Page 31 of Grave Kisses
“Someone fucking tell me!” I snap.
“I see two babies with two strong heartbeats,” the nurse says. Her voice is so calm that I forget to freak the fuck out for a moment. “Do you want to hear?”
“Did you say… Oh no…” I say quietly.
“Look here,” she says, turning the screen. “See those little flickers?”
“Yeah…”
“Those are the heartbeats,” she says. When she clicks a button, the room fills with little thumping sounds. “Baby A is at 145 beats, and baby B is at… 152.”
“They are okay?” I ask. “I didn’t…”
“They are very well protected, Mama,” she says with a sweet smile. “They don’t really get above the pelvic bone until closer to twelve weeks. They are doing great.”
“I’m pregnant… with twins…”
“You are,” she says. “I’ll get you some pictures printed.”
“Uh… okay,” I say. She wipes my belly off before turning back to the screen. A few seconds later, she pulls the pictures off a printer under the screen and hands them to me.
For a split second—not for long but long enough to forget—I think about calling Alan to tell him the news. Only I can’t call him. I will never be able to share this with him, or anything else ever again. That hurts worse than anything so far since he died. Knowing my children will never know just how amazing he was… hurts.
Dr. Trask sees how out of it I am, so he turns to Marcus and Bellamy. “She needs to get an appointment with an obstetrician to establish care. I can write down my wife’s information if you'd like, she is one.”
“Thank you,” Marcus says.
Everything goes by in a blur. Marcus signs the discharge papers while Bellamy gets me up and helps me get dressed. I am a bit sore, but I am mostly just stunned. I did not expect any of this. I have had so much on my mind that I didn’t even think about having missed a few days of my birth control. I have been late so many times because of stress, so that didn’t register either.
When we get back to the truck, Bellamy sits in the back with me, but no one makes me talk. All I can think about now is how I was fully intending on killing myself, but now I have two babies to think about. They didn’t ask for this, but I want to give them a life that I wish I had. I will be for them what Alan was for me.
When we get to the house, I am exhausted. Bellamy doesn’t give me a chance to get out before he scoops me into his arms and carries me inside. “I can walk,” I say.
“You can also fly down the stairs with very little effort,” Marcus says casually.
“Speaking of flying,” Bellamy says as we go upstairs. “I love how you were allOh, I wanna fly, and God was all,Bitch, shut up. You can fly over here and change these diapers.”
“It’s freaky how nonchalant you are about making suicide jokes,” I laugh.
“Eh. Sometimes we have to make light of dark situations in order to find the silver lining,” Bellamy says, sitting me on the end of Marcus’ bed. “No more hiding out in the basement.”
“Okay,” I say softly.
“You’ll sleep between us every night, you’ll let us take care of you, and you’ll stop trying to off yourself by falling in random places. Kay?” Bellamy continues.
“Ooo. Tough luck, bud. I’ve been clumsy my whole life,” I say with an innocent smile. “I’ll try to be more careful.”
“I hope you understand we are not letting you out of our sight until we are confident that not only you are safe from Archer, but also yourself,” Marcus says.
“I don’t want to be alone anymore,” I admit.
“Good. Let’s get dressed for bed. You need some rest. We can handle everyone else tomorrow.”
“Mkay,” I yawn. I stand up and undress down to nothing before Marcus pulls one of his shirts over my head. When I climb into bed, I face Marcus, and he pulls me to his chest while Bellamy snuggles up close behind me.
“I’m sorry,” I say after a long stretch of silence.
“For what?” Marcus asks.
