Page 77 of Baby I'm Yours

Which is why I’m still piddling, even as I grow as big as a house and week thirty-six is just around the corner…

But this is good. As uncomfortable as I am, I want the twins to have as much time to get big and strong inside me as possible.

Twins…

The word is still enough to shake me sometimes, even months after learning I wasn’t having one baby out of wedlock, but two.Twobabies. Two cribs, two car seats, two college funds—and just one little old me.

Ever since the doctor spotted those two heartbeats flashing on the ultrasound screen, I’ve been spiraling a little. Being asingle mom is a hard gig, no matter what, but being a single mom totwo?

I have begun to fear that I have bitten off more than I can chew, though I refuse to admit that aloud. Even to myself, let alone my sweet friends who keep offering, over and over again, to pay for a nanny for at least the first six months.

But I don’t want to be the charity case my friends feel badly for, and I don’t want their money. My pride is too strong for that…not to mention my sense of personal responsibility.

I got myself into this situation, after all. I’ll be the one to navigate the consequences of my actions, doing my best to make sure my daughters never want for anything along the way.

“Why don’t we put a pin in picking a décor scheme for now,” Maya says, glancing down at her cell. She types a quick response to a text—probably telling Anthony she’s missing him desperately while he’s away for a few days on business—before tucking her phone in her back pocket and collecting a box of secondhand baby clothes from next to the mobiles.

Her sister has been collecting things for me from her mom group, helping me prepare for the twins’ arrival without breaking the bank.

“It’s more urgent that we get as many onesies washed and ready as possible,” she continues. “And the car seat bases set up in your car tomorrow. Time grows short.”

“True,” I murmur with a shaky laugh, rubbing my swollen belly. One of the girls—I think it’s Baby A, the feistier one—gives me a reassuring kick against my palm. “Is it weird that I want to go into labor right now…andI want them to stay inside me forever at the same time?”

“Nope.” Maya perches on the edge of the chaise beside me, resting the box between us. “Everything up ahead is unknown for you, and the unknown is scary. But I promise you, taking careof a newborn is way more fun than being obscenely pregnant. I love this little monkey, but pregnancy sucked ass.”

I snort. “Preach, sister. I love you so much. I’m so glad you’re here to hold my anxious, sweaty little hand.”

“Always.” She grins as she threads her fingers through mine. “Ew.They really are sweaty.” When we’re done giggling, she scoots the box closer. “See if there’s anything youdon’twant in here. If it’s all good, I’ll take the box home and wash all these tonight.”

“Seriously, thank you so much for all you’ve done,” I tell her for at least the hundredth time. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“You probably could have called someone,” she says, arching a pointed brow. “The baby’s father, perhaps?”

I wrinkle my nose as I devote my full attention to the box of onesies and sleeper sets. “I told you. I’m a huge slut and have no idea who the father is.”

She grunts beneath her breath. “Right, and I’m the Queen of Cairo.”

“Your majesty,” I say with a little bow as I continue to rifle through the clothes. “I didn’t realize Cairo had a queen. I thought it was a city. Do cities have queens? They must, I guess, since you’re apparently the royal in charge.”

“I’m serious, Elaina,” she says, something in her tone making me think she isn’t going to let me push past this the way I have before. “He should be helping. You shouldn’t have to bear the full expense of everything alone, while also pushing your poor little body to the brink of collapse carrying two giant babies.”

I exhale. “I told you, I don’t?—”

“Especially when he’s a billionaire,” Maya cuts in, making my eyes go wide. She answers my unspoken question with a nod. “Yeah, I know it’s Hunter. I’ve known for months. Ever since those pictures we took at the lobster boil last summer popped upin my memories, and I saw the way he was looking at you. I did a little digging, following my hunch, and the pieces fell into place pretty quickly.”

I swallow, forcing the acid rising in my throat back the way it came. “What? What pieces? We were so careful. I mean, no one we know even saw us together in New York.”

Maya hesitates a beat too long, the guilt tugging at the edges of her mouth giving her away.

“Oh my God!” I gasp. “Youdidn’tknow! You didn’t know jack shit. You justtrickedme into confessing like a total jerk!”

“Hush, not so loud,” she says. “You’ll wake Mario. And then he’ll be screaming too loud for me to tell you that I love you…and that I told the woman who called while you were in the bath all about the pregnancy and the bed rest and everything for your own good.”

“What?!” I screech, causing Mario to shift restlessly in the sling, whimpering as he rubs his face against Maya’s chest.

“It was Hunter’s mom,” Maya says, making my eyes bug even further out of my skull. “She called the land line earlier, asking for you. She figured out that Sweet Pussy Café must beyourcafé by process of elimination and wanted to check in. She was on vacation not far from Sea Breeze and kept thinking about you…and how great you andHunterwere together. She said it felt like a sign, so she called to see how you were doing. And I told her. And she’s on her way here right now. That was her who texted. She just passed the old lighthouse and should be here any minute.”

“Shit,” I curse, my heart slamming against my ribs. “This is bad, Maya, this is so bad, you have no idea?—”

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