Chapter 10
At times, Maddie McCarthy hated living on an island where she couldn’t get exactly what she wanted when she wanted it.
Both the pharmacy and grocery store had been completely sold out of pregnancy tests, so she’d had no choice but to make an appointment with the island’s midwife, Victoria Stevens, to figure out whether or not she was pregnant.
Annoying, right?
If she lived anywhere else, she’d already know by now. But if she lived anywhere else, she wouldn’t have met Mac and found the perfect life with the perfect man. Well, he was mostly perfect. He’d been driving her nuts for two days as they waited for her appointment time to arrive.
She’d flat-out refused to allow him to accompany her to the appointment, which had sparked a rather intense argument that she had won.
If she was pregnant, he’d get to attend enough of the appointments.
She was doing this one on her own. And Victoria was running late, which was only adding to Maddie’s annoyance.
David Lawrence emerged from the swinging double doors that led to the exam rooms, escorting an elderly patient to the registration desk. When he’d finished with his patient, he turned and saw her sitting there.
“Hey, Maddie. How are you?”
“I’m good, and you?” She would be eternally and forever grateful to him for saving the life of her darling Hailey, not to mention what he’d done for Janey and P.J.
“Busy as hell, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. What’s the latest on Janey and the baby?”
“P.J. is off the vent and breathing on his own. Janey is feeling stronger every day. They’re hoping to come home in another couple of weeks.”
“That’s great to hear.”
“How’s my friend Daisy?” Maddie asked with a sly grin.
“She’s fantastic. I’ve finally convinced her to move in with me.”
“Oh, that’s so great, David. I’m happy for both of you.”
“I’m pretty happy for us, too.”
“You both deserve every good thing.”
“That’s nice of you to say in light of what you know about me.”
“You and Janey weren’t meant to be,” Maddie said with a shrug. “She was meant for Joe, and I’m starting to believe you were meant for Daisy.”
“I think you might be right.”
Victoria came rushing through the double doors. “Hi, Maddie. I’m so sorry I’m running late. Come on in.”
“I’ll see you later, David.”
“Bye, Maddie.”
As she followed Victoria to an exam room, Maddie could feel the beat of her heart in her throat.
It was hilarious to realize that a few short weeks ago, the idea of being pregnant again had been horrifying to her and Mac.
But now that the possibility had been dangled before them, all they wanted to hear was that she was pregnant.
“What’s going on? Your appointment was tagged as urgent.”
“I feel silly, but I think I might be pregnant, and there’s not a test to be found on this godforsaken island, so you were my only option.”
“What’re your symptoms?”
“A very brief, less than one-day period that might not have actually been a period, sore boobs, emotions all over the place, cranky as hell, horny as all get-out. Same as the last two times.”
“When was your last real period?”
Maddie rattled off the date.
“And you’ve had unprotected sex since then?”
“Yes. Quite by accident and due to far too many glasses of wine.”
“Ahh,” Victoria said, her eyes lighting up. “I was going to say… I thought you’d decided to wait awhile before you talked about another baby.”
“We had decided to wait, but…” Maddie shrugged and grinned at the pretty midwife. “Shit happens.”
“Yes, it does, and it keeps me very busy.”
They shared a laugh as Victoria made some notes in her laptop. “Let’s do a urine test and a quick exam and see what’s what. Good?”
“Yes, sounds good.” Well, except for the part about the exam, but after two pregnancies, she’d gotten used to the indignities associated with childbearing.
Victoria took her to the lab for the urine test and then left her in the exam room to undress.
Riddled with nerves, Maddie donned the gown that barely covered her copious breasts and sat on the edge of the exam table.
While she desperately wanted the baby she might not be carrying, the thought of three children under the age of five was daunting, to say the least. Thomas and Hailey were well-behaved, good sleepers and relatively easy kids, but parenthood was a lot of work. It was an all-consuming proposition.
Mac had said if they were going to have three kids, they may as well have them close in age so they could all grow up together the way he had with his siblings and she had with her sister. While she bought into that rationale, she hoped she could handle two babies in diapers at the same time.
“You’re getting a bit ahead of yourself,” she whispered. She didn’t even know for sure that she was pregnant, and she was already making plans. By the time Victoria knocked on the door, Maddie was practically trembling from the bout of nerves.
“All righty,” Victoria said with her usual peppy enthusiasm for all things reproductive, “let’s see what we’ve got. You know the drill.” She pulled on gloves and settled Maddie’s feet into the stirrups that magically appeared at the end of the table.
While Victoria poked and prodded from the inside and outside, Maddie stared up at the ceiling, trying to prepare herself for the possibility of a false alarm.
“Your uterus is slightly enlarged, but that could be left over from Hailey, so I don’t want to say anything for certain until we get the test results back. You can go ahead and sit up. If you want to get dressed and meet me in my office, I’ll go move the lab along.”
“Thanks, Vic.” Disappointed to not yet have a definitive verdict, Maddie got dressed and went to Victoria’s office at the end of the hall.
“They need a few more minutes, so have a seat. Can I get you some coffee or anything?”
“No, thank you.”
Victoria’s cell phone rang, and she glanced at it longingly.
“Go ahead,” Maddie said with a laugh. “It’s just me.”
Victoria grinned. “I’ll be quick.” She picked up the phone.
“Hey there. No, I’m at work. Where are you?
” She listened for a few minutes. “Sure, that sounds good. Meet me here at five? All right, see you then.” After another pause that turned her face bright red, Victoria said, “I’m hanging up now.
” She put down the phone and seemed embarrassed to look at Maddie. “Sorry about that.”
“So who is he?” Maddie asked with a teasing smile.
“Um, well… Do you know Seamus O’Grady?”
“Sure. I love Seamus.”
“It’s his cousin, Shannon. We’ve been seeing each other.”
“If he’s anything like Seamus…”
“He’s just like Seamus, only younger and even hotter, if that’s possible.”
Maddie fanned her face. “Hot damn, girl. Good for you.”
“It’s been very good for me, if you catch my drift.”
They shared a laugh that descended quickly into hysterics that went a long way toward relieving Maddie’s tension. “Thank you,” Maddie said as she wiped up laughter tears. “I needed that.”
“Happy to help, even if it’s frightfully unprofessional to be dishing about my sex life with my patients.”
“Oh please, we’ve been through two pregnancies together, and you had your hand up my hoo-ha five minutes ago. I think it’s safe to say we’re friends by now.”
Maddie’s statement set Victoria off again, and the two of them were mopping up more tears when someone knocked on the door.
“Enter,” Victoria called.
“Test results you’re waiting for,” the receptionist said, eyeing the two of them with curiosity.
Maddie figured they probably were red-faced and silly looking after their laughing fit.
“Thank you,” Victoria said, scanning the page and then smiling. “Congrats, Mom. Looks like we’re going for three.”
Maddie promptly burst into tears that had nothing to do with laughter. She wasn’t sure if it was relief or fear that had her sobbing like a fool.
Victoria got up and came around her desk. “What’s this? I thought you’d be thrilled.”
“I am,” Maddie said between sobs. “I’m thrilled.”
“Um, you don’t look thrilled.”
“I’ve been on this roller-coaster ride of emotions this week, thinking I was pregnant and then being convinced I wasn’t and now finding out I am when my friend Syd is dying to be pregnant, and it’s not fair that I’m having a ‘whoops’ baby when she wants one so badly.”
“Wow, that’s a whole lot of hormones in one sentence.”
“See? I’m a wreck. How will I handle three kids under the age of five?”
“As beautifully as you handle two of them. If anyone can do it, you can. Think of it this way, at least yours are coming one at a time, unlike your friend Laura, who’s having twins.”
“That’s true,” Maddie said, wiping her tears.
“It’s all going to be fine. I promise. You’ll have a couple of crazy years, and then you’ll be on to the easy stuff like school and teenagers and driving.”
Maddie sobbed anew at the thought of those unimaginable worries.
“Too far?” Victoria asked.
“Maybe just a bit.”
Victoria started laughing again, and before she knew it, Maddie was laughing while she cried.
“My husband is going to leave me,” Maddie said.
Victoria’s face went flat with shock. “No… No way.”
Seized by sobs and tears and laughter, Maddie waved a hand. “He doesn’t have any plans to leave right now. That I know of, anyway. But if I’m going to be like this for nine months, he’s going to be long gone before this baby arrives.”
“He will not. That guy is crazy about you.”
“Let’s hope so, because he hasn’t seen crazy yet.”
“Go take a nice bath and pamper yourself.”
Maddie took the tissues Victoria offered and wiped her face. “Sorry to be such a wreck. I’ve been a mess all week.”
“You’re not a mess, Maddie. You’re pregnant.”
“I’m a pregnant mess.”
“It’ll feel better when the shock wears off. I promise.”
Nodding, Maddie picked up her purse, stood and gave Victoria a hug. “Thanks for putting up with me.”
“No problem. Set up an appointment for an ultrasound, and we’ll get you a due date on your next visit, and confirm there’s only one in there.”
Maddie blanched at the very idea of more than one. “Too far again.”