Page 6 of The Un-Apparent Heir

“And now I’m just embarrassing myself. But I cannot stop crying.”

“Shhh, shhh,” Winston held her, ignoring those disembarking. “It’s not that at all. Perhaps, you’re right? Maybe I have been a little… distracted in dad mode, but… Lucy, I love you.”

“Not enough to make any form of physical intimacy a priority beyond your constant dropping of breadcrumbs about us having another baby. And I don’t want that. Not right now. I want you. I want to be married and happy. We rushed in and?—”

“Okay, okay, shhh,” Winston said. “That’s not it. Deep breaths, Lulu. Just deep breaths. I didn’t realise you were so upset.”

“I would have hired a fucking skywriter, Winston!”

“Wonder if Nat would do that?”

Lucy snickered.

“Who am I kidding? If you asked her, she would.”

Lucy smiled. “Maybe. Okay, well, let’s go home.”

Winston stood and held his hand out to Lucy. “No. I think I have a better idea. Just give me a moment to orchestrate it.”

“Okay, well, now I’m just terrified?—”

“You don’t trust me, Lucy?”

“Do I have a choice in the matter?”

“No,” Winston chuckled. “Trust me on this.”

“You still sure you don’t want to take a test?”

Sanne knelt over the toilet in her mothers’ house in Union Pier, vomiting violently. Her twin sister, Linnea, perched on the big bathtub to her right.

“Linny, it doesn’t matter. I’m not drinking and?—”

“You are pregnant. I can tell. Your face is puffy. That’s what happens when you get pregnant.”

“Thanks, Linny. Fuck off!” Sanne grumbled.

“Why are you so resistant to taking a test?”

“Because I’m on vacation. I just got married. Everything is in flux and?—”

“Sanne, Paul is going to be so excited.”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen like this!”

“I get the feeling you weren’t trying to stop it… so what is the story there?”

“We didn’t suspect it would happen within the first two tries, okay? It was a romantic idea. Paul wanted to try. He was rather obsessed with the idea. His obsession made him detail-oriented.”

“Uh-huh,” Linny giggled. “Detail-oriented.”

“I swear I saw God. No, it was that good. And now, I regret everything.”

“I am running to get you a test,” Linnea opened the door and ran into their mother, Elisabeth.

“It’s been done,” she said in her native Norwegian, handing Linny a box.

“What?” Sanne asked.

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