FicWad

The night we got home everyone was ready to sleep in their own beds and enjoy the space the house gives us. And my birthday present was in the driveway waiting for me. He got me the blue one. When I asked him why blue he told me it was because of my eyes.

“You look good in blue. It matches your eyes.” He told me.

Saint had slept in our bed the last few nights of our trip. That was fine, he needed the comfort and closeness. And I think Pete needed it too. I think if he had his way, all three of them would have slept in the RV with us. I know it would have made him feel better. But Bronx and Marvel are fearless for the most part and were not traumatized by the encounter with the mountain lion. Saint, however, is my sensitive boy. He got a better look at the lion than the others did and it scared him.

Pete on the other hand started agreeing with Bronx. Yes, the encounter with the cougar scared him. But, once his fear was gone he started to see it as a testament of how brave I am and much I loved him and the kids. The last two days of the trip he would find reasons to touch me. More so than his usual. By the time we got home he was over his fright.

The evening we made it home, I had the boys take showers and I gave Marvel a bath and put her to bed. Saint wanted to be tucked in by both of us. Bronx was ready to go to bed on the early side too. We had been gone for almost two months. I think he was also ready to play some games on his PS5.

Pete and I were relaxing on the couch after all the kids had gone up for the night. He looked over at me and grinned. I grinned back at him.

“You know, I could use a shower myself.” I said. “Wanna join me? You wash my back, I wash yours?”

He stood up and offered me his hand. “I’ll wash your back, your front. Anywhere you want.” He said as I took his hand and stood up.

He pulled me close and kissed me hard. “With Saint needing to sleep with us the last few nights, I haven’t been able to show you how much I appreciate what you did. You saved them, and I’m so fucking grateful to you for that.” He told me as he held me tight.

I pulled my head back just far enough to be able to look at him. I reached up and pushed his hair behind his ear. Cupping his cheek with the same hand I smiled at him. “I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

“I know you would. That is one of the many reasons why I love you so much.” He kissed me again and then we started up the stairs.

“You know, Bronx is right. You are a badass. And I do think that what you did for us was amazing. You should use the video he got of it on your channel.”

“That footage would traumatize our families. Do you think Ashlee would ever allow Bronx to go camping with us ever again if she saw that? You know she watches. And your Mom would have a fit and my Mom would call and scream at me for letting her grandkids be in danger.” I told him laughing a little.

“I don’t think any of them would react like that. I think all three of them would only see you go all Momma Bear on that lion and be impressed with you.”

“You don’t understand mothers if you think that. All they will see is the danger. The danger Saint, Marvel, and I were in.” I answered.

“Have you watched it? The footage?” He asked me.

“No. I’m not sure I want to.” I confessed.

“I haven’t either. Maybe we should.” He suggested.

“Hmmm… maybe? But not tonight. I have other plans for tonight.” I said.

We had made it to our room by this time. I started to pull off my dirty clothes and headed to the bathroom. I wanted a shower. Pete followed me. He turned the water on and let it get hot.

As we waited for the water to heat up he reached over and placed his hand over the baby. I loved watching his face when he did that. His face was so expressive. And every time he touched me there I could see the love and wonder he felt wash over his face.

“No baby bump yet.” He said.

“Not yet, but I’m sure it won’t be long.” I answered.

“I can’t wait to watch Little Bitty grow.” He said as he gently rubbed my abdomen. Then he kissed me softly.

The water was hot by this time. We stepped into the shower. We took our time and washed each other. He did end up pushing me against the wall of the shower and had his way with me. But I wanted him too much to wait until we were in bed.

I had made an appointment with my OB online while we were on our trip . My appointment was for just a few days after we got back home. Pete wanted to go with me to it. Unfortunately, Bronx had to go back to his Mom’s and couldn’t babysit for us that day. Pete did have someone he used from time to time and gave her a call. She was free that day so he was able to go with me.

I thought the appointment was just to confirm the pregnancy. Make sure everything was ok, that both the baby and I were healthy. And we did all of that, but to confirm how far along I was my doctor wanted to do a sonogram.

I was even happier that Pete was with me for this. We would be able to see the baby for the first time together. I was instructed to lay back and pull up my shirt. The gel they used was cold and the wand tickled a little.

Pete and my doctor were talking about how he has done this before and actually helped deliver Saint. The screen of the sonogram was turned away from us.

“Do twins run in either of your families?” My doctor asked us.

“No, not in mine. Pete?”

“Not in mine either. Why?” He asked.

The doctor turned the screen so we could see. “Because you’re having twins. Here is baby A,” she pointed out the first baby. “And here is baby B. Looks like fraternal twins. I see two sacks, not one.”

“Oh…” I whispered. “Two?”

The doctor smiled at me and said, “Yes. I hope this is good news for you.”

I nodded and simply said, “Very good news.”

I looked over at Pete to see what his response was. He was fixated on the screen with that sweet and tender look he gets with the children.

“Twins.” He turned his eyes from the screen to me. “You’ve waited so long for this, and you get two.”

“But, how do you feel about this?” I asked him.

He smiled and said, “I told you, I wanted another one or two. This is fantastic news. Really, I’m very happy about this. Very happy.” He said before he leaned in and dropped a kiss on my lips.

“Any idea on the due date?” Pete asked.

“From the size of the babies, and the date of your last cycle, I put you at about 9 weeks. Due date if you go full term is early February. However, multiple birth pregnancies usually don’t go full term. They just run out of room.” She smiled at me and removed the wand from my abdomen. She started to wipe the gel off me.

“Now, you are considered high risk just because of your age and because you’re carrying twins. But you are very healthy. As long as you feel good, keep up with your normal activity levels. I know you’re very active and you’re very healthy. You’re in better health than most of my patients that are half your age.”

I had sat up by this time. My doctor was printing out a copy of the sonogram for us. She handed it over to me and told me to make an appointment on my way out for the next visit.

Pete and I made our way to the front desk, made my next appointment and left. I still hadn’t wrapped my head around the news. Twins. I was silent on the way to the car.

“Grace? Are you ok?” Pete asked me as we got in the car.

I was ok, very ok. But when I opened my mouth to tell him that a sob came out instead. I don’t know what came over me, this wasn’t something to cry about. I’m not a big cryer, and Pete had only seen me cry a few times. So me breaking out in sobs freaked him out.

“Baby, what’s wrong? Why are you crying? Aren’t you happy about the twins?” He asked me as he tried to comfort me.

I was nodding that yes I was happy about the twins. “I don’t know why I’m crying.” I finally got out. “I think I’m just a bit overwhelmed.” I took a deep breath and pulled a tissue out of my purse to blow my nose.

“I’ve waited so long and wanted this for so long. I’m more than happy about the twins. I’m overjoyed.” I told him and then started crying again.

He didn’t try to tell me it was ok, I was fine, you know the typical bull shit. He just smiled indulgently at me and held my hand. He also just let us sit in the car for a few minutes while I calmed down.

Once I was calm I said, “I’m ok now. We can go.”

But he still didn’t start the car. When I finally looked at him to see why we weren’t moving yet, he was just sitting in the driver's seat watching me.

“We have the sitter for a few more hours. Do you want to go for a drive? Just us, have a chance to talk?” He offered.

I nodded once and said, “Yeah, that sounds nice.” I gave him a half smile.

He smiled back and started the car. I didn’t know where he was taking me, but I didn’t really care. I just trusted him to take care of me right then.

After we had been driving for a few minutes, Pete spoke up. “Are you hungry? I know you didn’t have breakfast. I could eat. Wanna stop somewhere?”

“I want a chocolate milkshake. A good one. Not one from McDonald’s.” I said. I hadn’t had a milkshake in I don’t know how long. And all of a sudden, it sounded really good.

He flashed me his trademark grin. “One chocolate milkshake coming right up. There’s a diner not far from here. Let’s go get lunch.”

He was right, there was a dinner not too far away. I got my chocolate milkshake and a BLT. It was a good lunch.

“You realize we’re gonna have two five year olds when we’re fifty?” I said to him as we waited for our order.

“Yeah, I do. I think we’ll be fine. Aren’t you still planning on submitting Mt. Rainier at fifty? You did promise Bronx.” He said conversationally.

“Yeah I did. And, yeah, I still plan on doing that. I guess if I can climb a mountain I can run after little kids.” Our lunch arrived at that point.

“Tell me what you’re really thinking. You’ve been so quiet.” He said after he swallowed his first bite of his burger.

“I’m just,” I paused, trying to put my thoughts and feelings together. “Happy, scared, nervous, excited all at once and can’t settle on just one emotion.”

He smiled at that answer. “Seems perfectly normal to me.” He answered.

“Is that how you felt when Ashlee was pregnant with Bronx?”

His face got that familiar look, the one he always got when remembering the children. “Yes.” He answered after a few moments. “All those things and more. I read all the books. I thought I was so ready when he was born. I was over ready in so many ways and so clueless about so much more.”

I chuckled at that. “How ready are you feeling for numbers four and five?” I asked.

“Ready and ready. Very ready for this adventure with you.” He told me.

“Me too.” And I was. This was going to be the most amazing adventure I was ever going to take. “And I’m really glad you’re going on the adventure with me.”

He flashed his smile at me and said, “Ya know, if someone had told me a year and a half ago that I would meet, date, fall in love with and have not one, but two babies with my YouTube crush, I would’ve ask what they were smoking and if I could have some of it.”

I actually laughed at that. “I know what you mean. I never would have believed anyone if they had told me I would meet my celebrity crush, fall in love with him and actually get pregnant by him. And yet here we are.”

“Here we are. And I want you to know something. You have brought a joy and,” he paused for a second, “a sense of wonder and adventure to my life I've never experienced before. Thank you for that.”

“I’ve never been this happy before. I’m just happy. Truly, blissfully happy. Do you remember that line from Jerry Maguire? You complete me?” I asked.

“Yeah, course, classic line.”

“Well, you and the kids, all five of them, complete me.”

He smiled a tender smile at that. “I love you so fucking much.”

“Love you too.”

“How’s your milkshake?” He asked and took a big bite of his burger.

“Good. Exactly what I wanted.” I told him with a smile and took a big drink of it. It really was good too. Creamy, thick and very chocolaty.

We finished lunch and were ready to go home. On the way there I asked him not to tell anyone, even the kids, yet about the twins. I needed a little bit of time to get used to the idea before I was ready to tell anyone. We agreed that when asked, we would be truthful to a point. Baby is fine. Baby is due in February. I’m 9 weeks along and healthy.

The weeks started going by fast. I did end up asking my Mom for some help with getting vendors for the wedding. Since she was there, and had very good connections in the area, she was the perfect choice. I also ended up hiring a party planner that was willing to take on the job. She was just getting started in the business, but had come highly recommended by a friend of my mothers. Her best friend Maria in fact. I trusted Maria and hired her. Turns out my party planner was as good as we had been told. She was a hard worker and had fantastic ideas. She even went to the farm and asked Dad to show her where we wanted to hold the ceremony. Two days later she sent me all her ideas of how to set everything up and where.

I showed all of her ideas to Pete since he was very interested and wanted to be involved. He had insisted that at least one of our wedding colors was blue. Not a bright blue and not baby blue. But a dusty gray blue that I had always called wedgewood blue. I picked a soft sage green as the other color. They went well together and reminded me of spring on the farm.

I didn’t want to do a full length wedding dress. I’d done that before and we were going to be outside. I wanted something pretty, that would allow for the baby bump I knew would be there even if I wasn’t showing yet. I did find a dress that I loved and it fit all the requirements. It wasn’t white, but a soft blue/gray. It had cap sleeves, an empire waist so it flowed over my belly. It came just past my knees. It fit right and had room for the babies to grow.

I took Marvel shopping and found a pretty little dress for her to wear as the flower girl. Lisa and I had been in constant contact. She was also helping as much as she could from New York. I had told her the colors we had picked and told her to use her judgment on what dress to get. Abby was also going to be a bridesmaid as Saint was going to be a groomsman.

Pete took Bronx and Saint out shopping for what they would wear to the wedding. He showed me what they got. All three of them were going to be in gray slacks. Pete was going to wear a white shirt with a gray tie that matched his slacks. Bronx and Saint were going to wear sage green shirts with gray ties that matched Pete’s.

Lisa sent me pictures of the dresses she and Abby had found. Lisa was going to be in sage green. And Abby was going to be in wedgewood blue. They both were stunning in their dresses.

One afternoon Pete got a call from Patrick. I wasn’t eavesdropping on him, but he answered the call right in front of me while I was working with Marvel on her letters.

“Hey man, what’s up?” Pete said as he answered the FaceTime call.

“Hey! Is Moon there? I want to talk to both of you.” Patrick asked.

“Yeah, she’s right here.” Pete said and waved me over.

I got up and moved so he could see me. “Hey, Patrick. How’re you?”

“I’m good. I wanted to ask you guys something. Have you found someone to do the ceremony?”

“No, not yet.” I told him.

Patrick grinned at us and then said, “Good, cause I just got ordained. I want to offer my services to be the one that officiates the wedding.” He looked so pleased with himself.

“Patrick! I don’t know what to say.” Pete said. He was choking up a little at his friend's offer.

“I do. Patrick, I would be honored to have you be the one to marry us.” I said.

“Then I’m your man! I wanted to do something special for your wedding. And since I’m not your Best Man this time around, I thought, maybe I could be the one to do the ceremony.” Patrick seemed giddy with the idea.

“Patrick, you’re my best friend for many reasons. And this is just one of them. Thank you. We’re honored you wanted to do this.” Pete told Patrick.

The two of them talked about the logistics of everything. Pete had found a couple of houses on Airbnb to rent out for our friends and families. He found a big one for the Stumps and the Trohmans to share. And a small one for Andy and Meredith to share with the band’s videographer Elliot and his small family. He was going to be our wedding photographer. Another big one for his siblings and all of their family members. And then there are the hotels in the two towns closest to Dad’s place.

Dad had arranged for Peter and Dale as well as Mom and Ryan to stay in the house with us. Dad wanted all the parents together and for Pete and I to stay in the house with them. Bonding time Dad called it. Dad had a surprise for me too. As soon as we had left the farm he had construction on a small guest cottage started. He said it would be done in time for the wedding. He planned on putting Scott and Lisa with Abby and Marvel out there. The boys would share a room in the house.

We had decided that flying back east was the only way to get there this time. We didn’t have time to drive again. At least the kids were all comfortable with flying. They’d been doing it since they were all babies.

I had one more appointment with my OB before we left for the wedding. This was the 12 week scan. This is when we could find out how the babies were developing and if there were any problems. Pete had Bronx babysit for us so he could join me.

We got extra lucky and the technician was able to tell the genders of the babies. We were told that normally it would be too soon for that. But our technician said she could tell. She also said she thought I was closer to 14 weeks than 12. We found out that we were having both a girl and a boy. I really did get my wish. I had always wanted at least two kids. And one of each. My doctor told me I was in excellent health. Everything was going as good as it could. And both babies were healthy and developing normally.

As soon as we got in the car after the appointment I said, “I think we need to tell the kids about the twins.”

“No, not yet.” Pete answered.

“Why not?”

“Because I want to announce it to all our family and friends at the wedding. Or, really at the reception.” He told me.

I hadn’t thought of that. “Ok. I like that idea. They can find out at the same time as everyone else.”

“And since we’re having one of each, we can use both of the names we liked. Star for her. Jupiter for him.”

“We need middle names for them. I’d like to give Jupiter Dads name as his middle name. And how do you feel about Star Dale Wentz?” I asked as he drove us home.

“You want to name her after Mom?” He asked me. He sounded very touched by that.

“Yes. Your Dad has you. Your Mom didn’t get to name one of her kids after herself. Hilary and Drew didn’t name any of their daughters after her. My Dad wasn’t interested in having his son named after him. But I think he would be very touched if we gave our son his name as a middle name.”

“What about your Mom? Or your brother Alex?” He asked.

“Abby’s middle name is Rebecca, after Mom. My middle name is from my Grandma Ellen. But I don’t want to name my son after Alex.” I told him.

“Why not?” Pete never pushed for information about Alex. He knew my brother had been dead for 8 years, but that was about all he knew.

“Alex was a suicide. I don’t want to put that on Jupiter.” I said without looking at Pete. I was aware of his past, I didn’t want to bring up a subject that could be hurtful to him.

“I, I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.” He said quietly.

“I didn’t tell you. No reason to apologize. I loved Alex, but I can’t forgive him. Not for making sure it would be Mom who found him. That was his intention. He said so in his letter to us. He wanted to hurt her.”

Pete was silent for a while. “Don’t hold anger in your heart for him. Suicide is… it’s a last resort. A cry for help for most people.” He spoke from his own experience.

“You had a cry for help. Alex hung himself in Mom’s basement. He wanted to die. And he wanted Mom to suffer too. He had lots of people that were trying to help him and he rejected all of us. I love him, I always will. But I won’t glorify what he did.” I turned my face to look out the window. I didn’t want to see Pete’s face. We didn’t talk the rest of the drive home. Both of us were lost in our own thoughts.

We got home and were asked by Bronx how the appointment went.

“So, everything go ok? Do you know if I’ll have another brother or sister yet?” He asked us.

“Everything is fine, healthy and growing. And yes we know, but we’re not telling anyone just yet.” Pete told him.

“Why not? I won’t tell anyone else.” Bronx asked. He sounds really upset we weren’t going to tell him.

“We want to tell everyone at the same time. We plan to announce it and the name at the wedding reception.” Pete told his son.

Quietly I said to Pete, “You know, we could tell him. He can keep a secret.”

Pete gave it some thought. Bronx assured us he wouldn’t tell anyone.

I finally cracked. “Come on, I’m dying to tell somebody.” I said to Pete.

“Fine, go ahead and tell him.” The grin on Pete’s face was huge.

“You’re gonna have another baby sister. And a baby brother.”

It took a second for the news to really sink in. “Wait, twins?!??” Bronx asked.

“Yes, one of each.” I said with a smile.

Bronx just hugged me in his excitement. “I told you that you and Dad were meant to be together. This proves it.”

“Want to know their names?” Pete asked him.

“You have names picked out already?”

“Star Dale Wentz for the girl and Jupiter Jonathan Wentz for the boy.” Pete told him.

Bronx grinned at the names. “I like them. You’re Moon, it’s fitting the babies are named after the stars and planets. And I think Grandma is gonna be thrilled with having a baby named after her.”

“I hope she likes it.” I said. “I hope Pops likes that we’re giving Jupiter his name as a middle name.”

“Moon, can I touch them?” Bronx asked. I realized it was the first time he had wanted to touch the small baby bump.

“Yeah, you can. Star is on my left, Jupiter is on my right side.” Bronx reached out and rubbed his hands over the babies.

We were only a few days from flying out to South Carolina. We were only two weeks away from the wedding. I wasn’t expecting to be so excited, but I was. Everyone in the house was getting excited for the wedding and the trip back to the farm.

We planned on flying in on Friday September the 6th. The band, their families, all of Pete’s family and Scott, Lisa and Abby were supposed to arrive the next day.

I had talked with Dad the day before we left and he was so excited. He and Amy had the house ready for the guests. The guest cottage was done and ready for Scott, Lisa and the girls.

The dog and the cats were staying in L.A. with a friend and his family. They weren’t able to come to the wedding because of the short notice. He had to work unfortunately. But they were happy to keep the animals for us.

The day before our flight back east we were all packed up and ready to go. The kids were super excited about going back to the farm. Bronx was excited to see Abby again. The two of them had become good friends and had stayed in touch.

That night as Pete and I were finalizing everything, he stopped what he was doing and turned to me.

“We’re getting married in twelve days. It came so fast. But I can’t wait to marry you.” The smile he gave me was so tender and love filled.

I grinned a happy grin at him and said, “I know what you mean. I can’t wait to be your wife. You know, for a long time, I never wanted to be or thought I would be a wife again.”

“Do you think that if we had never met, you would have settled down?” He asked me.

“No. I’d still be traveling in Luna with Fred and George.” I answered him. I crossed the room to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “I’m settling down because I fell in love with you. I didn’t have a reason to stop before we met.” I leaned in and kissed him. “And I don’t think I would have ever met someone else that I could love the way I love you.”

He softly moved his hand to cup my cheek. He looked at me with so much love. “I can’t imagine loving anyone else as much as I love you. This relationship has been so different from the other ones I’ve been in. I loved them both, but not like this.” He tried to explain. His brow creased in concentration. “This feels like forever, not just ‘right now’.”

“I know what you mean.” I told him. “I didn’t go into my first marriage with the intention of divorce. But it never felt as ‘forever’ as this does." I kissed him softly and rested my head on his shoulder.

“We should probably go to bed and get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” He said.

We finished up what we had been doing and went to bed. The next day we flew out to Charleston SC.