"I don't know!" Liam yells.
"Distract him," Silas tells me. "The ultrasound place should be right up here."
"Let's sing!" I suggest brightly. "How about one of your preschool songs?"
"Row, Row, Row Your Boat?" Jacob asks.
"No!" Silas and I both object at the same time. "Nothing about water!"
Fifteen minutes later, we're in the ultrasound room and an ultrasound technician is squirting jelly onto my abdomen while Silas and the triplets watch expectantly. That's right – Jacob, Liam, and Ethan are four-year-old triplets. Twins run in the family, obviously, but triplets were totally unexpected.
When I imagined having children with Silas, I pictured a cute little boy and girl who were sweet and darling and brilliant and – well, we did wiund up with sweet, darling, brilliant children (if I do say so myself).
"Mom, Liam just farted!"
They're also mischievous, loud, and totally obnoxious.
Jacob yells "gross!" and Ethan collapses into hysterical laughter, repeating: "He farted! He farted!" over and over.
"No one farted," Silas says, his voice stern. "That was the sound of the ultrasound jelly being squirted onto your mom's belly."
"Jelly and belly! Jelly and belly! Those rhyme!" Ethan sings.
Silas looks at me and shakes his head. "Remind me why we though that bringing them here would make this a special moment?"
"Remind me why we thought it would be a good idea to have another one," I whisper.
"Is it too late to return them?" Silas whispers back.
Jacob elbows Ethan in the arm and Ethan yells, "Stop hitting me! Mom, he's touching me again!"
"I think if we sneak out of here quietly, they might not notice," I suggest.
The sound of the heartbeat is amplified on speakers in the room, and suddenly the kids are standing still, quietly watching on a screen as a view of the baby comes onto the display.
"What's that sound?" Liam asks.
"It's the heartbeat," Silas explains.
"Two heartbeats, actually," the ultrasound technician notes.
I think my heart stops beating. "What do you mean, two?"
"There are two babies," she says. "Didn't your doctor tell you?"
"Uh… no," I note, my eyes going wide as I look at Silas. His face is pale. "I'm a thousand percent positive there was one baby in there when we saw my OB doctor four weeks ago."
"Sometimes one of the twins will hide behind another one," she says nonchalantly, as if she's not standing there telling us we're going to have two children instead of the one we were expecting.
"There are two?" Liam asks.
"Two." Silas stands there slack-jawed. Hell, I think my mouth is hanging open.
"Two," I repeat stupidly.
"Twins," Silas says.
"Twins," I repeat. "And triplets. That's five."
"Are the babies going to take my toys?" Ethan asks.
"They're babies. They don't want your toys," Liam says.
"They look like aliens!" Ethan laughs, running around the room in circles. "Mom has aliens in her belly!"
"No, zombies!" Jacob cries out. "Zombie-babies!" He stars walking around the room growling, his arms extended in front of him.
"Get away from me, you butt!" Ethan yells.
"What have I told you about butts and zombies?" Silas asks.
"Butts and zombies! Butts and zombies," Ethan repeats.
"No butts. No zombies. If either of you say either of those words one more time, you're in ‘time out’ right here and no one – I mean, no one – is going to the splash pad at the park later today."
"What?!" Ethan groans.
"Stop saying it, Ethan!" Jacob yells.
"You said it first."
"No one says anything else. It's quiet time," I interject.
"Please tell me we're not having two more boys," Silas says quietly to me.
The ultrasound technician hears him and laughs. "Do you want to know the sex of the babies?"
I glance at Silas, who nods. "Yes."
"It looks like they're both girls."
My heart skips a beat. "Girls!"
Silas grins. "Girls," he repeats. His hand goes to my head, smoothing my hair, and he leans over and kisses me on the lips. The trepidation and panic that I felt when the technician announced it was twins begins to dissipate the moment his lips touch mine.
"We can do this, right?" I ask.
"Are you kidding? We're freaking pros, Tempest."
"What are the odds?"
"We should go play the lottery."
"We're going to need to, with five kids!" I exclaim.
Silas laughs. Then of the boys makes a farting noise with his hand and his armpit and the moment of calm devolves into total chaos again.
But I wouldn't have it any other way.
Continue on for Killian, Book Three in the West Bend Saints Series.
Luke (West Bend Saints, Book #3)
To my husband, who endures having to plot with me and read my drafts and edit endlessly.
To my darling daughter, who is the light of my life.
To the authors and readers who’ve supported me along the way. This journey keeps getting better and better.
Synopsis
Luke
F**k being good. I won’t be tamed.