“The doctor wanted to make sure how far along I was and did an ultrasound,” I told him as I gave him the little glossy picture.
Jesse stared down at the almost unintelligible blob of dark swirls in wonder. After a moment, he frowned. “Where is the baby?” he finally asked.
I looked over at Lucy and we both grinned. “Well, this little black thing here is a baby.” I told him and he nodded his bald head.
“Okay. I see it now.”
Lucy turned and got on her knees so that she could see the picture too. After a minute she touched her finger to the picture. “And that little black thing there is another baby,” she informed him.
“That’s cool… Wait! What?” He turned his head from side to side. Looking at first me, then Lucy, and then back to me again. “What does she mean by ‘there is another baby’?” he whispered.
I leaned forward and brushed a kiss over his slightly gaping mouth. “What she means, Big Daddy, is that we are going to have more than one new addition. It’s twins, Jesse.”
“Oh…” He blinked a few times, and I watched as tears gathered in his amazing eyes. “We’re going to have twins,” he whispered. “That’s amazing.”
“It sure is.” I reached for the cordless phone and started dialing. It rang three times before someone answered. “Hey!” I greeted when I heard Emmie’s voice. Before she could say more than two words, I interrupted her. “Can you come over? Like now? Run if you can!”
“Um…You aren’t hurt or anything, are you?” She sounded concerned.
“Nope, I just really need to see you.” I hadn’t seen my best friend in what felt like forever. Two weeks away from people I normally got to see on an hourly basis had been brutal. And now that she was home, and I had already shared my news with Jesse, I needed to share it with Emmie or I was liable to burst.
“I’m on my way,” Emmie assured me.
Jesse was still in a kind of daze staring down at the picture in his hands when the front door opened and Emmie came into the living room. Her hair was tangled around her face and Mia was hanging from her hip. Behind her was Nik, and I was just as happy to see him as I was Emmie. “Okay, I’m here!” Emmie frowned when she saw the look on Jesse’s face. “What’s up with Jess?”
Taking the picture from Jesse’s slackened fingers, Lucy jumped up and waved the picture at Emmie. “Look! Look!”
Emmie took the picture, and her eyes grew wide as soon as she realized what she was looking at. “You’re pregnant!” she exclaimed. “That’s awesome.” Her eyes were scanning the photo and I knew the instant she figured it all out. “Oh. My. GODS!”
Nik was laughing. “What is it, baby?” He glanced down at the ultrasound picture over her shoulder and frowned, unable to make out anything just as Jesse hadn’t.
“Dude!” Jesse was back to himself. “Nik, man. I’m having twins!”
“What?!” Nik took a closer look at the picture. “Holy shit! Good job, bro!”
It was a long time later before Jesse and I had any alone time. Lucy was finally in bed and Emmie and Nik had only left a few hours hour before. I was lying on our bed in Jesse’s arms and I couldn’t help but feel anything but completely and utterly happy. My eyes started to drift closed. Jesse’s lovemaking had really tired me out. After so much time apart, we had had a lot of loving to catch up on.
“Does Lana know?” Jesse’s question made my eyes snap open. “Have you talked to her?”
I sighed. Thinking about Lana always made my heart hurt a little. “I’ve talked to her every day on the phone…but I haven’t told her about the babies.” Like with everyone else, I wanted to tell my sister in person about her becoming an aunt.
“Maybe we should visit her,” Jesse murmured.
“Okay.” I snuggled closer, yawning as I closed my eyes once more.
“Layla?”
“Mm?”
“I love you.” He kissed the top of my head and I felt his breathing even out as he drifted off to sleep.
“I love you, Jesse.”