by Holly Rayner
TWELVE
When Maddy reached Akim’s door, she froze.
The last time she had been there, he nearly kissed her before brushing her off for a phone call, only moments after finding out he would become a father. Could her heart really take another cold shoulder from him? She seemed so unable to handle anything these days, and it simply wasn’t like her.
Not bothering to knock, she opened the door and strode in.
Akim looked up from his computer, surprised. “Maddy. What brings you here? Not bad news, I hope?”
His gaze darted to her belly before lifting back up to her eyes. She wondered if he would care if something went wrong with the pregnancy, or if he would be more upset that he lost the millions that were sure to come of it. Brushing that thought aside, she shook her head.
“No bad news… I actually have my first ultrasound this afternoon, and I wanted to see if you were interested in joining me.”
She held her breath. It was a long shot. He probably had some meeting or some other nonsense he would make up to get out of it. To her complete surprise, however, Akim stood and grabbed his work bag.
“I’d love to. Would you like to get lunch together first?”
“I’ve already eaten.”
“Yes, but you’re pregnant, right? You’re eating for two!”
Maddy crossed her arms. “That’s actually a myth. Babies are microscopic, so they don’t need nearly as many calories as we like to think they do. It’s just an excuse to eat anything you want to excuse weight gain.”
Akim stared at her as the silence between them stretched on. He cleared his throat. “Well then. What time is the appointment?”
“I was just about to head to the doctor’s now,” she said.
The truth was, she hadn’t expected Akim to want to come. She had expected him to throw out some comment about how she could handle it and then get back to work himself, shooing her from his office. Instead he shouldered his bag and opened the door for her.
“Well, then, we’d better get going.”
Maddy exited the office, Akim falling in step beside her as they made their way to his car. Today’s vehicle of choice was a red Lamborghini, and Maddy squeezed herself uncomfortably into the passenger seat.
“Ugh,” she groaned, trying to get comfortable.
“What?” Akim asked, confused.
Maddy turned to him. “You don’t ever intend to put our child in one of these death traps, right?”
“What? I think a baby would look fantastic in here. I mean anything would. It’s a Lamborghini.”
Maddy pulled her seatbelt across her lap and clicked it in. “Over my dead body. Children aren’t supposed to be in a front seat until they’re like sixty pounds. This car doesn’t even have a backseat.”
Akim pulled out of the garage in silence as he drove them onto the road and wove his way into the light traffic dotting the highway.
“I suppose I have a lot to learn,” he said, so quietly, Maddy almost thought she’d misheard.
He asked for directions to her doctor’s office, and she spent the rest of the drive guiding him there in between bouts of uncomfortable silence.
Akim pulled into the parking garage of the doctor’s office before turning off the car and exiting, not making it to Maddy’s side in time to help her from the car. Instead, he stood awkwardly while she pulled herself free of the tiny vehicle and the two of them stepped inside. Maddy checked in at reception, five minutes before her appointment time, and Akim pulled out his cellphone while they waited, and gave no hint that he was aware of her existence.
“Madeline?” a nurse asked, opening a door to the office.
Maddy nodded and stood. Akim put his phone in his bag and followed her to the exam room.
The nurse handed Maddy a one-sided patient’s robe and said, “If you could please change into this, the technician will be here in a moment.”
“Thank you,” Maddy replied.
The door closed, and Maddy stared at the fabric in her hands, then glanced over at Akim. He looked equally as uncomfortable, and turned around so she could change without him watching. A traitorous part of her secretly hoped he would sneak a peek, remember that passionate night they had shared, and want her again, kissing her just as senseless as he had so many months before.
It seemed like a lifetime ago, now.
After a short while, there was a firm knock at the door before a technician in scrubs entered with the ultrasound machine.
“Good afternoon!” the woman said cheerfully. “My name is Ophelia, and I will be checking out your little bundle of joy today. Are you the father?” She looked expectantly at Akim, who looked like a deer in headlights.
Maddy repressed a grin. Apparently he had never been asked that question before. He looked a little pale under the harsh office lights.
“Yes,” he breathed.
Ophelia nodded. “Looks about right. So funny when they look all terrified, like they’re the ones that have to do anything, am I right?”
She gave Maddy a knowing smile, and Maddy swallowed. She hadn’t really wanted to think about the whole childbirth thing yet. There would be time to prepare for that later.
“Right. Well why don’t you get comfy and lay down on the exam table here. Dad, you can sit in the chair on her side over there.”
Akim took the order and slid into the seat beside Maddy as she lay down. The technician pulled the ultrasound machine over and began preparing the equipment.
“First baby?” she asked brightly.
“Yes,” Maddy said, watching the woman with rapt attention.
“The first one is always interesting. Let’s see what you’ve got for us today, shall we?”
“Sure,” Maddy said.
The woman lifted Maddy’s medical gown to reveal her slightly bulging belly, smearing a blue gel along her abdomen before placing a little wand over her stomach.
“Well, that sure sounds like a strong little heartbeat. Congratulations! You have a healthy child growing in there.”
Maddy looked at the black and white ultrasound screen, hardly breathing. She could tell there was a little wiggling going on in there, but that was all she could discern from the pixilated image. She felt a warm hand slide into hers, and when she glanced over, she met Akim’s warm stare before they both turned back to the screen.
The woman moved the wand around a little before her expression furrowed. It was the last look Maddy wanted to see on a doctor’s face, and her stomach clenched with worry.
“Could you two give me a moment? I just need to get a second opinion on something. No need to panic.”
“Sure,” Maddy said, barely breathing.
The woman stepped from the room, and Maddy instantly turned to Akim.
“Something’s wrong. There must be a side effect that we didn’t consider. This was a huge mistake!”
Akim stroked the back of her hand, trying to reassure her. “We don’t know that yet, Maddy. Don’t jump to conclusions. All she wants is a second opinion about something. That doesn’t mean it’s something bad.”
“But what if it is?”
Akim squeezed Maddy’s hands, forcing her to acknowledge him as her heart went wild with fear. “Maddy. Look at me. We’re going to be okay. This child is going to be okay. You need to calm down, for his or her sake.”
Maddy took several deep breaths, trying to listen to his words and make her body relax. She held on tightly to his hand as they waited for the technician to return, which she finally did, with another doctor in tow.
“Hello there,” the older man said, his tone pleasant and entirely unworried.
Maddy nearly screamed. What were they doing? What was wrong with her baby? She had to know!
“Ah, a first-time mother I see,” the man said, barely repressing a grin.
“How could you tell?” Akim asked.
“I’ve seen that anxious look a thousand times before. Please, don’t be concerned. I’m just going to take a look to con
firm what my colleague has found before we say anything for certain.”
The doctor rolled the ultrasound machine back up and Maddy revealed her stomach once again. She held tightly to Akim’s hand, more grateful than ever that she had found the courage to ask him to come with her. Dealing with this uncertainty alone would have been unbearable; having Akim there was a lifeline she hadn’t known she would need.
The doctor sprayed some more of the gel along Maddy’s belly before rolling the wand along her stomach, first on one side, then the other, as he carefully watched the ultrasound screen.
Finally, Akim spoke. “Well, doctor? Is the baby okay?”
Maddy could hear his own anxiety, and in a weird way, it soothed her to know that the Sheikh felt the same worry for their child as she did.
The doctor broke into a wide grin. “The baby is absolutely fine. In fact, all of them are.”
Akim and Maddy stared at him while they processed that statement.
“What do you mean, all of them? Are you saying we’re having…twins?”
Ophelia chuckled. “You could say that, it’s just that you’re going to be having two sets of twins at once.”
Maddy felt Akim drop her hand, and she looked back at him. He was staring at the technician in complete shock.
“Well, I can see this news is a lot for you to take in, but, like I said, it looks like all four babies are perfectly healthy. With quadruplets, we will have to be especially careful monitoring this pregnancy. It’s very likely you’ll need to take early maternity leave and that we will have to perform a C-section to deliver all the babies safely. Would you like to see them on the screen again, now that the number is confirmed?”
Maddy gulped, and nodded.
The doctor bid them a warm farewell before leaving them in the hands of the technician, who moved the wand this way and that until Maddy and Akim had gotten a good look at all four little bodies.
“It’s a little squishy in there, but they seem to be quite comfortable, and they are all a good size, considering.”
Ophelia printed out a series of images and handed them to Maddy, who reluctantly released Akim’s hand as she took them.
“I’ll leave you now. You can get dressed, then set up your next appointment at the desk. By that time, we’ll be able to determine the babies’ genders, if that’s something you’re interested in learning.”