He stood and picked up his cell phone, checking for messages again.
“Stop worrying.” As if he could. Adam had so many family members to worry about now, both blood-related, adopted, and those he’d brought into the Masters at Arms Club. Their kink community was strong and supportive of each other.
“I’m sure Megan’s fine now that your Marine is there to take care of her.” Apparently, the night before last someone had broken into their brother Patrick’s condo where Megan had been staying since graduation early last month. Thank God she hadn’t been home at the time of the burglary. Grant and Adam had located one of the Marines they served with who was living nearby, and he had sent him to check on his little sister immediately. Both of them had reported in yesterday that everything was fine.
Karla had never heard Adam mention this Marine before. Most of the ones he had been close to had attended their wedding, except Wilson.
Dark circles under his eyes and what she once thought were laugh lines at the sides of his eyes were testament to how he took on the troubles of his loved ones.
But he obviously didn’t understand what she’d meant by her earlier comment. One more contraction, and she would grab his attention. These babies seemed anxious to meet their parents—much sooner than expected.
As her enormous belly hardened with the next one, Karla timed it at almost exactly five minutes since the previous one. “Adam, I mean I think it’s time for the babies!”
He turned from his path toward the door. Eyes opening wider, his stare remained blank. “What did you say?”
“I thought I’d just been having more Braxton-Hicks practice contractions, but they’ve gotten progressively…” Don’t tell him how much it hurts. “…stronger… And closer together.” Doctor Palmer said one sign would be the inability to talk or smile through a contraction. “I have no clue what going into labor is supposed to feel like, but I think this is the real deal.”
She’d had to use every bit of the discipline Adam had taught her to hide from him the fact she was in so much pain. Mainly because of the expression on his face right now. Fear bordering on terror. She hoped he would make it through the delivery with her. She didn’t want to be alone for this.
He shook his head with firm resolve. “It can’t be time, hon. You’re not due for another six weeks. We still need to set up the bassinet, choose the right bottles for breastfeeding multiples…” He paused to glance down at his notes. “Hell, lots of things aren’t ready.”
Karla sighed as he ticked off all the reasons she couldn’t possibly be in labor before she reminded him of the facts. “We’re having twins, Adam. Doctor Palmer said they can come weeks early.”
He met her gaze. “But not six fucking weeks early!”
She’d rarely heard Adam shout before, much less drop the F-bomb around her. Hearing the anxiety in his voice only increased her nervousness. She blinked away the waterworks that threatened to spill. God, she hoped her hormones returned to normal quickly after birth.
Suddenly, a look of steely determination came over his face and he stood. He squared his shoulders like a man on a mission—Operation Delivery perhaps—and crossed the room to slide his arm around her back.
He tossed the notebook onto the bed. “Here, let me help you up, Kitten. We probably should get you checked out. Better safe than sorry.”
She leaned into him, wanting his comfort as much as to have him lift her enormous body out of this chair. She hoped that the next time she sat here she’d be holding both of her babies.
Her healthy babies. Doctor Palmer said at her last checkup the babies each weighed over four pounds. Big, healthy babies for multiples this early. That must be a good sign.
Please, God, don’t let me lose either of them. Adam had already had one baby stillborn with Joni. The thought of losing a baby after carrying him or her all these months…
Don’t go there, Kitty.
Adam steered her toward the door. “I’ll call Doc Palmer’s service on the way to let them know we’re heading to the hospital.”
Any control she had over her emotions went out the window. She was about to start a whole new chapter with Adam. He held on to her arm as they navigated the winding staircase. When another contraction hit, she stopped on the landing.
Adam turned toward her. “Eyes on me.”
Her body responded in typical fashion to those words, only this time, her heart dropped into her stomach with a solid Ka-thunk! A mild contraction followed, and she placed one hand over her enormous belly and the other on Adam’s shoulder for balance.
He didn’t miss a beat. “Don’t fight it, Kitten. Breathe. We Marines have a saying—pain is weakness leaving the body. Inhale.”
She shook with the effort but managed to take a deep breath and to exhale slowly on his command. “I…just want…these precious babies…to leave my body.”
* * *
Two hours later, Karla had been admitted to the maternity department with steady contractions, although the IV in her hand was supposed to stop them, if possible. Her blood pressure was good, but the contractions continued to come closer together and stronger. While they waited for a nurse to check her again and for Doc Palmer to show up, it couldn’t hurt to do some relaxation techniques.
“Eyes on me, Kitten.” She grimaced before locking gazes with him. “Breathe in. Slow, deep breath.” He ought to take the same advice, but couldn’t if he wanted to. If anything happened to Karla or the babies…
Don’t go there.
They did several repetitions, and Karla seemed to relax before another contraction hit. Adam stared at the monitor showing the babies’ heartbeats. They seemed strong and steady, but what did he know? He tried to keep his focus on Karla through the next two contractions as they continued to breathe together while he stroked her belly, happy to have something to do besides sit and watch the monitors.
When her abdomen grew hard under his hand, he met her gaze. “Did you feel that?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Is it normal?”
“How should I know what’s normal?”
She’s in labor. Cut her some slack.
A nurse came in, checked the screens, and then did yet another pelvic exam. “Doesn’t look like these babies plan to wait. You’ve gone from two centimeters on admission to four now. We’re in active labor. Radiology should be here soon to do your admission ultrasound.”
“Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s totally routine with multiples.”
True to her word, activity picked up in the room as a male technician wheeled in a machine that looked more elaborate than the one in Doc Palmer’s office. Adam held his breath, waiting to see that both their babies were moving, had healthy heartbeats, and were okay. He’d dreaded every scan they’d undergone up to now, always expecting the next one to be abnormal.
Don’t think about Joni facing the birth of their stillborn baby all alone. He’d been deployed when she needed him the most.
Adam leaned closer to Karla and pressed his fingertips against her temple. “I’m here, Kitten. I’m going to be with you through it all. You’re the strongest woman I know. You’ve got this.” His throat nearly closed at the thought of what she would have to face to bring his babies into the world. “Just remember there’s purpose in this pain.”
“Like a good impact session, Sir?”
The technician chuckled until Adam’s glare sobered him. Let him think what he wanted. But if his submissive wanted to compare childbirth to kink, so be it.
“Even better, Kitten. Soon you’ll be holding our babies.” He continued to stroke her temple and felt her body relax. For good measure, Adam pressed his lips against her forehead. “I love you, Kitten.”
“Love you, too, Sir.”
With the ultrasound monitors hooked up, the tech pointed out the two heads. Everything seemed routine until the man made a sound that put Adam on full alert. While he quickly recovered his stone-face demeanor when Adam glan
ced over at him, Adam’s heartbeat ramped up double time. He hoped Karla hadn’t noticed.
“Is…is everything all right?” The fear in Karla’s voice told him she hadn’t missed a thing.
“Your OB will be in shortly to speak with you.” He left the machine and started toward the door. “Be right back.”
As soon as they were alone again, Karla turned to him. “Something’s wrong, Adam. What aren’t they telling us?”
“Don’t jump to conclusions.” As if. He’d long ago jumped to a few of his own. “Doc Palmer will be here soon to talk with us. Why don’t you close your eyes and rest? You need to conserve your energy.”
She closed her eyes, and he alternated between stroking her belly and forehead, watching her calm down for him. He forced himself to take some slow breaths of his own and was doing fine until the door opened and Karla’s eyes shot open. They both watched a worried-looking Doc Palmer enter the room.
Adam zeroed in on Doc Palmer’s face. His heart pounded in earnest as he reached for Karla’s hand. Something was wrong. “What is it, Doc?”
“Adam, let go. You’re hurting me.”
He realized he had a death grip on her hand. “Sorry, Kitten.”
Adam turned back to the obstetrician who was running the wand through the goop on Karla’s belly. Hell, he had to ask. “Karla and the babies aren’t in any danger, are they?”
“Don’t worry.” The rote words did nothing to reassure him as the doctor stared intently at the monitor. That made one person in the room who wasn’t worried.
“Karla, Adam, I don’t know how to tell you this. How we could have missed it on the earlier ultrasounds confounds me, but you aren’t having twins.”
Fuck! One of the babies must have died because he had definitely seen two heads on the ultrasound pictures. Karla glanced over at him, her face blanched. This couldn’t be happening. He’d already lost one baby. How could God allow—
“No, there’s definitely a third baby.”
What? He and Karla swung their focus back to the doctor. “What did you say?” they asked simultaneously.
“It’s clear that there is a third baby in a third amniotic sac. The other two must have been hiding it all this time. I thought your labs were high, but the two we could see were bigger than most, so I attributed it to that.”
“Another baby, Doc? Three?” Adam’s throat had grown so tight he could barely get the words out.
“Clear as day.” Doc Palmer turned to Karla. “I know you wanted to try for a vaginal birth, but triplets mean an automatic C-section.” After a quick exam, she stood. “Four and a half centimeters. I’m surprised you haven’t complained about these strong contractions, Karla. You must be able to tolerate pain better than most.”
Her lips quivered as she attempted to keep from grinning, but failed miserably. “My coach is helping me stay focused on my breathing.”
“Well, Adam, just keep taking care of her. I’m going to pull the teams together, and we’ll take you into the OR shortly.”
Left alone again, Karla’s silence worried him after a few minutes. “You okay, Kitten?” She nodded and turned tear-filled eyes toward him, twisting his gut. “Don’t cry. You heard the doctor. Everything’s fine. Just not what we were expecting.” He hoped his words sounded more reassuring to her than they felt when he spoke them.
“I wanted to have a vaginal delivery.”
That’s what she was crying about? “Hey, let’s not worry about how these babies arrive. Only that they come into the world healthy. If that means a C-section, then bring it.” Okay, easy for him to say. He wouldn’t have his gut cut wide open. God, if they intended for him to watch… The thought of Karla going under the knife made him sick, but he wouldn’t risk their lives if it was the only way.
The full impact of the doctor’s words hit him. They were taking Karla to the operating room now. Those babies could be born in the next couple of hours.
This shit just got real. Am I fucking ready for triplets?
Hell, he wasn’t even ready for twins and he’d known about them since February. How many times would he have to say the word triplets before reality set in?
He just prayed there would be three healthy babies when this was over.
* * *
Karla cast a worried glance at Adam. The expression on his face made her wonder if he would make it through a C-section delivery. She truly didn’t want one, but would do whatever it took to give Adam three healthy babies.
Three babies! She couldn’t believe it. Wait until she told Mom and Daddy and all their friends. Of course, she had told her mom they were expecting twins to allow her to make plans to take vacation from work as soon as the babies arrived. Karla would need her more than ever. At Adam’s insistence, though, no one else knew—not even Cassie. Everyone would be floored.
Karla had expected her only surprise to be finding out the sexes of the twins, not that a third baby would be added to the Montague household. They weren’t identical, either, so that meant there could be babies of both sexes. Picturing Adam with a baby in each arm and a third in his lap made her giggle.
“That’s it. Just think happy thoughts.”
Dear Lord, just let them be healthy!
Regaining her focus, she decided June was perfect. Adam’s birthday was on the fourth and Marisol’s on the twenty-fourth. Now three more family members would have a June birthday.
One thing was certain, she’d be happy to have the pregnancy part over. Some women might love being pregnant, but it had been one long period of frustration for her—not just sexual deprivation, but her ever-changing body. No wonder she looked like a whale.
Three babies!
“Why some women choose to have a second pregnancy is beyond me.”
“What, Kitten?” Adam tore his gaze away from the baby monitor screen. He’d been giving the monitor the Dom stare as if he could will it to obey him. She giggled. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” She sighed, wishing he’d give her that stare again—and mean business.
Karla tried to move to adjust her position to a more comfortable one, but there was none. The monitors limited her to lying on her back or sides. “I just don’t think I ever want to be pregnant again.”
“I hear you.”
What did he mean? The relief in his voice surpassed hers. Tears sprang to her eyes. “You mean you don’t want to have any more kids?”
Adam stroked her belly. “I didn’t say that. I’m your labor coach, not to mention your Dom. I’m just trying to be supportive. But don’t worry. I think you women have some kind of hormonal mechanism that makes you forget the pain and aggravation. We fathers don’t have that luxury.”
“Oh, please.” She rolled her eyes before glaring at him. “Don’t even go there telling me how hard this is on you, Adam.”
Adam laughed. “Point taken. If childbirth was up to men, well, there wouldn’t be any overpopulation problem to worry about.”
Karla stared long and hard at him. “Just so you know, though, we aren’t going to remain celibate any longer than necessary after the babies arrive, Adam. I’ve waited long enough.” She hoped her warning tone made that perfectly clear.
He chuckled. “Don’t you worry; I’ve been planning our first time again for months.”
“Don’t tell me that now! You know Doctor Palmer isn’t going to give the go-ahead for sex for at least eight weeks after this C-section.”
“There are lots of things we can do short of having sex.”
Well, why didn’t he do any of those things these past few months? Okay, they had enjoyed that one night in April at the hotel’s honeymoon suite, the same room in which they’d spent their wedding night. She blushed, thinking of the many ways he’d brought her body so much pleasure that night.
“Anticipation is good for you, Kitten.”
He’d also become more cuddly lately, holding her close in bed. Her smile faded. Unfortunately, as soon as she fell asleep, he left to sleep else
where in the house for fear of hurting her if he had another night terror like the one apparently triggered by Marc’s interrogation scene. That incident could have been so much worse if he’d jumped like that and landed on her belly instead of flying over her and winding up crouched on the floor.
Adam’s phone buzzed, and he checked the screen. He furrowed his brows. “It’s my mom.”
“You’d better take it.”
He nodded and answered. “Mom, is everything okay?”
Karla could hear the woman’s voice from the cell phone. “I’m fine. I thought I would see how Karla’s doing.”
Adam met her gaze and raised his eyebrows in question.
“Go ahead,” Karla whispered. “She’ll know soon enough.”
Adam had been afraid to jinx the chances of both babies surviving to birth by announcing they were having twins. Apparently, he was more confident now even with the third, perhaps because it was almost over and so far, so good.
“Mom, we’re actually at the hospital now.” Mrs. Gallagher’s next question was about how things were going, to which he added, “Everything’s fine. She’s in the early stages of labor, but they’re going to need to do a C-section.”
“It’s so early! Is there a problem?”
“Yeah, well, it turns out we’re having triplets.”
“Whaaaatttttt?” The scream of the usually calm, collected woman made Karla smile. Adam’s blunt way of delivering the news made Karla grin, too. As Adam filled his mother in on the news about the imminent arrivals, Karla felt her cervix twinge again. She looked up at the ceiling to find her focal point and took a deep breath.
“Mom, Karla needs me, but I’ll call you back as soon as I can after the babies are born.”
“Wonderful, Adam. I’ll be down as soon as I can arrange for Megan or Patrick to bring me.” Being older and a paraplegic made it difficult for her to travel alone.
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