Evelina flashed Kate a small smile. “This is the first time I’ve seen you since I found out. You’ve been pretty busy at the hospital.”
Nathan raised his arm and settled it around Kate’s shoulders. “Speaking of the hospital... I need to go in about half an hour. There are some patients I want to check on before I go to bed.”
The touch was light and gentle, and Kate leaned her head into his shoulder. “You could just come home. You don’t have to spend every waking hour at the hospital.”
Nathan trailed his fingers up and down the top of her arm. “Don’t pretend like you’re not right there by my side.”
“Usually, yes, but we could let the nurses handle things just this once. They know where to find you and Dr. Emery if there’s an emergency.”
“Hmm...” Nathan made a little humming sound in the back of his throat, neither agreeing to nor rejecting Kate’s idea. Then he leaned forward in his chair and looked down the table. “So, Evelina, how are you feeling? Does everything with the pregnancy seem to be progressing as it should?”
“She’s tired.” Jonas sent his wife a soft smile. “Don’t let her try to tell you she’s not.”
“Yes, I am quite tired. And my dresses have been a little tight too—not in the stomach but other places.” Evelina looked down at her chest and pulled on the bodice. “I thought it was a bit odd at first, but then Mrs. Radford stopped by the trading post, took one look at me, and asked when the baby was due. Both Inessa and Ilya were there, and the moment she said it, I just knew.”
“Those are your symptoms?” Kate grew still, her spoon hovering over her soup.
“Yes. The smell of certain things bothers me every so often too, and sometimes I have an inexplicable craving for certain foods, like the borscht tonight. I can’t get enough of it. But those are all typical pregnancy symptoms, aren’t they?”
“I... ah...” Kate stood abruptly. “I don’t know, but Nathan’s right. We really should stop by the hospital before we head home.”
“Kate?” Nathan stood and caught her wrist before she could dash out of the room, then wrapped her in a hug. “Don’t go running off. There’s no reason to be upset.”
“But she said she’s been tired, and her chest... and the food... Is that why... all the bread...” Kate buried her head in the crook of Nathan’s neck. “I can’t be. No.”
“Kate, darling.” Nathan nudged her head up with the tip of his nose. “I’ve wondered for a couple weeks. You have all the signs.”
“Wait.” Inessa dropped her spoon into her soup. “Does this mean Kate’s pregnant too?”
“You mean she’s a doctor and she didn’t know?” Ilya’s brow drew down into a frown. “Aren’t you supposed to learn how to tell that kind of thing in medical school?”
Kate kept her eyes pinned on Nathan, almost as though she hadn’t heard the others. “But that would mean that I... that you and me... that the first time we...”
Nathan pressed a finger to her lips. “I don’t think your family wants all the details, love.”
“But we only just got married!” Kate pulled away from Nathan, her eyes red and brimming with tears. “Evelina and Jonas have been married for two years. They want children. They’re excited. You and I are still getting to know each other.”
“We’ve been married almost six months.” Nathan wrapped her right back in his arms, tucking her more firmly against his chest. “And it will be another six before the baby is born. That’s plenty of time to get to know each other better.”
“But. ..”
“But it will be wonderful to raise our children together.” Evelina had left the table at some point and was now standing beside Kate. “They’ll be best friends.”
Her face white, Kate pulled away from Nathan and turned to her twin. “What if I’m not ready?”
“I think you’re more ready than you realize.” Evelina wrapped Kate in a hug. “And I think you’ll make a wonderful mother.”
“You do? Really?”
“I do,” Evelina whispered.
Alexei watched the scene before him, his twin sisters with their arms twined together, hugging each other the same now as they used to when they were five and twelve and eighteen.
But they weren’t five or twelve any longer. They weren’t even eighteen. They were married, and his family had three babies coming.
He should be happy, but all he could think about was how the family shipping business was in danger of losing merchant contracts down in California and in Washington Territory because the RCS kept delaying their ships. Of how the RCS might even be able to permanently seize one of their ships if they found something illegal.
And as Sacha had suggested, Governor Caldwell would keep looking until he found something illegal on one of the Amoses’ ships—or something he could claim was illegal.
