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“Christ,” Damon says, “I go away for five minutes and when I come back, you’re putting a rugby team together.”
“Yeah, yeah.” My lips curve up. I’m well aware of how absurd the situation is, and I know I’d have mocked them if it was the other way around.
Kip sobers and gives me a pitying look. “So that’s why she looks a little bigger.”
“Yeah. She’s about eighteen weeks, nineteen at most. Mat said conception would have happened at the end of July, right when I was in Auckland.”
“So they’re definitely yours?” Damon asks.
I know what he’s asking—am I going to have a paternity test done? “They’re definitely mine,” I state firmly. “I trust her, one hundred percent.”
“All right,” he says. Kip nods, too, and I feel a wave of affection for the two of them. They might mock me, but they will always be on my side, and support me all the way.
“How did the rest of the scan go?” Kip asks.
“Yeah, good, everything looks okay. They’re identical.”
“Jesus, what are the chances?” He knows they’re not normally hereditary.
“I know. Mat managed to squeeze her in this morning, but he didn’t have much time, so he wants her to go back next week for the full anatomy scan.”
“Are you still going to Auckland?” Damon asks.
I nod. “I need to go. I was thinking about asking Kennedy if she’ll accompany Catie.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea,” Kip says.
“Yeah. She can also take Catie shopping, if she’ll agree to go. She’s a bit defensive,” I say at Damon’s querying look. “She doesn’t want me to think she came here to take my money.”
“Kip said she definitely didn’t know you worked here—that she fainted when she saw you.”
“Yeah, that wasn’t put on.” I lean forward, elbows on my knees. “I need to tell you something about her.”
“Okay,” they say, both looking serious at my tone.
I give them a summary of what Catie told me—that her parents are both dead, that she appears to have been brought up by a stepmother who has definitely neglected her, if not outrightly abused her, that she has no idea about pregnancy or childbirth, and that she has obviously had to look after herself for a long time.
“She has no money, guys—like, really, zero cash. She’s not eating well—I get the feeling she only buys food after she’s paid the rent. She lives in an apartment in Newtown. I’m assuming it’s tiny—you can’t swing a cat in those places. I doubt she has any maternity clothes, and I’m convinced she hasn’t bought anything for the baby—babies—yet. My guess is that she’s gone without for her whole life, living hand to mouth, and it doesn’t sound as if there’s ever been a guy who’s been sweet on her, either. So it’s no wonder she’s scared.”
“Are you going to ask her to move in with you at Island Bay?” Kip asks.
I look at him in surprise. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, do you?”
He shrugs. “The way you moped around after you came back from Auckland, I thought you would have been proposing by now.”
“Well, to start with, it was a one-night stand, so I have no idea how she feels about me, or if she’d even want to see me again.”
“Yeah,” Damon says, amused, “I wonder whether the penniless girl who’s pregnant with twins and living in a miniscule apartment would be interested in dating the successful billionaire?”
I frown. “I don’t think she’s like that. If anything, she’s the opposite—she made it quite clear she didn’t want anything from me. She didn’t come here looking for me. You saw her reaction when she first saw me, Kip. She wouldn’t even go to Frankie’s. I had to take her to McDonald’s.”
They both give short laughs.
I sigh. “It’s more that if I swoop in and rescue her now, if she were to accept any help, wouldn’t she feel beholden to me? I don’t want her to think she has to sleep with me as payment for being looked after, you know?”
They both think about that. “I guess it makes sense to take it slow,” Damon says.
“Yeah,” Kip says. “There’s no rush. Get to know one another first.”
