Dr. Rooney waits for us to finish talking.
“Stopping your pill a week ago won’t be the reason you’re unwell,” he informs us, then leans over and retrieves a sample cup from the shelf. “However, there are some things I’d like to rule out, so if you can please use the bathroom and provide me with a urine sample, we can go from there.”
My stomach sinks with a heaviness expanding all over my core. Charlotte doesn’t say a word, quietly sitting up and walking to the bathroom. She closes the door behind her as I bury my head in my hands.
Please don’t be the reason.
Thankfully, Dr. Rooney doesn’t talk to me, allowing me a moment to compose myself. Charlotte walks back into the room, avoiding my eyes, passing the sample to Dr. Rooney. He works in silence as we sit here quietly.
“Have there been other health concerns of late?” he asks, but then he glances over, his expression changing with a slight smile forming on his lips.
“No, nothing,” Charlotte replies.
“Well, Mrs. Edwards, you’re pregnant.”
I fucking knew it.
He lifts the pregnancy test, revealing the two positive lines. My face immediately falls, a mixture of shock and disbelief. Charlotte’s mouth falls open on the bed before she covers it and rushes back to the bathroom. The sounds echo rather unpleasantly, but I give her time until she emerges minutes later.
“Sorry,” she mumbles.
“Nothing to be sorry about,” Dr. Rooney assures her. “How about I give you a few minutes to process the news, and I’ll return and do a sonogram? We can see how far along you are, then take action from there.”
The door closes behind Dr. Rooney, leaving me alone with Charlotte. I’m waiting on her to yell at me, blaming me for making her pregnant. She’ll call me selfish and greedy, unable to keep my dick in my pants.
I wait and wait, but it doesn’t come.
“I don’t know what to say.” She wraps her hands around her stomach with her head lowered, unable to look at me.
“Aren’t you going to yell at me?”
Charlotte’s lips twist in sympathy. “We keep defying the odds. Maybe, though …”
“Maybe though, what?”
“This is my fault. Do you remember when I had that very stressful foster case? And I had to fly up to Seattle for three days? It was just before we went to Australia.”
“Yes… I remember…”
“Well, when packing my bag, Ava took my lipstick, and I got distracted. I went to her room where she was playing dress-ups and, of course, had broken my favorite lipstick. When I went back to the room, I was so annoyed and forgot to pack my pill,” she informs me with a remorseful expression.
I tilt my head in confusion. “Weren’t you gone for three nights?”
“Yes, but obviously, that’s all it took.”
My eyes close in frustration as my hands clench into fists. “Jesus fucking Christ, Charlotte. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I forgot!” she yells in exasperation.
There’s a gentle knock on the door before Dr. Rooney walks in. He quickly prepares the machine, followed by spreading the gel across Charlotte’s abdomen.
“Now, it may be too early to see anything. Also, your bladder may not be full. However, let’s see what we can find.”
My eyes focus on the screen, waiting for him to get the right angle. The image on the screen moves, but then I see the small-shaped image the size of a little peanut. Warmth spreads across my chest, just like it has every single time we saw our girls for the first time.
Then, my gaze darts back to the screen, eyes widening as something else catches my attention. Suddenly, my mouth falls open as I continue to stare avidly with my breathing coming to a complete standstill.
“It’s twins.”