Chapter 1 - Christmas Day
Tori woke up on Christmas morning and smiled when she saw the gently snow falling outside the windows of the french doors. The sun was just coming up and Apollo had forgotten to turn off the Christmas tree lights before he came to bed last night, so it looked picture postcard perfect!
She couldn’t believe how much her life had changed in the last year. She lay and watched the snow come down and remembered how unhappy she had been last Christmas.
She had been working as a waitress in a small bar and grill, barely able to afford the crappy tiny apartment that she hated and had never felt safe in. She was barely managing to keep herself fed and if it hadn’t been for her tips and the sparse photoshoots she managed to do sometimes, she would probably have been sleeping in the back of her car.
The only thing she had been thankful for at the time was the fact that she really didn’t have anyone that she felt she HAD to buy presents for since she had barely been able to afford the secret Santa gift that she had to buy for the so-called Christmas party her boss had let them have the week before Christmas.
Her boss, Phillipe’s, idea of a company Christmas party was to close an hour early on a very slow night of the week, one free beer each, left over stuff that had been taken out to thaw but not cooked yet and to do the secret santa gift exchange. Then he had the nerve enough to act upset that everyone had not bought gifts for him.
He had even threatened to make them all work Christmas day but everyone told him that he could forget it unless he was willing to pay triple wages for the day, especially since there had not been a holiday bonus in their checks.
“You can’t expect us to give up Christmas with our families to come to work when you know nobody is going to come out to eat dried out wings or meatless nachos for their Christmas dinner.” Eve, one of the other waitresses, had told him. She was the most outspoken of the lot and the only one that dared to talk back to him. She was married to a large man with a bad temper towards anyone that looked cross eyed at her.
She had threatened to quit several times since Tori had been there but for some reason she never did, probably for the same reason Tori had been hanging on to the shitty job. If Tori had been able to find another job within easy commuting distance, she would have quit too but ever since Covid had hit a couple of years ago, restaurants all over were struggling to keep their doors open and staff didn’t quit without good reason.
Tori turned her head and looked over at the man who had saved her and was the reason her crappy life had gone from her barely surviving existence and being so depressed and unhappy all the time to being happier than she could remember ever being in her whole life. Her loving husband and the father of her yet unborn babies, Abe “Apollo” DuPonte.
Tori loves him so much and she wished she could do more for him, to help take the immense load he carries for so many people off of his broad, strong shoulders. He looked so peaceful right now and as much as she wanted to roll over and cuddle with him, she knew it would wake him up. He wasn’t a heavy sleeper and even though she didn’t move, it was as if he could feel her looking at him.
Without opening his eyes, he reached out to rub his hand over her stomach as he said in his gruff, sleepy voice, “Good morning, my love. What has you up so early?”
“I guess the babies were tired from the gymnastics they were doing yesterday and they slept well last night so I managed to get some rest.” Tori said quietly just as the babies began to wake up and kicked at Apollo’s hand as if saying “Good morning”.
Apollo rubbed his hand in small circles over where their feet had kicked and he smiled. “Your stomach feels different. It’s like their feet are kicking higher this morning.” He said, noticing that even her shape under the blanket looked lower than it normally did.
“Yeah, I think they are beginning to shift down. Thank goodness for the catheter because otherwise, I think I would have been waking you up to carry me to the bathroom all night. They started sitting lower a few days ago but lately they seem to have decided to stand on their heads for a while. But then since I’m laying down all of the time, up and down doesn’t matter. I’m just happy that they were not so active last night. I think they tired themselves out yesterday.” Tori said but wondered if that meant she was going to go into labor soon.
If Dr. Stiles had been right in her estimate, Tori would be entering her 9th month in a little over a week and she would be more closely watched over the next three weeks.
“I can’t believe that they will be born in about a month, if I manage to go that much longer. I’m scared and excited all at the same time.” Tori admitted.
“Well, I understand excited but what has you scared?” Apollo asked.
“The surgery mostly. I can’t decide if I want to be awake to watch or sleep through the whole thing. I’m not sure I can lay still and watch them cut me open but at the same time I want to be awake when they come out. Dr. Stiles said it’s up to me.” Tori admitted.
“Well, if you want to be awake, just look at me. I know I won’t be able to watch them cut you either (he shuddered at the thought of it) so I’m just going to look at your beautiful face until they bring them out. I want to cut the cords and hear their first cries.” Apollo said.
He was nervous about going into the operating room to be with her too but he had already made up his mind that he was going to be there to see his children born, to be there to make sure Tori was taken care of no matter what.
“But right now, I need the bathroom. Are you hungry? Breakfast should be ready.” Apollo said as he gave Tori a quick kiss then slid out of bed and headed for the bathroom.
“Yes, I am. I wonder what Chopper made for breakfast?” Tori asked as she pushed up on the bed. “OW!” She yelled and Apollo ran back to her side.
“What’s wrong?” he asked worriedly.
“I don’t know. I just went to push up on the bed a little and got this mean stabbing pain in my hip. It’s going away now.” Tori said as she rubbed her hand up and down her hip.
Apollo looked at her worriedly but turned and went on to the bathroom, mainly because the urge to pee was getting strong. He quickly used the water closet and then washed his hands and brushed his teeth as quickly as possible.
Because she couldn’t get up to do it for herself, he filled one small cup with some water and a larger cup he put just a little bit of water in the bottom of it. He grabbed her toothbrush and the toothpaste, draped a towel over his arm and carried it all out to her. They had established this routine since she came home from the hospital.
Tori brushed her teeth while Apollo went into the closet to get dressed and he came out with a wrapped box in his hands and Tori’s eyes got big as she wiped her mouth dry.
“What’s this?” Tori asked as he sat the box on her legs and took the cups and her toothbrush from her.
“Well, I had intended for it to be for when you had to go into the hospital to deliver our babies but since you can’t get up right now and because I want to be sure it fits when our baby’s come, I’ve decided to give it to you now.
I talked to Doc and he said that I can bring you out on the gurney and maybe put you in the recliner so that you can spend time with everyone instead of being cooped up in here all alone.
But you have to promise me that when you start to feel the least bit tired, you will say something and come back here to lay down and rest. We’re getting so close to time for you to deliver, I don’t want to take any chances.” Apollo said as he carried the cups back to the bathroom and rinsed them out.
Tori impatiently waited for him to come back out before she began ripping through the wrapping to open the box. Inside she found a beautiful quilted satin bed jacket that was baby blue on the outside and pale pink on the inside.
“It’s reversible so that you can have whichever one you want at the time.” Apollo smiled at her as he watched her smile as she took it out of the box. Underneath it was a long, flowing cotton nightgown that had tiny pink bouquets of flowers tied with blue trailing ribbons all over it.
When Tori lifted it out of the box, she looked at him quizzically. “That’s so that your bottom half will be covered too. It’s got the openings for your breasts so that when the babies are born, you can nurse them.
But for today, it will allow you to keep your bottom half covered to be out in front of everyone. I hope it fits.” Apollo said. He had wanted to buy her sexy lingerie but it would be a couple of months at least before she would be able to wear it so he was going to save that for her birthday.
“Thank you. Here, help me put it on.” She said leaning forward to pull off the old t-shirt of his that she had split the sides of to fit over her stomach and cover her breasts. She had “ruined” several of his old t-shirts, making makeshift nightgowns for her to wear while she was laid up in bed. She would borrow a sewing machine to sew them back up after she has the babies. She loves sleeping in his clothes.
Apollo helped her get the old t-shirt off and to put the new nightgown on and once they were sure it fit, he removed the tag that showed the designer’s name and the size. He had asked the girl to make sure that she removed all of the price tags before she wrapped them at the store. Flash had bought Gloria a similar bed jacket in blue and white since they were expecting a boy.
Sally and Thunder had been telling everyone that they wouldn’t know the sex of their baby until after the New Year but Apollo had a sneaking suspicion that they were going to surprise everyone tonight or tomorrow. It didn’t matter because Apollo had never seen two people who had bigger smiles on their faces all the time now than Sally and Thunder.
Especially Sally. She had felt like she was failing Thunder by not getting pregnant and had gone into a real funk when Gloria and Flash had announced they were expecting and then right after them, Apollo and Tori had announced that Tori was pregnant with twins!
Apollo was about to go get their breakfast and was planning on stopping in to see Doc before he went down to the dining room on Tori’s motor scooter. He was really glad that they had bought them.
They were becoming irreplaceable as he had to hike the long hallway several times a day since they moved back down here.
Just as he put his hand on the door knob someone knocked on the door and Apollo made Doc jump slightly when he immediately opened the door.
“Good morning and Merry Christmas.” They exchanged greetings.
“I was just going to check on the babies. Tori, did Apollo tell you that I’m going to let you go down to join in the day’s activities but I want you to be very careful to not overdo things today. You have to promise to come back and rest after everyone does their gift exchange.
Aunt Nita just arrived and she came loaded down with food and I think Marissa has been up half the night baking. If that girl doesn’t slow down, she’s going to wear herself out but I have to admit, she’s made some turnovers this morning that just melt in your mouth. I snitched one when I went down for coffee a little while ago and they were so good! Even Aunt Nita was impressed.” Doc said. He was in a really good mood this morning.
He walked over to the bed with a big smile on his face and Apollo watched as he put the monitor on Tori’s stomach and Doc read the readings. “How did you sleep last night, Tori?” Doc asked, trying not to show any emotion.
“Very well actually. The babies didn’t move around much at all. They seem to have moved down some because I feel like I can get a full breath again but I feel……. full, I guess you would say, lower down. I had stabbing pain in my hip when I shifted up on the bed but otherwise I feel fine.” Tori said.
“Well, like I said, I don’t want you overdoing it today. You’ve got less than a month to go and we want you to carry the babies as long as you can.” Doc said. He had a feeling she wasn’t going to make it to her due date. The babies had already turned and if the “pinching pain” had started it meant that her body was preparing to deliver. In fact, if she hadn’t been confined to bedrest, she probably would have already been feeling that and Doc had a feeling that if she had been allowed to stand up during the last month, she would already have delivered her babies.
He had already had a conference with Dr. Stiles and Dr. McCleary who both told him that it would be best for not only Tori but the babies for Tori to have a C-section. The male baby especially was going to be very hard on Tori to deliver naturally.
For the boy, because of his size, it would put undue stress on him to come out and for her because she’s so small, it would be incredibly painful even if her bones could move far enough apart for him to get out, which they all agreed was doubtful. Tori’s pelvic opening was just too small.
They both felt that unless the female baby came out first, they were worried that she might not survive before Tori could deliver her. She was smaller than her brother but perfectly formed.
Tori was actually scheduled for another MRI in two days, after the holiday was over and the two doctors had returned from visiting their families for the holiday. Doc just prayed that she makes it that long. At least Dr. Avery was in town!
Tori and Apollo didn’t say anything but both of them could tell that Doc seemed to be concerned by the readings. Tori finally couldn’t take not knowing and asked “Doc, are my babies okay?”
Doc wouldn’t lie to them. They needed to be prepared for every situation. “Yes, they are fine but I think they are getting impatient to come out. I’m not a baby expert but from the shape of your stomach and the fact that you said the “pinching pains” have started, that you may be closer to giving birth than we had anticipated. I just pray that they hold on for just a little longer.
As Dr. Stiles told you, the closer we can get them to the end of January, the better it will be for them. From the results of the MRI you took, they looked fine and would be able to survive if they are born early but they need to spend as long in the womb as possible to fully develop their lungs and internal organs.” Doc said.
“Please tell me I don’t have to spend all of Christmas in this bed? I promise to come back and rest for the afternoon. I just want to be there to see everyone open their gifts.” Tori promised.
“Okay. I want Autumn to come check your catheter and get the monitor fully hooked up under your nightgown so that we can keep an eye on the babies after breakfast.” Doc said.
“Apollo, are you going to bring her breakfast? I highly recommend the turnovers. They were excellent.” Doc said.
“Sure. I’m going to go get it now. I’m going to take Tori’s scooter so I should be back soon.” Apollo said and with that, he took off to get their breakfast. He passed Autumn in the hall and they greeted each other.
“Good morning and Merry Christmas! Is Doc with Tori?” Autumn asked Apollo. She was just coming out of Cynthia’s room after checking on her.
“Yep! He said he wants you to check her catheter and help to get the monitor hooked up under her nightgown. Then after breakfast, we are going to come down and watch everyone open their gifts and then she’ll have to come back and rest. She said she had a stabbing pain in her hip this morning and Doc said he thinks the babies are moving into position to be delivered. Her stomach looks different this morning too.” Apollo gave her a quick rundown on what was going on.
Autumn looked concerned but quickly covered it. “Good deal. Well, I’ll go take care of it and then I’ll come down with you guys. Poor Toby is about to have fits because he’s so excited about getting to open his presents. He thinks Santa is going to be there. I wish we had thought about it and had one of you guys dress up.” Autumn grinned at him.
“Ah but Santa comes at night, not in the morning.” Apollo grinned back at her. “Well, Doc said that Marissa made some really tasty turnovers and I want to try one so I’m going to go get our breakfast. I’ll be back soon.” Apollo said before he took off down the hall.
Autumn hurried down to their room and met Doc as he left their room. He caught her and motioned for her to come into the infirmary so that they could talk in private.
“Autumn, I’ve got a feeling that Tori is going to go into labor soon. I want the monitors hooked up so that we can keep track of the babies and make sure they don’t go into distress. Position one of the sensors low on her stomach.
Hopefully if she starts to go into labor, it will let us know before it gets too far along. If she asks why, just tell her it’s because the babies have moved around.
I’m going to contact Dr. Stiles and Dr. McCleary and find out when they are going to be back as well as make sure Dr. Avery is still in town. I hope she can hang on but it’s all up to the babies now! At least the MRI showed that they are ready. Dr. McCleary was just a little concerned about the baby girl because she’s so small compared to her brother.” Doc said.
“From what I saw of the pictures, it looks like he’s going to be a big healthy boy but the girl is going to be small and delicate but she’s about average size for most babies.” Autumn said. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep a close eye on her. Are you still going to let her go down to the living room after breakfast?” she asked.
“Yes. She’s been so good about staying in bed. If she’s going to go into labor, being in there is not going to hurt or change anything if the babies decide they want to come today. I’ve got a feeling that telling her she can’t go is going to upset her more.” Doc said.
Autumn agreed and she hurried over to Tori’s room while Doc pulled out his phone and called Dr. Stiles first. She answered on the second ring.
“Hi Byron. Merry Christmas. Please don’t tell me Tori is on her way to the hospital?” Dr. Stiles greeted him.
“Merry Christmas, Gail. No but I have a feeling she’s not going to go much longer. The babies have shifted down and she said she had pinching pains this morning. She says she’s been feeling sore in her lower back and hips but I thought it was just because she’s been laying down so much. She says she feels really full down there now. We’re hooking up the baby monitor and are going to keep a close watch on them. When are you due to be back in town?” Doc asked.
“I’m leaving my parents house at about 8 tomorrow morning but I’m only a little over an hour away unless we get more snow. Thankfully my family has learned from past Christmas’ that I often have to be a doctor on Christmas day and we have our holiday dinner on Christmas Eve and do our gift opening after dinner.
I’m just waiting for the weather report on the news to come on. If the weatherman says we’re going to get a lot of snow soon, I’ll come back to town early. In any case, I’ll make sure I keep my phone on me and I’ll get my brother to put the chains on my tires today so that I’ll be ready to go, just in case. How is Tori handling it?” Dr. Stiles asked.
“She’s been so good about staying in bed. I’m going to let her go down on the gurney to be with the others in the living room and she has promised to come back right after everyone opens their gifts and rest. If you had to guess, how much longer do you think she will last now that the babies are head down?” Doc asked.
He was learning so much about gynecology with these women. He had never been so involved with a woman going all the way through their pregnancy since Gloria and then Tori had gotten pregnant.
Usually the women he had been involved with came in and left so quickly that he had not had much experience with them. Before he had come to the AAMC, his experience had been with the ER and injury related surgeries, not pregnancy issues. The only time he had ever treated a pregnant woman was if she had been injured. Otherwise they went straight to the maternity ward at the hospital.
Right now, he was very thankful having Autumn as his assistant. She had some maternity experience and he was finding her knowledge of taking care of women invaluable. He knew Apollo had been really stressed lately but he wanted to talk to him about giving Autumn a raise! She definitely deserved it!
He checked in with Dr. McCleary, who said that she was on the outskirts of Portland and could be at the hospital in less than an hour, weather permitting, but hoped that she would not have to leave her family until the holiday was over and they were all safely back in town.
“My family is way outside of town in the country and the roads here are not like in town. There wasn’t any snow on the ground when we came in the other day and it wasn’t a comfortable drive to get here. It started snowing here about midnight and it’s been steadily coming down ever since so getting out is going to be a challenge if I have to leave before it melts some. I think I may have to leave earlier than I had planned as it is.” Dr. McCleary said.
“Well, Dr. Stiles and I are both concerned that Tori might go into labor soon. The babies have moved into position and she’s started feeling the pinching pains even though she has not been on her feet for over a month now. We can tell the babies have moved down just by the shape of her stomach.
When I checked her this morning, it was very noticeable that they’ve moved lower. Tori said she finally feels like she can breathe because they are not pushing up on her diaphragm any more. I think if she stands up she’s really going to feel the pressure in her pelvis even more.” Doc told her.
“Well, I’m sure Gail had ordered her to stay off of her feet to keep them from putting pressure on the placenta. From what I saw on the MRI the babies had already turned but you say that her stomach is noticeably lower even when she’s laying down? That more than likely means they are going to be here soon. That’s not unusual with twins.
Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that she hangs on for at least a few more days. We are planning on heading back tomorrow after breakfast.” Dr. McCleary said. She knew her family would understand if they had to leave early but hoped that Tori would hang on so that she and her family could spend the much needed time together.
In the dining room………….
Apollo made plates of french toast with powdered sugar and fresh strawberries and warm syrup on the side, two of Marissa’s turnovers each, one cherry and one apple, a whole plate of just bacon and sausage and a bowl of scrambled eggs with cheese. Apple juice and coffee.
Aunt Nita had shown up with boxes of cheesecake but that was for later, after the midday meal, if anyone had any room left. She was already cooking huge turkeys, two per oven and she had already cut up 2 large hams that would be warmed up in the warming pans if she set them up as soon as breakfast was over. She had already cooked the stuffing and it just needed to be warmed up too. Pans of yams and more pans of roasted potatoes, containers of potato salad, several pans of green bean casserole and two large crock pots of sweet peas and the list just went on and on. Nobody would be going hungry today or more than likely tomorrow either.
Chopper was happy as a clam to have the day off but was in the kitchen cutting up and joking with Aunt Nita as they walked down memory lane about past holidays. Marissa and Evan took advantage of being able to spend time with Justin and Ariana since Aunt Nita had done all of her prep work before she came down. Now it was just a matter of the actual cooking.
All of the prospects had made sure they had cleaned the bathrooms late yesterday afternoon and Sarge had excused everyone from having to do anything more than clean up in the dining room but told everyone to pitch in and help so that the room would be cleaned quickly. The same was true for the kitchen.
Chopper had been thinking about what he wanted in his new kitchen when they did the remodel and he decided that he wanted to move the dishwashers into a separate space, maybe an entire room dedicated to dishwashing with shelving to stack the dishes used daily and a pantry for storing extra dishes and small appliances that were used often but not every day. That way the prospects could be cleaning while he was cooking the next meal without them tripping over each other.
He also wanted a separate coffee station and a set up like Anita had at the diner that did not require the fifty cup coffee maker but had a dedicated water line and they just needed to clean the coffee pots and the dispenser cup that would hold premeasured “bags” of coffee and all that had to be done would be to load a bag and push a button.
He wanted the coffee station placed outside of his work areas in the kitchen but close by so that he didn’t lose contact with everyone. The set up he wanted would mean they didn’t have to deal with hauling water to the large 50 cup machine they use now or of having to carry the coffee maker back to the kitchen to be cleaned. The dispenser cup could be put in the dishwasher and they could have extra dispensers and extra pots so that they had hot coffee available all the time, even when some of them were in the dishwasher.
Chopper picked Anita’s brain about things that she would do to the kitchen if she were the one working in here all the time and she came up with a few good suggestions that Chopper liked. When he had gone up with the club to see her new diner, he had loved some of the changes they had made to her set up.
Joe had been pleased as punch to have Chopper come tour his new kitchen and Chopper had seen several things that he would like to have in his kitchen. New and more ovens, refrigerators and freezers were at the top of the list! But he had fallen in love with the large “pantry’s” she had installed. One for canned goods and one for small appliances and things like “take out” containers.
As soon as breakfast was over, everyone began to gather in the main living room and after being scolded twice to calm down, Toby had finally settled down ……….. A little. Needles and Brandi had bought him a power wheels bike but had it hidden in the coat closet by the front door so that he wouldn’t see it and they conspired with Marcus to help them “accept the delivery” by carrying it out to the front porch, ringing the doorbell and then act like they were just opening the door to “find” it on the front porch.
Everyone got a big kick out of him getting so excited about all of his toys but the “bike” had taken first place and he rode it around to everyone making sure they had seen what Santa had brought for him.
Tori had been not only very happy about being able to be with everyone but she had been good about not sitting forward too much and it made Doc, Autumn and Apollo worry about her possibly being in pain because they all had thought she would have at least tried to. She told them it was just because she had eaten so much at breakfast, that she was too full.
Everyone had fun laughing over gag gifts that some of them had bought for each other and many hugs and kisses were shared over gifts that touched the heart. Tori had given Apollo a nice gold chain necklace. He had also scored some new boots and a new wallet.
Then Steady and Guardian surprised everyone, especially Kim and Sasha when they got down on one knee in front of everyone and proposed! The girls had both accepted and agreed that they wanted to get married right away but to top it off, they had no problem with having a double wedding.
