“Tessa Langdon.”
“Spell the last name.”
Seriously? I could literally throw a stone from the front of this building and hit the river named for my family.
Tessa spells it for her and tries to smile, but Tonya isn’t about to be won over by either of us.
“First day of your last period.”
Why must everyone know that? Isn’t it a bit personal?
I busy myself on my phone for a minute, trying not to think about menstrual cycles. Tonya turns the screen so we can’t see and squirts a lot of a clear liquid on Tessa’s tummy, then chooses a different probe (thank God) to use.
“I suppose you’ll want a video so you can delight your relatives,” she says, her tone full of disgust.
“Yes, please,” I say.
“Okay, I’ll turn the camera on.”
I walk behind her so I can look at the screen, but she levels me with a dirty look.
“Please wait over there,” she says, pointing to the wall.
I slump down a little and go stand beside Tessa’s head. Tessa gives me a sympathetic look, and I wink at her, then rest my hand on her shoulder. We wait silently, both of us staring at Tonya to see if we can read anything on her face about the health of the baby.
When I can’t take it anymore, I say, “So, Tonya, how’s everything look so far?”
“That’s not for me to say. I’m just a tech.”
“But all the right parts appear to be there? Oh, and by that, I don’t mean genitals—well, I hope they’re there, but we don’t want to know about it. I mean which ones—”
“—we prefer to be surprised,” Tessa says.
Tonya snorts a little at the word ‘surprised’ but neither answers nor looks up from the screen. She continues moving the probe and typing into the computer here and there.
Humph. This whole ‘do it like everyone else’ thing is for the birds. She ignores us completely for another fifteen minutes before she puts the probe down and stands. “I’ll be right back.” She scowls at me. “Don’t touch anything.”
When she opens the door, she says, “Oh, you better stock up on stretch mark cream. You’re having twins.”
Then she walks out, leaving us both with our mouths hanging open.
“What the fuck did she just say?” I ask.
“Did she say we’re having twins?”
“I think so. So that would be...”
“Two babies,” Tessa whispers.
“At the same time.”
“Nope. Nope,” Tessa says, quickly sitting up and swinging her legs off the bed. “I didnotsign up for that.”
“I think I need to sit down. My chest feels tight.” I lean on the bed with one elbow, bent at the waist.
“Let’s just get out of here. That woman is bat-shit crazy. There is no fucking way I’m having two babies. She’s...just wrong. Let’s go home, and we’ll hire that private ultrasound tech and get a proper picture of theonebaby we’re having.”
I look up and stare at my wife.
