Chapter 14
ONE WEEK LATER
Marley
“There she is.” Dr. Gregario smiled when he stepped into the room. “How are you feeling, Marley?”
“Not good. Morning sickness has hit me with a vengeance, Dr. Gregario. But it’s not just in the morning. It’s all damn day.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, that can be brutal. It’ll get better within the next couple of months or so. I see you brought two of my other patients with you.” He smiled. “Hello, Penelope. Hello, Olivia.”
“Hey, Dr. Gregario.” They smiled.
“You’re six weeks now, so I want to do a transvaginal ultrasound.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I like to do them just to make sure everything looks okay and that the pregnancy is viable. Are you ready?”
“I guess.” I looked at Penelope and Olivia, who were on each side of me, holding my hand.
“Okay. You’ll feel a bit of pressure—no big deal. Just relax.”
I stared at the screen but didn’t know what I was looking at.
“Oh boy,” Dr. Gregario said.
“It’s a boy!” Olivia blurted out.
“No. It’s way too early to see that.” Dr. Gregario stared at the screen.
“Dr. Gregario, is everything okay?” I nervously asked.
“Everything is fine, Marley. See this?” He drew a circle around an area.
“Yes.”
“This is your baby.”
“Awe!” Both Olivia and Penelope whined.
“And see this?” He drew another circle, and suddenly, I felt sick.
“Yes.” I swallowed hard.
“That is also your baby.”
“TWINS!” I shouted.
“Oh, shit,” Olivia spoke in a low voice while Penelope tightly squeezed my hand.
“Yes, Marley. You’re pregnant with twins.”
I lay on the table and began to hyperventilate.
“Slow, deep breaths, Marley.” Dr. Gregario removed the transducer and clasped my shoulders. “Slow, deep breaths. Relax.”
My breathing began to return to normal as I lay there and tried to process the fact that I was carrying twin babies.
“You good?” he asked.
I slowly nodded.
“Okay. Let’s do this again, and you’ll see your twin babies’ heartbeats.”
“I bet you’ll be taking McBillionaire’s money now,” Olivia said as we left the doctor’s office.
“OLIVIA!” Penelope snapped.
“Just saying.”
“Thanks for coming with me, but I just need to be alone right now.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Penelope said.
“Yeah, Mar. You shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“I’ll be fine.” I held my hand up for a cab. “I’ll see you two later.” I hugged them.
“Where to, miss?” the cab driver asked.
“Central Park.”
I spent the next four hours in Central Park, sitting on a bench and thinking as I placed my hand on my belly. Twins. I didn’t even know twins ran in my family.
A woman pushing a double stroller took it upon herself to sit down next to me.
“Hi.” She smiled. “I hope you don’t mind. My husband is meeting me here at this spot.”
“Hi. Not at all.”
She reached inside the stroller and pulled out a baby. The other baby in the stroller started to cry.
“Twins?” I gulped.
“Yeah.” She smiled. She reached in and placed a pacifier in the mouth of the child in the stroller. “You be a good boy while mommy feeds your brother.”
She threw a blanket over her shoulder and began to breastfeed.
“You have your hands full,” I said.
“Not really.” Her lips gave way to a smile. “My husband is a huge help. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have him.”
“That’s great,” I said. “There’s nothing like the support from the father of your children.”
A few moments later, a man walked over to where we sat, kissed the woman on the cheek, reached into the stroller, and took the baby out.
“There’s my big boy. Daddy missed you.” He held him up.
I couldn’t sit there anymore, so I told the woman it was nice to meet her and walked away. As I was walking the path to exit the park, I stopped. Rage filled my body.
“Oh, hell no. You aren’t getting away with it, Charlie Stone.”
I hailed a cab back to my apartment. Walking through the door, Penelope and Olivia jumped up from the couch.
“Are you okay? What did you do in Central Park all that time?” Penelope asked.
“Thinking. A lot of thinking.” I went to my bedroom and grabbed my large suitcase from the corner.
“What are you doing?” Olivia asked.
“Making sure Charlie Stone steps up to the plate.”
“You’re scaring me, Mar,” Penelope said.
“Girl, what are you on?” Olivia asked.
“Nothing. He impregnated me, and he’s not taking the easy way out. I’m moving in with him.”
Penelope gasped. “You just can’t do that.”
“You want to watch me. He’s going to be a father to these babies he put inside me.”
“That’s my girl!” Olivia grinned.
“Let’s be real. There’s barely enough room for the three of us here, let alone two children,” I said, throwing clothes into my suitcase. “I can’t afford to move right now, and he has that monstrous penthouse.” I went into the bathroom to collect my things.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Penelope said. “Just calm down. We’ll figure things out.”
“I already did.” I shut my suitcase and zipped it. “I’ll get the rest of my things later this week.”
“Ha. Charlie McBillionaire isn’t going to know what hit him when hurricane Marley blows through.” Olivia laughed, clapping her hands.
Charlie
I had stopped on the way home and got a carry-out from the Thai place around the corner. Just as I sat down to eat, my penthouse phone rang. Walking over, I answered it.
“Mr. Stone, there’s a Marley Monroe here to see you.”
I swallowed hard. Maybe she changed her mind about the money.
“Send her up.”
I walked over to the elevator, and when the doors opened, she stepped into the foyer, pulling a large suitcase behind her.
“Um, what’s going on?” I asked.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on?” she said, placing her hand over her mouth. “What is that smell?”
“Thai food. I was just about to sit down and eat.”
She let go of her suitcase and ran to the bathroom down the hall. I followed and stood in the doorway, leaning against the door with my arms folded.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you sick or something?”
“I’m pregnant, you idiot! All-day sickness. The smell of that Thai food sent me over the edge.” She continued to vomit.
“What are you doing here, Marley? And why do you have a suitcase with you?”
She wiped her mouth with a tissue and stood up. “I’m moving in.” She pushed past me.
“Excuse me? I don’t think so.”
She stopped, turned around, and jammed her finger into my chest.
“Oh, yes, I am. Guess what, Charlie? I had my first ultrasound today.”
“Okay? And?”
“It’s twins. TWINS! Not one baby, but TWO! You did this to me.” She kept jamming her finger into me. “And now, you’re taking on the responsibility as a father, whether you like it or not.”
I began to sweat. Twins? This couldn’t be happening.
“I can’t raise two babies alone, and my apartment is too small to put two children in there. But the twin’s father has this monstrous penthouse that would be perfect for all of their needs.”
I ran my hands down my face and walked over to the couch.
“Are you done ranting and raving like a lunatic?” I looked up at her.
“Maybe?” She cocked her head and folded her arms. “I guess it depends on the next words that come out of your mouth.”
Honestly, I was too scared to say anything.
“Marley, listen,” I calmly spoke. “You just can’t barge in here and say you’re moving in.”
“The hell I can’t. If you want me gone, you’ll have to call the cops.”
“Fine.” I pulled my phone from my pocket and began to dial 9-1-1, then stopped and threw it on the couch. “We need to discuss this like the adults we are. Come and sit down.”
“You go eat your dinner first, and I’ll sit out on the terrace so I don’t throw up again.”
“I no longer have an appetite.” I stood up, walked over to the kitchen table, and tossed the Thai food. Taking the bag from the trash can, I tied it shut, walked over to the trash shoot, and threw it down to quickly get the smell out of the house.
“You didn’t have to do that,” she said.
“The last thing I need is you throwing up all over the place.” A smirk crossed my lips. “I do need some fresh air, so you go sit out on the terrace, and I’ll join you in a minute.”
“Okay.”
I walked over to the bar, poured myself a glass of scotch, and took it out on the terrace.
“Twins?” I asked, sitting down in the chair next to her.
“Yep.” She popped her lips. “Charlie, I know you have a lot of issues, and so do I.”
“I don’t have any issues, Marley. It’s just I have a life plan, and it doesn’t include babies or drama.”
“No, you have issues.” She glanced at me. “But who the hell doesn’t? I can’t live in that apartment with two babies. It’s not fair to Penelope and Olivia.”
“But you think it’s fair to me?” I arched my brow.
“I’m going to ignore that because you’re simply an idiot and a child who isn’t emotionally developed yet.”
“And you are?” I breathed out a laugh.