“Your turn, Fawn. This will be cold,” she says as she applies the cool gel to my stomach. And now that the attention is on me, butterflies fill my body. I’m worried I might do something wrong, that something might already be wrong, that I’ve failed.
Would he forgive me if I lost another baby?Hisbaby? I couldn’t bear it.
Then, the wand touches me. I remember this part. The last time I was pregnant it all happened so fast. I felt removed, a bit like a monkey or a pet. I didn’t feel as though the baby was mine, but today— I look over at Sir, and this time, he’s not staring at the screen. He is looking at me.
While the wand touches my stomach, as it moves through the jelly, when it applies pressure to a specific spot, Clay Butcher looks at me. “Aren’t you going to look at the screen, Sir?”
“After you do, little deer.”
I didn’t get to see him last time.
Thank you, Sir.
A tear rises to the corner of my eye, but I fight to keep it still, and look at the display just as the same shape appears. A baby shape.
Wait… What is that?
A little bit of air hitches as I inhale sharply at the lovely sight. Then… A heartbeat.No…That sounds different, looks different,God.Is everything okay?
Is he broken?
Did I break him already?
Did I break him again!
I cover my mouth as tears fall down my face, panic reaching up and grabbing me so fast I barely have time to breathe. I don’t feel Clay’s hand take mine until his thumb moves over my fingers.
It grounds me.
“Fawn,” Shoshanna says my name with amazement wrapped around each letter. “You’re having twins. There are two beautifully formed fetuses here.”
What?
“Christ.” I hear Sir mutter from beside me, and I glance at him quickly, then back at the monitor. “You’re perfect, sweet girl. Look what you’re making for me.”
Shoshanna starts to measure the screen and type into the keyboard. While it all happens, I clear my throat a few times, but don’t try to talk because my voice will wobble and crack if I do. I’m overwhelmed.
Twins.
Two.
But—But good things come in three…
Clay Butcher: Number one.
His heir: Number two.
Family: Number three.
This is four…Twoheirs. This means I need to start from one again… because— No.
A smile hits my cheeks as the two embryos bounce around each other on the screen. And I decide right now, I can just keep counting to… toforever.
Good things don’t come in three.
Good things have no limit.
Baby number two: Number four.
