Helena let out another happy squeal and hugged Laney again. Morgun knew that it was all worth it. They’d done in vitro before they’d been married the year before. Laney and Morgun would never tell anyone that the first round hadn’t worked and that, sadly, Morgun had miscarried just a month into her pregnancy the second time. It was heartbreaking and discouraging, but the doctors had assured them there was no reason they couldn’t have a healthy pregnancy. The third time, finding out they were pregnant with twins was a happy shock. They were worried something would happen and were afraid to hope, but every doctor’s visit and ultrasound proved to them that everything was fine, and their babies were healthy and growing as they should be.
“Twins,” Tom let out a loud bellow of surprised laughter. “Wow! That’s a heck of a surprise.”
“We were surprised too,” Morgun said. “And happy.”
“Congratulations,” Natasha said warmly, and she and Jason joined in on the round of hugs.
“Anna, you’re going to have two new cousins,” Jason told his daughter. Anna probably didn’t understand fully what that meant, but she laughed and smiled along with the rest of them.
“Twins,” Helena breathed. “I can hardly believe it! Here I thought you’d never give me grandchildren and then…twins!”
“I’m sure you held out hope. You bothered me enough about it,” Laney said.
They all shared a laugh about that, because everyone knew it wa
s what brought Laney and Morgun together.
“We’ll help you out,” Helena promised. “As much help as you need! Twins are a lot of work!”
“It will be, but since we own our own company, we can adjust our appointments and take the time we need. Morgun will take the year off. She’ll do whatever editing she can, but we’ve already started scaling back, and then we’ll see.”
“I’m going to miss it. A year is probably all I can handle without doing any photos. Although, I’ll sneak in a few sessions when I can,” Morgun said. They still had to work out the details, but Morgun was definitely taking the full year off. She didn’t want to have to feel pressured about work or worry about it when she had two brand new babies. Her life would be full enough with twins, but it was still hard to think about stopping photography altogether, even just for a brief time.
“I’ll babysit for you anytime!” Helena confirmed, and they all laughed. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that she would indeed come running whenever they called.
“And of course, you’ll have a thousand opportunities to pick up the camera. Those babies will be the most photographed children ever,” Tom joked.
“That’s true,” Morgun agreed. “They’ll probably get photos done every single day. That would actually be kind of neat, to put a video together with a photo of every day of the first year of their lives to watch how they’ve changed.”
“We’ll do that!” Laney grasped onto the idea and immediately got excited about it.
“Twins,” Helena exclaimed again. “Well! This is quite a birthday!”
Morgun submitted to another huge hug and watched Laney do the same. She thought about how much their lives had changed over the past years and it made her flush with pleasure.
She loved being a part of Laney’s family. She loved that since that day in the coffee shop, Laney had indeed been one hundred percent committed to their relationship. They’d stared their business together. They were one of those unique couples who could both work together and date each other and never get sick of each other’s company. Within the first year, Morgun had moved into Laney’s condo, so they lived and worked together. They still never got sick of each other. Ever.
Right after moving in together, they had adopted two senior cats. A bonded pair from a local rescue. Bella and Billy were the most adorable old tabbies around. Probably the most spoiled cats too. Laney and Morgun still went once a week to visit Mrs. Johnson. Sadly, Chester had passed on, but Mrs. Johnson now also had a pair of bonded senior cats. They were seventeen and sixteen years old and still going strong. The cookies and tea still had hair in it, but Morgun and Laney never even thought about complaining.
Chelsea was the first person Morgun told about the pregnancy. Her best friend knew about her other struggles in getting pregnant and about the miscarriage, and she’d been there for both her and Laney all along that hard road, and now through the wonders of this one. Chelsea was the reason that Morgun and Laney were even together. They’d had a very small wedding with no wedding party, but Laney had invited James along to witness for her, and Morgun’s witness had been Chelsea. Now, Chelsea couldn’t wait to be an auntie.
Morgun knew she was beyond blessed and this was just the start of all the good things to come. She and Laney had their business. They had their friends and family behind them. Now they were going to have their own family. Not one, but two little babies to love and dote on and chase around. It was going to be crazy and busy and they were probably going to be very sleep deprived, but life couldn’t be better. It really, really couldn’t.
All the hugs, the tears, the laughter, the smiles, all the love in that room just proved it.
THE END