"So, how have you been feeling?" She looked at me.
"Oh, um, okay. I mean, the throwing up seems to have finally settled into just early afternoon or if I smell something disgusting." I shrugged and waited for the next question, catching sight of Aidan in my peripheral vision. His brow was furrowed and the light in his eyes was gone again.
"Any complaints or questions?" She smiled at me.
"None that you can do anything about," I laughed.
"Okay, well let’s get this going then." She pulled on two latex gloves. "Can you lay back and bring your bottom to the edge of the table?" She asked as she pulled my legs into the stirrups. I did as she asked. Once she was done with the internal exam she threw the gloves away.
Still lying on my back, but no longer in the stirrups, she pulled back the gown and did the stomach measurements. I heard a sharp intake of breath and turned to see Aidan staring at my stomach.
"Everything looks great," she smiled down to me as she fumbled around in the pocket of her white coat.
She pulled out a small gray box with a small piece attached to it, which looked like a microphone. Then I felt and heard the gel squeezed onto my abdomen before she placed the small piece to my stomach. She roamed around for a moment until the room filled with a whooshing sound.
"There’s one."
"One what?" Aidan said quickly.
Doctor Munthers smiled large.
"Heartbeat," she said with a small smirk.
My eyes widened at the sound. Aidan’s hand clasped mine. I squeezed as the room went silent.
"And there is the other," she announced as the whooshing and swooshing sound filled the room again. "They both sound very healthy and strong."
She pulled the small piece away, wiped my stomach off, and offered me a hand to sit up.
"Everything is looking great. Good job, mommy." She smiled warmly and I swallowed down the panic at being called a mommy.
I hadn't been prepared to be a mommy. And, right now, I wasn't sure what to do about Aidan and me. I don't believe he'd been the one to drug me, but I don't feel safe. Someone did this and not knowing who or why was forcing the distance between us to grow.
Would we ever be a normal couple? Could we achieve normal for our children?
~
Aidan
Brief phone conversations and text messages were all I could get from her. She would make excuses for me not to visit. And, though I could ignore her and just show up, I didn’t want to fight with her or argue, which is exactly what would happen.
Seeing her step off the elevator was like the first time a small child sees a rainbow. She was so beautiful and I instantly felt my entire body fill with warmth and the itch to touch her.
I was catching her off guard, but I couldn’t resist wrapping my arms around her. Walking down the hospital hallway, I took in every inch of her. That was when I noticed her belly.
I 'd seen Elora multiple times with James over the past month, Lilli was already almost the same size as her. I felt fascinated and scared at the same time. She was carrying a part of me inside of her. But, what if she was too small and fragile to carry twins? She needed to come home where I could take care of her, I was going to have to insist.
Lilli’s mood lifted when Doctor Sherman took away her air cast and signed her off in full working condition. However, her mood shifted the second he sent us off to Doctor Munthers. I wanted to ask her what was wrong, wanted to know why she felt so tense, but assumed it was still because of the whole situation between us and this pregnancy.
I tried to remain quiet during the appointment, but I had to bite my tongue when I heard how sick she had been getting. It already killed me knowing how far away from she was, let alone now finding out that she’s been ill.
Then the swooshing filled the room and I was awestruck.
That’s my baby, both of my babies, inside Lilli. Hell yeah!
Mentally I was cheering, knowing it wouldn’t be appreciated by Lilli if I burst into a song. She seemed scared and squeezed my hand instead of pushing it away.
Phoebe greeted us in the waiting room.
"I see the cast is gone. How was everything else?" She stood up, shoving a large magazine into her bag.
Lilli shrugged. "Good."
"Actually, she said that the babies were doing great." Lilli looked at me quickly and I winked at her. She tried to hide it, but there was a small smile trying to break through.
"That’s wonderful!" Phoebe squealed loudly, placing both of her hands on Lilli’s stomach. "You hear that babies! You are doing great! Keep growing, so I can take you shopping."
"Will you stop that," Lilli groaned as I chuckled.
"Hell no I won’t stop!" Phoebe stood up with her hands still on Lilli’s stomach. "You know they can hear me in there, I read about it online."
I watched Lilli roll her eyes before I asked.
"Is that true?"
Phoebe nodded enthusiastically to me with an excited smile.
I quickly replaced Phoebe’s hands with my own and dropped to my knees, face directly at Lilli’s stomach.