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“Absolutely. Two heartbeats. I’m going to have to take some measurements, then we’ll print you off some photos.”
I stare at the screen in disbelief.
“We’ve got this, Alex.”
When the technician leaves, Freddy lifts my hand to his lips. “Two. No wonder you’ve been so exhausted.”
“Let’s pick Pippa up and take her for ice cream.”
“Excellent idea.”
“And I should get an extra scoop, considering I’m eating for three now.”
“You, my love, can have as many scoops as your heart desires.”
“Freddy?”
“Yes?”
“I’m a lot more terrified than I was when I woke up this morning.”
“So am I. But we’ve got each other and we’ll get through it just fine.”
“Why have you come to fetch me today?” Pippa asks when she sees us.
“Because we have exciting news and thought you might want to go for ice cream to celebrate. But if you’d rather not…” Freddy trails off.
“Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream, please. What is the exciting news?”
I chuckle. Clearly, she has priorities. I look to Freddy. I think he should be the one to tell her.
He pulls out the photos and hands them to her as we walk to the car. “What is it?” she asks, clearly confused.
“This one,” Freddy points to the photo labelled twin A, “is your baby sister or brother. And this one,” he points to the one labelled twin B, “is your other baby sister or brother.”
She stops dead, and looks from him to me, and back to him. “Don’t play games with me, Daddy.”
“No game,” I tell her gently. “There are two babies. Twins.”
“Really, there are two?”
“Really. And they both want ice cream, too. Shall we go?”
“Yes, please. Are they boys or girls?”
“It will be a while before we can find out, but when we do, you’ll be the very first person we tell.”
She gives me a hug and I struggle not to cry when she presses her mouth against my belly and says, “Hello babies. I’m your big sister, and I can’t wait to meet you.”
Later that night, as we’re putting Pippa to bed, she tugs on my sleeve. “Alex?”
“Yes, lovely?”
“Can I help pick out the names?”
“Of course you can. How about I get a book of names tomorrow, and we can sit down after school and make a list of the ones we like?”
“That sounds like a good idea. Goodnight, Alex.”
