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TWENTY-THREE
Laura sat on the table in the doctor’s office waiting for the tech to come back to do the ultrasound. She looked sideways and smiled at Rafe sitting next to her. He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. She still cried a lot over a week after his return, but now they were usually happy tears. It was often too much to process that she was pregnant and with a man she loved, and it was what she wanted. No one was making her do this.
As good as his word, the day after Wendell arrived at the ranch Rafe took Laura to the courthouse and they filed a restraining order against him and her brother. The third man, who Laura hadn’t known, was still with them, but they were covered as well as they could be. The newlyweds were back home, and to everyone's surprise Eli had agreed to hire not one, but two crews to put up the next two prefabricated cabins and if they were lucky everything would be done by Christmas. Until then, Cap and Hilary had invited her, Rafe, and Marjorie to stay with them, while Quinn and Tech would share the first cabin with Harper since she’d pretty much taken over full time as Quinn’s nanny.
“Are you sure you’re alright with me being here?” Rafe asked, insecurity lacing his voice.
Laura’s eyes softened. “Yes, this is your baby too.”
The happiness that lit up his face was astounding. For a man who’d sworn up and down he never wanted a family, he was pretty excited about seeing his child for the first time.
He squeezed her hand just as there was a knock on the door and a middle-aged woman in scrubs came in.
“So we’re here today to check on a heartbeat and get a gestational age, correct?”
“Yes,” Laura said.
The woman’s smile was kind. “Perfect.”
She helped Laura into a reclining position and draped a sheet around her waist before squirting a pile of goo on her lower belly. When she started moving the ultrasound head around in the goo, Laura squirmed.
“What’s wrong?” Rafe asked. “Does something hurt?”
She couldn’t help but giggle. “No, it tickles.”
He blinked at her then smiled sheepishly. “First-time parents?” the tech asked.
“Yes,” they said together, and the tech smiled at them.
“Alright, well let’s see here…” She trailed off and focused on the screen, moving the ultrasound around. She stopped, shifted it, and then stopped again. She pressed buttons on her computer and several images popped up on the screen, but they were gone too fast for Laura to see them.
A moment later, the tech turned to smile at them. “I’m just going to go give these to the doctor and she should be right in. Here’s a towel so you can get cleaned up.”
Once she left, Rafe helped her wipe off the gel and sit up. Laura had just finished buttoning up her jeans when the doctor came in.
“Ms. Collins, Mr. Gaskell everything looks perfect. I’d say your due date is mid to late April for now, but we’ll keep a close eye on things. Often twins don’t make it the full forty weeks, but we’ll make that decision as we get closer.”
Laura gaped at the doctor. “Excuse me, did you say twins?”
She looked at Rafe whose eyes had gone big with the same shock she was feeling. “I already had an ultrasound done, and they didn’t say anything about twins!”
Oh god, no. One baby was bad enough. She was so glad to have Rafe back with her, but would this be too much for him? She couldn’t blame him.
“Early ultrasounds that aren’t done transvaginally can miss it, especially if one is more forward than the other, which looks like the case.”
“So…we’re having two babies?” Rafe asked.
The doctor beamed at them. “You are. Congratulations. Now, Ms. Collins, have you been taking your prenatal vitamins and drinking plenty of water?”
Laura could only nod, her brain feeling too stupefied to speak.
“Perfect. I’d say you are all set then. We’ll see you every four weeks for now, but if you experience any bleeding, please come in immediately.”
The doctor left them and after a moment of stunned silence Rafe took her hand and they walked out of the office together. She took it as a good sign that he was still holding her hand, but the look on his face when he turned to face her out on the sidewalk had her stomach dropping, until he opened his mouth.
“Marry me.”
Wait, what? “Huh?”
