“Yeah, but I would at least be there,” I argue.
“Sir, please keep your voice down. This is a hospital.” Another person in the lobby says.
I bite my tongue and take a slow breath. “I want to dosomething.”
“You could check on the kids. Let them know Sophie’s okay,” Holden recommends.
I don’t want to say that unless I know for sure, but our kids will worry. I walk out of the hospital and call Miles. He picks up after less than one full ring. “How is my daughter?”
“I’m not in the room, but she’s back there with Roman. We haven’t gotten any kind of news which is a good thing. I want the kids to know that she’s okay. I don’t want them afraid, especially Link,” I say.
“I’ll let him know, both of them know.”
In the background, I hear Link. I sigh. “Let me talk to him.”
Link gets on the phone. “Daddy?”
“Hey, kiddo,” I say. “Mommy’s okay. The babies are coming.”
“But ...”
“I know it’s a lot,” I say, trying to force confidence in my words. “Mommy is going to be very tired when we get home, but you’ll have new siblings to take care of.”
“Mommy’s okay?”
“Mommy’s okay,” I confirm. “She’s bringing the babies into the world.”
“Okay, Daddy. Be home soon?”
“As soon as we can. If the babies come fast, we’ll be home very soon.”
“Okay.”
“I love you, kiddo,” I say seriously. “All your daddies do and so does Mommy. We love you and Cora so much.”
“I love you, Daddy,” He says softly.
I hang up and rub my forehead. Sophie has done this before. She’s going to be okay. I know it takes time. I’m the pro at waiting. Nick and Holden have both been in the room with Sophie. They need me to help them with the waiting. I know that they’ll get more and more anxious as we wait for news, as we wait for an update.
We’ll need food. We’ll need something to pass the time. Rather than going right back in, I head to a bodega close to the hospital. I grab plenty of snacks for all of us, some energy drinks, and a deck of cards.
We have a long wait ahead and we’re going to get through it together. We don’t have a choice except to get through it. When I come back in, Nick looks up from where his foot is bouncing. “You came back.”
“I thought we lost you entirely,” Holden murmurs.
“I’ve done the waiting game before. We need supplies.” I show them the bag.
We pace ourselves with the food and energy drinks. We play a few hands of poker, we talk about everything except what Sophie’s currently going through, until we’ve played poker, go-fish, and even war.
I glance to the door again. “It’s been two hours. How haven’t we heard anything?”
Nick takes the initiative to walk to the nurse’s station just as a nurse comes to us and smiles. “Two healthy babies. A girl and a boy.”
I beam. “Healthy? And Sophie?”
“She’s resting. Roman hasn’t gone far from her side. I got permission to bring the three ... I was told there were three of you?”
“Nick!” I yell, not caring a bit about the rest of the people here.