Page 43 of Doctor’s Surprise Twins

And now with the birthing center project and my being in charge of it, it could be months before I had time to do any more searching. Anger didn’t begin to describe what I felt. Or maybe it wasn’t so much anger as deep heartbreak I just couldn’t express any other way.

My car tires squealed as I peeled out of that parking lot. This was not at all how this was supposed to happen.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOUR

Maggie

Handingout my new phone number to all my old contacts was a pain in the ass. When I had the babies, I had lied to Derek about their father. I saw in his eyes the pain and hurt, but he hadn’t realized that I’d done it to protect him—mostly. Part of it was protection for myself, too. I needed time for my heart to heal. I’d come clean soon enough, but right now, I loved him too much.

The idea of seeing other people hadn’t been an option until Phillip had flirted with me, and at the time, that felt like betrayal. But the more time and distance I put between Derek and myself, the more I felt like one day, that would be an option. For now, I still cried myself to sleep at night regretting some of the choices I had made—mainly, falling in love with him. I should have known better than to think I had a shot with him.

“Hey,” Curt whispered, peeking his head into the nursery. The cold January day had frost clinging to the outside of the windows. I had been home for just over a month now with strict orders to Curt and Dad that I did not want to see anyone at all. “Dad told me Aunt Becky wants to come over.”

I rolled my eyes. “Proof Dad does not know what ‘absolutely no visitors or calls’ means.” I snickered and waved him in. “Come, sit.” I readjusted Jensen beneath his privacy cover and woke him up a little. He had a horrible habit of falling asleep while nursing and it left me sore.

“Isla is sleeping?” He peeked into the crib the babies shared.

“Shh, yes.” I patted the chair next to me. “Let’s keep it that way.” It was amazing how much better I felt being back home. The pregnancy hormones were slowly fading away, and despite a bit of postpartum depression aggravated by it being so damn cold, I felt almost back to normal.

“So I keep getting calls from Derek asking about you. He said he delivered the twins? I didn’t realize he moved to Evansville.” Curt gave me a hard stare. I could see the wheels in his head spinning. I wasn’t about to give anything away now, not after I’d come so far. I didn’t care at this point whether Curt was angry. It wasn’t even about that anymore.

Derek had broken my heart, pushed me away like a common street whore. He didn’t even care how I felt. I tried to walk away, but he kept sucking me back in and insisting that we had great sex together. Maybe the time away had given me clarity or perspective. Or maybe it had just made me bitter. The truth was even I didn’t know. What I did know was I was moving on without him because I had to.

I shrugged as if I thought it was nothing. “Yeah, he opened a practice there. I didn’t realize he was the attending at the hospital that night. My doctor was on vacation, and Derek just happened to be there.”

Jenson cooed, and I peeked into the privacy cover. His rosy complexion melted my heart. Trying not to put on a show for my brother, I readjusted my shirt to cover myself and folded the privacy cover down. Jenson had a milk ring around his face and smiled as his eyes fluttered shut. I wiped his mouth with my thumb and put him up to my shoulder to burp him.

“That’s it? Some strange coincidence?” His eyes searched my face like he thought I was lying. I was, but he didn’t know that.

I scrunched my face up and shook my head. “Yeah, why?”

“No reason.” Curt brushed his finger over Jenson’s cheek and smiled. I didn’t see all of the questioning vanish from his expression, but he didn’t push it. When Jenson let out a loud burp, I stood and laid him down next to Isla. They looked cute all cuddled up together, and I smiled thinking that getting their portraits done would be so adorable.

Curt followed me out of the room, and I shut the door quietly. I had the baby monitor clipped to my belt and headed for the kitchen. Nursing always made me so thirsty. When we strolled in, Dad was making tamales, Mom’s old recipe. She loved the things, and they had sort of become an unspoken family tradition around the holidays. He leaned over the counter, kneading the dough. He smiled at us as he noticed us.

“Looks delicious. I can’t wait to taste them.” I plopped down on a bar stool and watched his expert hands work the dough until it was pliable. Curt sat next to me with apprehension on his face. He dusted some flour off the counter onto the floor and grimaced.

“I just don’t understand why Derek keeps calling me.”

My gut clenched. Why wasn’t he letting this go? He had no reason to suspect anything. No one did except Derek, and he had been effectively shut out of my life, for his own good and mine. I found it almost impossible to remain calm. My nerves were shot. Keeping this secret was a lot harder than I thought.

"Well, Son,” Dad chimed in, “he was your best friend for more than a decade and he worked with Maggie here for what, five months? You know as well as I do that they had a bit of a spark back in the day.” Dad winked at me. “He delivered her babies. I’m sure he is just curious.” He folded the dough over on itself again and again, his aged hands following the well-practiced rhythm.

“That just doesn’t cut it. I mean, he’s pushy and aggressive, demanding answers. When I told him I can’t give him Maggie’s number, he just gets angry with me. Why is he doing that?” Curt stared me down, and I felt the color draining from my face.

I was about to open my mouth in rebuttal when the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it.” I hopped off the seat and hustled to the front door to open it. Aunt Becky was my lifesaver for that moment.

The door swung open, and to my surprise, Becky and her husband, Oliver, stood holding bags of gifts, a giant wrapped box perched on the front porch at their feet. “Aunt Becky!” I reached out for a hug then stood aside so they could enter. Oliver set his bags down then went back for the box. I had never been more grateful that Becky existed in my life than now.

“Oh, Magnolia, your mother would just be so proud of you. You are going to be such a good mother.” She set her bags down and turned to hug me. I accepted the second hug and the kiss on each cheek too. Normally, I hated this sort of interaction. Becky always brought up Mom as if she could heal a wound just by mentioning her name. But for this moment, the sting of that memory was less than the weight of guilt Curt was piling on me.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll just take these into the babies’ room?” Becky and Oliver nodded. He offered a quick hug too before they took their coats off. “Dad’s in the kitchen with Curt,” I called out as I picked up a few bags. I was excited to see what they had brought for me, but I was more relieved that I could avoid that conversation with Curt.

I worked slowly, taking the packages into the nursery, and when they were all in there, I sat alone in silence for a moment. If I got grilled like that too many more times, I would snap. I started to think that maybe living at Dad’s house wasn’t the answer I had hoped for. At this point, I didn’t know what the answer was. Derek knew where Dad lived. If he searched hard enough, he’d discover that I just moved home. Then all hell would break loose.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE

Derek

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