“A comment that had you questioning whether it was twins or not?” he asked as the sound of his phone dinging momentarily stole his attention away from me.
He looked down at his phone, and he brought his hand up to scrub over his face.
“Are you looking at the first picture?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he muttered.
I looked at the first picture, too.
It was a close-up shot of a cute little face in profile. There was a small nose, a tiny set of lips, and an eye socket.
“It looks like an alien,” he muttered.
“It’s the eye socket that makes it look weird,” I told him.
His thumb swiped, and he swallowed thickly.
This was the one that made me want to freak out.
“Fuck.”
Yeah, fuck.
“I have twins that run in my family,” I told him something he already knew.
“Fuck.”
“I was on birth control,” I told him.
He laughed. “Shit.”
“Do you only have cuss words rattling around in your brain right now?” I questioned.
His eyes flicked up to me. “Yes.”
I rolled my eyes and studied my own photo. The picture was a zoomed out shot of both babies. They were in the fetal position facing each other. Actually, they looked like they were cuddling.
It was actually really cute.
One had ‘Baby A’ above it and the other had ‘Baby B’ below it.
“How far along?” he rasped.
“Eighteen weeks and two days as of this morning,” I answered. “You can see that on the photo at the top. It says ‘18w2d’ on it.”
He lifted his wrist and looked at his watch. “So you roughly have what, twenty-two more weeks?”
I nodded, then shook my head. “Maybe. Maybe not. Likely I’ll have twenty. A multiple pregnancy isn’t something that usually goes full term, but it can.”
He looked like he was calculating it all up in his head. “Possibly around Christmas?”
I nodded once. “My due date is officially Christmas Eve.”
His eyes went pained for a few long seconds before he looked down. I watched his throat bob once.
“My parents died on Christmas Eve.”
I remembered him telling me that once.
He didn’t talk about them all that often, but when he did, I listened.
The date was definitely significant.
“I’ve never really had a good reason to celebrate since they died.” His eyes looked up from the photo. “And now you’ve just given me two.”
I felt tears start to sting my eyes at that comment.
“How could you not tell me?” he asked, sounding hurt.
I dashed the back of my hand across my eye and caught the tear that’d fallen before answering.
“I sent you fortunes!” I told him. “The last four packages I’ve sent all had hints in there. I sent you baby sausages. Baby announcement fortunes. Sent you all child-sized stuff. The only thing I didn’t do was out and out say ‘I’m pregnant’ to you when you called.”
His eyelid twitched. “I have to admit, it’s all making sense…now.”
“How have you kept this from Bayou?” he questioned. “He would’ve mentioned it had he known.”
I shrugged. “I only just started showing. And I’ve been wearing my old scrub tops that aren’t really form-fitting when I leave the house. The only people that know for sure are my parents and sisters because they show up at my house uninvited and see things that they’re not supposed to see. Though I haven’t outright ‘told’ them yet.”
His lips twitched. “That what your dad was about to tell me before you walked into the room?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea.”
He flicked his thumb over the phone, and he paused at the next photo. It was of two little tiny feet up by the world’s cutest little button nose.
“Flexible little shit,” he commented.
I smiled. “Yeah.”
“Can you feel them yet?” he wondered, his eyes coming back up to meet mine.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I…maybe? I’ve been reading some message boards and stuff. They say some first-time mothers confuse movement with gas. So who knows?”
His lips twitched. “Gas?”
I shrugged. “I’m neither confirming nor denying…let’s just say my libido isn’t the only thing that has ramped up while you’ve been gone.”
He chuckled at that and then sobered. “I should be home soon.”
I was so tempted to believe him, but I’d heard stories from my father. Stories that were very full of their thoughts and true opinions. Things could go very wrong. Shit could happen. Hell, he could be there for another six months if that was what needed to happen. So no, as much as I wanted to believe that he would be home next week, I wasn’t going to get my hopes up.
My smile was small. “Make it home for the birth and I’ll be okay.”
He read the disbelief on my face, and I felt a tendril of relief at the confidence that was on his.
His eyes went heated. “I’ll be home soon.”
It was a promise. He would be finding his way home soon, even if he had to kill every person in his way to get here.
I swallowed. “You’re happy?”
The thought of him not being happy was a nagging ache underneath my skin. I wanted him to be okay. I wanted him to be happy. I wanted him to be excited like I was. But, I knew that was also a lot to ask.
This was a hell of a thing to learn. I’d sprung quite a huge surprise on him, and really he hadn’t had time to process it yet. It’d taken me the better part of three months to come to terms with it, and I still wasn’t all the way there yet, as evidenced by the fact that I hadn’t told my parents yet.
He stood up and walked closer to the screen so all I could see was his face. “Yeah,” he confirmed. “I’m really happy. So happy that I want you to know if you were here right now, I’d be fucking you.”
I shook my head. “That’s really…sweet.”
That was sweet, right? I fidgeted and his eyes went hot.
He snorted. “The idea that I got you pregnant has my dick hard. Let’s just say that your libido probably isn’t the only one that’ll be in overdrive when I get back.”
I closed my eyes and smiled softly, happy that he didn’t take this badly like he very well could have.
“I love you, Pru.”
My eyes snapped open.
“I love you, too,” I whispered.
The screen went black, and I stared at it for a full five minutes before I was able to get my tears back under control
Having him know about the baby—babies, Jesus Christ, I was about to really have my life changed—was like a weight lifted straight off of my chest. I hadn’t realized how fucking scared I was until he’d told me he was happy.
Swiping at my eyes as happy tears started to leak out of my eyes, I walked to the closed door and found my father standing on the other side talking low with Piper and Phoebe—who’d obviously arrived at some point while I was having my heart to heart with Hoax.
I blinked when they all stared at me expectantly.
“What?”
My dad looked pointedly at my stomach. “So do you have anything to tell me?”
I pursed my lips. “I haven’t gone to the shooting range in like, six weeks. And I’m still concealed carrying.”
His frown went fierce. “If you’re going to carry, you need to practice. Thems the rules.”
I laughed.
“I haven’t changed the oil in the truck for six thousand miles,” Phoebe piped in.
Oh, shit. That was way worse than my admission.
My dad’s head whipped around to stare at Phoebe in horror.
“I took an Uber home from a party off base last week,” Piper supplied.
Annnnd Piper was the winner. Dad hated Ubers. He said it was the dumbest thing that any person could ever do, getting into a car with a stranger.
My dad pressed his hand to his chest and rubbed as if we were giving him chest pains. “Did nothing I taught y’all stick?”
He looked down at his phone, and he brought his hand up to scrub over his face.
“Are you looking at the first picture?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he muttered.
I looked at the first picture, too.
It was a close-up shot of a cute little face in profile. There was a small nose, a tiny set of lips, and an eye socket.
“It looks like an alien,” he muttered.
“It’s the eye socket that makes it look weird,” I told him.
His thumb swiped, and he swallowed thickly.
This was the one that made me want to freak out.
“Fuck.”
Yeah, fuck.
“I have twins that run in my family,” I told him something he already knew.
“Fuck.”
“I was on birth control,” I told him.
He laughed. “Shit.”
“Do you only have cuss words rattling around in your brain right now?” I questioned.
His eyes flicked up to me. “Yes.”
I rolled my eyes and studied my own photo. The picture was a zoomed out shot of both babies. They were in the fetal position facing each other. Actually, they looked like they were cuddling.
It was actually really cute.
One had ‘Baby A’ above it and the other had ‘Baby B’ below it.
“How far along?” he rasped.
“Eighteen weeks and two days as of this morning,” I answered. “You can see that on the photo at the top. It says ‘18w2d’ on it.”
He lifted his wrist and looked at his watch. “So you roughly have what, twenty-two more weeks?”
I nodded, then shook my head. “Maybe. Maybe not. Likely I’ll have twenty. A multiple pregnancy isn’t something that usually goes full term, but it can.”
He looked like he was calculating it all up in his head. “Possibly around Christmas?”
I nodded once. “My due date is officially Christmas Eve.”
His eyes went pained for a few long seconds before he looked down. I watched his throat bob once.
“My parents died on Christmas Eve.”
I remembered him telling me that once.
He didn’t talk about them all that often, but when he did, I listened.
The date was definitely significant.
“I’ve never really had a good reason to celebrate since they died.” His eyes looked up from the photo. “And now you’ve just given me two.”
I felt tears start to sting my eyes at that comment.
“How could you not tell me?” he asked, sounding hurt.
I dashed the back of my hand across my eye and caught the tear that’d fallen before answering.
“I sent you fortunes!” I told him. “The last four packages I’ve sent all had hints in there. I sent you baby sausages. Baby announcement fortunes. Sent you all child-sized stuff. The only thing I didn’t do was out and out say ‘I’m pregnant’ to you when you called.”
His eyelid twitched. “I have to admit, it’s all making sense…now.”
“How have you kept this from Bayou?” he questioned. “He would’ve mentioned it had he known.”
I shrugged. “I only just started showing. And I’ve been wearing my old scrub tops that aren’t really form-fitting when I leave the house. The only people that know for sure are my parents and sisters because they show up at my house uninvited and see things that they’re not supposed to see. Though I haven’t outright ‘told’ them yet.”
His lips twitched. “That what your dad was about to tell me before you walked into the room?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea.”
He flicked his thumb over the phone, and he paused at the next photo. It was of two little tiny feet up by the world’s cutest little button nose.
“Flexible little shit,” he commented.
I smiled. “Yeah.”
“Can you feel them yet?” he wondered, his eyes coming back up to meet mine.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I…maybe? I’ve been reading some message boards and stuff. They say some first-time mothers confuse movement with gas. So who knows?”
His lips twitched. “Gas?”
I shrugged. “I’m neither confirming nor denying…let’s just say my libido isn’t the only thing that has ramped up while you’ve been gone.”
He chuckled at that and then sobered. “I should be home soon.”
I was so tempted to believe him, but I’d heard stories from my father. Stories that were very full of their thoughts and true opinions. Things could go very wrong. Shit could happen. Hell, he could be there for another six months if that was what needed to happen. So no, as much as I wanted to believe that he would be home next week, I wasn’t going to get my hopes up.
My smile was small. “Make it home for the birth and I’ll be okay.”
He read the disbelief on my face, and I felt a tendril of relief at the confidence that was on his.
His eyes went heated. “I’ll be home soon.”
It was a promise. He would be finding his way home soon, even if he had to kill every person in his way to get here.
I swallowed. “You’re happy?”
The thought of him not being happy was a nagging ache underneath my skin. I wanted him to be okay. I wanted him to be happy. I wanted him to be excited like I was. But, I knew that was also a lot to ask.
This was a hell of a thing to learn. I’d sprung quite a huge surprise on him, and really he hadn’t had time to process it yet. It’d taken me the better part of three months to come to terms with it, and I still wasn’t all the way there yet, as evidenced by the fact that I hadn’t told my parents yet.
He stood up and walked closer to the screen so all I could see was his face. “Yeah,” he confirmed. “I’m really happy. So happy that I want you to know if you were here right now, I’d be fucking you.”
I shook my head. “That’s really…sweet.”
That was sweet, right? I fidgeted and his eyes went hot.
He snorted. “The idea that I got you pregnant has my dick hard. Let’s just say that your libido probably isn’t the only one that’ll be in overdrive when I get back.”
I closed my eyes and smiled softly, happy that he didn’t take this badly like he very well could have.
“I love you, Pru.”
My eyes snapped open.
“I love you, too,” I whispered.
The screen went black, and I stared at it for a full five minutes before I was able to get my tears back under control
Having him know about the baby—babies, Jesus Christ, I was about to really have my life changed—was like a weight lifted straight off of my chest. I hadn’t realized how fucking scared I was until he’d told me he was happy.
Swiping at my eyes as happy tears started to leak out of my eyes, I walked to the closed door and found my father standing on the other side talking low with Piper and Phoebe—who’d obviously arrived at some point while I was having my heart to heart with Hoax.
I blinked when they all stared at me expectantly.
“What?”
My dad looked pointedly at my stomach. “So do you have anything to tell me?”
I pursed my lips. “I haven’t gone to the shooting range in like, six weeks. And I’m still concealed carrying.”
His frown went fierce. “If you’re going to carry, you need to practice. Thems the rules.”
I laughed.
“I haven’t changed the oil in the truck for six thousand miles,” Phoebe piped in.
Oh, shit. That was way worse than my admission.
My dad’s head whipped around to stare at Phoebe in horror.
“I took an Uber home from a party off base last week,” Piper supplied.
Annnnd Piper was the winner. Dad hated Ubers. He said it was the dumbest thing that any person could ever do, getting into a car with a stranger.
My dad pressed his hand to his chest and rubbed as if we were giving him chest pains. “Did nothing I taught y’all stick?”
