Page 30 of Beautiful Ascension

“You’ll have it before the end of the week,” I state.

She dips her head, and then the screen goes black.

Spinning in my chair, I fist-pump into the air. This is the biggest break we’ve had in months.

I turn back to the monitors as my fingers fly across the keyboard.

A genuine smile curls my lips at the sight in front of me. Ariah’s lying on her bed, fast asleep—her hand resting on her baby bump.

Wyatt thought he was slick, enlisting the Jacobis to help him put cameras in her room. He should know. Not much gets past Q.

“We’ll all make this up to you, Dove. Just hold on a little longer.”

14

ARIAH

“Twins,” Shay exclaims, staring at the sonogram. “I still can’t believe I’m going to be an auntie!”

Even after it was confirmed, I still couldn’t wrap my brain around the fact that two lives were growing inside me. “You and me both,” I quip as Reign parks the car in the student lot on campus.

He and Elias will be my guards today while Fernando works on some secret project with my dad. Everyone was tightlipped, outside of saying it was a personal matter when I questioned what he would be doing. My guess is that it has something to do with his family in Polanco.

Shay and I both have classes. She has chemistry, and I have sociology. I’m still miffed that we don't have even one class together this semester.

“Were you able to find out what you’re having?” She asks as we unbuckle and gather our bags.

My sixteen-week appointment is next week, and Dr. Jaffri said if I wanted to and the twins weren’t being shy, I could find out the sex of the babies.

“Not yet, and to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure I want to. The only thing I care about is having a safe and healthy pregnancy. Everything else is pretty much white noise.”

Shay waits until we’re on the sidewalk before speaking again. “Sigh. Fine. Out the window goes my gender reveal idea,” she laments in quite a dramatic fashion, placing the back of her hand on her forehead and throwing her head back like a damsel in distress.

I snort, “You really need to be a drama major instead of a science one. I think you’d have a more lucrative acting career than one in forensic science.”

“You wound me further,” she gasps. “Have you not heard of Henry Chang-Yu Lee?” My face scrunches, and when she notices my confusion, she continues. “He’s only, like, one of the fathers of forensic science. He’s helped solve numerous cases through crime scene investigation and reconstruction.”

Her excitement is palpable, making me smile. She knows I was only joking, but her joy makes me grateful that she’s still here with me. I shudder at the thought of how close I came to losing her.

“You could play a forensic scientist on television like they do on CSI or Dexter,” I joke.

She rolls her eyes. “I know at your last appointment you mentioned Dr. Jaffri looking into what could’ve happened with your implant. Did anything come of that?” Shay steers the conversation back to the original topic.

I shrug. “We have some ideas, but until we find the doctor who was supposed to put in the implant and didn’t, we won’t know who was responsible.”

“But you used condoms as well. Shouldn’t that have helped mitigate the probability of you becoming pregnant if the implant failed? I mean, I know condoms aren’t one hundred percent, but they should’ve helped some, right?” Shay inquires, handing me back the ultrasound pictures as we walked across campus.

I nod. “It should’ve, but as you said, they aren’t foolproof, and without knowing why the doctor didn’t insert the implant, choosing instead to give me a fertility shot, I won’t know the extent of why this happened.”

We’re approaching the Quad, where we’ll separate when she asks, “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

“Nope. I’m absolutely not sure, but I know when all options were presented to me, the path I chose felt the most right.”

I’m too young to be a mother to one child, much less two, but I knew the instant I heard their heartbeats, I’d burn the whole fucking world to the ground before I let anything or anyone harm them.

Shay hugs me. “And I’ll be here with you every step of the way. Even if those ras eediots can’t pull their heads out of their asses.”

I squeeze her back but don’t respond. Any mention of them still feels too raw after what happened earlier this week. Since then, I’ve seen one of them in each of my classes, but they don’t speak or acknowledge me. So, I’ll do the same.

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