Epilogue

Three and half Months Later

Jon was sitting in the rooftop room of their apartment building that he used as a studio, guitar in his lap, notebook on the table in front of him when his phone rang. Irritated at the interruption he glanced at the window.

“Hi honey, what’s up?”

“Jon, I need you to come down here.” Lindsay informed him.

“Yeah, I’m just about finished here, just a few more minutes, and I’ll…..”

“No Jon, I need you to come home NOW!” She interrupted him.

He could hear the note of panic in her voice now. Irritation gone, he put down the guitar. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“My water just broke.”

Jumping up he was all but running for the door. “Hang on honey, I’m on my way.”

He didn’t bother waiting for the elevator, just ran down the stairs. Arriving at the loft, he found the door open and Lindsay struggling with her suitcase. Taking it from her, he hefted it with one hand, wrapped his other arm around her and urged her out the door, stopping only to pull it closed behind them.

In the elevator he finally spoke. “How are you doing honey?”

“Jon, I’m scared!” She admitted.

He ran a hand up and down her back trying to soothe her. “I know honey, but I’m right here, I’m not going to leave you.”

When they reached the lobby, the doorman took in the situation with a single glance and rushed forward. “Town car or cab?” He asked.

“Whatever’s closest.” Jon replied.

Outside, he helped her into the cab that the doorman had flagged down, and throwing her suitcase into the front seat and climbing in after her, gave the driver the address of the hospital where her doctor was going to meet them.

She gripped his hand as another contraction hit. “Easy honey, breathe.” Everything he’d been told in the birthing classes Lindsay had dragged him to went right out of his head. He had to rely on his own experience. “Look at me. That’s it, focus on me, not the pain. And breathe. That’s it. Good girl.” He felt her grip ease as the contraction faded.

When they arrived at the hospital, a nurse was waiting at the door with a wheelchair and assured them that the doctor was waiting for them in the maternity ward. Settling Lindsay into the chair he turned back, threw money at the driver, grabbed her suitcase and hurried after her.

“Jon!” All pretense of confident independence was gone in the face of what was happening. She was about to give birth, scared, and she wanted her husband at her side.

“I’m right here honey. It’s okay.” He reassured her catching up and gripping her hand.

Reaching her room, the nurse put the suitcase in a closet, helped Jon get Lindsay undressed and into a hospital gown and settled into the bed. A few minutes later, the doctor walked in. After greeting them and shaking hands with Jon she turned to Lindsay.

“Well, Lindsay, are you ready to meet your twins?”

“What if I said no?”

“Then I’d say you’d better get ready real quick.” The doctor smiled sympathetically. “I know this is a little scary, but women have done this for thousands of years. It’ll be fine.” Lindsay nodded. “Okay, so let’s have a look and see how things are progressing. Alright?”

Lindsay reached for Jon’s hand and nodded at the doctor. “Alright.”


Several hours later, Jon wasn’t sure which of them was sweating more. He also didn’t know how much longer he could stand to see her in this kind of pain. Even though he’d been through this before, he didn’t remember it being this bad.

As yet another contraction hit he once again urged his wife to push. “Come on honey, push. One, two, three, four. You can do it. Five Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. That’s my girl. Now rest.”

He glanced at the doctor, who smiled and nodded. “Everything’s looking good. Shouldn’t be much longer. Lindsay, next one I want a really big push ok?”

Lindsay just glared at her. Jon wiped her brow and murmured encouragement in her ear. As pain ripped through her body again, she groaned and bore down.

“That’s it honey. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Push honey. Six. Seven. I can see a head! Eight. Nine. Ten. Good girl. Now breathe.”

“Next one should do it Lindsay.” The doctor told her.

“Sure, for round one.” Lindsay panted.

The doctor laughed. “Yes, but the next one won’t seem so bad.”

Jon raised a brow at her wondering if she was telling the truth or just trying to bolster Lindsay’s flagging energy. The doctor met his eye and gave an almost imperceptible shrug. She’d never had twins, she really had no idea, but it sounded like the right thing to say at this point.

The next contraction brought one squalling baby sliding into the doctor’s hands. “It’s a boy! And a good set of lungs on him too!”

Lindsay smiled weakly. “Another one. Stephanie will be disappointed.”

Jon kissed her and laughed. “Yes she will. But I’m not.” Taking the scissors a nurse held out to him he cut the cord, getting only a brief look at his newest son before they whisked him away to check him over and clean him up.

Lindsay only had a few brief minutes of rest before her body was once more in the grip of a powerful contraction.

Jon was kept busy trying to keep one eye on his son, the other on his coaching duties. Seeing the nurses cooing at the little boy assured him that everything was fine there and he could concentrate on helping his wife. Wiping her brow at a pause between contractions, he kissed her. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Although right now I can’t say I especially like you.” She panted. “How can something that was so much fun and pleasure to put in cause so much pain to get out?”

Snickers echoed around the delivery room. “That’s a new one for me.” The doctor commented. “Normally by now the women are cursing their husbands, or screaming and in general not in a very spunky mood.”

“Don’t kid yourself. She really wants to scream at me, but she doesn’t want me to know how much she’s hurting. She knows how upset I get when she’s in pain.” Jon explained. Lindsay stared at him in surprise. “What, do you think that after all this time I don’t know you? You’re not fooling me Linds. I know you’re in pain. If it will help to scream, then scream.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but groaned instead as she was forced to focus on the matter at hand.

“That’s it honey. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. You’re doing great. Six Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. And breathe.”

Once again wiping her brow, he kept a running patter of encouraging words until finally Lindsay raised a hand to stroke his cheek. “Jon?”

“Yes sugar?”

“Shut up!”

The nurses snickered, the doctor laughed out loud. “That’s more like it.”

Two more contractions and the second twin made its appearance. “It’s a girl!” The doctor announced.

“At last! I was beginning to wonder if you had another girl in you.” She grinned tiredly at him.

“One of each.” Jon smiled and kissed her softly. “Thank you honey.” Once more he cut the cord and watched the nurses take his little girl off to check her out.

“Do we have names for these precious little tykes?” A nurse asked.

Lindsay and Jon looked at each other for a long moment.

“Luke Robert.” She answered.

“Kristen Grace.” Jon added.


While they cleaned Lindsay up and got her settled back in her room, Jon went out to call their respective families to share the news. Walking back into the room, he found Lindsay with a baby in each arm, tears running down her face as she gazed at her children.

“Honey?” He was concerned that something was wrong.

“Aren’t they beautiful?” She whispered.

“Yes, they are.” He agreed. “And so are you. I can never thank you enough for these two little angels.”

“No Jon, it’s me that should be thanking you. You’ve made all of my dreams come true. Thank you for making me give you a chance, when I tried to push you away. Thank you for loving me, and marrying me when you could have had any woman in the world. And most of all, thank you for giving me these two beautiful children, even though you already had four. I love you more than I have words to describe.”

He was blinking back his own tears. “I love you too honey. And the pleasure was - and is all mine.”


The End.