Page 55 of Snowed In with the Bosses

“Like you could.” Ethan held out a hand, his palm up toward her, a peace offering. “We will be present as fathers, Clara.”

Clara settled her palm against Ethan’s.

“No questions asked,” I added, putting my hand on top of hers. “We’re a team. We do this together.”

Alexander relaxed muscle by muscle until he shook out his fists and added his hand on top of Ethan’s and Clara’s. “A team. Can I be captain?”

Laughter barked out of my chest in a hard cough. “You’re a sick bastard.”

“Comes with the devastating good looks.” He flashed a smile that I’d seen women swoon over in this very bar, then he turned serious again. “I mean it, Clara. I’m in this. I understand why you hesitated. Can you trust us enough to keep us up to date?”

She bit her lower lip, worrying it between her teeth. “I have an ultrasound appointment tomorrow.”

A collective breath shared between all three of us brought us closer together. “We’ll go with you.” Alexander slid his other hand beneath Ethan’s, making a tangled mess of fingers and hands sandwiched between his. “And I promise you that Allan will be dealt with.”

Damn right he would be. No more surveillance and waiting for the man to make a move. One wrong move and we’d have him out the door.

Alexander released our hands. I stood and gathered up the shot glasses and Clara’s empty water bottle. I had the glasses washed and put away before Alexander and the others left the booth.

“Can you take me home? I’ll meet you at the doctor’s office tomorrow.” She tapped Alexander’s phone. “I texted you the address.” Once again, she pushed us aside in favor of being alone. It was a sucker punch to the throat to realize we’d lost her trust and confidence.

It would take time to build it back, but we would. I’d see to it myself.

After taking Clara home and making arrangements for the following day, I fell into bed exhausted and woke up excited for the appointment. Alexander picked me up and then Ethan. We barely spoke the entire drive to the doctor’s office, and even once we were in the waiting room with Clara. The intimacy of the moment dried out my throat, making it impossible to say more than one word every few minutes.

Clara stayed subdued and quiet through the questions as we were led down a white corridor and shown into a sterile room with zero personality. It was all gray paint, white counters, and beige chairs, muted colors that sucked the life from the space. I hated it, even as I loved why we sat in the horrible chairs.

Father. I was going to be a father. We all were, in some capacity. We hadn’t worked out the semantics yet, but we would.

A woman in pink scrubs hurried in, a smile firmly in place. She kept her attention on Clara sitting on the crinkly paper stretched over the uncomfortable exam table. “How are you feeling today?”

“Fine.” Clara leaned back at the nurse’s nudge on her shoulders and stretched out her legs. “Will we find out the sex today?”

“Probably not. We typically do that at twenty weeks, so you’ve a little while to go.” The soft smile widened when she picked up a wand-looking thing and a squirt bottle. “If you’ll lift up your shirt, we’ll get started. Now, the gel is a little cold. I put it on the warmer but don’t be surprised if it’s not up to temperature yet.”

Clara nodded, her lip between her teeth. She turned her head away from us and toward the black screen.

“Okay. Let’s see.” The lights dimmed and the nurse waved at us. “You can come over if you want. There’s no reason to hide.” Her soft laugh said she’d used that phrase before with other nervous fathers.

It eased some of the worry from me and helped me stand and make my way over to Clara’s side. I held her hand. Ethan touched her shoulder, then settled his hand on her arm. Alexander kept his hands in his pockets, but his leg pressed against Clara’s knee.

“Hmm.” Static appeared on the screen, then a glob of black and a blur of static inside. The nurse moved the wand around on Clara’s stomach. “Interesting.”

“I don’t like interesting,” Clara complained with a fearful note in her tone. “I want boring. Safe. Not interesting. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” The nurse stopped and snapped off her gloves. “I’m going to get the doctor to come in and verify my findings.” Her smile appeared forced when she squeezed Clara’s knee. “Be right back.”

“What the hell?” I almost went after the woman. How did you make a claim like that, then walk away?

Before we panicked, a short, stout woman with black hair cut in a fringe and a no-nonsense attitude marched in. She looked at the screen, at Clara, then at us. “Clara, honey. You’re having triplets.”

Every ounce of oxygen left the room. My head swam but I focused on Clara. “Breathe. Don’t freak out.”

“Don’t freak out?” She squeezed my hand until the bones creaked. Tears rolled down her cheeks in fat drops. “Triplets. Are you sure?”

The doctor pointed at the screen, each black circle with its little bean-shaped dot of gray. “Baby A. Baby B. And Baby C. All there, all with heartbeats and growing well. We’ll leave you alone for a few minutes.” The doctor exited the room with the same march in her step, like she hadn’t blown up our lives even more with that blast of news.

“Triplets. How?” Clara threw her arm up over her eyes. “How the hell are we going to manage triplets? I can’t do this. One baby was scary enough. Three? That’s impossible.”

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