Chapter 10
Carter glared with aggravation and a bit of jealously as he watched Zahara blossom in front of Dr. Peterson. The two of them were acting like he was not in the room.
She was talking happily and smiling at the doctor. Carter found he did not like it and was about to get up off his chair when Dr. Peterson met his stare. The doctor’s eyebrows rose before a look of mirth hit his brown eyes.
They heard a knock on the door, and the nurse poked her head in.
“Doctor, here is the results of the ultrasound for Zahara Jones.”
“Brooks,” Carter commented, moving closer to Zahara and taking her hand in his, eyeing the doctor with a look that said back off, she is mine. He heard the doctor chuckle as he waved the nurse in to give him the iPad with the findings. He felt a sudden pressure tightening around his hand and almost cracked a smile because she was trying to hurt his hand, but she was failing miserably.
The nurse was a pretty blond and smiled at everyone in the room, but Carter noted that her gaze lingered on him a bit longer than necessary. He felt the pressure on his hand again and glanced over at Zahara to see her narrowing her eyes at the nurse. Good, now she knows how I felt watching her flirt with the doctor.
“Thank you, Hillary,” Dr. Peterson said as his eyes ran over the words on the iPad. Then he frowned and his expression became suspiciously blank. “Hillary, can you bring the ultrasound machine in here? I have something to show Zahara and Carter.”
Carter felt his body suddenly grow still, and fear racked his body. “Carter, you are squeezing my hand too tight,” Zahara whispered to him, and he felt her other hand cover his and begin to gently caress him, trying to get him to relax. He loosened his grip, but the feeling of foreboding didn’t leave him. He already loved his child, and he couldn’t lose it. He had read about pregnancies continuing because of the HCG but the heartbeat had stopped. He’d not imagined it could happen to him, but now he could possibly be faced with it. He turned his gaze to Zahara to see how she was handling this, and she didn’t seem very concerned at all.
“It’s okay Carter, the baby is fine. I just know it. Just like I knew we were meant to be together. I can feel it,” she reassured him.
He gave her a tight smile and then glanced back up when the nurse returned.
The doctor moved to the bed that Zahara had been sitting on earlier when the doctor had run some tests. She was in the prone position already. He grabbed some gel from a cupboard in the office and got her to pull up her t-shirt and lower her leggings to her hip bones. He then warned her that the gel would be cold and squeezed it onto her belly. Zahara gave a slight gasp, and Carter assumed the gel was very cold on her skin.
The doctor then pulled the ultrasound closer to him and the bed and turned his back on Carter as he sat down on a stool.
He pulled the sensor out of its resting place and then pushed the top onto Zahara’s belly, searching. Carter was starting to feel more nervous when he didn’t hear his child’s heartbeat. An emotion had poured through him the first time he heard it. Joy and awe that he had helped to create this little being that Zahara was carrying. Now he began to feel fear.
“Hmmm,” the doctor said.
“What?” Carter barked, frustrated.
Then he heard it; the strong swishing sound. He could have cried. Hearing it was making him emotional.
“There it is,” the doctor said, and then he moved the top of the ultrasound again, as if searching. A sudden thought dawned on Carter. He’s searching for another heartbeat…
And then he heard the second heartbeat as he heard the doctor exclaim, “There you are! You’re hiding behind your sibling.”
Zahara clapped her hand over her mouth and began to cry from the surprise. Damn, Carter was fighting tears himself. He was having twins! The shock of it resonated through him. He smiled at the thought of his brothers not being able to claim they were the only twins in the family and that they were gifts bestowed on the family.
He felt Zahara reach out her hand to him, not realizing that he still had her other hand.
“Twins! We are having twins Carter,” she said, listening to the heartbeats as Dr. Peterson passed the device from one to the other and then finally finished, cleaning the scanner and then the gel off her body.
“How did that get missed?” Carter asked, frowning.
“With the first ultrasound, it can get missed if the babies are sharing one placenta, which is what happened in this case.”
“What does that mean for the babies?”
“These ones are mo/mo twins. They share the amniotic sac.”
Carter nodded but did not think that was good.
“Let’s discuss what can happen because this now places Zahara into a high-risk pregnancy, and she and the babies will need to be monitored until she gives birth. I will also send Zahara for some more blood work, now that I know she is carrying mo/mo twins.”
Carter needed to sit down after Dr. Peterson gave them a run-down of possible complications. Carter’s head was throbbing, and his heart was heavy.
Dr. Peterson pushed a seat towards Carter. “I know it is overwhelming, and after you process this, I will give you my private number if you have any questions. Zahara and your children are in safe hands with me. We will work together to have a successful pregnancy, just make sure to keep Zahara’s stress levels down.”
“What is the success rate for them being healthy and reaching full-term?” he asked with a constriction in his throat.
“I am not going to lie. There is always a chance of birth defects and them dying in the womb, as well as a risk of preeclampsia to the mother. But so far, all tests show they are doing fine. I myself am an identical twin, specifically a mo/mo twin, and we are both here to tell the tale. Even though I should have strangled his ass in the womb.” He muttered the last part under his breath, but Carter heard him and wondered what that was all about.
The doctor gave them a smile before rising off his seat and putting his iPad on the table. He dismissed the nurse who had been in the room with them at the ready in case she was needed.
“Now after all this shocking news, how about hearing something good? Do you want to know the sexes?” Dr. Peterson turned to face them.
Zahara and Carter nodded.
“Yes, doctor, please,” Zahara said, sounding solemn.
“The ultrasound images are of twin girls. Congratulations!” he said, passing them the images of their children.
Zahara smiled, and more tears leaked from her eyes. Her hands shook as she looked down at the pictures. Carter was trying to take in every detail that he could make out, and in one of the images he saw one of the twins with their foot slightly elevated, while the other had her hands curled up toward her head. They looked so precious to him. He was going to do everything in his power to make sure his daughters were safe and came out healthy and whole, and that meant making sure their mother was well taken care of.
He was done placating Zahara. It was time she became his wife.
He heard buzzing and saw the doctor pat his pockets before finding his cell phone and taking it out. He looked down at the phone.
“Speak of the devil,” he muttered before glancing up.
“Zahara, you can get off the bed, and I will leave instructions for the nurse to schedule follow-up appointments and the tests I need you to get. Sorry about this, but I have to take this call.” He moved towards the door and opened it to exit, then closed it partially behind him. Carter could still see the doctor’s white coat through the crack left in the door.
He turned to help Zahara up. She was avoiding his eyes as she sat up and straightened her clothing, the air between them heavy.
She began to chatter nervously. “Well, that was unexpected and...”
Zahara paused as they both heard Dr. Peterson whispering furiously, “You have done what? Seriously Rick, what the hell did you do to have a woman named Dawn hunting you? Every time you call it is something. You are a grown-ass man, why can’t you just—” They heard him pause, and Carter didn’t have to look at him to know he was listening to his brother.
“Fine, send me the details of when you will be coming to New York and which hotel you will be staying in. Until then, I don’t want to hear shit from you. Get this straightened out and resolved. Don’t bring that mess here to my doorstep. I don’t care what you have to do.”
His voice faded as he moved away from the door, and soon they couldn’t hear him anymore.
Carter felt Zahara shift next to him as she scooted towards the stepping stool at the end of the bed. He placed his hand in front of her, and she grabbed it, putting pressure on his palm as she used it to help herself get down.
They now stood facing each other and he leaned forward, tilting his head down.
“No more games Zahara. We get the licence and get married as soon as possible.”
“But—”
“If you don’t marry me now Zahara, I promise you that I will take my children away from you, and you know I have the money to do it. I am not playing anymore, and be happy that I am willing to get married to you instead of just taking full custody.”
She stared at him in shock for a second. “You cannot take my children away from me, no court will agree to that,” she hissed, her expression changing from surprise to horror, and finally anger.
He stepped into her space. “Wanna bet? Your little experiment almost set the house on fire because you fell asleep while the burner was lit.”
“That was an accident, and you know it. I was tired and—”
“My lawyers will spin it whichever way we need to.” He shrugged.
“I...you...” she stuttered. He watched as the anger leached out of her and sadness filled her face. “Fine,” she said, her body shrinking into itself. He reached out a hand, and she moved away from it.
“I’m tired. Am I allowed to rest before we go and get our licence done?”
“Yes, of course, I am not a complete—”
She interrupted. “I thought...I sensed.” She spoke more to herself than him. “I was so wrong,” she said dejectedly, turning to grab her purse. Then she walked to the door, opened it, and walked through, not waiting for him.
Her last words were a punch to his gut, but he had to do this. He needed her to have his name, his children. What would happen to her or his children, especially if the pregnancy went sideways? Carter needed them to at least have his last name. He glanced down at their pictures. He was going to do everything for them. They were now the most important people in his life, even if it meant their mother hating him and having to be in a marriage she didn’t want.
Carter’s jaw clenched, containing his emotion as he followed Zahara out the door.