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“I know you mean well, Kennedy, but I’ll be fine.”
Eddie starts crying, maybe because she’s tightened her arm around him. “I’m going to tell Saxon,” she says. “He’s going to be apoplectic that you didn’t come with me.” She waits a moment, then, when I don’t move, says, “You’ve got my number. Call it anytime.”
She goes out the door. I stand there and watch her walk past Reggie. He doesn’t say anything, and she walks through the door to the stairs and disappears.
I go inside and close the door. The music pounds almost as much as my head. The screaming has stopped, and now the woman is crying with deep, heart-tending sobs.
I sit on the bed, then turn and lie down, and close my eyes.
*
Saxon
“Don’t you ever sleep?” I scold Titus. I’m speaking to him on Zoom, and it’s early in the UK. He looks as if he’s in the living room, sitting in an armchair. I’m in my hotel room, working up at the dining table.
“Sleep’s for the weak,” he says. “I woke up and started thinking about the tests, and couldn’t get my brain to stop.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, I know what that’s like. You didn’t wake Heidi, I hope?”
“Nah she’s sound-o. She’s been moving us into our new house, and she’s exhausted.”
“What’s it like?”
“Really nice. We ended up staying close to Briarton. I didn’t want her to have to drive miles to work. And it’s not that far for me, half an hour max, and Alan has organized for a driver for me, so I can work in the car. The house was part of a medieval priory, and it still has a stone arch in the middle of the living room. Heidi swears she can hear monks singing plainsong in the evening. She loves it.”
I smile. “Sounds like you’re having a great time, too.”
“Hey, if she’s happy, I’m happy, you know?”
I sigh. “Yeah.”
“How are you doing? And how’s Catie?”
“She’s good. She had her anatomy scan today. Hopefully it went well. I haven’t heard from her yet.”
“I still can’t believe you’re having twins.”
“I know.” I doodle on a notepad. “I feel a bit of a fraud sometimes.”
“Why so?”
“We’re dealing with couples every day who are struggling to get pregnant. I only slept with Catie once and got her pregnant with two babies.”
He chuckles. “Yeah.”
“I mean, I know it shows how incredibly masculine and potent I am… but all joking aside, I feel a bit of a fraud.”
“Well you shouldn’t. When most couples have sex around the time of ovulation, they have a one in four chance of getting pregnant. And it should be that easy for everyone. The fact that it’s not is why we’re working on the IVF program.”
“Yeah, I guess. When—” I stop as my mobile vibrates on the table. The screen says ‘Kennedy’. “Can you hang on a sec?” I ask Titus.
“Sure.”
I answer my phone. “Hey, Ken. How’s it going?”
“Hey.” She sounds breathless. “Saxon, I’ve just left Catie’s place.”
“How did the scan go?”
