'You will celebrate this day together every year, no? The day of their birth?' I believe Amanda and Leo will be best of friends.' She said this very confidently. 'Being born on the same day is very special. But the old woman was talking again, so they shook off the feeling. The men were suddenly struck with an uneasy feeling, like they were remembering something out of a storybook someone read to them when they were children. The girl's mother said, 'That's funny, we're naming Amanda after my husband's great-grand mother, Amanda Ellerby.' After my husband's great-grandfather, Leonard Fitzpatrick.' They had thought they were alone in the hallway. The four craned their necks around, surprised to see Angelina. 'Let's see how this one goes,' he said, laughing kindly.Ī soft, strong voice from behind them asked, 'What have you decided to name them?' But we want lots more kids, right, honey? ' She reaches up for her husband's hand and squeezed it. 'She's precious.' The she pointed to the boy who was now happily sucking his fist. 'That one,' the blonde said, pointing to the little girl who was rubbing her closed eyes. 'Which one's yours?' the dark-haired woman asked. She had perfect the art of blending into the background. The men nodded a polite hello to each other. The other, a blonde with a fashionable bob, had already changed out of her hospital gown into a running suit. The younger of the two women had her dark curly hair pulled into a loose ponytail. A few minutes later, the two mothers appeared from different directions, wheeled up to the window by their happily exhausted husbands. Angelina knew it was just gas, but that smile told her a lot. A thin coating of blonde fuzz on her head, a sweet smile on her lips. And then, in the next bassinet, the girl. Pink cheeks, a mop of black hair, clenched fists. Pressing her hands against the cool glass, she searched for the faces of the newborn babies until she found the two she was looking for.įirst, the boy. Her volunteer badge securely fastened to her hip pocket, she whooshed down the hall of the Willow Falls Birthing Center and stopped short in front of the nursery window. The person asking would get so distracted by watching the duck-shaped birthmark wiggle on her cheek, they would forget their question altogether.Īngelina, small and swift, was moving even faster than usual because today was the day she has been waiting for. But when questioned, Angelina just smiled. The oldest man in town, Bucky Whitehead, swears Angelina was an old lady when HE was a boy. The oddest thing about Angelina D'Angelo was that no one could remember a time when she didn't live in Willow Falls.

Eleven birthdays book