Page 29 of Secret Triplets, Second Chances

LARA

T his time, I should have known better.

“I thought it was food poisoning, ” I say for the hundredth time, hiccupping a sob as Ellie rubs my back. I’m sitting in a chair outside the gynecology wing of the hospital, my head in my hands, still not sure how I could possibly have let this happen to me.

Again.

“They always do,” Ellie says, which manages to pull a laugh out of me because it’s true. We’ve had many pregnant people come through the ED, all of whom think their nausea is from too much eating, food poisoning, or stomach flu. As a nurse, we can always tell when there’s something else at play.

So how was I so blind to it myself? Especially knowing I had lost track of my period, forgetting to mark the calendar because I was too caught up with everything to stay on top of it.

“No matter what happens, you’re going to be okay. And you know I’ll be by your side no matter what you choose to do, right?”

I nod and scrub my hands over my face, thinking about the look on my doctor’s face when she told me I was pregnant.

She was there for the whole of my pregnancy with the triplets - worked with my team of doctors when I had to go on bed rest. Never once asked me about the father, never once made me feel like an idiot for going through with a teen pregnancy.

And in there, now, while reading the results of the blood test, she’d acted just as professionally. Telling me only the facts. I’m pregnant. Again. Just about a month in.

I’m a month pregnant, and it’s been a month since the first time Jake and I were together again, since that night after I told him about the triplets.

“Are you going to tell him?” Ellie asks, her hand still on my back.

I groan like I might be sick again, and a few passing doctors give me a look.

“Stomach flu,” Ellie chirps, and they widen their berth, raising their masks up over their noses and hurrying along.

“I have no idea,” I choke, shaking my head. “It’s like — I only just told him about the triplets. I made it clear that I don’t expect him to stay. He’s going back to California, right? He has to. That’s his dream, and it…”

I splutter, crying for a second, hiding my face in my hands until I can breathe steadily again.

“… it’s almost like, if he stays here now, the last five years wasn’t worth it,” I finish, wiping at my face with my hands. “Like, if I tell him about this baby, and that makes him throw his career away, what was the point of him missing all that time with the triplets?”

Ellie is quiet for a long time, then says, “I think something you need to consider is whether or not you trust him.”

I blink at her, and she continues, “If you trust him, that includes letting him make his own decisions. You’ll lose your mind if you’re always trying to anticipate what everyone else is going to choose.”

“I never realized you were so smart, Ellie.”

“I’m not sure if that’s an insult or not.”

I laugh, and she wraps me in a hug, holding me until she clears her throat and awkwardly says she has to go back, her break is ending.

“Call me when you get home,” she insists, pointing at me, and I hold my hands up in surrender.

“I will.”

I’m walking out past the nurse’s desk when I hear a familiar voice rising, sounding frustrated.

“… I swear she works here. Can you just— let me look at the employee list or something?”

“Zachery?”

He turns around at the sound of my voice, throwing his hands up in the air and turning back to the receptionist, who scowls at him.

“See?” he asks, gesturing to me. “Here she is. Great — thank you for nothing .”

“What are you doing here?” I ask, taking his arm and walking him outside before the receptionist can have him put on a blacklist. He stops, sticking his hands in his pockets and staring at me.

His hair is a soft blue now, his skin a bit more tan than before. I wonder where he’s been and want to ask, but I want an answer to my first question more.

“You texted me,” he says, clearing his throat and glancing to the side. “And I didn’t have the data to text back, so I thought I’d try and find you in person. Talk the old-fashioned way.”

I open my mouth, close it, and try again. “I thought you hated hospitals, though?”

He glances up at me, looking chagrined. “Yeah. That’s why this is a grand gesture, Lara.”

When I laugh, he relaxes, and we move to a bench together, sitting down and watching other hospital visitors flow around us.

“A grand gesture?”

“Something like that.” He takes a deep breath and turns toward me. “I’m not going to apologize for living my life the way I do. It’s fun for me, and fulfilling.”

“And you don’t have to,” I say, reaching out and taking his hand.

“I want you to be happy, Zachery. And I realize now that I might have made it sound like I wanted you to stay in Wildfern Ridge. As much as I love having you around, I know you wouldn’t be happy staying here, and that wouldn’t make me happy, either. ”

He nods. “But I do have something to apologize for. I made you feel like your house was just a hotel for me. I realized that I was kind of using it that way. I love seeing you and the kids, but it got to the point where I was only coming when I needed a place to crash. You deserve better than that.”

We talk through the fight, apologize to each other again, and hug. Then Zachery leans back against the bench and asks, “So what are you doing at the hospital on your day off, anyway?”

He was there for me the last time this happened, so it’s only fair that I bring him into the circle again. I tell him about everything that’s happened since Jake came into town. How he feels like the one person in the world that I truly click with, every time.

How I’m right back in the same situation I was in five years ago.

Zachery listens, takes a deep breath, then puts his hand on my shoulder. “I think I should have said this louder five years ago, Lara. So, I’m going to say it now.”

He pauses, meets my eyes, and holds my gaze with a seriousness I didn’t know he was capable of.

“You need to tell him.”