Game Changer

Chapter 12

"Oh no!"
"What?"
"The babies have an appointment today!" I said, running around the kitchen like a chicken with my head cut off.
"Slow down. What are you looking for?"
"The book. I have a book and it has their appointments and times and places written down."
"You mean this one?" Nadia asked me and picked up the book.
I took it from her hands and opened it. "How did you? Where did you? Oh who cares. Thank you. Okay, their appointment is at eleven, so we have two hours to get everyone ready."
"Okay, I'll go get Piper and Owen ready and then come help you with the babies."
I went into my bedroom and looked at these precious babies. It was hard to believe that they are six days old already. I went over to the closet and started looking for clothes. I grabbed their white onesies and matching nautical romper and dress.
I dressed Ava first. She's pretty good with being dressed, she just sits there and coos. Asher, on the other hand screams every time he sees clothes. Typical boy.
When I got them dressed, I put them back into their bassinets and went back to the closet. This time looking for something for me to wear. "Nadia!"
"Yes," I heard her say before she got in the room.
"What are you wearing?" I asked her, not actually looking at her. My face was still in my closet.
"Turn around and look at me." She said, I turned around and looked, she was wearing navy blue shirt with polkadots and red skinny jeans.
"You match the babies." I said, and started laughing.
"I do! I should go change Piper and Owen so they match, too!" She said and walked out of the room.
Since they were all matching, I decided I should, too. I got out my blue and white striped shirt that had one red stripe and put on a pair of jeans.
"I'm not coming in, I don't want to see you naked." I heard Mark say from outside the door. "I brought both strollers out to Nadia's car and I brought in the babies car seats." He told me.
"Thanks Mark! We're all matching, do you want to match too?"
"I think I'm going to sit this one out. I'm tired. I'm gonna go back to bed." He said, and started walking away.
"Okay. Well, thanks again."
"You're welcome."
•••
"Hi Mark, hello Nadia!" The secretary said to us when we walked in. "Right to the usual room, Mark."
"Thanks Debbie." I said back to her as we walked by.
"She seems nice." Nadia said as we went in the room and shut the door.
I laughed pretty hard at that. "When ever I call, the doctor is available to talk until she asks who's calling and then all of a sudden, the doctor is in a meeting."
"That's actually kind of funny." She said, giggling.
"Hello you guys." I heard Dr. Hitchlet say when she came in the door. "Nice to see you Mark." She said and shook my hand.
"Nice to see you, too." I said
"And you must be Nadia." She said, extending her hand. Nadia was still holding Piper and Ava -who were both asleep in her arms- so she couldn't very well extend her hand. "I'm so glad Greg found you." The doctor said. "When he told me he was going to take care of the babies alone, I was shocked. I honestly couldn't believe it."
"I wouldn't be able to do it without her." I said.
"That's sweet. Now, these babies. Do you want to lay them down on the table?" I laid Asher down and Nadia did the same with Asher. They had their checkup and they were finished. "You should have another appointment for in twenty days." Dr. Hitchlet said.
"Well..." I started. "We're moving to Maine next week. But we can't really tell anyone. It's a long story, but we have to leave."
"I'm going to miss you guys and these cute little babies. What part of maine are you moving to? I am from there."
"Bangor." I said.
"I grew up in Brewer, right by Bangor. You'll love it." She told us. "Here's the phone number of another paediatrician, you should go there. She does all the same things as me, and she's a sweet heart. You'll love her." She said as she wrote a phone number on a piece of paper.
"Thanks!" I said, and took the piece of paper. "I'll be sure to give her a call." Just as I went to put Ava in her car seat, Piper woke up. She looked a little bit confused for a minute, and then she got up and walked over to me, Ava and Owen. She kissed Ava on the head and walked over to Asher who Nadia was now holding and kissed him too. She tried to kiss Owen but he was still sleeping, so I didn't let her. I just kept him in the carrier on my chest the whole time.
"My babies" she said and started jumping.
"What's your name?" Dr. Hitchlet asked her.
"Can you tell her your name?" I said to her. She smiled and hid behind me.
"Tell her your name is Piper?" Nadia said.
"Piper" she whispered. And Dr. Hitchlet smiled at her.
"Nice to meet you Piper." She said. "Do you want a sticker?"
Piper nodded and they went over to the drawer on the other side of the room. Piper came back over with an Elsa and Anna sticker. "Mine!" She yelled and held the sticker up in my face. I laughed and hugged her.
"Well, thanks again Doctor. We will definitely miss you." I said as we walked out the door.
"I'll miss you guys too. If you ever get back for a visit, drop in and see me!"
"Same to you, if you ever come to Maine, look us up!" I said. And we left.
"Time to go finish packing" Nadia said.
•••
When we walked in the house, I found a note on the closet door in the entry way. I read it out loud to Nadia.

Emily came back looking for me. I'll come see you in Maine sometime, but I have to go. I'll miss you guys, but I need Emily. I'll call your cellphone when you get to Maine, love you guys.
-Mark

"Not again." I said, Nadia just looked at me.
"Again?"
"Every few months, he'll go off with her and think they're meant to be and that's why she's back. She'll take everything he has and leave." I explained.
"So he'll be back?"
"Well, I don't know how he expects to get to Maine, but they won't be together long." I said.
"That's terrible. We have to go get him. Where does she live? Do you have her phone number?"
"Neither of them have phones and she lives in her car. They'll be back."
"Didn't he say she had a kid?"
"Yeah, three. They live with their father now."
"Oh dear." Nadia said. "Some people."
"Tell me about it."
"Well, I guess we should start packing your things, too."
"Yeah, we should. I have boxes in the spare room's closet."
"Okay." She said and took off for the spare room. "Where should we start?" I heard her shout
"My bedroom." I said. I put Piper and Owen --who were asleep again-- in the cribs in the babies' room, and brought the babies in my room. I set their car seats down and switched them both to their bouncers. They both immediately started crying. I picked Ava up and handed her to Nadia and I picked Asher up and held him myself. I started digging through the diaper bag looking for their soothers. I couldn't find them.
Nadia walked over to the car seats and found them in the bottom of each one. She handed me the blue one and put the pink one in Ava's mouth. "I told you that you're going to need more than one. That could of been bad." She said.
"I see that now. We still need to go to Walmart later. I should get them more small things for when we go next week."
"Definitely. Let's pack up what you don't need first." Nadia said. "I'll get you some outfits for the next few days. Do you have a suitcase? Mine is huge, you can put it in mine if you want."
"I had one, but Mark took it last time he moved, and I haven't seen it since." I explained to Nadia.
"Okay, your stuff can just go with mine." She said and started packing my things, rolling outfits together and putting them in the suitcase big enough for us both to sit in it.
"I am going to go start packing up the kitchen. I don't think we need anything from out there, do we?" I asked.
"Nah, we should just buy new when we get there. Let's donate all of our stuff."
"Sounds like a plan to me. We can drop it off on our way to Walmart." I said and headed to the kitchen.
An hour later I heard crying so I just left everything. I figured it was the twins but it was Piper. I went into the bedroom and picked her up. "What's wrong P?" I asked her, and held her tight.
"Mama?"
"Mama's right in here. Don't wake the babies up, though." I said and brought her in to Nadia.
"Are you hungry baby girl?" Nadia asked, wiping her tears from her eyes. She was still holding on tight to me. She nodded. "Can you get her some goldfish, Greg?"
"Of course." I said, and started walking away. "We should go out and eat tonight. It's our first night actually as a family, just parents and kids. No Mark. Just us."
"That sounds like it could be fun." Nadia said to me.
"We can eat before we go to Walmart. Want to go when Piper is done her goldfish?"
"Sounds good." Nadia said and went back to my closet.
"Oh, and if there's anything that I don't need, just put it in a pile on the floor. We can donate that, too." I said.
"Okay sweetie." Nadia said and I brought Piper to the kitchen.
I put her in a high chair and buckled her in. "Do you want some goldfish?" I said to her, in my 'I'm talking to a little kid who doesn't know why I'm using a different voice' voice.
She started slapping the tray on her high chair "yum yum yum" she kept saying.
"Yum yum yum" I repeated back to her.
"Yum yum yum daddy" she said. I stopped in my tracks.
I decided to do it again to see if she'd say that again. "Yum yum yum."
"Yum daddy!" She said again.
"Nadia!" I yelled. Tears grew in my eyes. Nadia ran down the stairs.
"Yes?" She asked. "Why are you crying?"
"Watch this." I told her. And I tried it again. "Yum yum yum."
Piper giggled and hid her face behind her hands. "Yum yum yum daddy!" She said it again.
Nadia hugged me and started crying. "I don't even know how she learnt that. She must of heard us saying it to the twins." She squeezed me tight and I started crying too. "She's never called anyone daddy before. She's never even said it. When Zach was around she was too young to talk or notice, I doubt she even remembers him."
"That is just so cute." I said. I didn't know what else to say. I pulled away from Nadia and looked at Piper. "Who's mama?" I asked. She pointed at Nadia and giggled.
"Mama." She said.
"Who's daddy?" Nadia asked her, seeing if she would do the same.
Piper covered her eyes and giggled again. She pointed at me. "Daddy." She said again and started giggling.
"Well," Nadia said. "You're daddy. To four of them now."
"You know what that means?" I said to Nadia.
"No?"
"That means your mama to all four kids, too."
Nadia hugged me again. "I love this. I've never been so happy."
"I never thought I even could be this happy." I said. "My life is perfect. I have you and my four babies. And that's all that matters in life."
"I love you." She told me.
I kissed her on the top of the head. "I love you too, baby."