“Well, you’re definitely pregnant,” Alice Dean, the midwife said, holding the test results up, as she sat down at the desk in front of Courtney and Logan. “And your last period was some time in mid September, right?”
Logan glanced at Courtney from the corner of his eye. Her cheeks were flushed as she nodded.
“I think so,” she said. “Though I had some light bleeding in October. I didn’t think anything of it until I missed the next one. But now I remember it only lasting a day. I was too busy with everything to notice something was wrong.”
“A lot of women get spotting at first. It’s perfectly normal. And your HCG levels are good, so there aren’t any concerns there.” The midwife made a note in Courtney’s file. “Now, we’re a little different to some other maternity units. You’ll see Dr. Matthews regularly, but you’ll also see me. And I’ll be there at the birth, too. We like to make it as homely as possible. It makes everything easier.”
Courtney nodded. “I’ve played midwife to a lot of sheep and pigs.”
Alice grinned. “Then you know what’s ahead of you. That’s good.”
“As long as I don’t have a litter of ten, I’ll be happy.”
Logan swallowed hard. “I’m a twin,” he said, leaning forward. “Does that make it more likely that Courtney will be pregnant with multiples?”
Courtney whipped her head to look at him. “You’re a twin?” she asked, her mouth falling open.
“Yeah. I thought you knew.”
Only that he had three brothers. “No, I didn’t.” She blew out a mouthful of air and turned back to look at Alice. “Does that mean we could have twins?”
“My brother’s wife had twins last year,” Logan told them. “In case that makes any difference.”
“Are you and your twin identical?” Alice asked, her brows knitting together.
“Yep. Mirror image,” Logan told her.
“And what about your brother’s twins?” She made a note on the pad in front of her.
“They’re fraternal.”
She didn’t look surprised. Logan suspected Alice knew exactly who his brother was, even if she wasn’t saying anything. He appreciated her discretion, especially in a small town like this. “Believe it or not, there’s no link between the two sets in your family. Just pure luck.” She shrugged. “And being an identical twin doesn’t increase the odds of Courtney being pregnant with twins. It’s just a quirk of nature. Though there’s only one way to find out for sure, and that’s by having a sonogram.” Her eyes flickered over to Courtney. “We can do that today. The technician is here. I can see if she can fit you in if you’d like.”
Courtney turned to Logan with a question on her face. He nodded, and she smiled.
“Yes, please,” she told Alice.
Half an hour later, she was laying on an exam table, her top pulled up and her jeans unbuttoned at the waist. The tech was squeezing gel on her stomach, the cold making Courtney wince.
Logan shifted in the chair he’d been directed to, trying not to stare at her stomach. Was there a hint of a swell there? It was hard to tell. There would be one day, though. Sooner rather than later. And beneath that swell would be his child.
His throat tightened again, as the technician started to move the wand over Courtney’s lower abdomen, her eyes on the screen in front of her. “Well the good news is there’s only one.”
Courtney’s eyes met his. He grinned in relief.
“And the baby’s the perfect size for ten weeks. Measuring about as big as a strawberry.”
That was so damn tiny, it almost didn’t feel real. But then the technician turned the monitor around and pointed at the image on the screen and his whole world shrunk to the size of a pin.
There was a baby, no doubt about it. Tiny limbs moved around as the technician tried to point out the head, the body, the pumping heart. But her words were just noise, a buzzing in his ear, because his baby was there.
His breath caught in his throat. Slowly he managed to tear his gaze away, lifting it to Courtney. She was staring right back at him, her eyes wide and shiny. And damn if his weren’t feeling wet, too.
“You okay?” he managed to get out, his voice tight.
She nodded.
“Everything is perfect,” the technician told them. “I’ll print out a couple of photographs for you to keep and leave them at the front desk.” She passed a wad of tissues to Courtney so she could wipe her stomach. “And I’ll be seeing you again in a few months for your next ultrasound.”