From the driveway Connie wasn’t sure if anyone was awake. The house looked all buttoned up for the night, with the twins asleep upstairs and the baby sitter in the back family room watching some horror show about zombies or Hitler youth zombies or whatever 14 year olds watched these days. As she pulled in the driveway the car’s headlamps panned across the length of the house illuminating the living room as she pulled into the garage. Before David left her for his secretary she always felt a sense of relieve when David light up the living room announcing his return home. These days his side of the garage was used to store boxes from all the baby items she needed to purchase. Twins were a surprise and even knowing that David was going to be the father of twins wasn’t enough to lure him back from Emily the temptress.
This time however, Connie was startled by the silhouette of a man in her living room and it scared the crap out of her. She thumbed her cell phone and called the baby sitter for the 8th time tonight. “Jackie, are the twins alright? Are you OK? I saw a man in the living room? If you don’t call me back in 12 seconds I’m going to call the police!” She snapped the phone closed, verified that her door were locked and began to count to twelve.
The interior Garage door opened and there stood Jackie. “Ms. Butler that was me in the Living Room. I was getting some more soda when you pulled in.” Connie could feel her heart begin to settle down as Jackie waved her inside. It was an easy mistake she told herself, Jackie had a pixie haircut and had yet to begin to develop. Jackie’s shadow against the far wall was that of a large hulking man, not this waif of a girl who baby sat the twins. Standing in the kitchen, each of them could feel the others embarrassment. Jackie embarrassed at herself for not being larger than an A cup, not as pretty as the other girls and not having a boy friend. Her tomboy demeanor was all defense. She wanted nature to hurry up and turn her ugly duckling into a swan in the worst way. Connie was embarrassed that she mistook Jackie for a man. Embarrassed that her quick snap to judgment could affect this young girl for years to come. No apology would salve that wound so the two stood there in awkward silence till Connie asked about the twins?
Tiptoeing into the nursery Connie approached the two cribs and peeked in. Kelly and Pat were fraternal twins. Kelly named for her sister, and Pat named for her first boyfriend.. David be dammed. If he wasn’t here to raise his son, he didn’t have a say in who he was named after. As Connie’s eyes adjusted, she could see the soft pastel blues in the leftmost crib, and the electric pink in the rightmost crib. She’d check their diapers later. Right now, she only hoped Jackie placed them in the right crib.