“Twins run in my family,” I said. “Both sides.”
He shrugged. “Then there’s two, and you make a sparkly, colorful to-do list of the best possible way to prepare for that.”
I looked at him. At the clean cut of his jaw and his hazel eyes and the silver at his temples. I could trust him. He knew what to do. More importantly…he had complete confidence thatIknew what to do.
“Margot Laine?”
We both looked up to find a nurse standing in the doorway, a clipboard in her hands. I smiled at her and stood, bringing Nash with me.
We were doing this.
It was going to be great.
We followed her down a hallway and into the dark ultrasound room, which was decorated like a living room—kids’ drawings and coloring pages on the wall, a homemade blanket draped over a chair. The nurse told us to take a seat—me on the exam table, Nash in the chair—and that I could stay fully dressed.
I sat with my hands in my lap, twisting my fingers, letting my hands glide over one another.
Thankfully, the ultrasound tech didn’t take long to come in: a warm, smiling woman in her fifties, wearing scrubs with little snowflakes on them even though it was only November.
“First ultrasound?” she asked, pulling up her stool and getting her equipment ready.
“Mmhm,” I nodded with a tight smile.
The tech nodded along with me. “It’s okay to be nervous,” she said. “But this is all standard—just lie back and lift your shirt just a little. The gel is going to be cold, I’m sorry in advance.”
The gel was, in fact, cold.
I sucked in a breath. Nash dragged his chair forward enough to hold my hand, staring intently at the screen right along with me. The room went quiet as the tech pressed the sensor to my belly, dragged it over my skin, then?—
“Is that—?” I started, but the tech was already talking.
“Yep! Heartbeat. Nice and strong.”
It was so fast, this thudding sound that I could almostfeel. It actually made me feel secure for the first time in weeks, since I’d found out about the pregnancy. My baby was alive, safe, my body doing all the things it needed to do.
“Everything looks great,” the tech said, moving the sensor around. “Let me just get a few measurements?—”
She paused.
Moved the sensor slightly.
Cocked her head.
“Hm,” she said.
“What?” I asked, more urgent than I’d hoped.
“Just a second,” she said, adjusting the angle, leaning closer to the screen.
“Something wrong?” Nash asked.
“No, no,” she said. “I just want to make sure I’m seeing what I think I’m seeing.”
“And that is…?”
“Okay,” she said, her smile widening. “Two heartbeats. You’re having twins.”
Nash actually laughed out loud, and the sound washappy…which made me happy, even if it was a little scary.
