El is quiet.She doesn’t tell me what Mother told her. I maintain my facade of ignorance throughout the ride home. Joshua spares me worried glances through the rearview mirror as El curls against me in the backseat. She’s in shock. On her order, Joshua stops at a supermarket for her to get some stuff. It takes only a few minutes and she returns to the car with a paper bag she makes both of us swear never to touch without her consent. Once Joshua drives into our compound, she shoots out of the car without so much as a backward glance. El’s not changing her mind about us making babies, is she? If she doesn’t want more kids, I can learn to live with it but I would appreciate it if she told me that. We need to communicate better. I’ll listen to her.Joshua gets out of the car at the same time as me. He hugs me tight. I hug him tighter. Questions linger in his eyes but he doesn’t voice any of them ou

El’s stomach is covered in a clear gel. I wink when her head rolls to my side. The doctor runs a hand held object over her belly while paying attention to the screen. At first, there’s nothing on the screen, then I see it. A white blob on the black screen. His finger halts on the screen, directly above the blob. “Can you hear it?” he asks.  I dart a glance at El. “No?” He moves that object on her stomach again and my hand tightens around hers. “If you listen closely, you can hear the heartbeats.” I nod at the screen, paying rapt attention to what he is trying to tell us. Then I hear it—the gentle sound of a thumping heart. El does too. I palm her hands between mine. Our baby. “Nails start to form at this point, see?”  The image on the screen is a bit blurry like we are watching a movie on a black and white TV. I don’t see nails or hair or anything he talks about. I just see my boy or the tiny human that’s my boy. He looks big. 

El’s eyes are wide with joy. She throws her arms around my neck. “Congratulations.” Congratulations are in order but this is not the best part. I’m giddy with excitement but somewhat still calm. We get out of the car with our hands linked. The girls are not in sight. They should be ready to leave, if they haven’t already. I don’t want El to meet them at home or it will ruin our plans to leave.They will stay over at Joshua until the end of the week, then spend the weekend with their grandparents. I haven’t called Vincent yet to update him. We will meet later today to discuss the visiting arrangements. I’ll talk and he will listen. It’s the best he can do since nobody has talked about punishing him for his sins. To be fair, no one cares anymore. We are glad to move past that dark stage of our life. It’s like we don’t want to confront anything that might ruin this bubble of happiness. Mo

I tilt the laptop and the girls’ faces occupy the screen. Wyn is on top of Bren but her twin doesn’t seem to mind. Brianna is on one side of the bed, smiling at the camera. They are all lying on their stomachs. El settles down beside me, I prop the laptop on my knees and slip my hand into her shirt from behind. She shoots me a warning look. I bat my lashes like the cute baby daddy I am.“I miss Mummy,” Wyn says. My back meets the headboard and El rests her head on my shoulder. “What about me?” Again, she and Bren are rocking the same gowns. Wyn frowns. “I miss you too, I guess.” El bellows out a laugh. Evil girls. In a few months, I’ll have my boys. She wraps an arm around my waist to soothe me. It works for only a second before my attention returns to the laptop. Bren is grinning. “How are you?” El asks. “Fine,” three of them chorus.&

El sneaks an arm around my waist. Her belly is bigger now. Our babies will be showing up soon. She leans on me for support while we wait for the private elevator. It was her idea to get out of my office to buy crackers.  A little fun fact: We have boxes of crackers at home. If she wasn’t pregnant, her attitude would have been suspicious but with pregnancy, anything goes. Rule number 123432444: Never argue with a heavily pregnant woman. It will end in chaos. We enter the elevator with my hand on her lower back. Our reflections on the metallic wall smiles at us and El laughs. I set my suitcase on the ground and palm her face for a proper kiss. With the pregnancy due, her office has become mine. She spends more time with me than anyone else. I love it.  Her lips taste like donuts. We ordered some an hour after she arrived to “pick” me. I will never let her drive in her state but she enjoys using that term even if she was brought here by a driver. She r