The Kids Grow Up by Trish Hanan (novel24 .TXT) 📖

you will be, trust me you will be,” Charlie giggled. “I rub April’s feet every single night and I don’t even mind doing it, she glows, she’s so pretty.”
“I make Kathleen ice cream because the smell of milk makes her sick but she loves ice cream, ain’t that weird?” Steve asked and everyone laughed.
“Joon is eating all the broccoli in the house, there is no more left and we have gone begging for more and she farts all the time and it smells like broccoli,” Synta told them and everyone laughed. Steve giggled.
“Its true, she does,” he said. DJ giggled.
“Oh, man, save me from pregnant women,” he declared. “What does Harry do Jake?” he asked. Jake laughed.
“The only thing Harry is doing that’s different is that being pregnant is making him really, really horny, we do it all the time, three, four times a day, the other day, we did it six times, didn’t we Harry?” he said and Harry giggled.
“Seven but whose counting,” he said and all the men were silent. DJ laughed.
“You’re kidding right?” he asked. Jake laughed.
“No, I’m not kidding, its like his hormones have kicked into over-drive or something and he keeps attacking me, and he’s so cute, I can’t resist him. I have to take naps just to keep up with him,” Jake giggled. Steve groaned.
“Would you stop complaining, man, I wish I had your problem,” he gushed. Jake laughed.
“Who said it was a problem, I love Harry pregnant, you were just saying things that were different, and that’s different,” he told them. “Usually we have sex only two or three times a day, but lately, we’ve been doing it four or five times.” Charlie groaned.
“You two have sex two or three times every single day?” he asked with disbelief. Harry giggled.
“Of course we do, once in the morning when we wake up and then before we go to bed and sometimes we like to do it in the afternoon if we can sneak a nap in,” he informed them. “Why, don’t you guys have sex twice a day?” he asked. He heard silence.
“Kathleen and I have sex three or four times a week, occasionally, maybe two or three normally,” Steve admitted. “Sometimes once or twice, well, that’s pretty normal.”
“That’s sounds about right,” Charlie said and Synta agreed. DJ groaned.
“Man, I’m never getting married, I get laid more than that,” he told them.
“Well, being with a woman is more than just sex,” Steve said. Jake laughed.
“Okay, lets change the subject before I start to cry, you boys are making me feel sorry for straight guys, Harry, babe, I really love you,” he said. Harry giggled.
“Hey, Jake, you ever do it in a Jeep buried in a snow drift?” he asked in a husky voice and the question in his voice sent shivers down all the men’s backs.
“No, but you stay right there and I’ll be right with you,” he said and they both clicked off. DJ laughed.
“Oh, man, I’ve got to find a way to turn gay,” he said and all the men laughed.
Kathleen went into labor on December tenth and it was a hard, fast labor with Steve present for her to scream at until Harry rubbed her back and then she was a sweetheart until she realized she had to push again and then she got cranky because she was really, really tired. But she made it through and delivered her twins; a boy and a girl that they named them Stephen and Stephanie to the horror of both sets of grandparents.
“It’s the same name, they named them the same name,” Meri said and Linda shrugged. They were both named after her Steve so she didn’t care. Both babies had Kathleen’s red hair but the little boy had her green eyes and the little girl had his blue eyes. They were both perfect and Synta and Joon were named god-parents.
Joon was the next to deliver and she went into labor on the seventeen and it was an easy labor and delivery. It seemed that minosians had a slightly different system than humans and the baby sort of just popped out and into Dr. George’s hand before he knew it was coming. It was a good thing he had good reflexes or he might have dropped the little boy. They named him Martin and everyone was happy.
April went into labor at two in the morning and didn’t deliver until two the following afternoon. They had to finally give her something to make her cervices open up. It got to seven and stayed there for four hours which was a very long time. Finally she delivered a screaming daughter and they named her May which pleased her mother and made Myra frown. She thought the whole grandmother, mother, daughter, name of the month thing tacky. So did Charles but they did come from old money and had more class than the rest of the colonist so what could they really expect?
Christmas came and all of the colonists came together to celebrate in the community center. From the original sixty-seven they were now a hundred and twenty-six and waiting for two more arrivals. Everyone was filled with happiness and joy as the gazed around at their children and grandchildren with pride. Not even the fifteen inches of snow which had fallen the day before could dampen their spirits, Harry had blown it all away from the Center and the surrounding buildings and roads and most of them had flown to the celebration in helos. Max carried around his precious two year-son Paul beaming like a proud dad with the laughing little boy with Charles who had his two year-old son Nick in his arms. The two angry men had somewhat mellowed with the arrival of grandchildren, much to the relief of the other survivors.
“When is this baby going to come out of me, I’m so sick of not being able to see my feet,” Gloria complained as David helped her to a chair. He smiled and patted her belly gently. She sighed and brushed his hand away. “For God’s sake, don’t do that, you know how it annoys me,” she snapped. He sighed.
“Yes, my princess, I’ll get you some punch,” he said and rushed away. She frowned.
“What I need is a good strong drink,” Gloria snapped. Her father laughed as he held his ten month-old daughter, purple-eyed Doris.
“Now, pumpkin, you know you can’t drink while you’ll pregnant, the alcohol’s not good for the baby,” he chided her. She snorted.
“I’m so God-damned sick of the God-damned baby I could vomit,” she snarled and he and Shelley, who was holding two-year old Andrea, exchanged a worried look. They had wondered what kind of parents these two selfish people would make but figured once they held their child in their arms they would love it. Who couldn’t love a precious baby?
Across the room everyone was patting and rubbing Harry’s belly and telling Jackson they couldn’t wait to see him, would he hurry up and come out so he could meet his little cousins?
“Well, you know in two days it’ll be six months exactly,” Harry informed his crowd. Kathleen giggled.
“Do you think the baby’s going to time it just perfectly like that, Mouse?” she teased him. Jake grinned and shrugged.
“If he’s anything like Harry he will,” he teased and everyone laughed. Harry picked up little Stephanie and kissed her.
“They’re just jealous, darling, because they’re not as organized as I am,” he told her solemnly. “She’s got the prettiest blue eyes; they’re just like Steve’s.” Steve grinned.
“She’s a darling,” he agreed and everyone grinned at the pride in his voice. Kathleen beamed.
“These parties just get noisier and noisier don’t they?” Harry teased Jake as they drove home. Jake laughed.
“You put eighty-five children in an enclosed room and you’re bound to get a little noise, babe,” he teased back and they both laughed.
“Yancy, Joey and Eric are getting to be really cute aren’t they?” Harry remarked and Jake nodded.
“So are the little girls Lisa, Lori and Lucy, how old are they?” he asked.
“I think the twins are nine and Lucy is eight,” Harry replied. Jake grinned.
“I bet they must hate being the only kids in that school,” he said and they both laughed.
“They’ll be joined soon enough by a whole group of kindergarteners,” Harry said and they both nodded. They got home and Jake pulled in the garage. They were greeted warmly by Gertie and Bo as usual. Harry groaned out of the car and Jake grinned.
“That baby’s going to pop out any day now, babe,” he remarked and laughed as his love waddled to the house. Harry made a face.
“I know I look like a walrus, you don’t have to say it,” he commented. Jake grabbed him and kissed him, long and hard.
“Yeah, but you’re an incredibly sexy walrus,” he told him. Harry grinned and gave him one of those sexy sly looks.
“Ever made love to a walrus, honey, in a garage?” he asked and Jake grinned.
“Let’s do it in the bed where that walrus will be nice and comfortable, babe,” he suggested and Harry giggled.
“Okay, I could do with a nice bed, my back in hurting,” he admitted. Jake immediately offered a back rub so they went to the bedroom and he gave a good one which led to him rubbing other parts of Harry’s body which led to other things and a lazy evening in bed. That led to a naked picnic in bed and a movie in bed and more bedroom fun and a good night’s sleep. And Fran was spending the night over at Wendy’s to be with her grandchildren so they didn’t have to worry about excluding her.
Gloria’s water broke the morning of the twenty-seventh when she woke up and felt a swish of water rush out of her and made a face. She turned to her husband and shook him awake. He had gotten back into bed after milking the cow.
“David, David wake up, I think my water just broke,” she yelled and he woke up and looked at the clock.
“It’s only seven a.m., couldn’t you wait at least until nine?” he whined. She laughed.
“Tell that to this brat, she’s the one who decided on seven, help me up and call Daddy, he’ll have to meet us at the hospital,” she snapped. David sighed and got out of bed. He walked around to her side of the bed and they pulled the covers off. That’s when they saw all the blood and they both screamed.
“Oh, my God, I’m bleeding, David, call Daddy, David, just don’t stand there, call Daddy,” she screamed and he went into action. He called Dr. George who said not to panic and he was going to take care of everything. Dr. George called Harry and Roger and Zack who all rushed into action. Then he called Fiona and rushed to the hospital. The firemen rushed in the ambulance which they kept at their house and drove to David and Gloria’s, picked her up and took her to the hospital where everyone else was waiting.
“Don’t worry, pumpkin, I’m here and everything’s going to be just fine,” Dr. George cooed when he saw his rather pale daughter. She nodded and closed her eyes. Her