Page 13 of Tangled Threads Of Fate

“Leave it, Nate. Let the weasel stew in his own self-righteousness. I don’t want to be late for my appointment.”

An appointment that was going to eat through the last of my money.

Nate continued to stare daggers at the building, but when I turned toward his truck, he followed behind me.

Chapter 6

WREN

“It’s wonderful to see you, Mrs. Mahone. And you’ve brought Daddy along to see the babies.” The receptionist cooed in Nate’s direction, as if just turning up to medical appointments made a man Husband of the Year.

I was irritable. Bob had made me pissed beyond measure, and that made me snarkier than the poor receptionist probably deserved.

“Oh, he’s not the father of the babies. He is Daddy, though, if you know what I mean.” I gave the woman a lascivious wink, making her flush bright red. I purposefully didn’t turn to look at Nate. That might’ve been a little too ballsy, even for me.

“Well, uh, okay. That’s good?” The poor woman was flustered, and now I felt bad. She’d only been trying to make conversation. “The techs are running on time, so if you want to take a seat, someone will call you in soon, then Dr. Cho will see you afterwards to discuss your care.”

I gave a tight nod and headed into the waiting room, where I would be surrounded by my brethren. The pregnant and the rotund. I flopped down in a chair gratefully, because damn, I wasexhausted. Emotionally and physically drained, and perilously close to crying. Yet again.

Fuck this shit.

“I’ll be fine here, if you have something else you want to do,” I said, attempting to ignore the last few minutes. I couldn’t believe I’d insinuated he was some kind of Dom to a perfect stranger. Damn my mouth. It would be best if he left, because then I could overthink everything without his scrutinizing gaze.

It didn’t matter if I was terrified about doing this on my own; I’d have to learn sometime. This was a good first step.

Some of my terror must have shown on my face, though, because Nate shook his head gently. “If you’d like, I could stay with you. It’s always good to have another set of ears at appointments.” He raised a single golden eyebrow at me. “After all, I am Daddy.”

All the blood in my body rushed to my face, and I choked.Serves me right.“Sorry. That was awkward, and I had no right to, uh, call you that.”

His shoulders shook, and I suddenly realized he was laughing. I could hear the low, muffled rumble of his chuckle. It was like a physical prickle across my skin. I’d never seen the man laugh. Ever. I wanted to bathe in the sensation.

“Don’t be. I’ve been called worse things.”

I was saved from answering by a tech calling my name. Nate rested his hand against my spine as I stood with a little less grace than a couple of months ago. He followed me in, and unlike the receptionist, the ultrasound tech didn’t make any assumptions about our relationship.

“Your notes say you’re expecting spontaneous triplets?” she asked, giving me a wide smile. “I bet that came as a wild surprise.”

I shook my head as I climbed onto the bed. “You have absolutely no idea. It was… a lot.” That was an understatement.It had forever altered my life; I doubted anyone could be adequately prepared for that. “I thought I had brain parasites.”

Nate barked out a laugh, drawing the gaze of both me and the tech. She stared for an inappropriate amount of time, her lips slightly parted.Girl, do I get it.As he laughed, his face pulled into that smile again, and it was dazzling.

As I cleared my throat softly, the tech dragged her eyes back to me. Her cheeks were pink, and she looked slightly horrified. “Uh, well, pregnant is better than brain parasites. That sounds awful.” She pulled out a squeeze bottle. “The gel should be warm, but if not, I apologize for the slight chill.” She squirted a good dollop of gel on the wand as I wiggled up my shirt.

Once upon a time, I might’ve been self-conscious of showing my stomach to someone like Nate, but now? My body felt like it was a timeshare, so I had to get over my insecurities.

The tech ran the wand over my stomach, and immediately, I heard the whoosh of heartbeats. Looking over at the screen, I could see a face. She took a few measurements, marking it as Baby A. Then she moved further down, and for a brief moment, I wondered if maybe the other ultrasound tech had been wrong. Maybe she’d had faulty equipment, and I was really only carrying one baby. A big one. Or hell, maybe just twins. I had two arms, which meant two babies would be workable, right?

“Okay, Baby B is here, and they both look really good. Let’s try and find baby C, shall we?” She poked her tongue out through her teeth as she stared at the screen, navigating my womb like it was the world’s most convoluted video game.

I held my breath as she searched and searched. “Is there something wrong?” What if there was something wrong with the third baby? Why couldn’t she find it? My heart felt like it was pounding in my chest.

Nate reached up and gripped my hand in his. Just completely encapsulated it with his large palm and long fingers. Instantly, I felt calmer.

The tech gave me a reassuring smile. “No, nothing is wrong. Just a lot of business going on in there at the moment, so it’s a little hard to navig—aha! There he is.”

“He?”

The tech shook her head. “Figure of speech. It’s a little too early to really tell the sex just yet.” She did her measurements, moving the wand around. “Baby C is a little smaller, but nothing to be worried about. He’s still within the acceptable parameters.” She went back to work, and when she was done, she printed me out a long strip of pictures. “Babies’ first photo,” she joked.

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