Part 452
Seated in the private dining room, small conversations began amongst the group. Sarah, however, sat silently listening to Howie talking to AJ about a song they had been working on for her. She heard about half of what they were saying but her thoughts were on Denver. She had so much she wanted to do there but first and foremost was a doctor’s appointment. She had promised Howie that the first chance they got, she’d go in and have a checkup and the ultra-sound Dr. Johnson had requested. Absentmindedly, she rubbed her stomach as she wondered how Becca would react to her asking them to join them in Denver for the doctor’s appointment and to do a little sight-seeing.
Becca, who had been talking to Lynne, saw that Sarah wasn’t joining in the
conversations and leaned to her now. Touching her arm lightly, she said,
"Sarah, are you okay?"
Coming out of her thoughts, Sarah looked at her, "Huh?"
"Are you okay? I mean, last night and now, you’ve been, well, different."
"I’m fine. I was just thinking about something. I need a favor, Bec."
"Name it. You know I’ll do whatever you need."
"Don’t agree so quickly. It involves Denver."
Inwardly, Becca shuddered but she maintained a happy face for Sarah’s sake. "So? What do you need?"
"Well, I promised Howie I’d get a check-up and Dr. Johnson wants me to have an ultra-sound. I know you were in Denver when you found out you were pregnant with Garrett and I was wondering if you could give me the name of your doctor. I need to go ahead and set up an appointment now."
"I went to a Dr. Grizzard. She was really nice and I think you’ll like her. I have her number on the bus. I’ll get it for you after breakfast."
"Thanks, Bec. I really appreciate it."
"It’s no problem. When are you and Howie going to Denver?"
Sarah smiled as she thought about the plans she and Howie had for Denver. "We’re leaving after the Albuquerque show, that night, to spend time there, sort of a mini honeymoon. Howie wants to show me the city and maybe do a little shopping for the twins."
Alison spoke up. "Have you thought about the nursery and how you’re gonna decorate it?"
Becca breathed a sigh of relief that the subject of Denver was over and she now listened to Sarah talking about the twins. It was wonderful to see Sarah’s excitement.
"Yeah, butterflies, for Caroline," answered Sarah.
Sonja asked, "Do you know what you’re having?"
"No, we don’t want to know," answered Howie joining the conversation. "We can’t change anything and as long as they’re healthy, that’s all we care about."
"What about names?" asked Becca.
Sarah looked at Howie because they had discussed names but they hadn’t told the group. "We might as well," said Howie.
"We’ve got two names for each…Dwaine James Scott and Jonathan Thomas Gene for boys and Caroline Ann and Rebecca Dawn for girls."
The guys were floored and Kevin said, "Those are all our middle names."
"Very good, Kevin," teased Sarah. "I knew you could figure it out."
Howie laughed and said, "We both agreed that you guys have been just as much a part of this pregnancy."
"Probably there too when they were conceived," cracked AJ.
"Nick probably interrupted them," added Brian with a smirk.
"You are so funny," shot Nick sarcastically.
It dawned on Kevin that ‘Ann’ wasn’t Caroline’s middle name and he asked, "Where did Ann come from?"
Sarah blushed as she said, "For your mother."
Tears came to Kevin’s eyes hearing Sarah’s answer and asked tenderly, "Why?"
"Because she was so nice to me when you took me to Kentucky."
Lynne asked, "Kevin took you to Kentucky?"
Kevin and Sarah exchanged glances as Kevin said, "Yeah, when she and Howie were having problems. Becca was gone for the weekend and I had to go home for something. Sarah didn’t want to stay in Orlando alone."
"Where were the others?" Lynne was fishing and everyone knew it.
AJ knew what Kevin and Sarah had agreed on so he said, "We were all busy with projects and couldn’t be around."
Howie quickly changed the subject. "We have a huge favor to ask you guys."
"What’s up, ‘D’?" asked Brian.
Howie squeezed Sarah’s hand as she said, "We’d be honored if you four and Becca would be the twins’ and Jesse’s godparents."
That brought tears to all their eyes and Howie said, "We were going to wait until they were born but, well, this seems to be just as a good a time as any."
Kevin looked around at all of them who each nodded their approval. "We’d be honored to be their godparents."
Sarah let out the breath she was holding. "Thank you so much."
It was what they all needed to ease the building tension of the road and breakfast continued. The friendships strengthened yet again.