The Measure(95)

Maura was surprisingly moved by the girl’s sense of assurance, the love that already flowed out of her. Nothing about Lea’s current ordeal seemed appealing, but the thought still flickered within Maura. What she and Nina might be missing.

In a rare minute of reprieve from the pain, Lea whispered, “I’m so happy that I could do this for my brother. He’s always been so good to me and . . . he’s gonna make a great dad. They both are. And no matter what”—Lea tipped her head down toward her stomach—“I’ll always be a part of their story.”

But the beauty of the moment was broken by a passing contraction, as Lea clutched Maura’s hand.

“We’re almost at the hospital,” Maura said. “You’ll have pain meds in no time.”

Lea shook her head vigorously. “No drugs.”

“Are you crazy?”

“I want to feel it,” Lea said breathlessly.

“But you’re about to push two human beings out of your body!”

“I just want to know if it’s true.”

“If it’s true that it hurts?” Maura asked. “I think you already got your answer.”

Lea finally cracked a smile, her lips already chapped. “If it’s true what I’ve heard,” she said. “That it hurts like hell when you’re going through it, but once it’s over, you can’t even remember the pain.”

By the time Lea and Maura arrived at the hospital, Lea’s family had thankfully appeared, relieving Maura’s hand from any more squeezing. When she walked over to the waiting room, massaging her fingers back to life, Maura was stunned to see the entire support group gathered. Chelsea was sitting down next to Sean, her mascara slightly smudged. Terrell had somehow managed to smuggle in a bottle of champagne, bragging to Nihal about his exploits. Even grumpy Carl showed up.

And Maura joined her wife, standing now beside Ben and Amie, the three of them still in awe after the morning’s event.

“This is turning into quite the day,” Nina said.

“How’s Lea doing?” Ben asked.

“She’s got a way to go,” said Maura, “but she’s stronger than you think.”



The following hours oscillated between caffeine-and adrenaline-fueled highs and a strange mixture of anxiety and tedium. When the wails were at last heard in the waiting room, Maura was returning from a coffee run, and she paused as she came upon the scene: Terrell pouring champagne into paper cups. Sean and Nihal high-fiving. Chelsea jumping up and down, her heeled boots clapping against the floor.

It was then that Maura realized this group of strangers had remarkably formed a family. One that mourned together, when Hank died, and celebrated together, now, as Lea brought two lives into the world.

Maura placed the coffee down on a nearby table and snuck up on Nina from behind, hugging her and kissing her neck, leaning into the warm feeling of the moment.

“There you are!” Nina smiled. “You almost missed it.”

But she hadn’t missed it, Maura realized. What she had witnessed in the cab, what Lea felt for her babies, that was love, in its most pure and intense form. And Maura hadn’t missed out on that. Her arms, still bristling with energy, were, in fact, far from empty, wrapped as they were around Nina.

A few minutes later, the doors swung open, and Lea’s brother walked out. “A boy and a girl!” he declared, looking awestruck by the fact.

How auspicious, Maura thought, to be born on this day, when the world came together for one briefly luminous moment.

And the group of people in the waiting room—giddy with delight and a little bit of booze—welcomed the newborn twins into their fold, the newest residents of earth, the latest members in a world of unimaginable pain and unfathomable joy, the two poles never so far from one another.

When Maura had a chance to visit Lea’s recovery room, Lea looked up toward her, eyes brimming. “Thank you for being there,” she said.

“It was my pleasure,” said Maura, watching one of the twins rest in the nook of Lea’s arm, both of them equally exhausted, and equally at ease with each other. Maura could practically read the answer in the curves of Lea’s body, all inclining toward the baby, but still she was curious.

“Is it true?” Maura asked.

And Lea just smiled puckishly, as if privy to the greatest secret of all.





Spring





Amie




Amie had spent her whole life reading romance novels, fantasizing about love in her head. But seeing Ben at Nina and Maura’s wedding reception reminded her that life was never as neatly packaged as the stories bound in books or the dreams she conjured up herself. And she simply couldn’t turn away from Ben, without wondering forever what might have happened.

Even now, months later, she could remember every detail of their date. Ben had bravely asked her out again, just a few days after the wedding, and Amie had said yes. They met at the southeast corner of Central Park, still awaiting the season’s first snowfall, then made their way north past the pond and the zoo, gradually turning westward toward the lake. It was one of those rare days, in the early winter, when the sun blazed bright and the wind held calm, and Amie and Ben hardly felt the cold as they sat on a bench near the water, looking out at the dual towers of the San Remo rising above the bare trees, which Amie pointed to as one of the most beautiful buildings in the city.