Page 120 of My Brother's Best Friends

Kellan and Alex are both at home working on different things, but Oscar’s still in the city, several hours away by car. We have an alert protocol—a drill we ran last time and have practiced faithfully at Oscar’s insistence. My location is already shared; I just have to say the word.

“Yes, love of my life?” Kellan picks up, his voice as sweet as honey.

“The baby’s coming,” I announce into the speaker.

“Mommy! The baby!” Laney shouts from the backseat. Thank goodness she’s buckled in and I don’t have to worry about her for the moment.

“Oh, crap!” he echoes, already springing into action. “Oh, okay, got your location. Do not move!”

“I can’t really move—the contractions are about to—OUCH!” I cry.

“We’re coming!” Alex calls in the background before Kellan passes him the phone. I already know they’re on their way.

Alex stays on the line to talk me through it. “Okay, baby, deep breaths. Kellan is coming to pick you up, and I’m going to bring the baby bag straight to the hospital.”

“Yes… OUCH! Oh, crapsies!” I manage before the real first contractions hit.

“Crapsies!” Laney mimics me again.

“Sorry!” I say. “Can’t really help myself…”

“Relax, Kay… Breathe, don’t forget to breathe,” Alex says.

I hear him rummaging through the closet for my baby bag—diapers, swaddles, comfy clothes, phone charger, the works. He’ll meet us at the hospital and warn my doctor we’re en route.

“I’m on my way!” shouts Oscar, hanging up on his end of the group call.

“Drive safely, please!” I insist.

I picture him sprinting through the corridors at work, desperate to shave minutes off his commute. I close my eyes, palm spread across my belly. Kellan will be here in minutes.

“Mommy!” Laney reaches her cute, chubby fingers out to me.

“I’m okay, honey… I promise,” I manage in-between deep, panting breaths.

Minutes later, Kellan appears to my right, damn near startling me. “Hey there, sugar tot,” he says, voice tight with nerves, as he helps me from the driver’s seat to the passenger side and makes sure I’m belted in before peeling out of the lot.

“Wow, you got here fast,” I groan from another wave of contractions.

My belly is huge, and I can barely breathe at this point.

“I flew here, Kay. Pretty sure I broke a few traffic laws along the way, but I don’t see any sirens. Do you?”

“All I see are white stars because I’m about to deliver a pair of Anderson twins—bless Callie and her golden, frickin’ mouth!”

Kellan understands the urgency behind my statement and floors it.

About eight hours later, I lie in bed, spent and limp as a boiled noodle, surrounded by soft white—walls, lights, sheets. It’s standard hospital style, but quiet and tranquilbecause my husbands secured a private room in the recovery wing.

Our babies, two gorgeous little boys bundled tightly in pale blue cotton, rest in their elevated cots next to my bed.

My husbands hover between the bassinets and me, taking turns admiring the perfect little lives I just delivered before coming back to pepper me with kisses. Laney perches on the edge of the bed, half-asleep yet determined to stay, while I drift in and out.

Slowly but surely.

“You were incredible,” Kellan says, planting a sweet kiss on my lips.

“Bless that doctor for allowing all three of us in the delivery room,” Oscar says, dragging a chair beside Laney and me. He lovingly takes my hand in his.

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