Page 169 of Payoff Pitch
“Then I might not be pregnant.”
Kam interrupts, again, “I did research on it. Reversing it isn’t that big of a deal. The success rate is high. That, along with your lack of birth control, the number of times I heard you orgasm through the thin walls the last several weeks, and the vomiting alltell me you’re pregnant. I’m also your twin. I can sense it.” She grabs her boobs. “I think my tits have sympathy tenderness.”
I’m still processing. “I think we should go buy a test.”
Kam nods. “That’s where I was earlier. I bought, like, a dozen pregnancy tests for you.”
“Okay. I’ll take one in a minute.” I look at Tanner. “Is that why you proposed? Because you think I’m pregnant?”
He raises one of his thick eyebrows. “And I just so happened to have had a ring for you? No. I bought this ring before your accident, at the same time I decided to get the procedure. I was waiting to propose until I found out if I could give you babies. I won’t take that from you.”
I take his handsome face in my hands. “Whether I’m pregnant or not today or ever, I still want to be with you. I love you. I will always love you, no matter what.”
He places his hands over mine and looks at me with all the sincerity in the world. “Maybe the pregnancy changed my timeline, but I want to marry you. I have for a long time.” He smirks. “I promise it’s not a taradiddle.”
I can’t help but smile.
He stands and pulls me to him. “Let’s go find out. Whether you are or aren’t, I want to marry you and will do my best to give you everything you want and deserve. I can think of nothing better than filling this house with you by my side.”
My heart feels like it might burst. I love him so much. I can’t help but bring my lips to his.
Ten minutes later, six pregnancy tests are sitting face down on the bathroom countertop, because it’s totally normal for each person to want to read their own. It’s a good thing I had a huge bowl of soup and therefore plenty of pee inside me.
Kam giggles. “This is like our senior year in college when all four of us were late and took pregnancy tests.”
Fallon asks, “All four of you? That’s odd.”
She nods. “Turns out we’re all dumbasses and took our birth control pills a week earlier than we were supposed to.”
Arizona shakes her head. “I still don’t know how we managed that. We took our pills together at breakfast each day and not one of us noticed that we started a new pack a week early. Idiots.”
Ripley smiles. “We were planning aGolden-Girls-like baby commune. All living together with our babies.”
Fallon’s eyebrows raise. “Ooh, that sounds like fun.”
Kam nods. “It would have been. We had this wholeGolden-Girlstheme planned, but it was going to be Olympic gold, not old-age gold.”
Tanner shakes his head in disbelief. “Can we focus on the task at hand?” He glances at his watch. “It’s time.”
My mouth is dry. My heart is beating fast. Everyone takes a test and holds it face down in their palm. Tanner flips his over first. A big smile finds his handsome face. “Pregnant.”
I look at mine, and a moment of absolute bliss takes over. Warmth floods my body. I whisper, “Pregnant.”
Everyone else flips theirs over.
“Pregnant.”
“Pregnant.”
“Pregnant.”
“Pregnant by Daddy Tanner’s new and improved swimmers.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
FOUR MONTHS LATER
TANNER