Page 38 of Before You Go

“Caputo?”

“What?” Franny looks over at me as she gets up.

“You still have your ex-husband’s last name?”

“Yeah, I haven’t had a chance to get it changed yet.” She tips her head to the side. “Are you going to come back with me?”

“Yeah.” I get up and follow behind her toward the nurse, who is waiting for us with a smile on her face and a clipboard in her hand.

“How are you feeling today?” she asks Franny as we step through the door she’s holding open. I glance at her badge; it says her name is Harlow and that she’s an RN.

“All right. A little nausea, and I’ve had this headache I can’t get rid of,” Franny tells her as we stop at a scale in the hall. She takes off her sandals and steps up onto it.

Her answer is more information than she’s given me. Every day, I send her a text just checking on her to see how she’s feeling, and every day, she messages back that she’s okay, with a single heart emoji and nothing more. It shouldn’t bother me that she’s put up a wall between us, especially when I’ve had my own walls in place, but it does.

“We’ll talk about that with Dr. Bride today.” She jots down Franny’s weight. “You two are going to be in room four.” She starts leading us toward the room but steps to the side when a door opens, and a woman—so far along in her pregnancy, she looks uncomfortable—steps into the hall with a man at her back who looks terrified.

“Is everything okay?” Harlow asks, and the woman shakes her head.

“Dr. Bride is sending me to be induced. We’re gonna go home and get the dogs sorted before we head to the hospital.”

“It will be okay,” Harlow assures her. “I can’t wait to meet the babies.”

Babies? As in more than one?

Shit, no wonder the guy looks terrified.

“Me neither.” The woman smiles, rubbing her belly, which is so large I’m surprised she doesn’t topple over from the weight of it.

“Good luck.”

“Thanks.” She laughs while the guy looks about ready to pass out.

Flexing my hand, I step into the room Harlow brings us to and half listen as she tells Franny it will just be a few minutes and to make herself comfortable. As Franny takes a seat on the side of the exam table, I look around. There are framed photos of babies on the walls and posters filled with information. So much information.

“Are you doing okay?” Franny asks, and I focus on her. “You look like you might pass out.”

“Do you have twins in your family?”

“No.” She laughs. “Do you?”

“I don’t know.” I scrub my fingers through my hair as she studies me. “I went into foster care when I was young. I don’t know much about either of my parents' families.”

“You—,” she starts, but there’s a knock on the door before it’s opened, cutting off whatever she was about to say.

Not that she needs to say anything. It’s obvious from the look on her face that she feels sorry for me. She shouldn’t. I was better off in foster care.

“Francisca.” A guy who doesn’t look much older than me steps into the room with Harlow right behind him.

“Hi, Dr. Bride.” She smiles as he turns to me, holding out his hand.

“Are you Dad?”

Shit, I’m going to puke.

“Yeah.” I take his hand and see Franny jerk in surprise. Hell, I surprised myself with the answer that came so easily.

“Congrats, man.” He lets my hand go and focuses on Franny. “Harlow told me that you’ve been having headaches.” He walks toward her.

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