Page 19 of Coming Innocent

Avery walks into the room and glances around the area before her gaze lands on Nikki. Miraculously, Avery has lost almost all of her baby weight in the month since she’s had the twins. As she gets closer Austin stands from his seat so she can take up his residence.

“Ooo, that plate of food looks good,” she says as she peers down onto the plate in Nikki’s grasp.

“I’ll go grab a plate for you, sis.”

“Thanks, Austin. So, how are you really doing?”

“I’m good, anxious to meet Grace, but scared too I suppose. After what you went through I’m just…”

“What sweetie?” Avery asks as she places a kind hand on her arm.

“Just, what if I can’t do this? I’m not strong, Avery, and that’s what scares me the most.”

“Oh, Nikki. You’re the strongest person I know and you’re going to do amazing.”

“But how did you know that you could do it? Weren’t you terrified?”

“I was. It was one of the most surreal moments of my life. But I didn’t have a choice to be strong or not, I had two little babies that were depending on me to be all of their strength. And you’ll do the same for Grace because that’s what makes a good parent, to always be the strength for your kids. I believe in you, Nikki.”

With a weak grin, Nikki nods her head in agreement.

“You’re right, I’m just being silly.”

“No, not silly; you’re just being a first-time parent about to give birth,” she chuckles as Austin hands her a stacked plate of food.

“When do you see the doctor next?” she asks as she piles a scoop of potato salad onto her fork.

“We have an appointment tomorrow with Dr. Burnett, bright and early.”

“Maybe he’ll schedule an induction?”

“Who knows? I’m just excited to hear her heartbeat again. What about you? When do you have your six-week check-up?” Nikki winks knowing that the six-week post-partum check-up will give Avery the go-ahead to have sex with Logan again.

“Eleven days, fourteen hours, and thirty-six minutes,” Logan declares as he steps up beside Avery and gazes down at her with a smitten expression on his face.

She reaches up and places her hand on top of the one he has rested on her shoulder.

“We’ve missed having alone time. We’ve practically been living at the hospital for the past month. It will be nice to sleep in our actual bed.”

“That’s not all I want to do in our bed,” Logan utters under his breath, but loud enough that Austin narrows his gaze at his friend.

“Hey, that’s my sister. I don’ want to hear those things.”

Logan simply shrugs his shoulders and leans down to kiss the top of Avery’s forehead.

A yawn escapes between Nikki’s mouthful of food and Austin shoots her a sympathetic eye.

“You want to head out? We can try to get some baby time tomorrow?”

“That sounds great, actually.”

THE CART’S WHEELS SQUEAK as it spins and rolls across the laminate floors of the general store. Austin pushes the offending cart as they take a turn towards the produce section.

“So, what kinds of food do we need to look for?”

Glancing up from her phone Nikki informs, “Google says foods such as pineapple, spicy food, and black licorice can help to induce labor naturally. Red raspberry leaf tea can help too, but I don’t think we’re going to find that here.”

“Alright, let’s get loaded up. We can try some of Dr. Burnett’s other suggestions when we get home.”