Page 110 of Every Move You Make

“I have twenty bucks on Zo,” Neal chuckles.

“Fifty on Nico!” Jonah hollers.

With matching grins, Zay and Dane start thumping the ground with their hands, cheering for the twins to crawl to them.

“Come on, Zo!” Robyn cheers, setting her plate down and clapping. The babies slowly make their way toward their ridiculous uncles, stopping when the occasional giggle overpowers their tiny muscles. When Nico reaches Uncle Dane, he lifts him in celebration.

Robyn gets up, lays next to Zo and speaks to her like an adult. “It’s okay, girl. We’re gonna train hard and beat him next time.”

I watch on as my partners give Zo a pep talk, and I wonder if either of them want children. They’re both so at ease with them. Isaiah is so uncharacteristically animated with his niece and nephew, and it’s like he can’t stop himself from squishing their little cheeks, arms, and feet. Then I remember several videos of Robyn at youth rugby events, laughing and teaching. I think about how sweet Isaiah was with my nephew Liam; asking him about music and instruments, finally getting him to really talk was no small feat. It was so easy for Isaiah.

Having children has never been something I was particularly interested in, but watching the two people I love play with them has me considering the possibility. Could we make a family someday? Do either of them want that?

“I had the same look in my eyes when I first saw Ana with her children,” Christina says, sitting down next to me and nudging my shoulder. Well, her shoulder nudges just above my elbow. She’s very short.

Slightly embarrassed, I clear my throat. “What’s that?”

Christina nods to Isaiah and Robyn on the floor with the twins. “I knew I loved Ana, but once she finally introduced me to her kids and I saw the way she loved them, the way they made her laugh, I was done for.”

“It’s hard to see the future when there’s so much we have to hide.”

She taps my forearm in a comforting manner. “Your path will clear soon enough.”

Isaiah catches my eye and he graces me with the smallest curve to his lips before standing and handing his niece to Ana. He gives me his hand. “Come with me.” Isaiah leads Robyn and me up the narrow, creaky stairs to a small landing and opens the first door on the left.

“This was your bedroom?” Robyn gapes, stepping into an offensively green space.

“Who chose this color?” I chuckle.

He sighs, “That would be me. We had a thing for Mountain Dew back in the day.”

“I’d say so.”

There’s not much in the way of artwork, but there are rugby team posters of the All Blacks and Springboks mingling with band posters of Cage the Elephant, Queen, and Green Day. There’s even an Agony Nectar poster that looks like it was handmade.

“I shared this room with my brothers.”

“All three of you slept in here?” Robyn asks.

“Believe it or not. When they annoyed me, I’d go sleep on the couch in the basement.”

“Can we see it?” Robyn asks. “I have to see where the band began.”

Jonah and Dane are already down there, letting the twins tinker with the drums. I take a seat on the old couch, and Robyn sits in my lap while Isaiah pulls his old bass from a well-worn case.

“I can’t believe you all have musical abilities,” Robyn muses.

“Our mom was gifted,” Dane adds. “She had some strong genes because we all got it.”

“What about your dad?” I ask, and all three of them laugh.

“Can’t carry a tune to save his life,” Dane chuffs.

“He can’t even hold a beat,” Jonah adds, then cheers on Zo who’s sitting in his lap and slapping a drum. “Yeah, girl! Nothin’ like you!”

Holding Robyn close, we watch on as the Johanssen brothers fiddle with their instruments, making sure not to play too loud in front of the twins—who, by the way, have this entire family wrapped around their little pudgy fingers.

I wonder if Robyn is feeling the same warmth spread in her chest that I do right now.

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