Bennett gathers around, too, putting a hand on my shoulder as he leans in closer.
“I’m pregnant!” Her announcement fills the whole living room.
We all leap to our feet at once, and Arthur lets out a sound that can only be described as a victorious howl. He dances around in a circle while I try to hear Bree over the sound of Arthur’s crowing.
“You did a test?” I ask her.
“Three of them. All positive.” She’s practically beaming over the phone. “We’re going to have a baby, guys.”
Bennett throws his arms around me, and I hug him back as emotion bubbles up inside me. We did it. We’re going to have that fawn, if all goes well. And I hope, desperately hope, that it does this time.
“We’re on the way over,” I tell her, and she agrees as we hang up the phone. Then the three of us hop in the car and speed over to Bree’s apartment as fast as we can while still obeying traffic laws. Sort of.
She’s waiting outside when we arrive, and Arthur’s the first to throw himself at her, bundling her up in his big arms. Bennett gets her next, and then finally, I bring her into a tight hug and kiss the top of her head.
“Thank you,” I murmur, holding her even closer as I think about what we’ve accomplished. “Thank you for everything.”
“Of course.” She grins up at me, a little shyly. “Thank you for… you know. Paying me.”
I hold in a sigh. Yeah, we did pay her for this, which is what she deserves. But I’m starting to wish, like Arthur does, that there was more to our arrangement than that.
Still, we celebrate that evening with a fancy dinner out. Then we take Bree home with us and show her all night how thrilled we are, and what she means to us.
Bree
I hope it works this time. I hope with all my heart, because I would hate to disappoint them again.
Bennett, Jack, and Arthur insist I make a doctor’s appointment they can attend with me, so I set it for the following week.
Life is going swimmingly. Since the satyrs have joined me on the stream a few times, my revenue is higher than ever. We’ve set a schedule so I can properly promote our sessions, and I’m drawing in dozens of new viewers every time.
It feels like… life might be good. Great, even. Which makes me wonder when the other shoe is going to drop and everything will go wrong.
The guys have been house hunting, which picks up in earnest now that the baby is on the way. I’ve also been secretly shopping for condos and trying to budget for a down payment. I ate through my funds from DreamTogether after the miscarriage, and I’m still building it back up.
The first time we go to an OB-GYN appointment, Arthur is practically bouncing as he leads the way into the clinic. Bennett gets me some water while Jack holds my hand and we check in at the counter.
The doctor, a rather short, stout little goblin, tries to hide her surprise when all three of them come in with me, but doesn’t fully succeed. She pats the table for me to indicate I should get onto it.
“Well, dads,” she says with a smile, “I need to request some more chairs.”
Once they’re all seated around the table, the doctor gets to work on the ultrasound. I wince as the cold wand makes its way inside me. Everyone’s eyes are focused on the screen.
“Oh, that wasn’t hard to find,” the goblin says after a few moments. “Look there. It’s tiny, but it’s there.”
I can’t see anything until she points it out on the screen. It looks like little more than a sunflower seed.
“Hmm,” she says thoughtfully. “Let’s keep an eye on this one. I think there’s a chance you might have two fetuses in there.”
My mouth falls open. When I glance at Jack, he’s also staring at the doctor like she’s grown another set of arms. Arthur’s eyes are enormous.
“Two?!” he says, beaming. “No way!”
“We’ll wait and see how it develops.” The doctor takes a few pictures before she withdraws the wand. “But you might want to prepare yourselves.”
Bennett takes off his glasses and wipes them surreptitiously, and when he puts them back on, I can see that along with his happy grin, his eyes are moist.
The doctor wishes us luck and departs so I can get dressed again. Then Arthur is hugging me, not even bothering to keep his voice down as he says, “Two! Can you believe it? Twins!”
