Page 20 of Forever Your Touch (Manwhore #4)

His father was never one to hand out compliments, but he’d been doing it a lot this last year. And now they knew why. He might be dying, and he wanted his boys to know what they meant to him.

“Now, tell me about this girl you’re sweet on.”

Mason laughed. He was more than sweet on her. He loved her. He’d suspected but fought those feelings. It wasn’t until he saw her lying bloody and screaming that he admitted it to himself.

“She’s not sweet on me, Papa.” He sighed and settled into the hard chair while he told his papa all about Josephine Marie Maxwell.

“And then, knowing the bastard caused this, she wanted to call him. I don’t know how to fight that kind of blind love.

How do you convince the most stubborn person on the planet they deserve better? ”

“Through your own stubbornness.” Ronin nodded like this was gospel or something. “You keep being there for her, wear her down, boy. Don’t give up the fight. If she’s really worth it, then put in the time.”

“You gotta tell her, though.” Vik finally put in his two cents. “Won’t mean as much if she doesn’t know you’re fighting for her.”

“But what if she doesn’t want that? Want me? What if she tells me to get the hell out and not come back?”

This was his biggest fear. He’d decided to be her friend for this very reason.

“Give her your most charming smile and tell her that shit’s not happening. She’s stuck with you until she comes to her senses.” Viktor smirked, proud of himself for thinking that up.

“Shithead, it’s the twenty-first century. Going all caveman on a woman doesn’t work so much anymore. They are allowed to have opinions now.”

Ronin shook his head. “Son, here I thought you’d learned a thing or two from your brothers.

Not so much if you don’t understand the man-woman relationship hasn’t really changed all that much since creation.

Men and women fight, then they make up and fight some more.

It’s what you do in between that counts.

Man up, Mason and be the Kincaid man I taught you to be. ”

Mason wasn’t about to argue the point. Kincaid men were hardheaded and learned it from Ronin.

He wasn’t his father or his brothers. He wasn’t going to go in there and tell her she was his, and that was that.

That might have worked with their women, but he had a feeling that shit wouldn’t fly with Josephine.

Nik, Viktor, and Dimitri all used that mentality with their women, and maybe Lily, Sara, and Becca needed that.

They’d suffered so much in their lives. It must have been a relief on some level to have someone to take care of everything.

With Angel, well, her initial relationship with Kade was built on a lie.

They’d had a lot of shit to work through.

He could understand the caveman mentality with all of them. Hell, he even approved of it.

But Jo? She wasn’t anything like them. Sure, she might think it was okay for Ray to put himself first, but he wasn’t abusive. Just apathetic. Jo had been raised in a loving home and treated the way a normal kid should be.

That was the crux of it. She was normal. There were no demons to overcome, no lie to get past.

Just him baring his soul to her and hoping she didn’t kick him out of her life for good.

“Slow down, brat …you’re not making sense.”

Viktor’s sharp words pulled Mason out of his deep worries. Something was wrong.

“No, we’ll be right there. Just stay calm and don’t let Becca see your fear.” Viktor hung up the phone and closed his eyes. “There’s something wrong with the baby.”

Jo was in surgery, but Dimitri needed him too.

He hated having to leave, but this was important.

Jo would understand. He stopped at the nurses’ station and left his number in case the doctor came looking for him.

They rode down the elevator to the maternity floor.

The rest of the clan was huddled together in the waiting room, or the family room, as the nurses called it.

“I’ll tell Becca after you explain it to me.” Dimitri faced the woman in a lab coat. Had to be the doc. “She’s already nervous and scared enough. You trying to tell her this…it’ll cause a full-blown panic attack. It’s better if I tell her.”

“Fine, Mr. Kincaid, but let her know I can answer any question she has.” The doctor, a brunette in her mid-to late-forties, looked tired.

Chances were she’d been on call at the hospital for a while.

He hoped to God she wasn’t too tired. Mistakes happened all the time when people weren’t dead dog tired. Worse mistakes happened when they were.

Ronin went to stand next to Dimitri, placing a hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong with my grandson?”

The doctor smiled slightly. “Granddaughters, Mr. Kincaid.”

Wait…twins? Dimitri was having twin girls? That got all their attention. They’d just assumed the baby was a boy. They were fucked. No way in hell could they protect all these girls.

“Twins?” Dimitri stumbled back. “But we never saw a second baby during the ultrasounds.”

“It’s not uncommon for one baby to hide behind the other, and their heartbeats can be so in sync it only sounds like one heartbeat.”

“But there’s a problem with my girls?” Dimitri’s voice shook. “What is it?”

“We didn’t know about baby B. If we had, we would have caught this sooner.

” The doctor motioned for Dimitri to sit, and he let Papa lead him over to one of the waiting room chairs.

“Sometimes, twins develop a type of illness invitro. It’s called TTTS, twin to twin transfusion syndrome.

What happens is twin A ends up with the bulk of the blood, the nutrients, everything. Twin B usually doesn’t survive.”

“You’re telling me one of my babies is going to die?”

Fuck no. No, no, no, no, no. This wasn’t happening. God wouldn’t be this cruel, Mason thought. They were going through enough right now dealing with his father’s cancer. They couldn’t lose one of the girls. It wouldn’t just destroy Dimitri. It would destroy them all.

“I’m preparing you for that possibility, Mr. Kincaid.

Right now, she’s alive. She’s significantly smaller than her sister, and we’re not sure what kind of complications are going to arise once we deliver.

Sometimes the kinder thing to do is to let them slip away.

You can hold her and sit peacefully with her during the process.

We can give her something for pain or even keep her asleep. ”

“You’re acting like you’ve already decided not to try to help her.” The anger vibrating in his brother’s voice had them all on their feet. Bitch was giving up on his niece already? Oh, hell no.

“That’s not what I’m saying…”

“Who’s the best neo-natal physician in the country?”

“Mr. Kincaid…”

“Who?” Dimitri bit out.

“It’s Dr. Gloria Macnamara. She’s based in Seattle, Washington.” Nik shut his laptop.

“Call her and see how soon she can get here. Fly her in. I’ll cover the cost.”

“She’s going to tell you the same thing I am,” Dr. No Hope said.

“Maybe, maybe not, but you’re not getting anywhere near Becca or my kids.”

“Mr. Kincaid, I have been Becca’s doctor from the beginning. She knows me, and it makes her less anxious.”

He laughed. “You think she’s going to want you in that room when she finds out you want to do nothing but let our daughter die? I don’t think so. Now, get the hell out and find me a new doctor to monitor my wife until we can get Dr. Macnamara here.”

The doctor shook her head and left, realizing there was nothing she could do or say to change Dimitri’s mind.

“Dimitri, you need to go tell Becca what’s going on.” Irinia hugged her son. “The rest of us will go light a candle for both my granddaughters and pray for them.”

“ Spasibo , Mama.” A tear finally slipped free, and Dimitri buried his face in their mother’s hair. “ Spasibo .”

“You’re welcome, my beautiful boy. Now go, be with your wife. Whatever happens, we are all here for you.”

Mason filed after the rest of them toward the chapel. He didn’t just light a candle for the twins and Becca, but one for Jo as well. How had today gone from the peacefulness of a sound sleep to fucked as hell?

Only God knew the answer to that one.