Surprisingly Perfect

Blue And...

I gasped. The balloons in my box were also blue!

Two boys.

I was having two boys.   

My heart was leaping out my chest. Was this really happening? I was seriously going to have two boys? I was surprised, but excited. I always used to beg Mom for a little brother, even though I knew there was no chance of that happening.

When I looked over at everyone, they all seemed pretty surprised too. There were a lot of gasps and wide mouths. They were still taking videos and pictures.

The last of the bright blue balloons were hitting the ground around me. I was having a good time, just kicking them around the lawn.

"Two boys! I can't believe it!" I said, still happily kicking around balloons.

Mom clapped and shrugged.

"Every time! And this time I couldn't have been more wrong!" she said.

Poppy, who begged and pleaded with my mom for years to adopt a little sister for her, was wiping away her tears. I walked over and hugged her while she sobbed into the sleeve of my pink and blue dress. 

"I literally didn't draw up any nursery ideas for if it was two boys! I have nothing! And the gift I got you has baby girl dresses in it!" she whined.  

"It's okay. We'll return those and get the cutest outfits we can find for them! You'll see!" I said, memories flashing in my mind of walking through Target with her.

She always pointed out the cute baby girl dresses, which were probably inside the massive gift bag she left in the living room with all the other presents.

Poppy nodded. I could tell how much this was crushing her, but as much as I wanted to stay and comfort my little sister, something else caught my eye.

A guy in a sweatshirt, baseball cap, and sunglasses, who was raising his fists in the air. I tried to go over to him. Key word: tried.

Everyone kept stopping me for congratulations and hugs. But I didn't want any. All I wanted was to get to Chase, so I may or may not have shoved a few people so I could reach him.

While looking through the crowd, I took one last look for Heather and Maddox. I still had a little bit of hope that they'd come and things could go back to normal, but they were nowhere to be found. I shook off the sadness I was suddenly feeling and kept walking.

"Hey, I'm not picking up all these balloons by myself, am I?" Mom said, holding a big trash bag.

A bunch of people ran over to help out, especially since a breeze kicked in and sent the balloons flying into a bunch of nearby backyards. I watched as Julia and Carlos took off into the street of the cul-de-sac behind us to grab some.

Hopefully we'd pick something less messy the next time we had a gender reveal. Or at least something that wouldn't blow away, like a cake.

But that would be forever away anyhow, since Poppy and I were years and years from having any more kids...hopefully.   

Chase was all the way over in the back corner of the deck. Finally, after people realized I didn't want to talk, there was a clear path over to him. He took a sip out of a blue plastic cup and gave me a little wave.

"Hey, thanks so much for coming. It really means a lot," I said. "You look happy."

"Happy? I'm ecstatic! This officially makes four generations of twin Hetcher boys. It's awesome! It was exactly what I was hoping for. Even better that they're fraternal. I'm not the best with faces so being able to tell them apart really works out for me. I know that my parent's mixed Jace and I up all the time when we were babies, since we're identical."

I tried to smile. My eyes kept going to my swollen feet.

"Hey, Chrys?"

"Yeah?" I asked, looking up.

"Not what you wanted, huh?"

"I mean, I'm super excited, but I think I'm just a little nervous because I literally know nothing about boys. I don't have a dad anymore, and as you can see, I grew up with a sister. My one friend who's a guy doesn't even want to talk to me anymore because I'm pregnant, and my only other experience with a boy is through Jace and my teachers."

"I think you're forgetting that they have an uncle."

I laughed. "Yeah, but I don't expect you to handle this or anything. You're all over the place filming shows and getting awards. You're a famous actor, and Jace wants nothing to do with me...or them."

"I may be busy, but you're nuts if you think I don't have time for my nephews."

"Well, again, I'm glad that you care," I said. 

"I'll talk to Jace again and see if I can find out what's going on with him. I don't have the greatest relationship with him, as you saw at that dinner, but I'll keep trying to get through to him. I'm sorry that my brother is such an ass," he said.

"It's okay. Not your fault."

"I know Jace is up to something, because I saw him sneak a box of diapers into his room. I think he really does care, but he's afraid to show it. He wants to be a tough guy, I guess," he said, chuckling.

"Well, that's one way to put it," I said.

I wanted to keep talking but ended up getting pulled away by my mom and Cler. We sat down in the air-conditioned living room with everyone else, drinking lemonade and talking about names. Oh crap. What names was I going to pick? I still didn't have any names picked out.

"Do you think you want to go with names that start with the same letter?" Mom asked.

"Oh, that's what we're doing!" Julia chimed in.

I started twirling my hair. This was a tough one.

"Well, I guess I don't really want both names to have the same letter...yet. I haven't found two names that sound good together."

"Well, maybe we should start looking!" Mom said. "But you know we have to open presents first, right?"

I laughed. Everyone else was called back inside to have cake and open the presents. It was a few small things, like bottles and pacifiers. There were some white, grey, and yellow onesies, but almost every gift came with a baby names book. Poppy kept giggling as I unwrapped each one.

"What's so funny?" I asked, putting the sixth book aside.

"Mom and I know you can never decide on anything! That's why we had everyone get you so many baby name books!" she said.

I tore the wrapping paper off the next book. It was called, What Should You Name Your Twins? I sighed. This was going to be a lot harder than I thought.