Epilogue
THE FUTURE
“Hey, Mum, can you get the light switch?”
The kitchen was suddenly plunged into relative darkness, the only light coming from the feint dusk evening. Amy collected the large sponge cake and walked over to the dining table, where her friends and family were already seated.
“Ready everybody?” she asked as she placed the cake down on the table in front of her daughter and Matthew. “Happy birthday to you…”
Everybody joined in the chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’, and a few cameras captured Gracelyn’s look of surprise and joy at all the attention she was receiving. She clapped her hands as everybody cheered “Hooray!”, and attempted to help Matthew in blowing out her two candles.
As everybody clapped, Matthew kissed Gracelyn’s cheek lovingly, though she was disinterested – there was a wealth of mess in the waiting in front of her.
Amy cut the cake, and everybody took a slice, Matthew sharing his with Gracelyn. Then, as the night continued to roll on and Gracelyn became tired, their guests began leaving. In next to no time, Amy and Matthew were putting their two-year-old daughter to bed in her cot.
“I can’t believe she’s already two,” Matthew marvelled as he put another blanket over her sleeping body. “The time has flown.”
Amy leaned into his side, and placed his hand over her abdomen, where their second child was currently developing. “Only six months to go,” she whispered.
* * *
“Amy? What’s wrong?”
Amy unclenched her jaw as the piercing pain vanished once again. “Can you come home please?”
“Wh-”
“I think I’m going into labour.”
Matthew was silent on the other end of the line. “But you’re not due for another two mon-”
“You don’t think I know that! I’m fucking telling you now, I’m going into labour.” She gasped in pain. “Can you please come home?”
“Of course, of course,” Matthew said apologetically. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
The line ended. Amy clenched her teeth and tried to quieten her protest to the pain, aware that Gracelyn was upstairs napping. She called her mum as another contraction ended.
“Hello, sweetie! I was just thinking about you!”
“Mum, can you come over and watch Gracie? I think I’m going into labour.”
“Of course, honey. Do you need me to drive you-”
“No, it’s okay, Matt’s coming home to take me. Please, can you just watch Gracie?”
“I’ll be right over.”
* * *
There were complications. Life-threatening complications. The umbilical cord was wrapped around their unborn child’s throat. She was going into early labour. An emergency caesarean had to be performed.
Tears struck Amy’s eyes as she bore the pain and witnessed the hospital staff preparing for the operation. She needed her husband’s reassurance. “Matt?” she cried.
“I’m here, Amy,” he said, suddenly appearing in hospital scrubs. He sat down beside her and held her hand, kissing her knuckles sweetly. Tears built in his eyes and they fell silently. “It’s going to be okay.”
“It’s too early,” Amy sobbed, knowing that their child would be facing far greater complications once born.
“I know, I know,” Matthew chanted, “but the doctors will make sure everything’s okay. It’ll all work out, dear.”
“Amy, can you feel me touching your leg?” one of the nurses interrupted.
Amy looked over at the doctor and shook her head. “I can’t feel anything.”
“Okay, we’re good to go. Amy, we’re going to start now. Just sit back, and it will all be over quickly.”
Amy nodded, laying back and closing her eyes, her hands clenched around Matthew’s. Matthew held is face close to Amy’s, kissing her sweetly and softly; it was his only way to stop himself from panicking.
“It’s a girl!” one of the doctors announced. Amy opened her eyes, seeing quick commotion behind the curtain. She panicked.
“Why isn’t she crying?” Her tears increased. “She should be crying! Why isn’t she crying?!” The worst thoughts came flooding back into Amy’s mind: that her newborn daughter would not live to see many days.
* * *
“Hey, no sad faces.” Matthew re-entered their room, where Amy was seated before their daughter, who was connected to various tubes and enclosed in a capsule. Her heart rate and breathing rate were all being monitored, but all were irregular and worrying. Amy had both of her hands in the capsule, gently caressing her newborn daughter.
“I called your mum,” Matthew continued, taking the seat beside Amy. “She’s going to bring Gracie over. Allie called, too, but I told her not to come over. Not today, at least.”
Amy gave a half-hearted smile and nodded, leaning against Matthew, her head resting on his shoulder. “Will we call her Olivia? I think she’s more of an Olivia than a Lauren. Olivia suits her.”
Matthew kissed Amy’s temple. “Olivia’s perfect. Olivia Renée Hamilton.”
Amy’s smile was more genuine; Matthew had demanded that they not know the sex of their second child and leave it a surprise, which he had hoped for with Gracelyn. They had come up with a list of names for both boys and girls, but they had agreed on middle names: Renée for a girl, Lee for a boy (like every other Hamilton male).
“She has quite a head of hair already,” Matthew said, trying to lighten the mood a little. “Maybe even more than Gracie – except I think her hair’s going to be lighter. It looks like your mum’s colour.”
Amy tried to stifle her sob, but it escaped. Matthew hugged her tighter.
“You wait, sooner or later, we’ll be taking Olivia home and everything will work out again. Gracie will adore her, and we’ll be the happiest parents in the world. Except, you know, when they become teenagers and they want to date – we’ll have to home school them, I think.”
Matthew achieved his desired outcome – Amy giggled. “We don’t need to think about that for another twelve years, at least.”
“I think we could start now – no socialising with those ratbag Roberts boys. Ziggy and Casper are nothing but trouble. Casper’s got his eyes on Gracie, I know it.”
“There is no way in the world our kids are ever going to date products of Spencer Roberts. If his sons are anything like he was in high school, they’ll be raging with hormonal desires.” Amy laughed. “Of course, that’s how Donna somehow fell for him.”
Matthew kissed Amy once again. “I love you, Amy. I love you and I love Gracie and I love beautiful little Olivia here. We’ll make it, I promise.”
“How are you so confident, Matt? I’m a mess. How do you stay so… calm?”
“I have faith, and sometimes, that’s all you can trust.”
* * *
Amy walked through the front door, raging emotions conflicting in her mind. The doctor’s words… surely they couldn’t be true. There was no way that could be possible… it was Jackson who had caused it…
She found Matthew in the lounge room entertaining their daughters. He was lying on the floor, having let Gracie and Olive take him down. They climbed all over him, trying to hold down his arms in a weak protest. Olive, almost two years old now, was giggling with delight, whilst Gracie thought through tactics to hold Matthew down with cushions.
Amy smiled lovingly at the sight of her family. She put her bags down and entered the lounge room, scooping Olive up in her arms.
“Don’t hurt Daddy!” she said, kissing Olive all over.
Matthew found the strength to defeat Gracie at her game, scooping her up in his arms also. “Mummy and Daddy are the winners! The losers have to smell Daddy’s farts!”
Gracie and Olive squirmed before being let down on their feet. They scrambled out of the lounge room and down the hall to the back door. They ran outside into the spring afternoon, Matthew’s threat already forgotten.
“How was it?” Matthew asked, his eyes alight with excitement.
Amy’s previous anger suddenly returned. “It’s the boy you always wanted.”
Matthew grinned, but seeing Amy’s anger, his expression fell. “What’s wrong? And I thought we were going to keep it a secret again!”
Amy pointed her finger. “Oh, I’m glad the nurse told me – I would not want this one to be a surprise. And I don’t think you would either.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I know you want a big family, Matt, but I told you, I was drawing the line at three. I think I could handle three kids! This, I don’t think-”
“Amy, please.”
“It’s fucking twin boys, Matt! I’m pregnant with twins. Boys. Two boys! You fucking gave us twin boys. She thinks they’re identical twins, too-”
Matthew reached over and cupped his hand over Amy’s mouth, silencing her immediately. “Amy, this is fantastic news, not something to get angry about. We’ve created two lives at once. It’s a miracle. So it might be four kids instead of three… we’ll manage. I promise. We always do. And if it makes you happy, once they’re born, I’ll go and get a vasectomy. No more kids. But, Amy – twin boys? This is wonderful!”
He removed his hand and kissed her pouting lips.
He smiled. “But I am glad you didn’t keep it a surprise.”
“You know what this means, though?” Amy asked. Matthew shook his head. “It means Allie owes Jackson a thousand apologies – I think twin boys is on my side of the family. Granddad was an identical twin.”
“If that’s the least of your worries,” Matthew laughed, “we’ll be just fine.”
* * *
In the January of the following year, Amy and Matthew welcomed their identical twin sons into the world – Jayden Lee and Noah Carter Hamilton. They soon grew to have soft chocolate brown hair and golden hazel eyes like Amy – nothing like the blonde twins that were their cousins.
And it was a struggle – Amy was the first to admit that. For the first twelve months after the twins’ births, chaos reigned in the Hamilton household. Gracie needed to go to playgroup. Olive was dashing at their ankles. Jayden and Noah screamed for food and attention.
Many times Amy wanted to give up. Just throw her arms in the air and walk out on it all. But she was stronger than that – she’d promised herself and Matthew, and she had a family to support. She stayed and endured it with Matthew’s constant support and assistance.
He went and got that vasectomy he’d promised.
And together, he and Amy had the family that they had always dreamed of.
THE END
Recovering Amy
stephii
Check out another one of my stories, Forgotten:
http://www.wattpad.com/story/3088334-forgotten
(Also available via the external link to this story.)
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Hey! So I'm redrafting Convincing Amy in preparation for publishing. It would really awesome if you could provide me with some feedback via this survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5QNPDP5
Thanks a bunch!
-- Steph xoxo