34. EVERLEE – SURPRISE
EVERLEE – SURPRISE
My heart pounds in my chest. We’re waiting to have our second ultrasound for them to do all the measurements and to find out the sex of our baby. We had one around six weeks to confirm I was pregnant and because of that, we pushed the second one to nineteen weeks because Callum was traveling quite a bit. He wouldn’t tell me where he was going, only that it’s a surprise. It’s been over a month now and he still hasn’t told me. Part of me wants to ask him every day and the other part of me is telling me to leave it a surprise.
Frustrated, I squeeze his hand.
“Are you ok?” he asks.
My eyes cut to him. No, Callum. I’m not ok. You’re keeping a secret from me and it’s eating away at me. “Yes. I’m fine. Just excited.”
Chicken shit, my subconscious laughs.
Emmett and Jax sit in the chairs along the back wall, while Callum and Knox stand on either side of the table I’m sitting on. Fortunately, there isn’t much in the room, just some chairs, a trash can, a short bed and the ultrasound machine.
When we were here last time and Knox saw them insert the wand in my vagina, he got way too excited. Now, he likes to pretend he’s an ultrasound tech when we include the vibrator in our sexcapades. He wants me to call him Dr. Love, which I can’t. I simply can’t, without busting out in laughter.
It’s hard to believe that we’re already near the halfway mark. This summer flew by even though we kept it fairly low key. We’ve all stepped away some more from our clubs and are trying to take more of an advisory, big picture, role. It’s been working out really well. Emmett is still putting in quite a bit of time at Bo’s, but he’s done a good job stepping away as much as he has. It helped when we went on vacation.
Fourth of July was nice, not only because it was the beach, but it gave Emmett a break from Bo’s, showing he could step away and it wouldn’t all fall apart. We tacked on a few extra days to the end of our trip and rented the house near my parents and surprised them with the news. I felt a little bad waiting a month to tell them, but Lizzy’s wedding wasn’t the right time and I wanted it to be in person. It was also fun getting all the pups back together. It may have been a bit aggressive on our part because having six seven-month-old puppies and Luna and then nine adults in the house felt a little much, but they loved the beach. They spent almost as much time in the water as Knox did.
Beckett, being the darling pain in the ass brother he is, introduced mom to Instagram, and showed her how to create boards. So now I have hundreds of pictures to go through every day and if I don’t like them in a certain amount of time, she calls or texts. She has boards for baby room inspo, items we’ll need, names for if it’s a boy or a girl. Sooo many picturessss.
Last week, we held a surprise baby shower for Colby and his girlfriend. They had the baby in July, but with everything going on, we weren’t able to have one beforehand. We sent them a gigantic box of diapers and wipes, bought them a car seat from their registry, and lined up an entire week of meals for them when the baby was born, but still wanted to do something from Bo’s. It was nice, but also made all of this more real.
There’s a soft knock on the door and my heart stutters in my chest as my hand squeezes Callum’s. This time out of reflex. His other hand cups over mine and his thumb rubs over the back of my hand affectionately.
“Are we ready to see our baby?” Doris, the ultrasound tech, asks.
She’s just shy of seventy and I knew I was going to like her when she made a joke about her being sixty-nine and waiting all her life for this moment. One because, how could I not like someone who is sixty-nine, and two, when she saw my men, she fussed at us for nearly bringing her to her death early.
“We are,” we say collectively.
“Let’s see what we got here.” She sits on the stool and jiggles the ball near the keyboard to turn the screen on. “How have you been feeling?”
“Great. Still a little nauseous every once in a while, but no more sickness. And the nausea may be more related to smells now. I seem to be super sensitive to them.”
She rolls up my shirt and rolls the top of my shorts down, and tucks a small towel inside of them. “Let’s see what we got here.” She squirts the gel on the end of the wand and rubs it over my stomach. “Any guesses on what you’re having?” Her brow furrows a second as she moves the wand around.
“Boy!” Knox exclaims, like he’s been waiting his entire life for this one question.
“Girl,” Emmett counters, coolly with all the confidence in the world.
I can’t focus on anything else because I’m fixated on her face. Something’s wrong. My heart beats faster and my hand squeezes Callum’s. He looks from the guys to me.
“What’s wrong?” he whispers.
I nod my head in Doris’s direction.
The guys quieten down.
“Doris?” Callum asks.
She looks up, startled.
“Is everything ok?” Callum asks.
“I hear the heartbeat,” I mumble, not quite sure what I’m saying or not saying.
She smiles. “What were your guesses?”
She’s completely dismissed our question… but she’s smiling.
My heart hammers in my chest. I can’t even speak.
When no one speaks, she continues, “Oh, come on now. I don’t have a lot of years left to wait.” She offers another warm smile, which puts me at ease, but not as much as it should.
Knox and Emmett blurt out their guesses again.
“Tell me I’m right Mrs. D. You’ve always been my favorite,” Knox coos.
“Honey. I’m the only one you’ve had.”
“Don’t tell him he’s right. We’ll never hear the end of it,” Jax chimes in, eye flicking between Doris and me.
“Come on, Mrs. D.” Knox clasps his hands together.
“I’m sorry, boys. You’ll have to deal with Knox.” She laughs.
“A boy!?” Knox exclaims, then looks at me. “We’re having a boy!”
We’re having a boy.
“Is he ok? Your face.” Relief floods my system.
“Well,” she pauses. “I don’t know how to say this, but E-Man is also right.”
“Come again?” Jax says, voice dropping.
She turns the monitor towards us. “You’re having twins. I don’t know how it was missed on the first ultrasound.”
“Twins.” My words catch in my throat.
“That would make sense why your nausea has been so bad.”
“Twins,” Jax says in disbelief.
“Twins!” Knox exclaims, happier than a clam in the ocean.
“That’s why you made the face?” I ask, tears dancing on the edge of my rim.
“Yes, darling. I’m sorry. You would think this many years in the business I’d be able to keep my face together, but I was shocked. Rarely do I miss littles, but this one must have been hiding.”
“Twins,” I repeat, shock beginning to set in. “Twins.”
“Twins,” the room says at one time.
“Twins,” I repeat, staring off.
“Are you ok?” Callum asks, checking in.
I nod without speaking.
“Are they identical? Can you tell?”
“They will not be identical. You had two eggs…” she pauses. “Oh my goodness.”
“What?”
She pulls out her phone. “I’ve only read about this once. It’s very rare.”
“Good or bad, rare?” Jax asks.
“Neither. Just rare.” She nods. “There’s been less than twenty cases reported in the world.”
“What?” I ask.
“Hot damn.” Her face pulls. “Pardon my French,” she says excitedly. “Heteropaternal superfecundation.”
Knox dramatically clutches his chest and falls onto the bed, laying his head on my chest.
“What?” Doris and I ask, clearly confused.
“I thought you cast a spell and hexed me.”
“Idiot.” Jax leans forward and swats at Knox’s leg.
She turns to me, face serious as can be. “You’re in trouble with that one.” She laughs and pats his leg lovingly. “You could have twins with two different fathers.”
I look at my men. We’ve already discussed we wouldn’t find out whose sperm created the baby unless it was medically necessary, but the chance that we could have two babies and two of them could be fathers.
“This is very fascinating. I’m going to read up on it and send you some info! In all my sixty-nine years, I swear. To see something like this. I’ll be.” She shakes her head and lets out a chirp of surprise. “Well, I need to finish taking measurements for the doctor. She’s going to wonder what’s taking so long.”
“Lord.” Jax groans.
“What?” we all ask.
“Lizzy. I can’t be there when you tell her you're pregnant with twins. She’s going to lose her mind.”
“Thinking about Lizzy?” Knox teases. “The sooner you admit she’s your best friend next to me, then you won’t be so grumpy all the time.”
“Never.”
“Keep denying it.” Knox sucks on his teeth.
“I must say,” Doris starts. “You all are the first… group I’ve ever had. When Dr. Yiminitz told me… well, I didn’t really know what to say or do. She’s very open about her… preferences and mentioned she knew you all, though she wouldn’t say from where or how, and I didn’t ask. But anyway, you all left a lasting impression on me after your first visit. I just remember all the love and the way you all seem to just mesh together and work. It’s amazing.”
“Thanks. It’s not easy, but someone had to marry them,” I tease.
Jax rolls his eyes and grins and me. When I stick out my tongue, his eyes flare, causing a heat to rush through my body. Fuck.
I don’t know if it’s the babies, but my libido has been through the roof over the last week or so… which is saying a lot.
The fucker can see it too, because he chuckles, satisfied with himself. So I mouth, ass in his direction, which seems to stoke the flames between us.
Doris clears her throat, pulling my attention back to her. “Well, I’ve taken all the measurements I need. Heartbeats are strong and size looks good, but I will let Dr. Yiminitz go over all of that with you after she looks at the pictures and everything.” She stands up. “If you want to use that towel and wipe off the jelly from your belly and just leave the cloth on the table, we’ll go to your exam room where Doc will talk with you.”
When we get to the hall, a hand grips around my wrists and tugs me backwards. Jax pulls me into his chest so my back is to his front. He wraps his arms around me and we keep walking down the hall. After a second, he leans his lips close to my ear and whispers, “You’re going to be punished later for being a little brat in there, thinking you can call me an ass.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
He chuckles and moves back to standing, but still keeps his arms wrapped around me as we walk into the room. He finds a chair and pulls me onto his lap.
“Well, honey. Doc can’t do her exam with her on your lap.”
“I know. She’ll move to the table.”
“These babies are going to be beautiful,” Doris says, more to herself than to anyone in the room as she closes the door.
Our babies.
Two.