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Anne was terrified as the doctor performed the ultrasound, despite her assurances. The doctor turned the screen away from Anne’s view at her insistence so she wouldn’t accidentally find out the sex. She watched the doctor’s expressions, but her face remained very neutral. “This is taking a long time. Do you see something? I mean is something wrong?”
The doctor smiled. “Anne, I can’t detect anything wrong. I only needed to confirm what I heard with the Doppler. You’re still at high risk for birth defects. We won’t know for sure there aren’t any abnormalities just from an ultrasound. But so far, everything looks fine, the heart looks fine, and everything is progressing normally.”
“So the baby looks healthy so far?”
“Yes, so far everything looks good.” Then she moved over to hold Anne’s hand between both of hers. She smiled, nodding her head. “With both of them.”
Anne paced across the apartment floor, glancing to the door every few minutes. She’d declined the doctor’s offer to call Steven and give him the news, choosing to impart the information herself. But now she was regretting her decision. She was afraid to tell him. Not because she thought he wouldn’t be thrilled, but because he was already so overbearingly protective. What would he be like now? He’d have a thousand questions she wouldn’t be able to answer. She should have let him find out from the doctor so he could grill her until he was satisfied.
She heard the door opening and froze in place. Wait... She had to look normal. If she looked upset, he’d notice right away. He could read her like a book.
“Hi, Sweetheart. How was your day?” She put on her best happy face.
“My day was fine. You were with me for most of it, so you should know. How was your...” He turned toward her, and suddenly his face turned white. “What’s wrong? You look like something’s wrong. Is it the baby? Is something wrong?”
“No. Nothing’s wrong. I promise.”
He fairly flew across the room to wrap her in his arms. “What is it? What happened at your appointment today? Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not lying. I promise. Nothing’s wrong. But I’d like for you to sit down with me and talk to me for a minute.”
He swept her to the couch and pulled her onto his lap. “Talk to me, Anne.”
She sighed. Might as well simply say it. She wanted to find some funny way to surprise him, but he knew her too well. “The doct
or did an ultrasound today.”
“She did? She wasn’t supposed to do that yet. Did you find out the sex? Is that what happened?”
“No. She heard something when she was listening for the heartbeat, and decided to do an ultrasound. But everything’s fine. It’s just...” She choked. She couldn’t make the words come out.
“It’s just what? Anne! What is it? We can handle anything together, but you have to tell me.”
“There’re two!” she gasped.
“There to what?”
“There are two! Babies! Twins!”
For a long moment, he was silent. When he finally spoke, his voice croaked. “Twins?”
“She said women over the age of forty-five have about a one in five chance of twin pregnancy. And women with multiple pregnancies are more likely to have hyperemesis gravidarum, too. She missed seeing it on the first ultrasound, but today she thought she heard two heartbeats.” She paused to take a breath. “And it turns out she did hear two.”
She could see the wheels turning in his head. He opened his mouth to speak, but she stopped him. “Before you pepper me with endless questions, let me tell you this—she said we don’t need to do anything differently at all. At least not right now. You can call her on Monday and ask all those questions that are churning in your head.”
“But you have to answer a few questions tonight.” He leaned down, kissing her cheek. “Will they be identical or fraternal?”
“Most likely fraternal.”
“So we could even have a boy and a girl at the same time?”
“Yep. Or two boys or two girls.”
“And are you going to get really big?”
“She said I’d only need to gain an extra ten pounds, but I’ll probably look pretty big.”
“I think this means I’m especially virile. Right?” His dimples danced.
