Page 214 of Triplet Babies for my Ex's Best Friend

“That phrase has never improved a situation,” I mutter.

Then the gel hits my stomach.

I flinch. “Betrayal.”

Luci snorts.

Mara moves the probe over my lower abdomen, and the screen fills with shifting gray shapes I do not understand at all.

I stare at it like it might start explaining itself.

For several seconds, there’s only the soft hum of the machine and the faint clicking of keys.

Then Mara’s expression changes.

My heart climbs into my throat. “What?”

Dr. Levin steps closer to the screen.

Luci’s hand tightens around mine.

“What?” I repeat, higher this time. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” Dr. Levin says quickly. “I’m seeing a pregnancy in the uterus, which is good. Let’s take a closer look.”

Mara adjusts the angle. The image shifts again. Dr. Levin studies it carefully. Then she says, “Well.”

I don’t likewell.

‘Well’ is what people say before announcing weather damage, plumbing costs, or that your ex-boyfriend has become a federal problem.

“Well?” Luci demands.

Dr. Levin looks at me, smiling gently but with surprise in her eyes. “Adeline, it looks like there’s more than one gestational sac.”

I blink. My brain opens a blank document. “I’m sorry. More than one what?”

Mara shifts the probe slightly. “Here’s one.” She points to the screen. “And here’s another.”

My lungs stop working.

“And…” Dr. Levin leans in a little closer. “There appears to be a third.”

Silence.

The kind of silence that happens after someone drops a piano from a great height and everyone waits to see who survived.

Luci speaks first.

“Third?” she says.

Dr. Levin nods. “Yes.”

“Third as in…”

“As in triplets,” Mara says softly.

I stare at the screen.