The niggling feeling of unease didn’t go away, however. Kathleen tried to hide it, ooh’ing and aah’ing over the boys’ homemade gifts, but he caught her shifting a lot and rubbing her back and protruding belly more often than usual.
He wasn’t the only one. It had become tradition to have Christmas dinner with Kathleen’s parents. Kathleen’s mom went all out, taking over the diner’s massive kitchen to bake several hams and make all the fixings. Erin and Seamus were there, too, with their little ones. Under normal circumstances it was a lot of fun, but exhausting as well.
“Are you okay, Kathleen?” Erin asked for the third time, looking at her sister with concern.
“Yeah,” Kathleen breathed in small, measured breaths.
“You look like you’re having contractions,” Erin pressed.
“Just little ones.”
“What?! It’s too early for that! The babies aren’t due for another three months!”
Kathleen smiled and sipped her juice. “The doctor says it’s perfectly normal for twins. The contractions are just my body’s way of adjusting to accommodate the two-for-one special we have going on.”
“I’ve never heard of that,” Erin said doubtfully.
“How many twins have you had?”
“Good point.”
“Seriously. I’m keeping a close eye on them. They usually ease off when I get off my feet. If they persist for more than half an hour or get closer than five minutes apart, I’m supposed to call.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jack asked as they were on their way home later than night.
“Tell you what?”
“About the contractions.”
“Because I knew you would worry,” she told him.
“You’re damn right I’m worried,” he said a bit harsher than he’d intended. “From now on, you’re going to spend more time off your feet.”
“Yeah?” she said softly. “How is that going to work?”
“Damned if I know, but we’ll figure out something.”
Jack carried each of the boys to bed and tucked them in. By the time he got back to their bedroom, Kathleen was freshly showered and waiting for him. She’d lit a dozen or so candles around the room, reminding him of their wedding night.
He took a quick shower himself and snuggled into bed beside her.
“Are you ready for my present?” she whispered huskily.
“So ready. But I want to give you mine, first...”
––––––––
By the end of January, Kathleen had been hospitalized twice for premature contractions. Each time they gave her an I.V. to slow things down, and she was now taking medication to speed up the development of the babies’ lungs in case they couldn’t stop the contractions from progressing into full blown labor the next time. She insisted that everything was fine, but Jack watched her like a hawk, knowing her tendency to downplay things.
Officially on bed rest with limited bathroom privileges, family and friends rallied around to help where they could. Kathleen’s mom and sister took turns coming over for a few hours every day to help with the kids, run errands, and assist with laundry and cooking, for which both he and Kathleen were extremely grateful.
Even Adonia started coming by regularly. She would spend time with Kathleen while Brian worked at the bar. Jack knew that Brian really appreciated that. A native of Greece, Adonia’s shy and quiet personality made it difficult for her to make friends in the predominantly Irish community. Living beyond the town limits hadn’t helped much, either. Brian and Adonia had moved in with Brian’s aging mother, who had a nice-sized cottage and a decent parcel of land on the mountain.
Everyone’s generous efforts paid off. On a snowy day during the first week of March, Sean and Shane Callaghan entered the world, only six days earlier than Kathleen’s original due date. Both boys were healthy, though relatively small compared to their older brothers. Sean was only eight pounds; Shane, seven and a half.
It had been difficult for Kathleen, though. After nearly thirty hours of labor, the doctor finally made the call to go with a Caesarean section. It wasn’t something that Kathleen wanted. She’d said the recovery was just too difficult with little ones to look after, but by that point, she and the babies were showing signs of distress.
“Do twins run in your family?” Adonia asked, gazing down at baby Shane. Given the look of longing on her face, Jack suspected she was imagining holding her own child. Brian had confided that they’d made an appointment with a specialist and were scheduled for a slew of tests in the coming months.
“No,” Jack replied, holding Shane.
“Family history is only a consideration with fraternal twins,” the nurse setting up Kathleen’s morphine pump chimed in cheerily. “Your boys are identical. That’s a complete fluke.”
Jack recognized her as one of the nurses who had scrubbed in for the C-section. Both boys looked the same to him, except for Sean being slightly bigger. In all honesty, however, they looked almost exactly as Kane, Jake, Michael, and Ian had.
“How do you know they’re identical?”
“We do a DNA test to confirm. But they shared one placenta and inner and outer membranes, which only happens with identicals.”