Page 38 of Tight End
I could see the fear simmering under the surface. It had been there all morning. She’d been unusually quiet and fidgety, as if she couldn’t quite settle down. Her hands kept drifting to her stomach like she was checking to make sure the baby was still there.
Fucking hell, now I was nervous too.
There was a knock on the door before I could say anything else. Then the doctor stepped in with a nurse trailing her. We’d met her once before, at the initial appointment. An older woman with a soothing voice. She seemed like the kind of doctor who’d seen enough nervous parents-to-be that nothing shook her anymore.
She greeted Marissa, then gave me a nod. “Raiden, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Good to see you again.” She glanced at her chart and smiled. “Twelve weeks already?”
Marissa nodded, swallowing hard.
“Well, let’s take a look.”
Marissa leaned back, lifted the hoodie, and the nurse helped her adjust the waistband of her leggings. The doctor squirted the gel onto her lower belly and pressed the wand against her skin, moving slowly.
The screen next to us flickered, but it was turned away, so I could only see vague black-and-white shapes.
“Hang on,” the doctor murmured, bending to look closer at the screen.
Marissa froze, and her terrified eyes were glued to the monitor as if she could see right through to the front of it. “What? Is it okay?”
I could make out the baby, but something looked different. My heart dropped into my stomach.
The doctor chuckled and turned the screen, angling it toward us so we could see it fully. “Not sure how we missed it in the other ultrasounds, but sometimes they’re tricky and like to hide.”
I blinked, confused and annoyed at the doctor’s cryptic comment, especially because Marissa’s hand had gradually tightened until she was holding mine in a death grip.
“What…” Marissa gulped and tried again. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong,” she replied in a gentle voice. Then she pointed to the shape that was clearly becoming a tiny baby. “There’s one.” She moved her hand and touched the screen where there was another blob. “And two.”
I frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“You’re having twins.” She laughed as she shifted the wand, then hit a switch, and the room filled with a fast thud. “Healthy heartbeats,” she informed us with a reassuring smile.
The air punched out of my lungs.
Twins?
Holy shit.
Marissa looked at me, her eyes wide with shock. We listened to the two heartbeats—strong and steady, alternating in a perfectly timed rhythm. One faster than the other, but both loud and clear.
Two tiny hearts.
Two new lives.
I looked harder, and the second shape moved a little, and something stuck out. Fuck. It was a pair of tiny legs. Just not quite as developed as the other, so I hadn’t recognized it at first.
Then she pointed at the screen again. “This one is a girl. Let’s see if this other little one is willing to give us a gender today.” She moved the wand around a bit, probing here and there. Then the other blob moved, and the doctor grinned. “One of each.”
I stared, jaw tight, my heartbeat hammering like I was gearing up for kickoff.
Two.
We made fucking two!
