Page 50 of Twilight Tears
I blow out a shaky breath. “Okay.”
Dr. Jenkins leads us out of the exam room and down the hall. Nurses and other doctors tip their head to him as he passes.
“He doesn’t work here, right?” I whisper to Yakov.
“No. He just set up a home base here so he can take care of you.”
“How much is all of this costing you?”
Yakov squeezes my hand. “There is no limit to what I’d be willing to pay to make sure you’re safe.”
I lay my head on his shoulder as we walk. “Sorry I was being stubborn about coming. You were right.” I squeeze his arm tighter. “I think… I think something might be wrong. You saw his face back there, didn’t you?”
“I did. But whatever it is, we’ll face it together.” He turns and kisses my temple.
I’m shaking as Dr. Jenkins leads me into the darkened ultrasound room and gets me positioned on the exam table, but I cling to Yakov’s words. We can face anything together.
Dr. Jenkins presses the wand to my stomach and stares at a screen I can’t see. He frowns as he moves the wand around, tapping buttons on a keyboard.
I want to grab the screen and twist it towards me. I want to scream at him to tell me what the hell is going on with my baby. But I lie here patiently.
Yakov’s thumb massages soft circles over my knuckles while we wait.
“I told you you had one healthy baby in there,” Dr. Jenkins says, twisting the screen so I can see.
The white blob I saw a few weeks ago already looks more distinctly human. There’s now a little nose and pouty lips. Tiny arms shake back and forth.
“Everything is fine.” I press a hand to my racing heart. “She is fine, right?”
“Perfectly fine. As far as the gender goes, who knows? It could go either way. Or maybe you’ll have one of each,” Dr. Jenkins says.
I flush. “Maybe. Yeah. We haven’t really talked about—We don’t have any plans yet.”
“Hopefully, you want at least two,” Dr. Jenkins says.
“Why is that?” I ask, still smiling.
“Well, I said you had one healthy baby back in the exam room because I knew for a fact that was true. But I also had a suspicion.” He shifts the wand over and suddenly, the screen splits into two. There’s a thin line running down the center of the screen and there are two circles on either side. “Now, I’m thrilled to tell you that you have two healthy babies.”
My smile drops. My entire face is numb.
I stare at the two circles as, somewhere deep in my brain, I realize they are heads. Two heads.
Two babies.
Two healthy babies.
“What are you?—”
“We’re having twins,” Yakov murmurs, putting the pieces of this puzzle together before I can. He kisses my forehead and folds my hand against his chest. “Blyat’, Luna. You’re carrying my babies.”
Babies. Multiple.
“I heard a murmur on the doppler and thought there might be more than one,” Dr. Jenkins explains. “I wanted to get you an ultrasound to confirm. But yes, you are pregnant with twins, Luna. Congratulations.”
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LUNA