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Dr. Keller looks miserable enough that I almost feel sorry for her. “I can avoid saying anything about the other baby.”
“That would probably be safest,” I tell her.
The technician finally laughs, and the tension in the room eases enough for me to breathe properly again.
By the time we leave twenty minutes later, Dr. Keller has checked everything twice and reassured us so thoroughly that I should be able to walk out of the building feeling fine.
Both babies are healthy, my blood pressure is normal, and the appointment has ended with nothing worse than one accidental gender reveal.
I repeat all of that to myself in the elevator. Bane stands beside me carrying my purse and watching me with the expression he uses whenever he thinks I’m about to lie to him.
“I’m fine,” I say before he can ask.
“I haven’t asked anything.”
“You don’t need to.”
The elevator opens into the lobby, and he keeps one hand against my back as we walk toward the exit.
“Come home with me,” he says.
“I have a meeting with Claire at eleven.”
“Move it.”
I glance at him. “You do remember I work at Wolf Shield too?”
“I’m becoming increasingly aware of that.”
“I don’t need to cancel my day because the technician had trouble getting a heartbeat for a few minutes.”
His jaw tightens enough to give him away. “You were counting, weren’t you?”
Bane looks ahead toward the doors.
I stop walking. “Bane.”
He turns back to me. “It was four minutes.”
The fact that he knows makes every trace of irritation disappear.
I reach for his hand instead. “We’re okay.”
“I know.”
He says it, but his fingers close around mine hard enough to tell me he needs the reassurance as much as I do.
We still go to work because neither of us is willing to admit we want to spend the rest of the day staring at my stomach and waiting for movement.
By dinner, I’ve felt both babies enough times to know they’re fine.
The fear stays anyway.
I step onto the terrace after dinner. Babs and Biddy argue inside about where the babies should sleep.
“They can sleep in our room,” Babs announces from somewhere near the nursery. “Then we can teach them stuff.”
“They’ll be babies,” Biddy says. “They can’t do stuff yet.”
