November 13th, 2002
Someone was shaking her and calling her name. “Sara, wake up. You are having a bad dream.” Sara quickly opened her eyes and saw Travis’ wonderful loving face, not Paul’s sadistic one looking back at her.
She couldn’t believe it, she was in her own bed on Zodar with Travis, not in a hospital room on Earth with Paul. Sara grabbed Travis, pulling him to her and hugged him as tight as she could to her, “Oh, Travis, hold me. I dreamed I was back on Earth with Paul and you had been merely a dream.” Sara started crying hysterically. “Please tell me this isn’t a dream. I thought I had lost you and Toby. Travis, I love you so much.”
“Sara, I love you too.” Travis said as he tightened his arms around her. As he slowly brought his lips to hers, he whispered. “Shhh, please don’t cry Sara. This is real, you are here with me, and Paul can never hurt you again, I promise.” Travis kissed Sara with love. It was a beautiful passionate kiss.
“Oh, my!” Sara said with surprise.
Travis laughed, “The kiss was that good, uh?”
“No, my water just broke, I’m going into labor. I mean yes, the kiss was good.” Sara told him.
“Sara, do you know what date it is? I hope you are not superstitious, as it’s the 13th of November.”
Sara smiled, “The number 13 has always been a lucky number for my family. Our wedding was the thirteenth ceremony and today our baby will be born on the thirteenth. This is a good sign. Let’s contact the grandparents and go have a baby.”
Both sets of grandparents were waiting for them when the three of them reached the hospital. Sara had become close to Allie’s parents over the last few months, which made them part of her immediate family, for they were always included in all the family's parties.
As the nurses got Sara ready to take her to the delivery room, Travis had Toby give his mother a good-bye kiss. As he leaned over for Toby to kiss her goodbye, Toby grabbed hold of Sara’s neck, held on tightly, and began crying.
When Travis finally was able to pull him away from Sara, he explained to his son that his mommy would be coming back to him and when she did, she would bring a new baby sister with her. Travis handed Toby to his mother, kissed his forehead and left Sara. The grandparents sat in the hospital waiting room with Toby and each one took a turn at trying to comfort him, but it was a lost cause.
Sara used natural childbirth and the baby had been born two hours after her water broke, everything had gone without a hitch and Travis had been with her the whole time. After nursing her new daughter, the baby fell asleep against Sara’s breast. She watched as her beautiful daughter slept in her arms and didn’t move because the baby felt so good lying against her body. Every so often, her new daughter would move her tiny lips as if she was still nursing and Sara would smile.
A nurse came to take the baby back to the nursery. Sara kissed her new daughter’s soft downy head before she left with the nurse to go to the nursery for the next several hours. Tears were in Sara’s eyes and Travis handed Sara a tissue.
“Thank you. It has been a busy and emotional morning.”
“Have you decided on her name?”
“I would like to name her, Julia Ann, after my mother. My mother and grandmother were born on Friday, the 13th.”
“Too bad today isn’t a Friday. Julia is a beautiful name; it fits her. Now you rest, I’m going home to be with Toby for a while and I’ll bring him back later this evening to see you. I love you, Sara.”
“I love you. You sure gave me a mighty powerful kiss this morning.” They laughed and Travis waved good-bye.
Sara yawned, she knew she needed to get some rest before Toby came to see her later today, but she continued to lay and look at the beautiful scenery outside the window. She thought about the past few months and how happy she was with her new life. She had undeniably made the right decision in marrying Travis and moving to a different planet.
Travis was a wonderful loving husband and would find herself thinking about Travis and sex in the middle of the day. She never thought of sex when she was married to Paul, not even during the act itself. They continued to make love even though they were supposed to stop six weeks prior to delivery, but they didn’t. They tried, really, they had, but they just couldn’t stay away from each other. Once they started kissing and touching each other, they would soon be lost in their passion for each other and the next thing they knew they would find themselves in bed making love.
Sara thought about how close to her new in-laws, as well as the Hays’ she had become. From the beginning, they all treated her as their own child, not some stranger and she had come to love them all.
Sara yawned again. She had everything a woman could want: a wonderful husband, a son, a daughter, and the home of her dreams. Slowly she closed her eyes, knowing she better get some rest now while she could. Soon it would be time to nurse Julia again, and Travis and Toby would be coming to see her later.
Kayla couldn’t believe it was already November, she taken accelerated classes and graduated the middle of last month with her Accounting degree. It was a good thing too, because not only did she feel like a beached whale, she now looked like one too.
The doctor had done a sonogram a few months ago and the test showed twins. She still couldn’t believe that they were going to be parents of two babies at once. They also found out they were having a boy and a girl, and they were going to use the names they had original picked out months ago. Even though she had about two months left before her due date, Dr. Miller told her he thought she would go early. She sure hoped so, because she was tired of being pregnant.
They had gone to see the Williamson’s house and Kayla fell instantly in love with the house and had been able to move in the next week. Mrs. Williamson was eager to move because she wanted to be closer to her children who lived in another town, she’d moved out immediately after they signed the paperwork. They rented the house from her until the sale was final.
Kayla and Emily had decorated the house together and they had great time doing it. Luckily, they had left the nursery for last, and were just getting ready to start work on the it when Kayla found out about the twins. They bought two cribs, two highchairs, two car seats, but just one stroller, one made especially for twins.
Kayla and her in-laws became close during the time of the fixing up the house and preparing for the babies. Kayla and Emily would get together every afternoon for a glass of tea, and at least once a week they would all go out for dinner.
Alex and Kayla were so happy with their lives, when the twins came, their life would be complete, but then the work would really start for them. Kayla was getting a bit impatient, tired of being pregnant, and it was getting harder and harder for her to get around. She could never get comfortable in bed, no matter what position she would use. Her feet would swell up at night, she was always hungry, and then after she ate, she would have indigestion. Sometimes Alex would rub her back for her to help ease some of the discomfort and she would finally fall to sleep. She didn’t know how she was going to be able to last another five to six weeks more of this pregnancy.
Later today, they planned to go see Sara and the new baby at the hospital. The four couples had been together playing cards last night. Little did they know at the time that Sara would have her baby before the next day was over. They would usually get together at least once a month to play cards, and other times during the month, the whole gang would get together for a cookout or other types of family outings.
When Alex and Kayla pulled into the hospital parking lot, the clock in the car showed the time as 1:15 in the afternoon. As Alex and Kayla stepped into the hospital, a nurse ran up to her with a wheelchair.
Kayla shook her head at the nurse. “Sorry, we are just here to visit a friend. I wish I was in labor as I feel like a whale.”
The nurse smiled at her, “It will all be worth it when your baby does come.”
“Yes, it will.”
The two of them headed off towards Sara’s room, holding hands as Kayla waddled down the hall. Sara was in her alone in her when they arrived.
“Sara, how do you feel?” Kayla asked.
“Tired, but happy.”
“Where is Travis?” Alex looked around the room for his friend.
“He went home to be with Toby for a while. He is bringing him down later to see me and the baby. This separation has been hard on Toby, he’s afraid I won’t be coming back home to him.”
“It was hard for Toby to lose his mother, but you have been a wonderful mother to him.”
“Thank you. He is a sweet boy and I think of him as my own flesh and blood.”
They visited for about a half hour when Kayla said they needed to be leaving, but when she pushed herself up out of the chair to leave, she felt something wet running down her legs. Kayla had a scared look on her face.
“Oh, my God! My water just broke,” she cried out. “Alex, it’s too soon for the babies to come! The doctor said the babies would be early, but this is too early!” she said as tears began streaming down her face.
Alex pushed Kayla back down into her chair. “I’ll go get a nurse. Try to relax, you are in a hospital, and they are prepared for this kind of emergency.”
Soon a nurse was in the room helping her into a wheelchair, telling her she was being taken to a room to be checked to see how far she was dilated. Kayla was scared. What if the babies should die? Would Alex still love her if she miscarried their children?
Everything suddenly was happening too fast for her. When she arrived at the room to be check, Alex was sent from the room. The nurse said she was starting to dilate and would be staying in this room to wait until she was ready for the delivery of her babies.
She thought that once she was in her room, everything would slow down, but instead the room became chaotic. Suddenly, so many people in the room with her she could hardly breathe as she felt as if they were coming out of the woodwork at her. She was scared and wanted her husband to be with her and tears were running down her cheek.
A nurse came over to her, “Are you in pain?”
“Some, I just want my husband to be with me.”
“Let me check you again first.” The nurse checked to see how far Kayla was dilated. “You’re already dilated to 6 cm. and we will be moving you into the delivery room soon. I’ll send your husband in to with you.”
Soon Alex joined Kayla. He held her hand with one of his, while he stroked her head with the other. He wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t know how. “Kayla, please quit worrying and try to relax. We have great doctors here and they will do everything possible for you and the babies.”
“Oh Alex, the babies are coming almost two months too early, they will be too small to survive. I don’t want to lose our babies. I’m so sorry, I was always so careful.”
Kayla was crying hysterically now. Alex’s heart was hurting, he felt so damn helpless. How could he make everything okay for Kayla and the babies? How could he comfort her when he was just as scared as she was? Alex felt a couple of tears run down of his cheek and wiped them away as quickly he could. He was supposed to be the strong one, someone Kayla could lean on. He looked to see if Kayla had seen him crying and saw she was watching him, making him feel like a weakling for crying and was ashamed of himself.
Kayla reached out for Alex’s hand. “Alex, I think more you for being able to show your feelings. There were a few times as a child that I saw my father cry, and he was a strong and loving man. I thought more of him because he could show his emotions.”
Alex smiled at Kayla and squeezed her hand, and remained quiet, as there weren’t any words to express his feeling for her. What a woman he had married, thinking of him while she was scared and in premature labor.
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Dr. Miller entered the room and a nurse hurriedly filled him in on what has been happening to Kayla, he then checked Kayla’s progress for himself.
“Kayla, you are almost there. We are going to move you to the delivery room now. Probably before this hour is up, your babies will be born. I want you to be prepared for whatever might happen here today, but we are going to do everything in our power to help you, delivery a pair of healthy babies.”
“Dr. Miller, it’s too soon for them to come.”
“Kayla, they’re coming and there isn’t anyway now to stopped them.”
Suddenly a strong contraction hit her, and Kayla gasped. She started working through the contraction as she been taught in natural childbirth classes. About half an hour later, she heard the doctor exclaim, “I see the head! Push Kayla, push hard.”
Kayla was tired of pushing, but she took a deep breath and pushed as hard as she could. Her arms aching from pulling hard on the bar on the side of the bed railing as she pushed with all her might to help to deliver the first of her babies.
“It’s a boy!” Within seconds a baby’s cry was heard throughout the room. Before Kayla could see her new baby, a nurse swiftly took him away to clean, measure, and weigh him.
“Alex, I want to see my baby.” Suddenly another contraction hit her, and she soon forgot about seeing her new son.
After the contraction had passed, she sighed. “Alex, I’m too tired, you have this next baby.”
“I would if I could sweetheart.”
“How is Cameron?”
Alex kissed her head. “He weighed over five pound and looks perfect.”
Kayla cried out when another contraction started.
“Come on Kayla, just a bit longer now.” Dr. Miller told her
Kayla pushed with all her might on the next contraction and the next second later, she heard. “It’s a girl.”
Kayla waited to hear her daughter’s cry, but there wasn’t any sounds coming from the baby. Everyone was rushing around this way and that, and Dr. Miller rushed the baby over to a table and began working on the baby. She couldn’t see what was happening to the baby and was becoming scared. “Alex, why isn’t she crying?”
Kayla was squeezing so hard, Alex’s hand felt as if it was in a vise. “I don’t know, sweetheart.” Alex watched as Dr. Miller worked on his new daughter.
Kayla started crying again, “Dr. Miller, what is wrong with my baby?”
Then suddenly the room was filled with the loud cry of a second baby. It was music to everyone’s ears to hear this new life, communicating to the world with her little lungs.
An hour later found Alex and Kayla with a sleeping baby in each of their arms. Cameron weighed in at 5 pounds, 6 ounces and Annie weighed exactly 5 pounds. Dr. Miller told them the babies were healthy and were a good size for preemies. When Kayla tried nursing the twins at the same time, Alex had to laugh at the eagerness of the two of them. It had been a trying experience feeding them simultaneously, as they would become upset when one of them would lose their nipple. It had been a successful adventure with Alex’s help, but from now on, she would feed one at a time.
Two nurses came to take the babies back to the nursery so Kayla could get some rest. Alex laid Cameron in his bassinet, and then came to get Annie from Kayla, she gave her new daughter a kiss on her forehead before handing her to Alex. They watched as the nurses rolled the two bassinets out of the room, then Alex sat down on the side of the bed and he gave his wife a kiss.
“They are both beautiful. Thank you for giving them to me.”
“You’re welcome. I should be thanking you for finding and marrying me in the first place.”
“Mom and Dad are in the waiting room; they want to see you before they leave. I’m going on home so you can get some rest. I’ll stop by to tell Sara about the newest member of our family before I leave. I’ll call Maggie and Brianne when I get home.”
Alex kissed his wife good-bye, waving as he stepped through the door, and at the last minute, he turned and blew her a kiss good-bye.
Kayla laughed and blew him a kiss back. She was so tired, she slowly closed her eyes, and asleep almost immediately. When Kevin and Emily stepped into her room, they saw she was sound asleep, since they didn’t want to wake her, they quietly left the room and headed to the nursery to see their new grandbabies.
Maggie looked at the calendar, seeing it was November 13, she smiled as that was Sara’s lucky number. Travis had called this morning to tell them about their new baby, and he said Sara and the baby were doing great. Maggie told Travis they would get Matt’s parents to watch the boys and would be down to the hospital later to see Sara.
Maggie was baking cookies when the phone rang the next time, she looked at the clock to check the time. Matt usually called at 3:00 to talk to her and the boys, since the clock showed it was only 2:45, she didn’t think it wasn’t him calling.
“Hi, Maggie, this is Alex. I’m calling to tell you I became a new daddy today as Kayla gave birth an hour ago, all are all doing well. I came home so Kayla could get some much-needed rest.”
“Oh, my goodness! Did Kayla have any trouble?” Maggie asked with concern.
“She did a great job of it all. Annie gave us a scare at the beginning, as she had some trouble breathing at first, but then she belted out a good cry. They were both over 5 pounds and the doctor said the babies might have to stay a little bit longer in the hospital than Kayla.”
“We will stop by to see Kayla after we visit with Sara. Your children now have the same birthday as Travis and Sara’s baby.”
“Hey, you’re right, I hadn’t thought about it before. I better get moving, I still have more phone calls to make.”
After hanging up from Alex, the phone rang again, this time it was Matt. Maggie told him all the news about all the new babies, he was happy everyone was doing well. He wanted to talk to the boys, but Maggie told him they were at a friend’s house playing, and they would be home later tonight. He was disappointed that the boys weren’t home so he could talk to them, but he would see them this evening. They talked a few minutes more before hanging up.
As Maggie put the last batch of cookies into the oven, she thought of the news she had of her own to tell Matt and had arranged for the boys to be away when she told him. She had her suspicions that she was pregnant, but wanted to be sure before she said anything to Matt. The doctor confirmed it for her this morning, so she was going to tell him tonight when he got home.
Her due date was July 6, the same date as their first anniversary, so this would be a special anniversary gift for Matt and hoped the boys would like her news as well as their daddy.
After Maggie took the last batch of cookies out of the oven, she sat down on the bar stool at the kitchen counter and started thinking over the past few months. Boy, they had been busy ones. Ryan and Cole had started school in September and were in different classrooms. At first, they were upset about not being in the same room, but slowly they started making friends with the other children. Maggie thought this separation had been a good thing for the boys because they had become too dependent on each other over the summer.
Wherever you found one boy, the other one was not far behind. It was strange how they never fought or argued with each other like other siblings did. It was almost scary the way they got along so well with each other. Time would tell if the fighting would come.
She and Matt were doing great together too and couldn’t remember when she didn’t love her husband. She thought back to their wedding day, remembering how she had felt when she had first seen him. She had been so sure she would never love this man, so sure she would never love any man other than Jack. How wrong she had been. This was one time she was glad she had been wrong.
The rest of the afternoon went by fast as Maggie spent the time fixing a special dinner for the two of them. She kept repeating in her mind just how she planned to tell Matt about the baby, had come up with several versions, but she couldn’t decide which one was the best one. Before she was ready for Matt to be home, she heard his car drive up. It was now or never.
“Maggie, I’m home.”
She took a deep breath and headed out to greet Matt. They hugged and kissed each other hello.
“Where are the boys? Aren’t they home yet?” Matt sounded disappointed when two little boys didn’t run to meet him like usual.
“They are having dinner at a friend’s house tonight.” Maggie took his hand and led him into the living room. “Let’s sit down for a bit before dinner.”
Matt sat down on the edge of the couch as his wife wasn’t acting like herself. “Maggie, you are acting strangely. What’s wrong? Has something happened to one of the boys?”
Maggie smiled at him, as he knew her so well after just these few months. She took both of his hands into hers. “Matt, we are going to have a baby.” She blurted all at once, not at all how she had planned to tell him her news.
“Oh, boy!” Matt jumped up off the couch, grabbed Maggie and gave her a big bear hug.
“I take it you like my news.” Maggie said with laughter in her voice.
“Yes.” Matt started pulling her towards the bedroom.
“Matt, where are we going?”
“I want to show you how happy I am with your news.”
It was sometime later before Matt and Maggie had their dinner. The boys came home a short time later, and Matt told them their news, then there was more celebrating. The boys wanted to go out for ice cream, because they thought it was the best way to celebrate the news.
The phone ringing woke Brianne up. She hadn’t been feeling well earlier, so she had laid down for a nap after lunch. She had started back to college in August, taking classes in the morning every day, and studying in the afternoon. Alex hired Penny, an old friend, to take Kayla’s place at the office until she’d finish with school.
“Hello.” Brianne answered sleepily as she looked over at the clock and saw that it was 3:00 in the afternoon.
“Brianne, this is Alex. Did I wake you?”
“Yes, I was taking a nap.” Brianne yawned. “Excuse me.”
“I’m sorry I woke you.”
“It’s time for me to be up away.”
“Is school taking its toll on you?”
“I must have worn my brain out this morning.” Brianne laughed
“I’m calling to tell you Kayla had the babies today.”
“Oh no, it’s too soon. Is everyone okay?”
“Yes, everyone is doing fine now. Annie had some trouble breathing at first, but she is doing fine now.”
“I’m so glad to hear that, we will try to stop by after we visit Sara this evening.”
“That will be fine. Maggie and Matt plan to stop by this evening also.”
“Tell Kayla I said congratulations, and we will see you later this evening.”
“Sounds good. Bye Brianne, don’t study too hard.”
“I won’t. Bye.”
Brianne thought she better get out of bed before Amy came home to found her in bed and start worrying about her. Brianne had just gotten out of bed when the phone rang again.
“Hello.”
“Brianne, it me.” Amy said.
“Where are you? I thought you would be walking in the door about now.”
“I’m with Austin. He had some shopping to do this afternoon and wanted me to come along, so he picked me up from school. Don’t expect me for dinner either, as Austin said we eat out before coming home.”
“Well, be careful and have a good time.”
“I always have a good time when I’m with Austin. Bye.”
“Bye, Amy.” Brianne set the receiver down. She hoped they weren’t going ring shopping as she felt Amy was still too young to get married, but she wouldn’t stand in the way if they decide to move up the wedding date. Right now, it was set for July 6, 2004, on Luke and hers second wedding anniversary. Even then, Amy would only be nineteen. Brianne had hoped that they would wait until Amy graduated from college before they would marry.
Brianne decided since Amy wouldn’t be home for a while, she would run down to the store to buy a home pregnancy test as she had a feeling this might be the reason she hadn’t been feeling well lately. She had forgotten to mark the calendar last month, so she had no idea if she was late or not.
Soon Brianne had her answer. As they used to say back home, ‘the rabbit died’. She couldn’t believe it; she was finally going to be a mommy. She couldn’t wait to tell Luke, so she decided to run down to the airport and surprise him with the good news.
When Brianne arrived, Penny was on the phone, talking loudly to someone, so she motioned for Brianne to have a seat. The two had never met in person, just talked on the phone several times, so Penny didn’t know Luke’s wife was the guest.
Brianne wasn’t paying much attention to Penny’s conversation until she heard her name mentioned and then she knew they were talking about her. Brianne smiled, as this was going to be interesting, but she heard more than she had bargain for.
“Margie, he has never talked to me about how they met, or how long they knew each other before they were married. When I point-blank ask him a personal question about his marriage, he either changes the subject or tells me it’s none of my business. I just know she married him for his money.”
Then there was silence, indicating Margie was talking to her. “No, I don’t think he has any idea I have been making a pass at him. I’m about ready to just start taking off my clothes and see what he’ll do. It’s always Brianne this, Brianne that, on and on. I’m so tired of it, I’m about ready to scream.” More silence, “Okay, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll come right out and tell him I want him, and that I would be a better wife for him.”
Brianne couldn’t believe all she was hearing. Penny must know Brianne could hear every word of her phone conversation, but she mustn’t care whom overhead her. Didn’t Penny know about the repopulation program? Being a native of Zodar, Brianne assume Penny would know all about it. The thought entered her mind to tell Penny who she was, but she wasn’t sure how to go about it.
Just then, the door opened, and Luke walked in. His eyes went right to Brianne and his face lit up with a smile. “Honey, this is a pleasant surprise. What brings you down here? Is everything okay?” Luke sounded concerned.
Brianne walked over to Luke and gave him a passionate kiss. “Yes, darling everything is fine at home. Let’s go into your office where we can talk privately,” she said seductively.
Luke just looked at Brianne, as he hadn’t ever seen her act this way. “Have you met Penny yet?”
Penny had since hung up the phone and was just staring at Brianne.
Brianne had a big grin on her face. “No, she was on the phone visiting when I walked in. She was telling the person on the other end how she had the hots for you and was thinking about taking off her clothes to get your attention.”
She takes in a deep breath, then continues. “And she thinks I married you for your money. Of course, she didn’t know who I was at the time, but it didn’t stop her from talking about us.” Turning to Penny, “Did I get all that right?” she asked sweetly.
Penny stood up and her face was red from embarrassment. “I quit. Mail me my check.”
No one said a word as Penny started grabbing a few of her personal belongings. Luke and Brianne watched as she packed her belongings and stormed out the door.
Luke turned to Brianne and grabbed her by the upper arms.
Brianne was startled by his actions and at first, thought Luke was mad at her because Penny had quit. Alex pulled her into his arms and gave Brianne a big kiss.
“Thank you. I have wanted her to quit forever.”
Brianne pushed Alex into a chair and then planted herself onto his lap.
“Would you please explain to me what has been going on here? You never mentioned you were having a problem with Penny.”
“Brianne, I didn’t want you to worry. You have enough to worry about with school and Amy, without adding this place to your list of worries. You needed to concentrate on school, not my business.”
“I’m your wife, it’s my job to worry about you and your company. What will you do now that Penny is gone?
“Have a celebration.”
Brianne gave him a dirty look.
“I’ll have Mom help for a while, as she will love getting out of the house for a while. By the way, how come you are here anyway?”
Brianne didn’t pay any attention to Luke’s question. “What about Penny, did you know how she felt about you?”
“I knew what she was after, but I ignored her, as I kept hoping she would quit on her own. Since she was an old friend of the family, I didn’t have the heart to fire her. By the way, nothing ever happened between the two of us.”
Brianne kissed her husband, “I know, but to change the subject back to why I’m here. I have some important news to tell you and I couldn’t wait until this evening to tell you.” She put her right hand on his cheek, “Alex, I found out today the reason I haven’t been feeling well lately is because,” she paused, and then she smiled at him, “we are going to have a baby.”
Alex jumped up, almost knocking Brianne to the floor. He grabbed her, swinging her around in a circle. “Oh, boy!” He kissed her. “Are you sure?”
“I did a home pregnancy test, so I still need to go to the doctor to confirm it.”
“Wait until I tell the guys.”
Brianne laughed, “What about your parents? Shouldn’t you tell them first? Your mom will be hurt if you don’t.”
“Well, of course I will, you silly goose.”
She fakes a cry, “Now you are calling me names, oh boo hoo.”
They both laughed, and the kissing began once again.