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The first cry barely registered with Hannah. It drifted into her dreams, distant enough that she almost slept through it. But then she heard it again. A soft whimper. Then another. Then, as if someone had turned up the volume to 11, a full blown wail crackled through the baby monitor. Hannah’s eyes fluttered open.
3:18 a.m.
She stared at the glowing numbers for a long second, willing the crying to stop on its own. She silently bargained with the universe. Please settle yourself. The crying only grew louder. Beside her Garrett let out a sleepy sigh and rolled onto his side, blissfully unaware. One arm was still stretched across the mattress where she’d been moments ago, reaching for her even in his sleep.
Hannah rubbed a hand over her face as she sat up. Every muscle in her body protested. She’d only been asleep an hour, maybe two if she was being generous. A week into motherhood and time had completely lost its meaning. Garrett had taken the midnight feeding so she could sleep and tomorrow he’d be back at practice for the first time since Wyatt and Gigi were born. Her mom was flying in from Indiana in the morning, which meant she could just survive tonight. . . she could sleep tomorrow. Maybe. Another cry echoed through the monitor. “Okay.” she whispered hoarsely. “Mama’s coming.”
She slipped carefully out of bed, trying not to disturb Garrett. The hardwood floor felt cold beneath her feet as she padded down the hallway to the nursery. The nursery door stood cracked open, the soft glow of the night light spilling into the hallway.
Inside, Wyatt was wide awake, his tiny fist working furiously against his swaddle, his little face scrunched into an indignant red scowl.
“Oh little man,” Hannah murmured, scooping him up against her chest. “What’s the matter?”
The baby’s cries softened the moment Hannah settled him against her shoulder. She rubbed slow circles across his back, swaying instinctively as she paced the length of the nursery.
“It’s just hard being this little, isn’t it?” she cooed, his tiny fingers curling around the collar of her pajamas as she eased into the rocking chair. His cries dwindled to sniffles as she rocked. She smiled to herself. Maybe this would be one of the easier wake ups. A quick cuddle, a diaper check, and then everyone would be back to sleep in twenty minutes.
As if she could read Hannah’s mind, Gigi began to wail from her crib.
“No. . .” Hannah hissed, but it was too late. Gigi’s little face scrunched up as her eyes blinked open. Her mouth opened and she announced to the world that she was awake too.
Wyatt’s eyes popped back open.
“Don’t you dare.” Hannah pleaded under her breath.
His bottom lip trembled.
“Buddy. . . buddy. . . stay asleep.”
Right on cue, Wyatt stuck out his lower lip and wailed. Hannah tipped her head back toward the ceiling. “Really?!’
The twins answered with matching cries. They seemed to egg each other on, one crying triggering another until the tiny nursery echoed with newborn outrage. She couldn’t help the breathless laugh that escaped her lips. “You two have impeccable timing.”
Garrett appeared in the doorway, hair sticking up in every direction, one eye still half closed. “Reinforcements have arrived.”
Hannah instantly protested. “Garrett. . . no! You have your first game from paternity leave tomorrow. You need sleep! You need. . .”
“To help my beautiful wife.” he replied, ignoring her and walking over to Gigi’s crib. He scooped up the crying infant.
Hannah smiled. “Thank you.”
He scooped up the tiny infant, offering her her pacifier, which she promptly shot across the room. Garrett watched it roll across the ground, behind the rocking chair. “Rude.”
Hannah smiled.
He snuggled the tiny girl to his chest, rubbing her back in big slow circles. “Long way from pulling all nighters.”
Hannah snorted “Remember when we used to stay up until sunrise, slam a red bull and then still pass a midterm?”
Garrett looked thoughtfully at Gigi. “I miss my nineteen year old metabolism. I think we’re . . . getting old?”
“Speak for yourself Graham.”
“You literally groaned sitting down five minutes ago.”
Hannah smiled. “You are looking a little gray at the temples.”
He stuck his tongue out at her. “Watch it, Wellsy.”
“Ahem.” She flashed her wedding ring at him.
“You’ll always be Wellsy to me.”
“Well that. . . .” Wyatt let out another wail, interrupting her. Gigi agreed and began to scream louder as well. Hannah sighed. “We’re never going to get them to settle down.”
“What was that thing that Sabrina did when Jamie was a baby? The Heisman hold?”
Hannah scrunched up her nose laughing. “The football hold? I already tried it.”
“What about diapers? Earlier today I changed Wyatt, and he went again while I was changing Gigi.”
She patted Wyatt’s bottom softly. “He’s dry.”
Garrett frowned. “So is she.”
They were silent for a minute, only the sound of the twins' cries echoing through the brownstone. “Do we have any of that grouchy water? Maybe they’re gassy?”
“Gripe water.” Hannah corrected. “And they’ve both been burped. They’ve been fed, changed, burped, swaddled, unswaddled, rocked, carried like a football and everything else! Face it, there’s nothing we can do. They’re just going to cry all night. We’ve tried everything!”
Garrett stepped closer. “Hey.”
Hannah looked up at him through teary, sleepy eyes.
He flashed a sleepy smile, dimples popping. “You’re doing great.”
Wyatt’s cry climbed an octave, his little face turning an alarming shade of scarlet. Gigi answered him with one just as loud. Within seconds, the nursery was filled with frantic wails bouncing off the walls.
Garrett shifted Gigi onto his shoulder, patting her back. “C’mon sunshine. . . daddy needs a win here.”
She only cried harder.
Hannah bounced Wyatt. She rocked him. She sat down, she stood up . . . nothing helped. The twins fed off each other until they were both sobbing so hard they could barely catch their breath.
“I don’t know what else they want!” Hannah said, the rocking chair coming to an abrupt stop. “I’ve fed them. I’ve changed them. I’ve burped them. They’re warm. They’re safe.” Her voice cracked. “What am I missing?”
Garrett crossed the room immediately. “Hey. they’re learning.”
“They’re a week old Garrett! They need us for everything and I can’t even figure out why they’re crying! We’re grown adults. . .we’re parents we should. . . “
“We’ve only been parents for a week. . . we’re learning too.” He paused for a moment, biting his lip. “I have an idea.”
Hannah looked at him, deadpanned. “You have an idea?”
He glanced down at the red faced infant in his arms, and then over to the one in Hannah’s. “Can I try something stupid?”
Hannah laughed weakly. “At this point? Go for it.”
He cradled the crying baby in his arms close to chest and began to hum. It was familiar, a song he’d heard Hannah sing hundreds of times at this point in their relationship. She hummed it while she cooked. Screamed it at the top of her lungs in the car with the windows down. Quietly under her breath while she studied. They’d danced to it that fateful night, when Hannah had asked him for “A favor from a friend”. The night he’d started to dream of what if’s. What if she stayed? What if they weren’t pretending. . . what if they made it? He looked around the nursery, at the two cribs, the two tiny babies in tiny sleepers, Hannah swaying beneath the soft glow of the night light. They had made it. And singing this song to the babies just felt right.
Hannah looked up, recognizing the familiar tune. “What are you. . “
“It’s my favorite song. . .so it’s probably theirs as well.”
Gigi’s cry weakened, Garrett unsure if it was soothing her or if she was just startled by his off key humming.
Hannah glanced down at Wyatt. She hummed a few bars of the song, before deciding to sing it. “Baby, now that I’ve found you. . .”
The babies began to calm.
“It’s working. Keep going.” Garrett urged.
“I can’t let you go. . . I need you so.”
Hananh stood up, slowly swaying around the room with Wyatt. “But you don’t need me. . . you don’t need me.”
He began to sway with the baby like Hannah was with Wyatt.
Wyatt’s cries softened first, the sob turning into broken hiccups. His tiny fingers relaxed against Hannah’s shoulder as she sang. Gigi followed a few moments later, her angry little cries fading into sleepy sighs. Her eyelids fluttered once, then closed. The room began quieter, until all that remained was Hannah’s voice.
Garrett’s heart ached, watching her sing. The image blurred with one from years ago, a fresh faced Hannah perched at the keyboard in the hockey arena pressbox, nervously singing the very same song. Back then he’d been so captivated he could barely breathe. He had no idea then what their future would look like. Whether there would even be a future for them.
Now here she was, swaying gently with him, singing those same words to the two tiny people they’d somehow created together. Life had a funny way of exceeding every dream he’d ever had since Hannah had walked into his life.
Hannah glanced over at him, catching him staring. “What?” she whispered with a sleepy smile, careful to never miss a beat of the song.
Garrett shook his head, smiling back. “Nothing.”
She narrowed her eyes playfully. “Liar.”
“I was just thinking. . . “ he looked down at the peacefully sleeping little girl in his arms before meeting Hannah’s eyes again. “We’ve come a long way since our first dance.”
A warm smile spread across Hannah’s face. She finished the last line of the song, just above a whisper. Silence settled over the nursery.
Garrett waited another minute before carefully lowering Gigi into her crib. She stirred just enough to stretch one tiny hand above her head before settling back into sleep.
Across the room, Hannah leaned over Wyatt’s crib, brushing her fingertips across his impossibly soft hair. “Goodnight little man.”
She glanced over at Garrett, smiling. “Hat trick.”
He grinned. “No babe,” he whispered, “that’s a shutout.” He pumped a silent fist in the air. Hannah had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.
They crept toward the door with exaggerated steps, every step slow and deliberate. Garrett reached for the doorknob as if he were disarming a bomb, easing it shut one painstaking inch at a time.
He slipped an arm around her shoulder as they padded back down the hallway, exhaustion catching up with them. The second Hannah climbed into bed, she curled instinctively against his chest, her eyes closed before she even touched the pillow. Garrett pulled the blankets over them before pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“Wellsy?”
“Hmm?” she murmured, already half asleep.
“I love you.”
She smiled against his t shirt. “Love you too.”
Within seconds, her breathing had evened out, she was fast asleep. Garrett stayed awake just a little longer, listening to the quiet that had finally settled over the brownstone. It wouldn’t last. One of the twins would undoubtedly wake them again before morning. He smiled to himself as he closed his eyes. Years ago, that song had helped him and Hannah fall in love. Tonight it had put their children to sleep. “Baby.” he murmured softly into her hair. “I’m so glad that I found you.”