Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
FERN
I ’ve been in denial for five days. For the first time since I started the foundation, I haven’t worked.
It’s not like I called in sick. I’m the only person who works for that place on the operations side.
Everyone else is either a therapist or… I might need to hire people.
Can I continue handling this as a solo operation?
While I wonder about my future, I head to the kitchen, grab a bottle of wine and a glass, and take them to the living room. I set my feet on the ottoman, holding the sonogram in one hand and a wineglass in the other.
I don’t know how long I’m staring while trying to decide my future when I hear someone enter my house. A second later, Lysander and Caspian are walking toward me.
“Umm, welcome. We have to talk about knocking on the door. You all complain when someone does it to you, but you do it too.”
Lysander scoffs and asks, “What’s the emergency?”
“She needed to introvert for a few days. Look at her wearing the whole pajama, messy bun, fuzzy socks—introvert uniform.”
I glare at Caspian but don’t tell him that’s not a thing.
“You left me parking the fucking car and carrying the shit, I’m not your driver,” Heath yells from somewhere in the house before he appears and smiles. “Hey, how are you feeling?”
The three of them are staring at me. “Why are you here?”
“We just found out that Lulu has been covering the phones for you. You’ve only done that twice—and only because you were in a meeting with Aslan.”
“She must be delirious because she’s holding an empty wineglass and a picture.” Caspian points at me.
“Go away,” I order.
Lysander sits on the couch opposite of me, takes off his shoes, and puts his feet on my coffee table. “What’s troubling you?”
“Other than your disgusting feet on my furniture? Nothing.”
“We’re not leaving until you talk,” Lysander warns me. I notice that Heath sets some take-out bags on top of the coffee table. “We should’ve ordered in.”
“Well, we didn’t,” Lysander snaps.
“There’s an app for that,” Heath reminds him.
“I’m not ordering from Market Express out of principle,” Lysander states, almost upset.
Maia created it and now that her company and Gatz are fused together, they are the owners. Why would he want to sabotage his family? “What principle?”
He looks at me and shrugs. “I’m not sure yet, but the least they can do is offer me free delivery—for life. I don’t get to be the godfather of their child.”
Lysander is ridiculous. I adore him but he needs to find a hobby. “Why are you here?”
Heath kisses my cheek and then groans. I notice him looking at my picture.
“Fuck, I knew it. Please tell me you’re not holding what I think you’re holding.”
I glance at the image and then at the glass. “An empty wineglass? Yes, I am.”
“Why empty?” Caspian asks, reaching for the bottle. “I can open this for you.”
“I can’t drink,” I almost groan.
Heath takes the sonogram and studies it before he shakes his head. “Almost eight weeks of gestation. There are two sacs… three? Fuck me now. Who’s the father?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Lysander lashes.
Heath sits next to me. “Fern, are you going to tell them, or would you like me to share the happy news?”
I lean my head on his shoulder and close my eyes. “I don’t know if it’s happy news. It’s like, all of a sudden, I have to rethink my entire life. And what am I supposed to do?”
Caspian sits on the other side and hugs me. “It’s going to be okay, Ferny. We’re here for you.”
“We are,” Lysander seconds that. “But what are we doing?”
“Congratulations, Lysander, you’re going to be an uncle—again.” Heath sounds so excited. At least one of us is thrilled to learn that I’m doomed.
“I’m not an uncle yet. Gatz’s baby is still in the oven.” Lysander looks at me. “Who’s the father, Ferny?”
“No one.”
“You went through artificial insemination?”
“Yes.”
Heath shakes his head. “That’s a lie, who is he?”
“I’d rather not tell anyone until I speak to him,” I mumble, closing my eyes and squeezing myself between Cas and Heath. They might be younger than me but right now I need them to protect me.
At least until I know what I’m going to do with my life.
“Are you moving back home with Mom?” Lysander, who is a lot like me and likes to solve problems, asks.
“We can help you pay for the nannies. You’re going to need help with triplets,” Heath says, and I open my eyes wide.
“Wait, what?”
“I said we’ll help you,” Heath repeats.
“No, how do you know it’s triplets?”
He points at the little amniotic sacs that say A and B. Then to another dot that looks almost like them. “That’s a sac too. Did they confirm anything?”
“The doctor said we have to verify in a couple of weeks… it’s too early to call it. I think it’s just one.”
Heath makes a weird sound that’s almost a groan. “Your family is filled with multiples. The chances of that being just one are very slim. We have to plan around two—or three.”
“Can you stop? You’re making my head hurt. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I can only support myself, not… all those kids.”
“You have us,” Lysander assures me. “As I always say, you have to start paying yourself a salary. You do a lot for the foundation. You’re having two or three kids.”
“It’s fine.”
“Will it be with the babies?”
“It’s one baby. One. Mom had two sacs when she was pregnant with me, and I was the only one who came out of the womb,” I remind him.
“You ate your twin.” Caspian laughs.
“Why do you have to be creepy?”
He shrugs. “Listen, if you want to tell the father, get our lawyer to draw up some paperwork. We don’t want the baby or babies to be in the middle of a battle. Whoever it is might want to marry you to get some of your trust or the children.”
“The unborn children don’t have a trust, and I doubt the father is going to want the little money I have in my bank account.”
Elliot is wealthy. He might want me to sign something where I promise that we’ll never seek any financial or emotional help from him though.
“I know you want to pretend that you don’t own a part of Spearman LP and the vineyard, but you do,” Lysander says.
“I doubt he’ll want them or my money,” I assure him.
“Contact the lawyer, then discuss this with the father,” Caspian insists. “What if he wants to be a part of their lives?”
“That’s an option. I’m open to it as long as he’s consistent.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s one or a billion, Fern. Your children have a family that will adore them,” Lysander assures me.
And for the first time in days, the world doesn’t seem like it’s falling apart.