Page 46 of The Best Friend Problem
If the doc meant the weird wooshing, whirring sound, then yeah, she heard it, but she had no idea what it meant.
“Oh, well, that’s something.”
What? What was something? Was there something wrong with her baby? Her pulse raced, a million horrible scenarios running through her mind, her dreams of motherhood crashing around her, wrenching her heart as she cursed herself and her body for being a failure.
She squeezed Finn’s hand, grateful when he bent down and kissed her temple, whispering in her ear.
“It’s okay, Pru. Everything is fine.”
How did he know? He wasn’t a doctor!
One large hand held hers, the other stroking her hair, calming her racing heart as the doctor moved the wand thing around. What the woman was looking for, she had no idea. Everything on the screen just looked like a black and white blob to her. How did people know what they were looking for on these things?
“Hmm, let’s just take a look and—oh yes, just as I thought.”
Dr. Richardson smiled, pointing to the screen. “See, there’s one healthy heartbeat.”
Oh, thank heavens. A strong, healthy heartbeat. Everything was fine.
“And there’s another healthy heartbeat.”
Say what now?
“Congratulations, you two,” the doc said with a smile. “It’s twins.”
Chapter Eleven
Twins? Twins!
The word buzzed in her brain like a bee at a barbeque, consuming her every thought even if she couldn’t quite get a grasp on it.
“Twins?” the question whooshed out of her on a choked gasp.
“Yes. The fertility medication I put you on can increase the possibility of releasing multiple eggs, resulting in twins. Remember when we discussed that?”
Somewhere in her muddled brain, she vaguely remembered them discussing that when she started this journey.
“Now,” the doctor continued. “Because this is a high-risk pregnancy, we’ll need to monitor you more closely—”
“Is something wrong with the babies?”
Her heart pounded, threatening to beat right out of her chest. She gripped Finn’s hand tighter, or maybe he clutched hers, she couldn’t tell. All she knew was the only thing keeping her from losing her mind right now was the firm grasp he had on her. He anchored her, keeping her in the moment instead of a million miles ahead, worrying about every eventuality that might befall their babies. She might be Practical Pru, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t overreact when faced with extenuating circumstances.
“Oh no, nothing is wrong, but any pregnancy involving multiples is considered high risk because of the strain on the mother and babies. We simply want to track your progress carefully to make sure everyone is growing healthily. Okay?”
“That sounds great, doc. Thank you.”
She nodded along with Finn’s words, suddenly extremely grateful he’d asked to come along. She needed someone to lean on right now, while she processed the huge curveball that came after the pile of bricks that was this situation.
“Here’s a copy of photos for you two.”
She reached out and grabbed the glossy strip of photos from the doctor. Honestly, it still just looked like a black and white blur to her. There were two outlined circled with tiny blobs in them and small typeface claiming Baby 1 and Baby 2 above each circle.
“Wow.”
She turned her head slightly at Finn’s softly uttered exclamation. The left corner of his mouth ticked up in that lopsided smile. He stared at the images as if he could actually see babies. All she saw was her carefully laid plans being blown to hell and back.
Two! Two babies! At the same time. How would she handle this? She hadn’t planned for twins.
