Page 233 of Triplet Babies for my Ex's Best Friend

I cannot move.

“But…” Her voice breaks.

The world narrows. “But what?”

She presses both hands to her stomach now, no longer trying to hide it. “There are three.”

I stare at her.

The words don’t connect. “What?”

Her eyes fill. “Three babies.”

Silence. Complete. Merciless.

Three.

The word doesn’t process correctly at first. My hands go numb before the meaning fully catches up.

Addy watches me, tears slipping down her cheeks now. “I know,” she whispers. “Believe me, I know.”

I try to speak.

Nothing comes out.

Three.

I see Addy in a hospital bed. I see Megan’s wreckage. I see Oliver as an infant in my arms, screaming for a mother he’d never remember clearly enough.

I see three cribs. Three tiny hands. Three hospital monitors. Three chances for physics or fate to take something from me again.

I grip the back of the chair.

Addy flinches.

That snaps me back harder than anything else could.

Because she thinks I’m horrified by the babies.

By her.

“No,” I say immediately.

She wipes at her cheeks. “You don’t even know what I’m thinking.”

“Yes, I do.”

“You really don’t.”

I cross the space before fear can stop me and kneel in front of her. Her breath catches.

“Addy,” I say. “I’m not horrified by you.”

She looks away. “You look horrified.”

“I’m terrified.”

“That’s not better.”