Which, to my incomprehension, I kind of felt like I was right then. My stomach churned with nausea, though bizarrely, at the same time, my stomach also growled with intense hunger. I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed, the movement making me suddenly dizzy. That’s when it hit me.
"Oh, my God."
I'd been expecting my period the day before, but it hadn't arrived that morning, like it usually did. Then I'd completely forgotten about it. Now, a few different things suddenly made sense. Namely, my feeling of nausea and disgust while eating my sandwich the night before. My seemingly increased appetite of the past day or two. Tiredness that had made me sleep in until eleven in the morning.
"Oh...oh, my God."
I knew the symptoms of very early pregnancy, and I was pretty sure I had many of them. This upset me, because I wasn't quite ready yet, for fate to "help" me decide between Grant and Adrian, as Fiona had thought it might.
However, I knew that just because I was having a few symptoms, and just because I was now technically late for my monthly cycle, that didn't necessarily mean I was pregnant, by any means. I knew I really could have simply been coming down with a bug. I knew my symptoms could have simply been the effect of stress catching up with me and doing strange things to my body.
At the same time, I was beginning to get a feeling in the pit of my stomach, a feeling beyond an icky churning sensation. Something told me that my symptoms weren't from a bug or stress. Just in case, though, I headed for the bathroom, just to see if maybe I'd gotten my period overnight.
I hadn't. I had, however, staggered my way to the bathroom, pausing once while gripping the edge of the dresser, because my dizziness had intensified. And now I sank to my knees on the bathroom floor, sure I was going to be sick. Soon I was leaning over the toilet while my stomach heaved up its contents.
After that, both my nausea and dizziness immediately passed. I actually felt pretty great very quickly. Great, except for being absolutely starving, anyway. I was becoming more and more certain about my gut feeling.
After very thoroughly brushing my teeth, showering, and dressing, I joined Mil, Fiona, and the boys for lunch down in the family living area, and I worked hard to try to disguise my voracious appetite, forcing myself to eat a BLT sandwich at the same pace as everyone else. I wanted to kind of be alone with my suspicions for a while, and not share them with Mil and Fiona, just in case I was wrong.
When I couldn't resist starting in on a second sandwich, Mil gave me look over the top of her coffee cup. "You seem to have gotten your appetite back. That's good. But I wonder why so suddenly."
Her expression was unreadable, but somehow, I just knew she had some little hint something was up.
Not wanting her little hint to turn into an even bigger one, I washed down a bite of sandwich with a sip of milk, then tried to smile as normally as possible. "Stress eating, probably. The whole situation with the wolves."
Mil studied me over the rim of her coffee cup for a long moment before speaking again. "Well, of course. Stress can also make a person very tired, too. Tired enough to sleep in until lunchtime."
Now Fiona's gaze was on me as well. I took another bite of my sandwich, not wanting to respond to Mil, and just then, the boys began fighting over some toys they'd brought to the table, requiring Mil and Fiona to break them up and take them to their separate rooms.
Fiona and I spent the afternoon at her art studio, and I felt great the whole time I worked on my different pottery and ceramics projects. However, when we were leaving the studio around five, I got a sudden little dizzy spell and had to rest against the doorframe for a few seconds. Fiona asked if I was okay, and I nodded, mustering a smile.
"Just fine. Just need to rest more lately, probably. The stress of the wolves catching up with me lately, I think."
Fiona's happy-go-lucky, bubbly personality was definitely at odds with her mom's, but at times, she could get looks that were nearly identical to hers. Shrewd, knowing little looks. Like the one she was giving me right then. But almost as soon as it had come across her face, it disappeared.
She smiled, crinkling the corners of her big brown eyes. "Fate catching up with you lately, did you say?"
"What?"
Still smiling, she hooked an arm through my own and began leading me through the doorway. "You heard me."
I had. I wasn't in the mood to talk about fate. Not quite yet. Thankfully, Fiona didn't bring it up again that day. Despite me being unable to resist eating a very hearty dinner, Mil didn't have any other little comments, either.
After dinner, which Grant and Adrian had eaten during a council meeting, the two of them stopped home briefly. Mil and Fiona went to get the boys washed up and put to bed, giving Grant, Adrian, and me a little privacy to visit on a couch in the living room area of the family quarters.
I sat between the two of them, with them both holding me, Grant smoothing my hair and Adrian running a hand up and down my arm. I asked how their day had gone and then they asked about mine, and I began telling them about my time in the art studio and the different projects I'd been working on. After a short while, I trailed off, tears suddenly and inexplicably filling my eyes.
I sniffled, trying to blink the tears back. "Sorry."
Grant and Adrian both immediately asked what was wrong, concern and alarm evident in their voices. I just shook my head, because I didn't exactly know what was wrong. At least not wrong enough to bring tears to my eyes right that minute.
With his arm still around me, Grant gave me a little squeeze, frowning. "Please tell us what's wrong, Lila. You know you can tell us anything."
I shook my head again, blinking back more tears. "I just don't want this to end. Just us. The three of us."
Grant and Adrian exchanged glances, and Adrian opened his mouth to speak. Before he could even get a single word out, he was interrupted by the blare of the alarm sirens, which was loud, even inside the house. I knew he and Grant would have to dash off quickly.
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, already kind of over the wave of emotion that had made me cry. "I'm fine. I'm just really tired lately."
It was the truth. I was suddenly so tired right then, all I could think about was going to bed, even though it wasn't yet eight o' clock. Grant and Adrian exchanged glances yet again, and Grant asked me if I was sure I was okay.
I nodded. "Absolutely fine. Just tired. Just want to go to bed."
Both of them frowning, he and Adrian helped me up from the couch, and then each of them took turns holding me tightly for a few moments.
When it was his turn, Adrian spoke near my ear in a quiet voice, though not so quiet that I couldn't hear him above the sound of the sirens. "Just know that we both love you so very much. We'll talk more later."
They both soon left, and I went up to bed, thinking that Adrian had come very close to the heart of my problem. The problem being that they both loved me so very much, and I knew it, and I loved both of them so very much. Soon, maybe even before the wolf situation was dealt with, I was going to have to make a choice, because fate was pretty much going to make me.
If I really was pregnant, which I was becoming more and more convinced of, I knew it wouldn't be right at all for me to choose to spend the rest of my life with the brother who was not the father of my baby. It might not even be allowed according to some rules of mating in Sun Creek; I had no idea. Like I'd ever be able to make up my mind to choose one brother over the other in the first place.
I knew I really had no choice but to let fate take its course. If by the following morning, I still hadn't gotten my period, I'd confide in Mil and Fiona and see about getting a pregnancy test. I didn't, however, want to say anything to Grant and Adrian until, and if, the test came back positive. I knew they were going to be quite busy the next day making further plans for the Stony Creek attack anyway.
I still hadn't gotten my period by the following morning, which honestly didn't surprise me at all. By now, I knew. I was pregnant. I
knew it in my gut. I knew it because I'd woken up at three in the morning and had to dash to the bathroom to get sick, and then several hours later, I'd woken up feeling completely fine. Just starving. And with just a little wave of dizziness that washed over me the moment I sat up in bed.
Over breakfast, while Brandon and Martin played with toy cars out in the living room area, I told Mil and Fiona I thought I needed to make a visit to the doctor.
Mil raised her dark eyebrows. "Oh? Feeling a little bit sick? Or just a little bit pregnant?"
I nearly spit out a mouthful of tea and ended up choking on it for a second.
"How...how did you-"
"Well, for one thing, your skin has been absolutely glowing the past couple of days. Exactly the same way mine did almost immediately with both of my pregnancies. Your cheeks have become the loveliest, prettiest shade of pink, and Fiona and I know you don't wear blush. That's what made us first get to talking. And then we added up a few other things earlier this morning, before you came down, and...." Mil sighed, a little smile curving her full mouth.
"Yes. I think you should definitely see the doctor. We'll have her and the nurse come here, though. They do house calls for our family. No need to have half the people in the city talking about spotting you at the medical center before Grant and Adrian even know anything's up."
I wholeheartedly agreed.
Later that morning, Dr. Bradley, a heavyset older woman with short gray hair, gave me a brief physical examination right in my own bedroom, and then her nurse took a sample of my blood. Before the two of them left, Dr. Bradley said she would call me with the results of my pregnancy test in about an hour.
"The test for paternity will, however, take a bit longer. Maybe several hours, as our lab technicians like to be very thorough, and they'll run the test twice."
The next hour didn't go by as slowly as I'd thought it might. I wasn't as anxious as I'd thought I'd be, either. Pretty much because I already knew. When Dr. Bradley called and told me I was pregnant, I wasn't even the tiniest bit surprised.
It was the next several hours after that that dragged. While a misty gray rain began to fall outside, making little pockets of fog float up from the yard, Mil, Fiona, and I sat in the kitchen with mugs of tea.
After spooning a little sugar into hers, Mil looked up at me. "Oh, by the way, just so you know, you getting in the safety cage with me and Fiona now will happen only over my dead body."
I was so tired I barely had the strength to argue, so I didn't. Though part of me still wanted to help protect the city, another part of me felt like it was enough that Grant had just agreed to let me do it. He trusted me again, and that was worth more to me than anything.
When my phone rang after just two hours, I snatched it up, hands shaking. All at once, I was desperate to hear the results of the test for paternity, while at the same time, I felt like I never wanted to know. I'd have the baby, and I'd be content to have its paternity always be a mystery. So long as I never had to make a choice between Grant and Adrian.
I knew that wasn't realistic thinking. I knew that wouldn't be fair to Grant, Adrian, or the baby. I had to act like a grown woman and face this situation head-on, come what may. I had to hear the results of the test. I had to let fate do its thing. Though I was dreading it.
After putting my phone to my ear, I forced myself to make my voice work. "Hello?"
It was Dr. Bradley, and she asked if I was sitting down. Stupidly, I nodded, only realizing after a long moment that she couldn't see me.
Embarrassed, I cleared my throat. "Yes. Yes, I'm sitting down."
She said all right, and then went on to say that unfortunately, she didn't have the results of the test for paternity yet. "I'm calling right now for a different reason. I have something else to tell you, something quite remarkable that the new medical technology from Ashcrest has allowed us to learn, just from your blood test alone, and even at this very early stage in your pregnancy."
She continued on, saying a few other things that didn't really register. They did, but they didn't. I heard the words, but just kind of couldn't believe them.
Soon I thanked Dr. Bradley, ended the call, and set my phone on the table. Mil and Fiona looked at me expectantly, but I found I just couldn't speak.
After a long moment, Fiona reached across the table and gave my hand a squeeze. "So, tell us. Is Grant going to be a dad, or is Adrian?"
Finally finding my voice, I shook my head. "Dr. Bradley doesn't know yet. But I'm having twins."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Mil and Fiona both gasped, exchanging glances. Fiona's hands flew to cover her mouth.
Mil looked at me with her dark eyes as wide as I'd ever seen them. "Twins? Really?"
I nodded slowly, still in a state of complete shock. "Dr. Bradley said this will be the first set of twins in Sun Creek in over fifty years."
With fertility rates as low as they'd been the previous several decades, twins had been almost unheard of, anywhere. Even in the present, with fertility rates rising, they were still nearly unheard of.
I wasn't quite sure how I was ever going to get over the shock. But within moments, I realized I was going to have to find a way to get over it pretty quickly. Grant was calling, I was sure just to check in, as he or Adrian did most afternoons. Suddenly, I wanted to tell them the news. I wanted to tell them both about the twins. I couldn't wait.
I told Mil and Fiona it was Grant and asked if they minded stepping out of the family area for just a minute. "I just want to talk to Grant and Adrian alone."
Immediately Mil and Fiona stood, and Mil said they'd go check on the boys, who were making something with Mary in the chef's kitchen.
Once they were out of the family quarters and heading down the hallway, I answered the phone with a little tremor in my voice. Grant immediately asked if I was okay, and I said I was.
"But...are you somewhere private where you can talk for a minute? And is Adrian with you?"
Grant said yes to both of my questions, and I continued.
"Okay, good. Then, can you put me on speaker so I can talk to you both at once?"
Soon I heard Adrian saying that I was on speaker and asking if everything was all right.
"Yes, I'm fine, but...last thing before I tell you both some news. Wherever you both are, I want you to both sit down.”
Within moments, Grant said that they both were sitting. "Now, please, Lila. Tell us what's going on. I'm hearing something in your voice that's making me very worried about you."
I took a deep breath. "I'm really, really okay. But...I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant with twins."
Suddenly, all I could hear was static for a long moment, and then nothing. I wondered if maybe Grant had dropped the phone.
"Grant? Adrian? Are you still there?"
Another moment of static, followed by Grant's voice.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart. You're cutting out. The last thing we heard was you saying that you're really, really okay. Which we're both very glad to hear. So, just take it from there."
I took another deep breath. "I'm pregnant. And I'm having twins."
More brief static again, followed by Grant's voice.
"Sorry, but we still can't hear you clearly. You're cutting out."
Sighing with frustration, I got up from the table and began heading down the hallway to go outside through the front door. It was said that cell phone reception post-Freeze was nowhere near as good as it had been before, and reception in Sun Creek was certainly no exception.
There simply weren't as many towers around as there had been before the Freeze, and on cloudy days, like this one was, calls were frequently dropped or interrupted by static. It usually helped to go outside.
Once out on the front porch, I tried again. "Grant? Adrian? Is this better? Can you hear me?"
A guard circling the massive house in human form glanced over at me and slowed in his walking. Knowing it was probably safe for me to step out into the yard as long as he was nearby, I d
id just that, asking Grant and Adrian again if they could hear me. I heard Grant say a few muffled words as a response, so I knew the signal was getting at least somewhat better.
Stepping out a little further in the yard, beyond a cluster of tall evergreen trees ringed by misty fog, I waved at the guard, who was maybe twenty feet away. "Just trying to get a better signal. If you could just stay fairly close, but if I could also have a little privacy at the same time, I'd appreciate it so much."
He nodded and continued strolling around a copse of fir trees bordering the side of the yard.
I continued on through the yard, my jeans becoming a little dampened by low-lying fog, although it had now stopped raining, which I was thankful for. "Grant? Adrian? if you can hear me better now, please just say something. I'm just going to go a little farther out now. But don't worry. One of the guards is very close by."
Simply Bears: A Ten Book Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance Collection Page 118