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“Do you have any questions or concerns?” Dr. Knight asked.
“Everything looks alright? Chansey and the baby are both healthy?” I asked.
“Everything looks normal for this stage of the pregnancy. You don’t have to change your lifestyle, but you’ll need to get plenty of rest and take your prenatal vitamin everyday so you don’t become anemic. You can get dressed and the nurse will be in to give you your information pack on the dos and don’ts I recommend during your pregnancy. Congratulations and I’ll see you back in four weeks.”
Once the doctor was out of the room, I couldn’t resist taking Chansey in my arms and Chansey started laughing. “Care to let me in the joke?”
“Granna is so going to say, ‘I told you so.”
27 Here’s To Magical Appearances
“Yes, Granna. I will call you with an update after my appointment...I love you, too...Tell Granddaddy I love him...Bye-bye.”
“Is she still saying that she told us so?”
“What do you think? she laughed.
“I think she’s still saying that she told us so.”
“You’d be right about that,” Chansey agreed.
It had been four weeks since our visit with Dr. Knight and Chansey was now fourteen weeks pregnant. I loved the changes in her body and they were happening faster than I expected. Her breasts were becoming fuller and her flat belly was surprisingly bulging more and more with each day’s growth. I loved touching the curve of her stomach and feeling the hard little knot where our growing baby resided inside of her.
Because it had been a month, we had an appointment with Dr. Knight today. I felt Chansey’s anxiety and fear about today being the day we would discover something was wrong and my own fear and anxiety doubled as a result.
Chansey sat on the exam table and I reached for her hand. “I wish you wouldn’t worry so much. It isn’t good for you and the baby.”
“My, my. Aren’t you the pot calling the kettle black? I can feel your anxiety, too, in case you forgot.”
“I can afford to worry enough for both of us since the baby isn’t inside of me.”
“Okay. I’ll be sure to turn my worry switch to the off position.”
Dr. Knight knocked and then walked into the room. “Good morning, how are you doing since I saw you last?”
“I’m feeling well.”
“Great. Nausea subsided?”
“It has. I haven’t had any in a couple of weeks.”
“How about yours, Mr. Brennan? I seem to recall you looking a little green the last time you were here.”
“Mine is better, as well,” I laughed.
“Glad to hear it,” she laughed.
Dr. Knight took a brief history of Chansey’s pregnancy over the last month and then lowered the head of the exam table. She measured her belly with what looked like a flexible tape measure and had a peculiar look on her face. “You’re fourteen weeks, right?”
“I should be based on the date you gave me when we did the first ultrasound.”
She picked up her chart and scanned it. “One baby, right?”
“Unless another one magically appeared,” Chansey laughed.
Dr. Knight reached up to lower the head of the exam table. “Fundal height is how we measure the growth of your baby and you are measuring much further than you should be, so I want to scan you again. It’s unlikely, but you could be developing a condition called polyhydramnios. That means you have extra amniotic fluid around the baby. We don’t usually see it significantly increased this early in a pregnancy, but let’s take a look and see if we can tell what’s going on.”
This was it. Something was wrong and I felt our fear unite in my gut as we waited to hear what was happening to our baby. Chansey looked at me and squeezed my hand as I saw tears well in her eyes.
Dr. Knight repeated the same routine with the gel and placed the wand to Chansey’s belly. She scooted it around and shook her head as she studied the screen in front of her. “Impossible,” she whispered.
Chansey paled and I was back to my previously cured nausea episode. “What’s wrong, Dr. Knight.?” Chansey asked.
She didn’t answer, but wheeled over on her stool to retrieve Chansey’s chart. She flipped through and looked at the print off of Chansey’s previous ultrasound. “I don’t have an explanation for this.”
“Please, tell us what is wrong,” Chansey sternly said.
Dr. Knight sighed. “We have two issues. First, the growth I see from your last ultrasound is off the charts. It’s been four weeks since I saw you, so we should see four weeks of growth. I’m seeing about seven weeks of growth, but the more incredible issue is that there isn’t one baby in there. I see two and I can’t fathom how I missed it. I’m looking at your first ultrasound and there is no sign of a second baby. I’m sorry. I’ve never seen this happen and I don’t know how to explain it.”
We looked at one another and I softly said, “Two babies, instead of one?”
Most people would immediately be overjoyed by the discovery, but I immediately thought of Emelyn and of Ella’s twin that died. Was it possible that this magically appearing baby was a Fylgia? Was this baby an Agápe chosen by Anteros for a vampire? The thought of this being a daughter I’d be forced to give over to a vampire killed me. That wasn’t the life I wanted for my child.
“Chansey’s health is fine?” I asked.
“Chansey is the picture of health.”
“Do both of our babies look healthy?” I asked.
“It appears as though they are, other than the bizarre growth spurt and magical appearance of a second baby. I am so sorry. I don’t know how to explain the inconsistencies. Perhaps the ultrasound machine needs some calibrating.”
Chansey was ecstatic about the second baby, but she didn’t know about Fylgias. She smiled at me. “I’m healthy and now I have two healthy babies. I couldn’t be happier.”
“I believe everything is alright, but I’m going to refer you to maternal-fetal specialist to be safe. You can get dressed and Kayla will be in a minute to let you know when your appointment will be.”
“Okay. Thank you, Dr. Knight.”
She didn’t reply and she walked out the door stunned.
We needed to talk about the possibility of this
second baby being a Fylgia, but this wasn’t the place or time and I needed Sebastian’s permission to tell her about Ella. His story wasn’t mine to tell.
˜ ˜ ˜
Chansey was so happy about the second baby, but I couldn’t find the same joy. I tried to hide my concern from her, but the bond we shared made it impossible.
“Pull over,” she ordered.
I looked over at her. “Are you going to be sick?”
“No, but if you’re driving while we talk, you look at the road and not at me. I want you to look at me when we talk.”
I pulled to the shoulder of the road because I knew better than to try to avoid this conversation.
Tears filled her eyes and it broke my heart. “Why are you not happy about the second baby?”
“It’s not that I’m unhappy about the other baby. I’m just very concerned about what is happening. I had hoped this was going to be a normal human pregnancy for us, but that isn’t happening. These aren’t normal babies and I’m scared for them. I’m scared for you. It’s my job to protect you and our children, but I have no control over what’s happening to the three of you.”
“You and I aren’t mundane, so it’s a little unreasonable to think we would have normal human babies, don’t you think?”
Hearing her expectations about our children calmed my nerves a little, but I needed her to know what was possibly happening, so the sooner I spoke with Sebastian, the better.
She leaned over and kissed my mouth. “Okay, I can tell you’re feeling better now, so get us home. I can’t wait to tell everyone we having two babies instead of one.”
She was so excited to share our news about two babies that she forgot the others would be asleep when we got back to the compound. I pulled back onto the road and reminded her, “Are you going to wake sleeping vampires to tell them about the second baby?”
“Oh, shoot,” she groaned. “I forgot about that, so I guess I’ll have to wait until tonight. That’s a real bummer.”
