Page 40 of Red King (The Dragon Tributes #7)

40

P aisley

The room is dimly lit. It’s so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The doctor takes the condom-covered conductor and squirts some gel onto it. “This is going to be a little uncomfortable,” she tells me as she moves over to my legs. The chair she’s sitting on has wheels.

“It’s fine.” After many rounds of IVF, this is nothing. I don’t tell her that.

I have a thin blanket placed strategically over my lap. She disappears under it.

“Sorry, it’s a little cold.” She pops her head up and smiles at me, then gives Arctic a cursory glance. I think she’s both checking him out and is a little afraid of him, too.

Arctic holds my hand tightly. He looks like he might faint at any second.

I squeeze his hand, and he gives me a tight smile. “We’re about to meet our baby.” His voice is a little choked up.

“I can’t wait.”

We all look at the mostly black screen.

“Let’s see what we have,” the doctor says.

As she works, we both hold our breath, waiting for the first glimpse of our baby. The screen turns blurry, and finally, we see—

“Holy fuck!” Arctic snarls.

The doctor squeals and pulls the conductor out of me, her chair rolling back.

I sit up. “What was that, Doc?” My voice is high-pitched. “What…?” I look at Arctic, whose mouth is open. His eyes are wide.

“Was that…?” Arctic points at the screen before looking at the doctor and then at me.

“Sorry about that.” Dr. Ashton smiles. “You gave me a fright. Let’s try again, shall we?”

I lie back down and try to relax, even though my heart is beating a mile a minute.

She slips the conductor back inside me and goes through the motions a second time.

Dr. Ashton laughs. She looks at me and then Arctic. “It is twins. Congratulations.”

Sure enough, there are two gestational sacs, clear as day.

“Two,” Arctic whispers.

They still look like blobs, but blobs with legs and arms. Our babies. Babies! Both of them flicker.

“Is that their hearts beating?” I ask, my eyes filling with tears. This is unreal.

“It sure is. Let’s listen to Twin-A.” A heartbeat sounds, filling the room. It’s fast and strong.

I laugh, even though tears are rolling down my cheeks.

I look up at Arctic, and he’s crying, too.

“I can’t believe it,” I whisper.

“I can.” Arctic clutches my hand so tightly, it almost hurts. My fingertips have gone white, but I don’t care.

“Twin-B,” the doctor says, and there is another galloping heartbeat. “Two healthy babies. They’re measuring around nine weeks.”

I gasp. “That’s not possible.”

“They’re already exceeding the 90 th percentile, which makes complete sense.” She looks up at Arctic. “Everything looks great.” She prints off a reel of ultrasound pictures of the babies, which she hands to Arctic. He has this goofy smile on his face.

We look at one another, and his face splits into a grin.

“I can’t believe it,” I say again because I can’t.

“Congratulations.” Dr. Ashton smiles. “You can get dressed, Paisley.”

It doesn’t take me long to change back into my leggings and to put my socks and sneakers on. When I come out of the changing room, Arctic is on his phone.

He’s standing to one side of Dr. Ashton’s desk, and he looks concerned. The doctor is at her desk, typing something on her computer.

“I need to go, Steel,” he says as he sees me. He listens to whatever Steel is saying. “Yes…I know. We’ll catch a flight back today.” He locks eyes with me. Then he drops the call. “Sorry about that,” he tells the doctor.

She smiles. “No, problem. I completely understand. Please take a seat.” She gestures to chairs across from her and we do as she asks.

“I’m going to prescribe a prenatal vitamin.” She hands me a card. “My number is on there in case of an emergency, such as spotting, cramping, or if you’re worried about anything. I’d like to see you back in a month. A twin pregnancy, as it progresses into the final trimester, does become more high-risk, but for now, I don’t want you to worry about anything. Continue with your life as normal. You’re a nurse, Paisley, so I don’t have to go into too much detail. You know what to expect and what constitutes an emergency.” Her face softens. “Don’t get me wrong; everything is absolutely fine. Keep caffeine to a minimum and avoid alcohol and cigarettes, but I don’t recall you being a smoker.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I’ll do all the right things.”

“Chat with Erica on your way out to set up a follow-up appointment.” She smiles. “I think it’s absolutely wonderful.”

“Thanks, Doc,” I say as we stand.

Arctic shakes her hand. “It’s the best news I’ve had all day…all week…ever.” He grabs me and hugs me.

Dr. Ashton laughs. “We’ll see you soon.”

We leave, and I try to stop at the front desk to book our next appointment, but Arctic tightens his hand around mine. “No need. We’ll have a full antenatal department set up on the island by the end of the week.”

“At Mistveil?” I lift my brows.

He nods.

I look at him like he’s lost his mind.

“What? We’re going to need it. If all goes well, we should have plenty of babies being born before long.” Then he pulls me into another hug. “We’re going to have twins.”

“I know,” I say into his chest. “It’s insane to me that just a week ago, I didn’t think I’d ever have a child, and now I’m having two. We’re having two.”

Arctic gets this worried look as we arrive at the SUV. I remember the call from Steel.

“What’s going on?” I ask him as he opens the door. “Why did Steel call?” I get into the vehicle.

I have to wait for him to get in next to me.

“Did something happen? Is that why we have to go back today?”

He gives a tight nod. “They finally managed to hack into Ice’s computer. The hard drive immediately started deleting itself, but not before my team pulled some information.”

I gasp. “What kind of information?”

“The scary kind.” His eyes are filled with concern.

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