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“But?” I ask, my breath coming faster now.
Dr. Reynolds exchanges a brief look with the nurse before turning back to me.
“Your babies seem to be healthy—both of them, but we’ll need to do a few extra tests. You’re having twins.”
The world tilts.
I blink. “What?”
She smiles now, a real smile, nodding as she points to the screen, showing me the form of my second baby. It’s obvious now that she’s pointed it out. “I suspected at your last visit that somethingseemed different, but today we can see there are definitely two babies.”
Two.
Two.
The word echoes in my head, bouncing off every corner of my brain.
Twins.
My stomach drops, and for a moment, I can’t even breathe.
I was already struggling to process the thought of having one baby.
Now I’m having two?
A small, disbelieving laugh escapes me, but it’s shaky. “That—how is that possible?”
Dr. Reynolds chuckles. “It’s more common than you think. Sometimes, twins can be missed early on if one is positioned behind the other. It looks like that’s what happened here.”
I stare at the screen, my hands resting over my belly as if I can feel the truth of her words.
Twins.
Two babies.
Two pieces of Mikhail.
My vision blurs slightly, a wave of dizziness hitting me square in the chest.
I can barely handle the idea of one child tying me to him forever. But two?
I don’t know what will happen.
I swallow hard. “What tests do we need to do?”
Dr. Reynolds’ eyes soften. “Just a few precautionary ones. We’ll do some blood work today and schedule another ultrasound to confirm positioning.”
I nod, my hands gripping the fabric of my sweater tightly.
The air outside is crisp as I step out of the clinic, still numb from the news. My body moves on autopilot as I walk down the familiar streets of Camden Hill, heading back toward the café.
My mind, however, is a hurricane.
Twins.
I had barely come to terms with the idea of having one baby—of keeping one baby safe from Mikhail.
But now there are two.