Page 45 of Her Saviors

“She won’t think of it after today,” Jayce promises as Carmine gets to work, putting in my information on the machine in front of her and asking me to verify things.

“Okay. Are you three wanting to find out the genders of the babies today?” Carmine asks us as she grabs the gel she’ll squirt on my stomach.

“Yes please,” I answer her.

After squirting the gel on me, Carmine places the wand on my stomach and the room fills with the sound of our babies’ heartbeats. I smile as we listen to them and Carmine makes notes on the computer.

“That sounds really good,” Carmine tells us, pressing a few buttons on the machine and the heartbeats disappear into nothing leaving the room in silence.

We watch the screen and wait for the image of our babies to fill it. Carmine moves the wand over my stomach and focuses on one baby at a time.

“Baby A is going to be a . . .,” she pauses, moving the wand again as Jayce, Gavin, and myself try to figure out what we’re looking at. “Baby A is a boy.”

“Thank God,” Gavin mutters, his voice barely above a whisper as he looks down at me with a smirk on his face.

“I second that,” Jayce adds in, placing his hand on my arm as he looks down at me.

“I honestly didn’t care as long as they are both healthy,” I admit, smiling at the baby on the screen.

“You three are too funny,” Carmine says, moving the wand over to the other baby. “Baby B is a lot more cooperative. This one will be a girl.”

“Fuck,” Jayce states, his voice echoing in the small room we’re in.

“Didn’t Anguish say we could open up a gun shop?” Gavin asks, looking over at Jayce. “Thinkin’ we need to bring that back to the table, especially with all the girls we’ve got.”

“A little girl,” I whisper, tears now rolling down my face. “She’s going to be so loved and spoiled, just like Mia.”

And she’llneverbe made to feel as though she’s less than. To me, both babies are already perfect even though all we have are the grainy visuals on the ultrasound. Our kids will be raised in such a way that they’re going to know they’re loved. I know they won’t be perfect, but we’re going to make sure they’re independent so when it’s time to get out on their own, they’re prepared for whatever life throws at them. In the meantime, our home is going to be their safe haven, where they can make mistakes and learn from them.

Carmine finishes up our appointment and prints us off pictures of the twins for us. I know deep in my heart it’s time to tell everyone we’re having twins. We’ll figure out a way to make it happen. Maybe we can have Kyler tell everyone when we’re at the clubhouse later today. Carmine lets us know Dr. Matthews doesn’t need to see me today and to keep my appointment with her for next week. She’ll have time to go over the ultrasound and give us any important information we might need to move forward with the pregnancy. We’ve already learned that I most likely won’t make it to forty weeks. Women with multiples don’t usually make it to their due date. The guys and I are trying to wrap our heads around that information, but it hasn’t happened so far.

After confirming our appointment, we leave the office and make our way out to the trucks. Jayce suggests picking up Kyler from school since it’s about that time and taking him out for some ice cream before we head home. It can take the place of his snack today because he’s been doing so well in school and deserves to have a treat. Gavin and I agree as we load up in the trucks and Jayce goes to pick our boy up. Gavin and I head to the local ice cream parlor and wait for them to meet us. Excitement fills me as I think of adding another boy and girl to our family. We’ll have an equal number of boys and girls. For some reason, that’s important to me. Gavin and I look at the pictures from the ultrasound and try to think of names. We’ve been doing this since we found out about the babies and can’t agree on any. Honestly, some of the names Jayce and Gavin have thrown out there are absolutely ridiculous. I won’t even entertain thinking about those names now.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Wheels

YESTERDAY WE TOLD Kyler about the twins we were having and explained it the best we could. I think he understands what we were talking about, but I’m not sure. He did agree to tell everyone in the club about the babies when we go down there again. Brooklyn wants him to hold the pictures of the ultrasound when he tells everyone we’re having a boy and girl. We’ve been keeping an eye on him since giving him the news because we’re not sure how he’s going to react to having two new babies in the house with us.

He didn’t have school today for some superintendent conference thing or something. Our routine is off because I took the day off as well. After breakfast, Mia was really fussy so Brooklyn put her to bed early. Shortly after, Kyler disappeared and we let him have some time until I look at the baby monitor and see him sitting in front of the crib. It’s been a long time since he’s just sat in her room as a guard like he did when we first brought them home. Getting off the couch causing Brooklyn and Gavin to look at me, I shake my head and point at the monitor to let them in on what I see. Brooklyn gasps as she sits up, prepared to go talk to him.

“I’ve got it, Little Warrior. Don’t turn the audio up. Kyler knows it’s down low and I want him to feel comfortable to talk to me,” I tell them as I head up to the nursery and stop in the door.

“Mia, Brooky is having two babies. They in her belly now. We leave when they have them,” Kyler says, his words not as good as normal because he’s upset. “I keep you safe, okay?”

We’ve noticed that when Kyler gets upset, he doesn’t talk as well as normal. I’m not sure what it’s from, but Theresa told us that sometimes, kids will regress when they’re under stress. He’s had a few accidents at night as well. We don’t make a big deal out of it because he’s so upset. Whoever gets him up simply has him take a bath while they pull off the soiled bedding and remake the bed. It doesn’t happen every night, but considering it typically doesn’t, we know he’s dealing with something that he can’t quite articulate. Hearing what he’s just said tells me that he thinks we’re going to abandon him and his sister when the babies arrive.

“I don’t think I can carry much,” Kyler says, “but I have my wagon so we be okay. Maybe we go live with Nanny? Her doesn’t have kids, just chickens. We can... I can help her, you are too little.”

Walking toward him, I drop down to the floor and look at him. Seeing the devastation on his face breaks my heart. He’s already lost his parents, now he thinks he’s losing us too. “Kyler? Little Man, look at me.” When he glances at me, I open my arms and am unsurprised when he jumps into my lap, his little body shaking as sobs break free. Maybe I should’ve let Gavin come up for this because I feel very unprepared to explain what we eventually plan to do when it comes to him and Mia.

“Little Man, you and Mia aren’t goin’anywherewhen the babies are born. You’re both part of our family. We’re gonna need your help to watch over the girls and also teach your baby brother how to do things when he gets older.”

“Brother?” Kyler asks. “Gavin is brother. How can the babies be my brother and sister too? Mommy and Daddy went to Heaven.”

I try to think of how best to explain in a way that he can comprehend. “We’re a family, right? Me, Gavin, Brooky, Mia, and you. When the babies come, they’ll be part of the family too. We love you and Mia so much, Kyler. You’ll always have the three of us, I promise.”

“Okay,” he whispers and I can tell he’s still not sure about what I’m telling him as he looks up at me.

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