His Unexpected Twins

by Carrie Nichols

  “Thanks, buddy, but I just ate.”

  “I can get him cleaned up.” Ellie reached out and took James in her arms. “Looks like you’re enjoying that nanner, bud.”

  Meg nodded. “Bananas are his new favorite snack.”

  He offered it to Ellie, but she shook her head, her lips clamped firmly together. James, imitating her by vigorously shaking his head, opened his fist and let the banana piece fall, but Mangy scooped it up in midair.

  Meg laughed. “You guys might want to consider getting a dog.”

  Remembering how upset Ellie had gotten over the thought of taking care of a pet, Liam winced. He glared at his sister, shaking his head, but Meg threw him a puzzled look. His gaze went to Ellie, but evidently she was too busy talking to James to be upset.

  Meg kissed James before Ellie took him to wash his hands and face. She turned to Liam. “What was that all about? Ellie likes dogs. So do you.”

  He swiped a hand over his face. “It’s a long story.”

  “And I’m in a hurry. Any questions before I leave?”

  Liam glanced at the flat screen he and Riley had mounted to the wall. “As a matter of fact I do. Tell me again the channel number for ESPN on your television.”

  “I don’t know.” Meg picked up her purse and keys.

  “How can you not know something that important?”

  “Yeah, like I have time to watch television. By the time I get Fiona and James down for the night, I’m ready to crawl into bed myself, especially with Riley on nights.” Meg patted her still-flat stomach. “At least by the time this one comes, he’ll have enough seniority to get a day shift when one becomes available.”

  “Okay. Jeez. Sorry I asked.” He threw up his hands in a defensive gesture but laughed when Meg held up a fist. “I’m sure I can find it.”

  Meg lowered her arm. “You’ll have to find the remote first. It’s James’s new favorite thing now that he can lift up against the coffee table.”

  “Not exactly running a tight ship, are we, sis?” As soon as he said it, he realized his mistake. Meg would have plenty of opportunities to point out parenting errors to him in the near future.

  She gave him a big, evil smile. “Oh, I am so going to enjoy picking on you when you have one running around.”

  “Ellie and I will have it all under control.” Nothing like compounding your mistakes.

  “Ha! I love it.” Meg laughed and rubbed her palms together. “You are so clueless. I’d help you look for the remote, but I’m already running late.”

  “So much for sitting around watching sports highlights in my underwear,” he muttered as he lifted couch cushions in his search for the remote. Each time he lifted a cushion Mangy stuck his shaggy head under it. He patted the dog’s head as he pushed it out of the way so he could replace the cushion. “What you looking for, boy?”

  The dog whined and stuck his nose in the space between the arm and the cushion, grabbing something.

  Liam latched onto the dog’s collar before he could scamper off with his treasure. He pried a set of plastic keys from the animal’s mouth.

  “What are you two doing?” Ellie stood in the doorway to the large family room, James perched on her hip. The baby spotted the dog and grunted and lunged, but Ellie managed to hang on.

  “Mangy and I were looking for the remote and he found these.” The dog sat and whined as his gaze followed Liam’s hand. “Sorry, boy, I doubt these are yours.”

  “Here, you take James and I’ll wash those keys off.”

  He shook his head. “If I set them down, the dog is going to run off with them.”

  She leaned down and put James on the floor. “You stay here with Uncle Meem while I take care of this.”

  “Don’t start with that Meem stuff. I just got Fiona to say it correctly.”

  “Meem... Meem... Meem,” James babbled as he crawled to the coffee table and pulled himself up. One hand rested on the table and the other stretched toward Liam.

  Liam tossed the keys to Ellie and reached down to ruffle his nephew’s hair. “Hey, buddy, not sure what you’re talking about. Can you say ‘Liam’?”

  “Sorry, but I think you’re going to be Uncle Leem or Meem for the foreseeable future. At least you won’t have to worry about that with ours.”

  Liam looked up from his search for the remote. “Why not?”

  Ellie clicked her teeth. “Because she will be calling you Daddy.”

  “Oh, yeah.” He scratched his scalp and frowned.

  “What?”

  “That’s a scary thought, but I guess if my baby sister and Riley can do it, so can we.” Had his dad gotten a mini panic attack thinking about being a parent before Liam was born?

  “Can we?”

  “You certainly can, you’re an ER nurse. Of course you’re qualified.” Ellie was going to be great. He wished he had as much confidence in himself as he did her.

  “Bet they wouldn’t let me take home a baby if they knew how scattered I’ve been lately.”

  “I find that hard to believe.” He jammed his fingers in the back of the couch. That damn remote had to be here somewhere.

  She sank down next to James as he slapped his palm on the coffee table. “Believe it. I poured orange juice on my cornflakes last week.”

  “Run out of milk?” His searching fingers found something and he pulled out a tiny pink plastic hardhat. What the...?

  “No, I didn’t run out of milk. I pulled out the OJ by mistake.”

  “What did you do?” He started to set the tiny toy on the coffee table but looked at James and decided against it.

  “I threw them out and started over, but what’s that got to do with it?”

  “It proves you’re good at problem solving, because I would have eaten them.”

  “You are such a guy.”

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “Glad you finally noticed. Aha, here’s the remote.”

  Ellie rolled her eyes. “Give that hat to me and I’ll put it in Fiona’s room. It belongs to her Barbie Builder set.”

  “How do you know these things?” He put the cushions back on the sofa.

  “It’s a girl thing.”

  “Hey, James, how about we watch some sports? Make sure that father of yours is teaching you the right teams to root for.” He scooped his nephew off the floor and sat down on the sofa with him.

  “I think he’s wet. Let me go get a fresh diaper.”

  Liam held James up in the air. “Now she tells me. Are you wet?”

  The boy let out a string of baby giggles.

  Ellie came back with a diaper and tub of wipes. “Want me to take him?”

  “It’s okay. I’ve changed Fiona’s. May as well get some more practice in.” He truly did want to be involved.

  He put James on the blanket on the floor and unsnapped the baby’s pants to get at the diaper. At least he remembered how to do that much from when Fiona was a baby. He removed the soggy diaper.

  “Liam, wait! Put this over...”

  He glanced up as Ellie launched what looked like a washcloth at him.

  What the heck was she on about? He knew how to—Something wet and warm squirted all over the front of his shirt.

  He glanced down at his giggling nephew. “Why did he do that?”

  Ellie had her fist pressed against her mouth and her shoulders were shaking. She cleared her throat. “It’s something baby boys do.”

  “Why didn’t you warn me?” After getting over being grossed out, he could appreciate the humor in it. And he couldn’t be angry with an innocent—he glanced down at his giggling nephew. Huh, maybe not quite so innocent.

  “I thought you knew. You said you’d changed diapers before,” Ellie said.

  “I changed Fiona’s diaper a time or two and nothing like this ever happened.” He shook his head.
<
br />   “Girls are different but it can still happen.”

  “So, is there a trick to not getting wet?”

  “I think the trick is to keep something over him like the old diaper or a cloth.”

  “Why would I know something like this?”

  “You’ve never changed James’s diaper before?” He shook his head and she continued, “Well, now you know. Look on the bright side, at least your face wasn’t in the line of fire.”

  James began laughing and Liam put his palm over the baby’s belly and tickled him. “You think that’s funny? Now I’m going to have to wear one of your daddy’s shirts and I’ll make your mommy wash mine.”

  The baby giggled. “Meem.”

  He shook his head at James. There was so much he didn’t know about babies and kids despite having spent a lot of time around his niece and nephew. Had his dad been nervous and clueless in the beginning? Maybe by the time his child was old enough to form memories of his or her childhood, he’d have a better handle on the whole parenting thing.

  * * *

  Once again, Ellie awoke to a cold, empty bed. She’d been doing that ever since Liam’s friend Nick had picked him up three days earlier. She rolled over and rubbed her hand over the cool sheets. Liam had only slept over for a few nights, but she’d gotten used to having him here.

  She had no idea when she’d see him again. He’d told her that during his time off he was taking an extra shift at one of the part-time stations. He apologized and explained that this had been planned for a while.

  Sighing, she got up and pulled on her pink fleece robe against the apartment’s early-morning chill. She paused to see if this was a morning sickness day. It wasn’t. At least not yet. Of course her nausea didn’t just strike first thing; sometimes it lasted all day or hit unexpectedly. Smells could trigger it, too.

  The nausea had been getting worse but she knew the extra hormones that caused it kicked in around the eight-week mark, so it wasn’t surprising.

  Today was her first appointment with the obstetrician. She’d be going alone and part of that was her fault. She’d assured Liam that the checkup was just routine and it was, but now that she was faced with going alone, it felt...sad. It was still early in the pregnancy for the doctor to want an ultrasound. At least Liam wasn’t missing out on something like that.

  Buck up, Ellie, and quit your whining.

  Liam had stepped up, but the fact that they lived three hours apart wasn’t going to change unless she moved to Boston. Pulling up stakes, leaving everything she knew and had worked for to move so she could live on the periphery of Liam’s life, held no appeal.

  “But I’m reserving the right to revisit this decision,” she told her reflection as she brushed her hair before dashing out the door.

  At the doctor’s office, Ellie flipped through old magazines, kicking herself for not remembering to bring a book. Not that it mattered since she doubted she’d be able to concentrate any better on the latest spy thriller than she could this three-month-old People magazine. Too many things running through her head. Being in the medical profession at times like this was not helpful.

  The blood tests scheduled for today might be routine, but this was her baby they were running tests on. That changed everything. She was doing this so she could be prepared, not because she suspected something was wrong. Intellectually she knew her chances of a successful pregnancy were the same as anyone else’s, but emotions didn’t always operate on facts. But the situation gave her some perspective on what her parents must’ve gone through when her cancer was diagnosed.

  Would she be faced one day with her child having a life-threatening illness? Her hand covered her still flat stomach as sympathy for her parents filled her.

  She glanced around the waiting room at the other women in various stages of pregnancy, some with partners, others alone like her.

  Heaving a sigh, she tossed the magazine aside just as the inner door opened and the nurse called her name.

  Ellie jumped up. At least doing something would be better than just sitting and waiting.

  The nurse smiled. “Ellie, it’s so good to see you again.”

  Ellie recognized the woman from hospital rotations during nursing school. “Kim Smith, right?”

  “It’s Dawson now.” The nurse led her down a hallway.

  “Mine’s still Harding, but I guess you could see that from the chart.” Ellie hated the warmth in her cheeks. Plenty of single women had babies these days. Even in Loon Lake.

  “It’s been a while.” Kim stopped in front of a balance beam scale. “How have you been?”

  “Is that a professional question or making conversation?”

  “Both, I guess.” Kim laughed. “Okay, hop up on the scale.”

  “I hate this part.” Ellie sighed and glanced at her red sneakers. “Can I take these off first?”

  “Really? At your first appointment.” Kim clicked her tongue but grinned. “This is only the beginning.”

  Ellie glanced at her feet and debated, but giggled and toed her shoes off.

  Kim marked her weight on the chart. “Okay, take a seat and we’ll get blood pressure next.”

  “You should’ve done that before you weighed me.” Ellie motioned toward the scale. “Having to get on that thing probably raised it.”

  Kim chuckled. “So you’re feeling okay? No complaints?”

  “I’m doing good, if you don’t count the morning sickness that pops up at all hours and crying over the stupidest things.” Ellie sat in the chair and rolled up her sleeve.

  “I hear that. I carried sandwich bags and tissues in my purse.” Kim set the chart on the table. “Take a seat and we’ll get your pressure, then some labs, but I guess you know the drill.”

  Ellie nodded. “Yeah, I know all this stuff like getting a patient’s blood pressure is standard procedure, but when it’s being done to you, it doesn’t feel routine at all.”

  So far there was no need for Liam to be here for these mundane things. So why did she feel so bereft?

  “Yeah, we don’t always make the best patients, do we?” Kim adjusted the blood pressure cuff on her upper left arm. “You still like working in the ER?”

  “I do, but I’ve been thinking of a change.” Ellie laid her other hand over her stomach. “Especially now. Do you like this kind of nursing?”

  “I’m sure it’s not as exciting or interesting as the ER but the hours are easier. Plus, holidays and weekends off is nice for family life.” Kim made notes on the chart as the Dinamap displayed her blood pressure.

  Ellie nodded. From now on, she’d have someone else to take into consideration. Working twelve-hour shifts might not be feasible. She put out her arm but cringed when Kim came at her with the needle. Being a nurse didn’t make getting stuck any easier.

  “We should have the results back in one to two weeks.” Kim marked the vials of blood. “And we’ll just take a quick look today to verify the pregnancy and check for iron and vitamin levels. We’ll need to get you started on prenatal vitamins.”

  After a week of denying her suspicions, Ellie had decided she needed to be proactive. “Yeah, I took some over-the-counter ones, but they don’t have the same folic acid levels.”

  “I’ve got everything I need. It was good seeing you again.” Kim opened the door and dropped the chart in the holder on the door. “The doctor should be in shortly.”

  Ten minutes felt like an eternity and Ellie was starting to get antsy when the door opened and Kim popped her head in. “The doctor has decided he’d like you to have an ultrasound. Fortunately, we can do one on-site. The tech will be in in just a minute to escort you back there.”

  Ellie’s stomach twisted into knots. Not since being diagnosed with cancer had she felt so helpless. “Tell me what’s wrong. Why do they want to do an ultrasound now? What can’t wait?”

  “E
llie, you of all people know I can’t say anything.” Kim shook her head. “Let’s keep the imagination reined in,” she added with a smile before closing the door.

  Ellie glared at the closed door Kim had escaped through and wrung her hands. Was she overreacting? The way she saw it, she was allowed to do so. This was her baby, maybe her only chance to be a mom.

  She should have said yes when her mother had offered to come. But she would’ve had to take off work and Ellie hated for her to use her PTO to come to a routine first exam. She had assumed the most exciting part would be to hear the baby’s heartbeat. Except being alone with only her thoughts for company wasn’t a good idea. She sat on her hands trying to keep them warm and swung her legs.

  There was a quick rap on the door.

  “Finally,” she muttered. At least they’d be getting this show on the road. Despite Kim’s advice, she’d let her imagination run roughshod over her rational self.

  The door opened but instead of the ultrasound tech or the doctor, the receptionist stood in the doorway. “Someone is insisting on seeing you, but we can’t let anyone back here without your permission.”

  Had her mother come, anyway? Who else could it be? The receptionist cleared her throat and Ellie nodded. “Yes, that’s fine.”

  Before she could react, Liam loomed in the doorway, still in his dark blue BFD uniform. She blinked, but he didn’t disappear. Liam was here! Oh, God, the news was so bad they called him. No wait, that was crazy. They hadn’t done anything yet and he couldn’t have gotten here in such a short time even if he’d been in town. Nothing had been wrong ten minutes ago...but was it now?

  Chapter Thirteen

  She straightened and pulled her hands from under her thighs. “What are you doing here? How did you get here? How did you find me?”

  He shut the door and crossed the small room in two strides. “I’m here because I was serious when I said wanted to be involved. I hit the road as soon as I got off shift this morning and I called Meg to ask where you’d be,” he said, ticking off his answers by holding up his fingers. “I think that covers all your questions.”