Page 49 of Defying Her Arrogant Boss

For a split-second Lissa stopped breathing, unwilling to understand what he meant.

‘Twins.’ Rory said it aloud.

‘Congratulations.’ The doctor beamed.

Not one, but two. Denial burst out of her.

‘But I can’t be pregnant; I’m on the pill!’

‘It can be easy to forget one.’ The doctor printed out a picture and then switched the equipment off.

‘But I haven’t. I didn’t!’

He handed the picture to Rory, then looked at her.

‘Been on any other medication recently—antibiotics?’

Her head thumped back on the pillow. Antibiotics. For her chest infection. Of course.

‘You have.’ The doctor smiled at her kindly as he moved to take his seat at his desk again. ‘You need to use another form of protection while taking the antibiotics because they can reduce the effectiveness of the pill.’

Lissa nodded dumbly. How could she have been so dense?

Dazedly she righted her clothing before stepping out from the curtain to join the two men. As soon as she sat Rory reached out and took her hand in his. Hers shook while his was firm.

‘Are there twins in the family?’ The doctor tapped notes into his computer.

‘Not that I’m aware of.’ Not in her mother’s, but she had no idea about her father’s.

‘Twins are increasingly common. There is some research to suggest that your chances of conceiving twins are higher if you conceive while taking the pill, and also the frequency of intercourse can be a factor.’ She couldn’t look at Rory. High-frequency sex, huh? She supposed she should be grateful they weren’t having triplets.

She zoned out as the doctor started talking about care for the next few months. Twins. Two babies. Double the work, double the money,double the fun—an imp whispered to her. It was Rory who took the information sheets he offered and Rory who asked the questions. She sat in shock. The thought of going through this alone terrified her. She thought she might just handle one; it would be hard, but if her mother had done it, then so could she. But two? At the same time? And she realised her ability to choose her future had been taken away from her. There was no choice.

She sensed the appointment was concluding when she heard Rory quietly ask another question.

‘Can we still...uh...?’ His voice trailed away. ‘I don’t want to hurt her, or them.’

The specialist obviously understood the silent bit in the middle. ‘Intimate relations won’t do anybody any harm, but you might need to get creative a few months down the track because she’s going to be very round with this pregnancy.’

He still wanted to have sex with her? He was still interested? Despite the shock and stress a flicker of pleasure surged. She still wanted him too, but the situation had just taken an even more dramatic turn and there was more to a relationship than sex. Even the most amazing sex didn’t make a marriage work.

She paid no attention as the next appointment was booked and was quite unaware of how they ended up walking along the footpath back to the car.

* * *

Rory breathed in deeply, needing an extra dose of oxygen to help clear his head. Twins. He couldn’t believe it. He hadn’t wanted to believe she was pregnant at all, not logically—he didn’t see how it was possible. But he’d had a feeling in his bones. Was there such a thing as male intuition?

The antibiotics. It felt good to have that explained. He hadn’t doubted Lissa, had believed her when she’d said she was on the pill. Figured maybe she’d forgotten it once. Hell, he hadn’t really thought about it at all. He was still trying to get his head around the whole idea.

And now there were two.

Double the amount of nappies and noise and half the amount of sleep as one baby. It didn’t bear thinking about.

He glanced at her. She was staring down at the footpath, her hand lax in his, not holding him, but not pulling away either.

‘Talk to me,’ he said.

‘I can’t believe you asked that.’

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