Page 58 of Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc

Reeling...

Twins?How could Georgia have kept such important information a secret?

They’d become so close since she’d shared the terrible story behind that scar on her arm.

She’d wanted to tell him something else that night, hadn’t she?

But he’d stopped her.

Why?

Because he’d known that whatever it was she had been about to say was difficult? That maybe she hadn’treally wanted to tell him at all?

Again...why...?

Any baby was a miracle. Twins were something very special. He knew that. His sister had been doubly blessed with little Mita and Lia. It was something to celebrate, not hide...

Unless she had believed that, for some reason, it put her in jeopardy?

Somehow he kept his hands moving. The baby girl was small but looked fine. She was breathing welland nicely pink. He wrapped her in soft, clean towels to keep her warm and then turned his attention back to the arrival of her brother or sister. A breech delivery, this one, which kicked his focus sharply back into place. This one had to happen slowly. Gently.

He heard the sounds of the ambulance crew arriving, the bang of the door and the rattle of stretcher wheels behind him.

‘Don’t push,’he warned Georgia. ‘It’s very important.’ He turned his head and spoke to the first paramedic to enter the room. ‘Grab some cushions off the couch, please. I need to get her hips higher than her shoulders.’

‘It’s a breech?’

‘Yep.’

‘You’re doing a great job, Georgie,’ the second paramedic said, depositing an oxygen cylinder and pack of gear onto the floor. ‘Couldn’t wait for us, huh? Looks likewe’re only going to be a taxi to get you into hospital.’

Georgia wasn’t listening. ‘I have to push,’ she groaned.

‘Okay...we’ve got this...’ Matteo cradled the tiny buttocks that were on the move. A boy this time...and...thank goodness, he was going to be all right. His tiny limbs were twitching as soon as his head was delivered, his chest heaving as he made the immense effort of sucking inhis very first breath.

‘I can’t believe it’stwins.’ The paramedic who seemed to know Georgia very well had picked up the baby wrapped in towels. ‘Good grief, champ, you’re good at keeping secrets, aren’t you?’

Matteo was lifting her son in his arms, ready to place him skin to skin with his mother as the other paramedic clamped and cut the cord. His gaze snagged Georgia’s.

Yes...she was goodat keeping secrets all right...

‘Are they full term?’ the paramedic asked.

It felt as though Georgia was struggling to pull her gaze away from his but couldn’t quite manage it.

‘No,’ she said quietly. ‘They’re nearly five weeks early.’

And there it was.

The ground seemed to be slipping away from beneath Matteo’s feet as he found the answer to all those unanswered questions.

This was whyGeorgia hadn’t told him.

Maybe it was also why he had shied away from allowing her to.

Because, even in the midst of the miracle of new life, it felt as if something important had just died.

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