Chapter 112

The next morning AJ couldn't wait to call his mom and share their good news. He took a picture of the I Love Daddy bib Emily gave him and e-mailed it to her just before he called.

“Why is my son calling me before ten in the morning?” she answered.

“Hello to you too!” he laughed.

“How are you? All ready for your big tour?”

“Almost.”

“Have you packed yet?”

“Of course not, you know better than that!”

Denise laughed. “So to what do I owe the pleasure of your phone call? I'm sure you have a million things to do today!”

“Hang on...Emily pick up the phone!” he called.

“Hi Denise!” Emily said from her own receiver.

“Good morning Emily! What's going on you two?” Denise asked, beginning to suspect they had some good news for her.

“Mom, check your e-mail, I sent you a picture of something. It's a gift Emily gave me last night.”

“Alright, but this had better be appropriate for a mother's eyes!” she chuckled. Over the phone they could hear her log on to her e-mail and download the photo. “Oh you guys I just knew it!” she squealed. “You're really going to make me a grandmother?”

“Yeah Ma, it's really true!” AJ said. “We're having a baby!”

“Oh you guys, that is so wonderful!” Denise said, sounding a bit teary eyed. “When are you due?”

“December tenth.” Emily answered.

“And how far along are you now?”

“Only seven weeks. We don't really want anyone else to know yet, so if you don't mind keeping this to yourself for awhile...”

“Mum's the word!” Denise said.

They chatted a bit longer before they hung up.

“Your mom is pretty excited!” Emily commented.

“Well, I think she spent a lot of years afraid that I'd never give her any grandkids so I'm sure she's extra thrilled! Hey why don't we call your mom?”

Emily grimaced. “I don't know....”

“Why not? Won't she be happy?”

“Well you know we don't really talk a lot anymore.” Emily shrugged. “She hasn't really been in the greatest of conditions lately, ever since John died.”

“Don't you think some good news might cheer her up?”

“It would cheer up a rational person. My mother is far from rational these days. She's still mad at me for quitting my job to be with you.”

“I thought you quit because of the stalker?”

“I did, but I wasn't even about to tell her about that situation!”

“Well, you'll have to tell her eventually. Don't you think it's better to tell her now?”

“I guess. Ok, I'll go get it over with.”

Emily sat down on the bed and called her mom. After exchanging a few awkward pleasantries Emily bit the bullet. AJ was listening on the phone in the office.

“Mom, I called to tell you some good news!”

“You got a new job?”

“No, better than that! AJ and I are going to have a baby!”

Emily's mom was silent.

“Mom? Did you hear me?”

“Yes, unfortunately I did.”

“What do you mean unfortunately?”

“Well I just mean that apparently the whole motherhood thing has never really worked out for you, has it? I mean you lost Payton, then you had a miscarriage...maybe you should listen to what mother nature is telling you!”

“I can't believe you're saying that!” Emily gasped. “Aren't you happy to have a grandchild?”

“Not really. Why would anyone want to bring an innocent life into this cruel world? We've already lost enough in this family, Emily. I don't think I can take more.”

“Who says you're going to lose anything?”

“That's just the way things seem to be working out lately.”

“Well, I'm really sorry you feel that way. We're very excited about this, I hope you'll be able to be as well.”

“Not likely.”

“Alright...well, bye Mom.” Emily said, sniffing as she hung up.

AJ sat in the office, his blood boiling. Emily had said her mother had been rather depressed lately but he had no idea she'd react this way to her daughter's news. He couldn't restrain himself as he picked up the phone and hit redial, hoping Emily wouldn't hear him.

“Hello?”

“Hi, it's AJ.”

“Hello AJ.” she said, in a rather cool tone.

“Look I know things have been incredibly difficult for you the last several years but that doesn't give you the right to treat Emily the way you have been.”

“And what way is that, exactly?”

“You're always putting her down, disapproving of everything that she does. She's a grown woman, you need to respect her decisions and find a way to be happy for her. She's happy, isn't that what is most important?”

“AJ as soon as my daughter does something worth respecting, I will respect her.”

“Well, if that's really how you feel, then I'm sorry but we just don't have room in our lives for someone like you and we especially won't allow it around our child. If you change your mind, you know where to find us but until then, please don't call Emily anymore.”

And with that, AJ hung up on his mother-in-law. He went into the bedroom to find Emily still sitting on the bed, trying not to cry.

“It's ok to cry.” he said as he sat next to her and pulled her into his arms.

Emily nodded. “I know she didn't really mean it.” she said.

“That doesn't mean it didn't hurt though, right?”

“Right.” she sniffed. “It's just...she's been so deeply depressed, I don't even know what to do! I feel bad for cutting her out of my life but I can't be around someone like that and I can't help her if she won't let me, right? This isn't my mother, AJ. I mean she was always a tough mom but the real person she was would have been so happy for us.”

“I know.”

“Why couldn't she be more like your mom?” Emily sobbed.

AJ kissed the top of her head and gently rubbed her back until she calmed down.

“I think I'm going to get to work on laundry for packing.” she said, standing up.

“I have to run some errands, do you need anything?”

“Not yet. I haven't really gotten that far!”

“Alright, well call me if you think of anything.”

Emily got back into bed after AJ left, feeling seriously depressed. She'd been hiding for months from the fact that her mother was ill. She could certainly understand why, but at the same time, she felt a bit abandoned. Her mother may have lost her son but she still had a daughter and somewhere in the haze of her depression, she'd decided that it was easier to write Emily off than to be a part of her life. She wished that there was something she could do to help but until her mother did something that would deem her mentally incompetent, she could not force her to get help. She shuddered at what it would mean if her mother had to be declared incompetent: it would mean that she had become a danger to herself or others. Would it really go that far? She was torn as to what to hope for. If her mother got sicker and tried to hurt herself, then at least she would get help. Or was it better for Emily to wish for a mother who wanted nothing to do with her but was at least a step above incompetent?

She sighed as she picked up the phone and called her favorite aunt who lived near her mom and talked to her about what had been going on. At first, Jean, her aunt, tried to deny that there was a problem until Emily confided the way her mother had acted towards the news that she was going to be a grandmother.

Jean sighed. “I'm sorry, Emily. I wanted to protect you from it. I just thought it would be easier if you didn't have to know how bad it really has been lately.”

“How bad is it?” Emily asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

“She hasn't left the house in six months.”

Emily swore under her breath. “Have you tried to get her any kind of help?”

“She saw a therapist a few times, he gave her antidepressants, but she refused to take them.”

“Do you think she would try to hurt herself?”

“I honestly don't know anymore.” Jean admitted.

“So what do we do?”

“I'll go over and talk to her today. You're her next of kin, Emily. It might come down to you having to fight to get her help.”

“I know. Just keep me posted from now on, ok?”

“I promise. Oh, and Emily?”

“Hmm?”

“Congratulations on your baby!” Jean said, happily.

“Thanks.” Emily smiled.

“Your mother is happy deep down inside.”

“I hope so.” Emily shrugged. “But I just don't know anymore.”

Emily eventually took a shower and went downstairs to make some peppermint tea. She was looking over the tour schedule when AJ walked in, carrying a few shopping bags.

“Hey! How did the errands go?” she said, giving him a quick kiss.

“Great! What are you up to?”

“I was looking at your tour schedule trying to see when I could fit in that appointment with my OB.”

“Do you see anything that works?”

Emily nodded. “I was thinking I could fly home in between Cleveland and Minneapolis when there's a day off, assuming I can get an appointment. I just wanted to check with you before I call them.”

“How about if I come with you?”

Emily shook her head. “I'm sure you'll have things to do and even if you don't, you should relax on your day off!”

“Emily....you're having my baby! I want to be there with you and see that ultrasound! I wouldn't miss it for the world! It really isn't a big deal to rearrange some press stuff.”

Emily grinned. She was secretly hoping he'd want to go with her. So she picked up the phone and called Dr. Paul's office and miraculously was able to get squeezed into an appointment in three weeks. AJ called Mark his manager and explained the situation.

“No shit, you're having a baby?” Mark exclaimed.

“Yep! In December, isn't is fucking awesome?” AJ said. Secretly, he was nervous how Mark would react to the news. AJ was still used to being treated as the boy band artist who was not allowed to have any kind of life other than remaining available to the fantasy of every teenage girl in the world. He was prepared to get some grief over it but he was also prepared to insist that he didn't give a rats ass what they thought about it.

“That's great, man! So what can I do for you?”

“Well, we don't really plan on telling even our friends for a few more weeks but Emily has a doctors appointment in three weeks, the day after the Cleveland show and I would like to fly back with her to be there. Think you can rearrange things and make that happen?”

“Done.” Mark said. “I've got three of my own, I know how important it is to be there, especially for the first one!”

AJ relaxed a little. “Thanks man. To be honest I was afraid you were going to fly off the handle at me.”

“I don't manage boy bands, AJ. I manage people with real lives. My job is just to decide how much of that real life the public should see. I think your fans will eat this up whenever you decide to make it public!”

AJ went back downstairs. “All set!” he said. “Mark's making the travel arrangements for us.”

Emily's face lit up. “I can't wait!”

“Hey, come sit down at the table a sec, I got you something!” AJ said. The truth was, he felt horrible for her after she'd called her mom and knew she would be pretty upset so he wanted to do something to cheer her up. He was having a hard time figuring out what he could do when he drove past a Babies R Us and decided to check it out. He had no idea just how many baby items there were and to be honest, he couldn't wait to start picking things out.

“What'd you get?” she asked, sitting down at the table.

He pulled out a stack of books. “I thought you might like some things to read on tour! The lady at the store said these were the most popular. See this one has real pictures of the baby each week inside the womb, isn't it incredible??”

Emily opened the book and smiled at the picture of the tiny, seven week old fetus. She went through the rest of the books: Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy, Belly Laughs, Your Guide to Pregnancy, Girlfriends Guide to the First Year, the Nursing Mothers Companion, The BabyCenter pregnancy guide, a book of baby names, and practically every book written by Dr. Sears.

“I didn't get What to Expect When You're Expecting because the sales lady said it's just a lot of scary information. Some of this you probably don't really need to read but I thought, you know, you could brush up, and I can definitely stand to read this stuff!” he said, excitedly.

Emily laughed. “Thank you! I was actually thinking of getting some this week, this is perfect!”

“Wait, there's more!” he said. He handed her the second bag.

“Preggie pops?” she asked, pulling out a package of loli pops.

“They're supposed to help morning sickness, they have herbs in them!”

“I've never heard of them before! I hope they work.” She pulled out the rest of the things. There was a peppermint leg and foot massage cream, a bag of what he called craving control which was made up of all sorts of candy, and a bottle of the top of the line prenatal vitamins.

“Thank you!” she said. “This is so cute of you!”

“Well, I wanted to cheer you up.” he admitted.

“It worked. Did you really go to Babies R Us?”

“Yeah, I can't believe how big that place is! I didn't really look around because I didn't have time but I really wanted to.”

Emily laughed. If she ever had doubts about AJ being excited, they were since long forgotten as she listened to him ramble about the few things he did manage to look at in the store.

Chapter 113

The rest of the week had been hectic as they got ready to leave. AJ was being so attentive that he wouldn't even let her carry any of her bags downstairs to the car.

“AJ it isn't that heavy, I can get it!” she insisted.

“No, I read in one of those book that you shouldn't do any lifting!” he said firmly as he took the bag from her hands.

Emily just smiled and let him do it, slightly enjoying all the special attention she'd been getting.

The tour began in New York City and it was an absolute whirlwind. The fans were very hyped up and he was kept busy with meet and greets and press interviews. Emily hung around the hotel most of the time and spent time with him whenever she could.

His first show was amazing! It was a sold out venue and the crowd was loud. AJ suffered from his first show jitters but as soon as he got on stage, any nerves he had flew right out the window as he performed his solo album for the very first time. The fans already knew all the words as they danced and sang along.

They were on their fifth stop, in Boston, when Emily's morning sickness began to kick in. She was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to get it since she'd made it all the way to nine weeks without barfing but as soon as she woke up that morning, she knew she wasn't going to be so lucky. She had fallen asleep at about 8 the night before while AJ was out and had slept until 8 in the morning, which meant it had been over twelve hours since she'd last eaten. Not a good thing for a pregnant lady as the more empty her stomach was, the greater her chances of getting sick.

She quickly sat up and realized she wasn't even going to make it to the bathroom so she grabbed the trashcan and aimed carefully. AJ was woken up by the sounds and quickly sat next to her.

“Are you alright?” he asked, looking very concerned.

Emily nodded and took a few deep breaths. “This child of yours is making me sick!”

AJ smiled. “Is it only going to be my child when it's in trouble? Usually you call it our baby or the baby, not my baby.”

Emily managed a chuckle as she lie back down on her side. “Yes, that's pretty much how it works.”

“Can I get you anything?” he said, taking the trashcan into the bathroom and rinsing it out.

“Can you try and find me some crackers and maybe some ginger ale? I think I just need to get some food in my tummy.”

AJ picked up the phone and called room service who also offered to bring up some toast as well. When it arrived, he made sure Emily nibbled slowly. The first few bites didn't go down so well but eventually, she started to feel better as she finished the crackers and toast.

“Do you have time to cuddle before you have to get up?” she asked as she crawled back into bed.

AJ looked at the clock. “I'm sorry, I'm already running a little late. I really need to get dressed.”

Emily sighed. “Ok. I'll meet you for lunch?”

“Lunch it is!” he promised.

Only AJ didn't make it to lunch, and he didn't call either. She realized he had the unfortunate habit of being kept late in meetings and rehearsals but he was usually very good about keeping her informed so when it had been an hour and she still hadn't heard from him, she began to get worried. His cell phone was going straight to voice mail and she had sent him a few text messages and hadn't heard back. She looked at his schedule on the laptop and saw that the last place he was supposed to be was sound checks so she thought maybe she'd just head over to the venue and check on things.

Emily flashed her stage pass at the workers and they let her right in. She was standing in the back of the auditorium looking around. There were stage hands everywhere but no AJ in sight.

“Hey Emily!” Chris, the tour director called.

“Hey Chris, have you seen AJ anywhere?”

“Yeah, he's backstage having lunch with the band. Here, follow me, I'll take you back there.”

“Thanks.” Emily muttered. Apparently, he'd simply forgotten they had plans.

As soon as AJ saw her walk in, he remembered that he was suppose to meet her for lunch. He quickly walked over to her with his biggest puppy dog face on. “Shit Em, I'm really sorry. I totally forgot.” he admitted, figuring it was best to be honest up front than to try and talk his way out of it.

“I noticed.” she said, coldly. “Well I won't keep you, I was just worried when I couldn't get a hold of you. Guess I'll see you tonight.”

“Shit.” AJ mumbled. “Em, come on. It was a crazy morning, everything that could go wrong during sound check did go wrong and we were all pretty wound up. I really didn't mean to forget you.”

“No, I'm sure you didn't, but you did. You know, you said this tour would be a good chance for us to spend time together and I realize that you're very busy and I knew you wouldn't have a whole lot of time but I figured you'd at least squeeze me in sometimes. But lately I'm starting to wonder why I'm even here.”

“I want you here!” he said. “I'm doing the best I can, what more do you want from me?” he was beginning to get defensive.

“Nothing.” she answered.

“Fine. I'll have lunch with you tomorrow, would that make you happy?”

Emily shook her head. “I'm flying to LA tomorrow for Kristin's baby shower, but I wouldn't expect you to remember something as silly and unimportant as that.” And with that, she turned on her heel and walked out.

“Whatever.” AJ mumbled and went back to his lunch.

Emily decided not to go to the concert that night. She was still pretty upset with him and she didn't want to get into another fight with him right before he had to go on stage. She also wasn't sure she was welcome, he hadn't made any attempt to contact her the rest of the day. He didn't get back to the room until almost two in the morning and she pretended not to even wake up when he got into bed and laid as far from her as possible. In the morning, he was asleep when it was time for her to leave. She didn't bother waking him up but she did bother to slam the door behind her. While she was waiting to board the plane, he sent her a text message that said, “Will you at least let me know when you get there please?” to which she simply replied, “Yes.”

She was feeling pretty grumpy when she landed but was immediately cheered up when she found Kristin and Leighanne waiting for her at baggage claim.

“Look how cute you're getting!” she exclaimed as she patted Kristin's large belly.

“Don't remind me.” Kristin rolled her eyes.

“You look great, I promise.” Leighanne assured.

They all went to lunch and caught each other up. Leighanne knew Emily was upset about something and finally managed to get it out of her about her argument with AJ.

“Believe me, we've both had that argument with our husbands many, many times.” Leighanne assured as Kristin nodded in agreement.

“I know. I guess I was being a little irrational.” Emily admitted.

“Maybe, but I don't think they realize how hard it is for us to be touring with them. It's very easy to feel left out and left behind.” Kristin said. “That's why I just started making plans of things for me to do myself in each city. Kevin didn't like it at first but once I put my foot down and explained it to him, he was a little more understanding.”

“That sounds like a good idea. Maybe you'll have to help me out on what to do where!”

Kristin dropped them off at their hotel and then they parted ways. Kristin was not allowed to have anything to do with the shower prep, they wanted it all to be a surprise for her. They made plans to meet back up with her for a late dinner at her house later on.

“How are the plans looking?” Emily asked as she set her things down.

“Everything is coming together very well. We're supposed to drive down to the beach club to meet with the caterer and the event manager to talk about set-up and decorations and the plans for the day. I already spoke with the florist and everything is set there. It looks like our head count is about 40 people so it's a good thing we decided to go with a bigger place. Then I thought tomorrow we could go shopping for game supplies and prizes.”

“I didn't know we were doing games!” Emily said.

“I didn't think we would with that many people but Kristin said she really wanted to have some games so we need to come up with some that are big group friendly.”

“We could do a lot of guessing games. Like have a huge plastic box full of diapers and have people guess how many are in there. We could buy a bunch of baby supplies and have people guess the cost to buy them all. Or guess how many stuffed animals she'll get as gifts. Oh we can also do Baby Shower Bingo where instead of numbers we use typical shower gifts and people can mark them off as she opens the presents.”

“How do you know all of this? Have you been to a lot of showers or something?” Leighanne was surprised.

Emily shrugged. “I gave serious consideration to being a party planner once. I've helped with a few showers before so I did all my homework then.”

Leighanne laughed. “Alright, you're in charge then. Make a list of everything we'll need.”

That night at dinner, Emily almost choked when Kristin asked her if she and AJ had given any more thought to starting a family of their own. She really didn't want to lie but she certainly wasn't ready to tell them yet, either.

“We've talked about it. I'd say we've both decided on very soon.” she said, trying her very best to hide the huge grin that wanted to escape. “So Kevin, what are you going to do during the shower?” she asked, quickly changing the subject.

“I'm playing a game of golf with my buddies and then Kris told me I had to make an appearance at the very end of the party so all the ladies can ooh and ah over me and help her get all the gifts home.”

Emily and Leighanne laughed, knowing full well the last place Kevin would want to be was at a baby shower, even if it was to celebrate his own baby.

That night, before Emily went to bed, she decided to bite the bullet and call AJ. He didn't answer his phone and she realized she'd stupidly forgotten the time change so she left him a message.

“Hey, it's me. I just got back from dinner at Kevin's a little bit ago and I thought I'd call you before I went to bed. If you get a chance in the next hour, give me a call. Otherwise, I'll probably be dead to the world if it's any later than that. Love you.”

He wasn't able to call her back within the hour but she did wake up to a text message from him saying simple, “I love you too.”

She got up early and met Leighanne for a quick breakfast before heading over to the beach club to make sure everything was running smoothly. To be honest, Emily had never thrown a party before where there were hired people to do everything. She was used to having to clean and move furniture and make the food. While it was nice just to oversee, she did kind of miss having her hand in it a little more.

Eventually Kristin and the guests arrived and the gifts piled up. Everyone mingled until it seemed like everyone had arrived and then they had them all sit down so lunch could be served. During lunch, Emily made sure everyone had made their guesses for the games and took the answers to find the winer of each. She announced them over the delicious cake and passed out the prizes. And then it was the moment they'd all been waiting for: presents!

Emily had heard a lot of grumblings as she wandered around the tables about how annoying it was that Kristin didn't want to know the sex of her baby because it made shopping so difficult, they couldn't buy her any cute outfits! Emily grinned, thinking that was a great reason not to know the sex. That way, no one would buy you cute outfits and instead they might actually get you things you need besides clothes and blankets. She and AJ had already discussed their desires to not find out the sex of the baby. They both loved surprises and figured when you're an adult, you get so few surprises out of life anyway, why ruin one of the best ones?

It took Kristin over an hour to open her gifts, there was so many of them. There were some very cute things that Emily made a mental note of wanting for herself. Her favorites were the Hooter Hiders- a nursing cover with a neck strap, the baby sling, the Ergo baby carrier that worked as a front or back carrier, the adorable papasan swing and some very cute burp cloths. Kevin showed up right on time, dressed up and everything. Emily could see his eyes practically bulging out of his head as he took in the pile of loot they'd received and laughed. They managed to barely fit it all into three cars to drive back to their house.

Once it was all unloaded, Kristin came up to Emily and Leighanne with a slight look of panic on her face. “You guys, what am I going to do with all of this stuff?”

“What do you mean?” Leighanne asked.

“Well...don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful but I'm not entirely sure I need three diaper genies, do I?”

Emily and Leighanne laughed. “No. Why don't we sort through some things and see if there's anything you can donate or exchange?”

They kept two of the diaper genies, Emily insisted she keep the breast pump claiming it was $300 and she would get a lot of use out of it if she intended to nurse the baby longer than three months. They managed to sort and organize and help her decide what she'd use and what she wouldn't.

“I know it seems like a lot of diapers but I promise you, you will use them!” Leighanne insisted. “Just keep them in a closet.”

Emily couldn't believe how much fun she was having looking at all the things. She kind of wished she could run out right then and start a registry but she knew it was way too early to be thinking about things like that. She still wasn't out of the high risk of miscarriage time yet.

“Well, if I have any leftover I guess I can just pass them on to Emily when the time comes.” Kristin smiled.

Emily blushed. “Yeah, you could certainly do that!”

Emily had a great time visiting Kristin and was sad when she had to leave in the morning.

“Thank you so much for the great shower!” Kristin said. “I had a great time.”

“You're welcome. Good luck with these last few weeks! Let me know if you need anything, ok?”

Emily flew to Chicago to meet back up with AJ. She was a little surprised to find that he was actually in the hotel room when she got back.

“Hey!” he said. “So you're back!”

“Yeah.” she smiled.

“Trip ok?”

“It wasn't too bad. It was a good thing I packed those morning sickness candies though, I was sucking on them the whole flight.”

“I'm sorry.” he said, giving her a hug.

Emily sat down on the edge of the bed. “Look, AJ...I just wanted to apologize for what happened before I left.”

“What are you apologizing for? I'm the one that forgot our plans!”

“I know, but I think I acted a little bit irrational about it.”

“I can't really say I blame you. I'm sorry for getting nasty too.”

“It's just...I'm a little more sensitive these days, you know? My hormones are so out of control and I just feel a little more vulnerable than I normally do and I just need a little extra support from you to balance that out.”

AJ nodded. “I can work on that. But listen, just speak up sooner next time, ok? This is new territory for me and the only way for me to know what you need is for you to tell me.”

“Alright, I promise I'll try and communicate better.”

AJ gave his wife a kiss. “I just happen to have the morning free today, is there anything you want to do?”

“Honestly, I'd really just like to lie down with you. I'm exhausted!” she chuckled.

Chapter 114

The next week went a lot smoother for them. The kinks of the tour had been worked out and Emily and AJ managed to find a routine that seemed to work well for them. They'd have breakfast together at the hotel, assuming Emily felt well enough to eat. Then, while AJ was out, Emily either relaxed or found something in the city do to. She would meet up with him in his dressing room on nights they had a show and if he didn't have a show that night, they'd have dinner together and spend time.

Emily was beginning to get nervous about her doctor's appointment that they would be flying home for the next day.

“What if something is wrong?” she asked.

“Do you have a reason to think there will be?”

“Not really.”

“Everything will be fine. Remember, stress isn't good for you or the baby, so if you don't have to stress, don't!”

Emily rolled her eyes. “That is so easy for you to say, you're not the one doing all the work.”

AJ laughed. “I know.”

Emily pulled on her jeans and realized that overnight, she had outgrown them. She burst into tears and sat down on the bed.

“What's wrong?” AJ came over to her, quickly.

“My pants won't button!” she wailed.

AJ hid his grin. “Isn't that supposed to be a good thing?”

“I didn't think I'd start growing so soon! I don't even look pregnant, I just look fat.”

“You don't look fat. It isn't even noticeable. Do you have any other pants that fit?”

Emily nodded and dug out a pair of khaki pants and managed to get them fastened, but barely.

“Well maybe we just need to take you shopping after your appointment today!” he said. “Wouldn't that be fun?”

“Shopping for fat clothes? No, that's not fun.”

“I didn't mean fat clothes, I meant maternity clothes! Wouldn't hurt to look, would it?”

“I guess not.” she shrugged.

Emily secretly unbuttoned her pants on the plane so that she could breathe a little easier and tried to relax

While they sat in the waiting room, Emily filled out some paperwork and then a nurse called them back. After leaving a urine sample and taking her weight, they sat her down to get a more detailed medical and family history. Then she had some blood work done and finally they took her back to an exam room.

“Dr. Paul should be in in a few minutes.” the nurse said. “There's a drape and gown on the table, go ahead and get undressed.”

Emily shed her clothes, being careful to tuck her underwear safely inside her shorts as most women do when they are at the gynecologist, and sat on the table to wait.

“Hello everyone!” Dr. Paul greeted as she walked in. “Looks like congratulations are in order!”

“Seems to be!” Emily smiled. “This is my husband, AJ.”

“Nice to meet you.” Dr. Paul shook his hand.

“Let's get started so we can get to that ultrasound, shall we?”

Emily lie back and put her feet in the stirrups while Dr. Paul did a pap smear and some cultures. AJ knew going to the women's doctor was not really something women found pleasant, but after seeing what a speculum looked like, he understood why.

“Alright, let's take a peek at baby!” Dr. Paul said as she got the ultrasound ready.

AJ grabbed Emily's hand as the doctor took a look. “So this is your uterus and...oh there's the baby!” she said. “See right there?” she pointed to the screen and zoomed in. “There's the little heart beating, this is its head and there are the tiny legs. Look, they're kicking already!”

Emily and AJ were in awe as they stared at the screen.

“So that's...” AJ cleared his throat. “That's our baby?” he asked, his eyes teary from the overwhelming emotion of seeing his child.

“It sure is!” Dr. Paul smiled at them. “Everything looks great, Emily. The size is exactly what it should be.”

Emily breathed a sigh of relief.

“I'm just going to look around the rest of your uterus and make sure everything else looks ok.” The doctor explained.

Emily turned to AJ and grinned. “Our baby!” she whispered. AJ squeezed her hand.

“Oh wait a minute, what do we have here?” the doctor exclaimed. “I didn't see this before!”

“What is it?” Emily asked, fearing the worst.

“It's twins!”

“WHAT?” Emily said.

“Twins!” Dr. Paul insisted.

“Twins?” AJ asked, totally stunned as he sat back in his chair.

“Twins!” the doctor insisted. “Judging by how close they are to each other, I'd say they're probably going to be identical. Look...the second one was hiding behind the first baby, that's why we didn't see it right away!”

Emily's jaw was still hanging open. “Are you sure?”

“I'm positive, look!” Dr. Paul showed them what little they could see of what she called Baby B. They could see a leg and an arm and every so often they could catch a glimpse of its heart beating.

“But I...I mean twins don't even run in my family!” Emily said.

“They run in mine though.” AJ said. “Remember, my mom lost a set of identical twins!”

“But I thought it didn't come from the father's side?” Emily asked.

Dr. Paul shrugged. “There isn't a lot of evidence either way but from what I've seen in my practice, identical twins can happen if they are on the father's side.”

Emily's lower lip began to quiver.

“I know it's a lot to digest.” Dr. Paul rubbed her arm and began to talk about how this classified Emily as a high risk patient and explained how she would be watched more closely and how she would see a high risk specialist for ultrasounds to check on the babies growth. When the doctor left, AJ stood up and wrapped his arms around his wife.

“Oh my God, Em!” he said, letting a few tears escape as he kissed the top of her head. “Can you believe it?”

Emily began sobbing. At first, AJ thought it was just because she was so happy but he soon realized that was certainly not the case.

“What's wrong?”

“Twins!” she exclaimed. “I can't take care of two babies at once!”

“Sure you can! You've had twins before as a nanny, haven't you?”

“Yeah but that was as a nanny! This time I won't get to go home at night, I'll be taking care of them around the clock! Plus, I'm going to get so huge! Two babies are going to grow in there! I don't think I can do this!” she was beginning to panic.

“Emily, look at me!” he said sternly as he placed his hands on her face. “I know it's scary but trust me, we can do this! You are an amazing woman and I know you can handle this and I will be right by your side to help. Just think of how blessed we are...two babies Emily!”

Emily managed to smile. “I really can't believe it. I am excited, I really am. I'm just....really scared too.”

“Me too.” he admitted. “But we can do this!”

Emily nodded. “You might have to remind me of that a lot.” she laughed.

AJ took his wife out to lunch to celebrate. Once the initial panic started to wear off, Emily was beginning to get excited. AJ was right; there was no sense thinking about how difficult things would be. Instead, she would focus on having twice the joy. Maybe it was her way of being repaid for all the loss she'd suffered before.

“Well, I guess we really should go to that maternity store.” Emily admitted. “Looks like I'll be growing a bit faster than I thought! Which also means we might have to tell people sooner than we thought.” she laughed. “I don't want people thinking I'm just getting chubby!”

Emily directed him to a store called Destination Maternity. “It's got three different brands of clothes there!” she said, excitedly. When they walked in, they were greeted and they offered Emily a bottle of water or some juice.

“What can I help you find?” the sales clerk asked.

“Well, I just found out I'm having twins...”

“Oh wow! Congratulations!” the clerk exclaimed. “That's great!”

“Thanks!” Emily beamed. “The problem is, I'm already growing out of my clothes and I'm only ten weeks. So I'd like something that I can fit into for awhile but not something that's too maternity-ish.”

“Well we have a lot of pants that have elastic in the back so you'll have some room to grow, those are great for early on because they don't have the tummy panel and they still have buttons and zippers. Let's start with those.”

Emily tried on a few to figure out what size she needed and then AJ helped her pick out about a dozen different kinds of pants from jeans to dress and even a few capris.

“As for shirts,” the sales clerk explained, “I really wouldn't buy maternity shirts just yet if you can wait. Until you really have a belly, they just kind of hang on you oddly. I would just buy a few regular shirts in a size larger than normal. But you should probably get a few new bras since your breasts are going to grow as well.”

They spent over an hour in the maternity store and then AJ insisted they go looking for some shirts for her in the mall.

“I want you to feel good.” he explained. “And I happen to know that a part of feeling good is being able to wear clothes that fit you well.”

By the time they were done shopping, they had just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat for dinner before they had to get back to the airport.

“It's been one hell of a day, hasn't it?” Emily said as she fastened her seatbelt. She'd decided to change into a pair of her new pants and had to admit that she felt much more comfortable in them.

AJ put his arm over her shoulders. “You could say that again! I love you!”

Emily yawned and rested her head against him. “I guess that's why I've been so tired. I'm creating two lives! My body can't possibly have much energy left for anything else! To be honest, I still can't even believe it's happening!”

AJ laughed. “Me either. I mean of all the things I expected to happen today, not once did it occur to me that having twins was a possibility.”

“I wonder how we'll tell them apart if they're identical? I hope one of them has a good birth mark or something!”

“We could get them tattooed!” AJ joked.

Emily elbowed him. “I don't think so.”

“I wonder if they'll be boys or girls?”

“Whatever they are, I can't wait to get them little matching outfits! Just when they're babies...I won't make them dress alike when they're older.”

“Well, they're guaranteed to be cute, that's for sure! After all, they're our babies!” AJ said.

She laughed. “I can't wait to tell your mother, she'll be so excited.”

“I know. She knew we had the appointment today, I bet she's dying to know how it went.”

“We'll have to call her in the morning.” Emily said. “I can already see her out buying things for the babies as she plans to spoil them rotten.”

Emily and AJ spent most of the flight daydreaming of their two babies and how much fun it was going to be. And ok, at times it did cross their minds how difficult it was going to be but for the most part, they were both completely overjoyed with life's next chapter.