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I stand and lean over to kiss her. “It’s thebestnews.”
She swats Hudson’s arm. “Jesus Christ, Hudson. Why didn’t you just tell me I was having twins last night? I had a freaking panic attack. I could kill you.”
He laughs. “Oh, and you think knowing you were having twins but that one of them might have died would have settled you?”
She opens her mouth to argue, but rolls her eyes instead. Then she looks up at me. “Asher, oh my god.” She turns back to Hudson. “And you’re sure they’re okay. Like one hundred percent?”
“Allie, they’re fine. While nothing in life is guaranteed, I feel confident telling you to enjoy this pregnancy. Lord knows after what you’ve gone through you have every right to.”
My smile is a mile wide. Only in my dreams have I imagined having a child with her. And now I get two. With the woman I’m in love with.
And she loves me.
And—holy shit. Twins. I sit back down, almost needing to put my head between my legs.
Hudson chuckles. I imagine he sees this a lot.
He types on the ultrasound keyboard and then prints out some black-and-white photos and hands them to Allie. She stares at them, disbelieving, as I look over her shoulder. One of the photos shows both babies, labeled Twin A and Twin B. The others show them individually.
“So they’re not identical?” I ask.
“Actually, di-di twins can be identical, but yours are not. They’re fraternal.”
I squint at the photo. “Can you tell the sex?”
“Not based off the ultrasound, but the blood test showed it.” He turns to Allie. “Do you want to know?”
I can tell she’s experiencing a thousand emotions right now. Trying to process the fact that this baby—thesebabies—aren’t like Christopher. And that there are two. And that since she’s in the second trimester, she’s already gotten past a few hurdles. And that, most likely, in six months, we’ll have two healthy children.
If she’s feeling the same way I am, she doesn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or lose her breakfast.
“What do you think?” she asks me.
“Whatever you want, sweetheart.”
Her face-splitting grin lets me know she likes the endearment. And, damn, I can’t wait to get her home. I can’t wait to kiss her like I want to kiss her. Touch her beautiful growing body. Put my hands on her belly.
“I want to know,” she says, her eyes locked with mine.
Hudson taps the iPad. “You’re having a boy and a girl.”
It’s an incredible sight, watching her eyes pool with happy tears as she absorbs the news that we’re having a son and a daughter. I swear all the fear has drained right out of her body, leaving her filled to the brim with happiness.
I lean down and touch my forehead to hers. “You’ve never looked more beautiful than you do right now.”
Hudson clears his throat as if he thinks we’ve forgotten he’s here.
“Um… so when can we expect the big arrival?” I ask.
“Technically the due date is December fifth. But with twins, we consider full term to be thirty-seven weeks. That would put it at November fourteenth.”
November fourteenth. I’ll be forty-one years old then. Forty-one with three children.
I fucking love my life.
Chapter Twenty-one
Allie