To keep from grinning at her like an idiot, I sipped my black coffee, shrugged. “I’ll probably hang around town, if you don’t mind me driving you to school. I might go look at some cars.”
A line formed between her eyebrows. “Cars? For what?”
“For myself. As much as I love being carted around, I’m gonna need a reliable car if I’m driving between here and Ohio every week.”
“Every week?” she spluttered, choking on a mouthful of coffee.
“Well, yeah. I’ll still want to see you after I go over there,” I pointed out, wondering what about that was surprising to her. “And once the baby’s here, I’ll want to see them as much as possible, too.”
She avoided my gaze while wiping her face with a napkin. Then she pushed the eggs around her plate as if her appetite left her. I waited patiently, knowing when not to push. But she just got up from the table, cleaning off more food from her plate than I liked. “I’ll be in the shower,” she announced to the room, still not meeting my hard stare.
“What about what I just said freaked you out?” I demanded, getting to my feet.
She stopped right before the hallway, her hands fisted at her sides. She didn’t turn when she said, “This is all new to me. All of it. I don’t do relationships. Ever. It’s just a lot to adjust to.” She shrugged and walked away before I could say anything else.
That was disarming. I knew she didn’t like settling down, but I had no clue she’d never been in a relationship, despite anything I said before. Just another clue to the Kate puzzle that was only getting more and more confusing. That meant I had to tread cautiously to avoid doing anything that would scare her off. I could probably do that. It might actually be easier with her lowered expectations, since air force life wasn’t going to allow for much beyond a long-distance relationship, at least until she was done with school.
She still hadn’t said much after we were ready, and I drove her to school. Her belly looked even bigger that morning under her bright pink T-shirt that said “#Naptime”—which made me chuckle—but it only made the rest of her appear even thinner. I was anxious for the appointment, even though I had no clue what to expect at the doctor’s office.
When we pulled up to the school, she leaned over the center console to brush her lips over my cheek. My apprehension kept me from turning and taking a real kiss. “Don’t be late picking me up. The appointment is right after I get out.”
“I’ll be on time, toots.” I flashed her a smile despite the mess I was inside.
“I like toots.” She beamed before getting out of the car. The skinny jeans she wore that hugged her behind just right had me pausing for a minute before taking off.
I thought about going to see Av, but I went straight to a couple dealerships, finding a truck I liked and a car I thought would be good for Kate. There wasn’t enough time for me to purchase anything, so I planned to bring her back the next day after her class and before our date. Maybe I would use the baby’s safety to get her to let me buy her a new car. It might be manipulative, but I was willing to stoop pretty low to get her into a more reliable car.
Once I left there, all I could think about was the baby. The baby who we would be raising together. Even though I was excited to find out what it was, something gnawed at me, making me more and more anxious. Try as I may, I ended up stopping three times to have a cigarette. Cutting back was going great.
Even though I didn’t smoke in the car, I knew it stunk of it by the time I picked her up, which was confirmed by the face she made when she got in the passenger seat. “Jeez, Kai, how much did you smoke?” She waved a hand in the air.
My sheepish grin was me hoping I hadn’t crossed a line. “Only three.”
“You’re lucky you’re sexy,” she deadpanned.
“I’m a little nervous about the appointment.”
Her nose wrinkled before she glanced out the window. “I go every week. They’re all the same. Only difference this week is the ultrasound.”
The ultrasound. She didn’t sound as excited as I thought she would. But having to go each week for tests on this HG thing probably dampened the perk of finding out what we were having.
She told me where to go but kept her gaze trained out the window. When we got there, they called us right back, because apparently she’s been drinking fluids all morning for the test to work right, so they wanted to be quick about it. The urgency of it made me sweat. The ultrasound tech was a kind-eyed woman with auburn hair in a bun and a true Tennessee twang. She sat on a stool next to the machine, waiting for Kate to get on the bed.
“We finally getting around to the gender?” she asked as Kate lay back on the table. Kate only nodded, rolling her lips between her teeth.
My heart pounded in my ears.
Kate pulled her shirt up, and my stomach churned at the sight of the little welts all over her perfectly round belly. The thought never occurred to me that she stuck herself in a new spot every time, how painful it had to be, how she never said a word about it. All around she was very non-complainy for a pregnant woman. Not that I had a lot of experience in the area.
“Those Zofran pumps smart a bit, yeah?” the tech stated.
She hummed, and my gaze snapped to hers. Mouth in a thin line, she stared right at me. The fury coursing through me toward whatever this syndrome was, what it was doing to her, how she was keeping it all to herself, ebbed at the sight of pure joy in her eyes. The tech squeezed some goop on her belly and got the little wand out.
“There’s something,” Kate began, taking a deep breath while holding my gaze with those molten golden eyes. “Something I didn’t tell you, because… well, I thought it would freak you out, and… we didn’t talk for those few months.” She rolled her eyes.
I had no idea what she was saying, because the tech had the wand on her belly and the most amazing sound filled the entire room.
A loud, strong heart beating so fast it almost sounded layered. Kind of odd, almost like the wingbeats of a hummingbird.
I stared at the screen but couldn’t make much sense of what I was seeing. It looked like a tangle of limbs and two heads smashed together.
My heart stopped. I couldn’t breathe.
The tech moved the wand, causing the two bodies to shift, and murmured, “Look at those two cuddling.”
“Twins?” I mouthed, meeting Kate’s gaze. The smile stretched across her face, the tears glistening in her eyes, it was glorious. “We’re having twins?”
“Yes, sir, you are,” the tech stated as Kate nodded.
“I guess they run in your family,” she whispered.
“You’ve kept this secret this whole time?” With a grimace, she nodded. “Even Ava doesn’t know?” She shook her head.
“And it looks like… hmmm.” The nurse fished around, bringing my eyes back on the screen, where my two babies wiggled—two perfect little bottoms. “There we are.” She pointed at the screen. “Look, there’s a boy. Oh, and—” She moved it around some more. “—the other is a girl.” She smiled back at us.
“A boy and a girl?” Kate asked, still grinning.
“Your doctor will have to confirm it, of course, but the images are pretty clear.”