say when I'm really interested in our baby's life?"
She looks down. "I don’t know."
"Sammy... I can't lie to my best friend and fiancée," I tell her quietly.
She nods. "You're right." I hear her voice crack and then she's crying.
I pull her against me. "Don't cry, Sammy, please don't," I whisper, burying my head in her hair and taking a deep breath, I couldn't stand to see her upset.
She holds onto me and continues to cry. I rub her back and try to calm her down. "Shh, its okay. It'll be okay."
She shook her head and took a deep breath. "It will, won't it?" she said, sitting up straight. "Everything will be okay." She wipes her tears away. "I'm sorry for crying, I just can’t help it."
I shook my head. "Its fine, Sammy. I know this is tough."
"I'm scared Owen."
"I'm here for you, Sammy," I whisper, pulling her into a hug. "You know that."
She holds me tight. "So we'll tell them?"
"We'll have to. Imagine when it's their first birthday. I'd want to be there, but Jake will wonder why I want the baby to call me daddy instead of him," I tell her quietly.
She nods. "And Lani is due on a month...." I felt a smile tug at my lips. Our little girl would be here in a month. I can't think about that now!
Sam chuckled when she looked up at me. "You will have another bundle of joy," she says softly. "I bet Lani's happy she's having a little girl. Your little Matty seems like he's fond of you."
"Yeah." I smile. "Though Nicole seems to like me more. She's very cranky when I'm not there. I offered to bring Nicole with me but Lani started being stubborn."
Sam chuckled. "Yeah. Jenny was being difficult and Jake offered to look after her but I didn't want to leave her. It's a mother thing," she told me. "Nicole will probably like Lani a lot more as she gets older. It's just because you've spent more time with her than Lani probably has."
She nods. "Well Nicole has always seemed to be a daddy's girl.'
I smiled. I liked the idea of Nicole being a daddy's girl, I loved spending time with her. Sam nudged me and chuckled. "I better get going. I need to make sure Jenny has scared Jake away."
I nod and smile. "I'll see you in two days."
"Bye, Owen," she said, kissing my cheek before leaving the café. I finished my tea before paying the lady and leaving. I wonder how much havoc the twins have caused for Lani. I get in my car and drive home.