Second Chance for Love

by April Zyon

  Mercy rubbed her hands together and laughed. “Her daddy has been talking to her a lot so that she knew we wanted to see her. Hopefully, she will show herself because Brant keeps calling her Junior. Oh, and please warm the gel before putting it on my belly? I know you, Doc, and you are just plain mean with that stuff.”

  “Me? Never,” he said with a chuckle. He rolled the bottle between his hands before pausing to smack the side of the machine. “Blasted thing has a personality like Monica on the best of days,” he muttered. Rolling the bottle again, he eyed the machine with a mixture of hatred and a hint of fear.

  “You poor man,” Mercy said with a sad smile to the doc. Poor man had to work with Monica, the town gossip, and that was enough to make anyone crazy. “Maybe you should get a new machine? It wouldn’t be a bad investment, you know. Especially since most of us here in town would rather come to you than go anywhere else.”

  “I’ve got one on order, but it was delayed. A storm up north put the shipping company into scramble mode. They are doing limited shipments of orders as they help with moving folks out of affected areas and goods in. Good folks they are, just wish they’d gotten me the new ultrasound prior to this. I’m pretty sure this one’s ready to go berserk and take me out.” Shaking his head, Doc looked at her. “It’s as warm as it’s going to get. Ready for it?” he asked with the bottle poised over her belly. Evil man that he was didn’t let her even reply, just squeezed a glob onto her belly.

  Mercy gasped and then bit her lower lip. “Crap on a cracker, Doc.” She shot him a look and noticed the self-satisfied smile on his face. “Oh you are ornery,” she grumbled. “That’s okay, though, it’s warming already. Now, show me my baby.”

  “Patience is a virtue, young lady. You really need to learn some.” He grabbed the wand, pressed a button, waited, and then smacked the machine again. “Come on you old battle axe. Don’t make me get out the chainsaw.” As if it had heard, the ultrasound machine sprang to life.

  Brant was snickering into his hand behind the doc. His eyes were laughing as he met her gaze and shook his head. Moving closer when she held out a hand, he took it in his and pressed a kiss to her fingers before holding it to his lower chest.

  Doc wiggled the wand through the gel, spreading it around a bit before he began to press down a little. “All righty now. Let’s see what we can see. Uh-huh,” he grunted. Moving the wand he paused. “Well, we have a hand.”

  “What else do we have?” Mercy asked, and wiggled slightly. “That tickles right there, Doc,” she grumbled when he eased the pressure on her lower belly. “So, come on.” She wanted to see the screen, but he wasn’t letting them, which was really crappy of him, in her opinion.

  “Hold your flipping shorts, missy,” he muttered with a frown. He was angling the wand this way and that, adjusting things on the machine, then froze. “Got you, you little bugger. Trying to hide from Doc Billings just doesn’t work.” He turned the monitor so they could see the image of their child—arms out, fingers flexing, the head, and what might have been two legs. “Your guess is as good as mine at this point as to the sex, but there he or she is.”

  Mercy smiled. “I think Brant might be right. I think it might be a boy.” The child was certainly stretched out the way that Brant liked to stretch out. “What do you think, Brant?” She wanted to lean closer, but was afraid to move because that would move the wand as well. “Can you tell what we are having?” She frowned and cocked her head to the side.

  “Not a clue,” he muttered. He rubbed a finger over her palm, and glancing at him, saw he had his head canted to the side, squinting at the screen. “Hell, if the doc hadn’t mentioned what was up there, I’d never have known that was an arm.”

  Doc Billings snorted out a laugh. “You’re not the first one to say that, though you are one of the few that admits it in earshot of the woman carrying the child.”

  “It’s the truth, Doc. Besides, we don’t keep things from one another, no matter how big or small they might be.” Brant smiled down at her before returning his squinty attention to the monitor. He tipped his head the other way and sighed. “Nope, I got nothing.”

  “Let me try something here,” the doc said. He turned the monitor back his way again and started fiddling with buttons as well as moving the wand around. “Damn, he’s got your stubborn personality, Mercy. And no, that wasn’t the gender, just the first thing to pop out of my mouth, so relax. Maybe if we, hmm, no, that’s worse. Come on, you little bugger, roll a bit or lift a leg for me.”

  Mercy watched the doctor, and when he turned the screen back to them, she could only smile. She saw it then. It was very evident that they were having a... “Oh shit.” Mercy said, and felt a little sick. “Am I?” She felt her vision waver. “I’m killing you,” she said to Brant, but was crying as well. “Freaking twins. For real? A boy and a girl. Congrats?” Holy shit. Twins. What in the ever-loving name of hell? How was she going to survive this? “Remember we talked about drugs? Well, tell me when you are hooking me up, Doc,” she teased, watching the emotions run over Brant’s face as well.

  Brant’s mouth was working up and down, but no sound was coming out. He looked flummoxed. With a shake of his head, he looked down at her. He leaned in and kissed her hard and fast. “I love you, Mercy,” he whispered against her mouth. “We want a pic of that, Doc.”

  “Yup, I’ve got it all on disc. I am printing you a pic too in case this damn thing decides to eat the disc instead of giving it up.”

  “It’ll be fine, baby,” Brant said softly. “Twins aren’t all bad, from what I remember of them anyway.” Chuckling, he brushed a kiss to her forehead before looking to the screen again. “Fuck me, twins.”

  “Yeah, I was a twin. We aren’t bad, but good lord. Twins.” She was having a devil of a time putting that fact together. “Oh lord. You do know that Megs is going to go insane, right? She was already starting to drive us both batty, but now with two babies coming? And Josh and Brandy are going to go insane as well since we are having a boy and girl too.”

  “My mother is going to freak out,” he said with a groan. His mother had already been going a little insane in her grandmotherly duties. “You do realize, as soon as we tell her there are two, we’ll be getting repeats of everything she already ordered, right?”

  “Oh God.” Mercy felt her head wanting to explode. “Well, whatever happens, we are in this together. We might just have to hide for a while, or better yet call Babies R Us and ensure that they know she’s coming.” Because that woman would shop and shop. She looked to the doctor. “They are okay, right? This doesn’t change anything for us?” She didn’t think it would, but she had to be sure. She might deliver early, but by the end of the pregnancy, she would be willing to deliver early.

  “They like her credit card too much to turn her away,” Brant muttered.

  “They are both healthy and moving around. The boy’s a bit bigger, likely why we only heard the one heartbeat originally. With her tucked under him, we won’t hear hers at all except for maybe a bit of an echo or off beat. Keep doing whatever you are doing, Mercy,” the doc told her as he wiped the wand and then her belly free of the gel. “Why don’t you get dressed and then have Monica set up your next appointment? After your next one, we’ll do another blood draw, mostly to keep an eye on your iron levels and ensure there’s no possible diabetes or anything else of that nasty sort setting in.”

  “Sounds good. Oh, and please don’t tell anyone? Again, it’s another hope of having Brant’s mom knowing and able to tell everyone before Monica or the others tell people.” She looked at Brant. “Should you go and call her? Let her know before anyone else finds out?”

  The doc snorted as he pulled a disc out of the ultrasound’s tower. “I’ll package this up and print off the couple of pictures I took. You have until Monica gets snooping to warn your mother to start the gossip train.”

  “Shit.” Brant dug out his phone fast and dialed. “Mama, yup, we’re just finishing up. Nope, this time I
’m letting Mercy tell you.” He handed her the phone with a smirk. Shaking the doc’s hand, he shut the door behind the older man.

  “Hey, Mrs. Carver.” Mercy shot Brant a nasty look. “Yeah we just had a chance to look at the sonogram.” She sighed. “Okay, okay, Momma Carver.” She rolled her eyes and looked at Brant with a grin. “So, we have something to say, something that’s not broken yet.” She waited for his mom to calm down and then said, “We are having twins. A boy and girl.” She had to pull the phone away from her head and looked at Brant. Holy hell, she mouthed to him.

  Chuckling, he moved back and took the phone from her. “Mama?” He helped Mercy sit up, staying close to her as he stared into her eyes. “Yup, that’s right. You’d better get on the horn if you want to get the news out before Monica. And goodbye to you too,” he muttered. Even Mercy had heard the loud click of the woman’s landline.

  Mercy laughed. She couldn’t help herself. “I’m sure she’s on the phone right now calling everyone and anyone she can think of. She’s likely trying to get as many people called as she possibly can so that she can tell people first.”

  Pocketing his phone he shook his head, but he was smiling. “More than likely.” Gently, he slid his hand over her arm as he stepped in front of her and between her legs. “So, I was thinking,” he said slowly. Very lightly, he eased his fingers down her arm, then back up.

  “Yeah? Whatcha thinking?” Mercy asked, and put her hands on his chest, letting them move up and down. “Thinking that we need ice cream? If so, I am totally down with that,” she said. “No?” He was a little too serious. “Brant, is everything okay?” Worry colored her tone now.

  “Dunno, sweetheart. I suppose it all depends on what you say. I know this isn’t really the place for it, but since I’m not exactly the most traditional guy around, I figured I’d throw it out there and see if you were interested or not. At least if you shoot me down, maybe the doc has something to help with the pain.”

  “Brant, you are scaring me,” Mercy told him, her whole body going a little cold. “What is it that you need to ask? What’s wrong?” She cupped his face in her hands. “Talk to me, Brant. What’s happening?”

  “Nothing’s wrong, love.” Leaning in, he kissed her gently. “I was just thinking that I’d really like our babies to carry the Carver name. Legally. Plus, the idea of tying you to me for the next sixty odd years has a certain scorching appeal. So, Mercy Jenkins, love of my life, marry me and do all the most horrible things possible to embarrass our kids each and every day with me?”

  Mercy couldn’t speak, not for several minutes. Finally, she pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed up his mother. She didn’t say anything to Brant, just dialed. When the woman answered, she said, “So, Momma Carver, seems as if I’m going to legally become your daughter because your son just asked me to marry him, and this is me telling you both yes.” She was smiling at Brant. “Got to go.” She hung up. “Sorry, figured that telling her now would give me the extra time so that you could kiss me. I love you, Brant, and I want forever with you. I had thought marriage would never be for me, but then you walked into my life and there is not another soul in the world I would rather be with.”

  “Thank God,” he muttered. Cupping her face, he kissed her, hard, fast, and deep as he slid one hand away from her face and down around her back. He pulled her in closer to him, tilting his head to change the angle of the kiss as he let out a low growl that reverberated through her.

  Mercy wrapped her legs around his hips and tugged him closer. She felt his clothed body pressing to her mostly naked one and moaned. She kissed him back, unable to hold anything back from him. When they parted, she was panting. “Goodness,” she whispered, and licked her lips. “Fantastic. I think you should ask me to marry you often.”

  “Once a year, promise.” Laughing, he dropped a peck to her lips. “We’d better get you dressed before the doc comes back to find out what’s taking us so long. Or worse, Monica.” With a shudder, he loosened her legs, and stepped back to take her hands so she could slide off the bed.

  “Yes, because if they come back, it will be to see both of us naked on this bed trying to figure out how the hell to keep on without falling off,” she teased. “You are right, though. I really don’t want Monica to walk in on us.” She pulled off the gown and started to get dressed. “So your mom is blowing up phones again, isn’t she? Although no one will know that you just asked me to marry you, so that’s good news, right?”

  “Not until I get you home and show you the ring.” At her look, he shrugged, hands in his pockets, rocking on his heels again. “I did get you a ring, but I wasn’t actually planning on popping the question here. Then it felt right, so I did. If you want a big formal proposal, I can probably manage that too.”

  Mercy hugged him when she was finally dressed. “I look forward to seeing the ring. Oh, and I will even let you take me out tonight to a steakhouse.” Yep, she was hungry again. “Beforehand, I think we should stop by the diner and get us a bit of lunch. I’m a hungry mama who’s incubating two babies now.”

  “Whatever Mama wants, Mama gets,” he teased. Turning serious, he stared down at her as she stood in the circle of his arms. “I love you, Mercy Jenkins soon-to-be Carver. Never, ever doubt that for a second, baby. You are my world, my reason for breathing, my future, and the only woman I ever could love.”

  “I never will.” She knew that the words came from the bottom of his soul and she cherished them. “Just as I love you. Always and forever, Brant Carver. I also love these two babies that we were blessed with. For now, though, let’s get out of here and go eat?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Giving her a squeeze, he stepped away to pull open the door. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he stayed at her side as they walked out to the front of the clinic, and toward the rest of their lives. Together.

  The End

  www.april-zyon.com

  Other Books by April Zyon:

  www.evernightpublishing.com/april-zyon

  If you enjoyed this book, you may also like:

  Whistling Dixie by Paige Warren

  Alex by Vanessa Devereaux

  Destined by Allyson Young

  Evernight Publishing ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com