Two Heartbeats
Isabel and I sit in one of Dr. Marvin’s clinical rooms. Today she gets her first ultrasound. We get to hear the heartbeat and find out the sex of our baby. I have yet to clear all of Hero’s things out of his room in my house and pack them in boxes, then sending them to storage until I get my house renovated for a much bigger family. I’ll never turn Hero away. We had way too much of that growing up. Hero will always be welcomed to my home and in my life. He’s my baby brother and I’ll be responsible for him until the day I die…
Isabel gasps and shifts on the examination table, the thin white crepe paper crackling noisily underneath her.
I rise to my feet and stand over her as if I can somehow help her. My mind is as frantic as her expression. “What’s wrong?”
“The baby’s kicking,” she says through a smile. She takes my hand and places it on the side of her little belly. “Come feel.” A sudden thump nudges my palm and I smile so wide my cheeks are aching. A burst of fierce pride erupts low in my stomach and spreads quickly throughout my body.
I did that.
That’s my child inside of her.
She grins and tilts her head towards me, her eyes wide and shimmering. “How does it feel?”
“Like heaven,” I whisper.
She sets her hand on top of mine, entwining our fingers together. “We’re having a baby, Hunter.”
Nodding, I sweep her dark hair from her forehead. “No going back now, Isabel.”
“I know,” she says as I wipe the tears rolling down her cheeks with my fingers.
“Ready to get started?” Dr. Marvin asks, tapping on the door before walking in.
“Yes,” she says as I hold her hand tight in mine.
“Alright, let’s get started then,” he replies, snapping white latex gloves on and rolling up her blouse until her tiny baby bump is fully exposed. He sits on his rolling stool and grabs a bottle, squirting a generous amount of clear gel on the top of her stomach and begins to move the scanner around.
The heartbeat is a strong one and it’s all I can hear.
Isabel and I both look at the monitor, showing her womb in black and white.
He clicks and types something in the keyboard and clicks again.
Isabel gives my hand a squeeze.
I return the squeeze and kiss her nose.
He looks at the monitor and moves the scanner down her lower admen and the width of her ribs. His borrows furrow.
“Is something wrong, Doc?” I ask.
“Hmm.” He clicks and moves the scanner again. “There are two heartbeats. Congrats. She’s pregnant with fraternal twins. You have a boy and a girl. The girl was hiding. I had to double check.”
We both release our pent-up breath and smile at each other.
“The babies are healthy?” I ask, feeling incredibly mystified knowing she has twins inside of her, my twins inside of her.
“As far as I can see,” he replies. “Look here. Do see their arms and legs and little feet.”
We both nod, speechless.
“Mom’s healthy and so are the youngsters.” He clicks something and a row of photos begin to print from the machine. He wipes her belly clean and she pulls down her shirt. Dr. Marvin removes his gloves and washes his hands and then turns to face us. “Have you been having any problems or pain I should know about?”
“No. I just feel like a stretching balloon now.”
“Oh, it gets better,” he says in sympathetic tone, patting her arm. “Wait until you get into your third trimester.” He snatches the photos from the machine and hands them to me. “I treated your broken bones and tummy aches and gave you both lollops at the end of your visits. Now you’re going to have children that I’ll have to tend to and treat.” His bows his head, peering over his red glasses resting on the bridge of his nose and his bushy brows rise to his hairline. “I have my work cut out for me.”
Isabel and I glance at one another and burst into laughter.
***
We stop at Roxy’s Diner for dinner. Isabel brings a few fries to her mouth and chomps on them while her free hand clutches the ultrasound pictures, her fingers curling around the edges. “I can’t believe we’re having twins.”
“Are you worried?”
“No and yes,” she answers, never removing her eyes from the photos. “I know you’ll be the best father you can be. I just don’t want them to endure the excruciating heartache we had to endure.”
“They will never have to,” I reply, reaching across the table to hold her hand.
“What about Grace?”
“She doesn’t exist for them, or us.”
“Is it that simple?”
“If I say it is.”
Isabel exhales and nods, taking a sip of her strawberry shake. The top of her nose is dusted with a thick white layer of whipped cream when she leans back in the booth. I place my elbows on the table and lean forward, my face serious and my eyes on her. “Come here, baby.”
Her pretty mouth spreads into a grin, her brows furrow in confusion. “What?”
I lift a brow, fighting an impish grin. “Come here.”
Her head tilts to the side as she eyes me skeptically. “What is it, Hunter?”
“Come. Here. Now.”
She stands, moves around the table and sits directly beside me in the booth. “Happy?” she asks, sarcasm bleeding from her tone.
Grasping her chin between my pinched fingers, I lick the cream off her nose and press my mouth to hers. She clamps her lips together in defiance and I drag the tip of my tongue across the seam of her sweet pouty mouth that tastes of the finest strawberries. I bite the edge of her jaw hard enough for her lips to part in a stunned gasp and I take advantage, slipping my tongue inside and kissing her deeply. She groans into my mouth, her hands reaching up to knot firmly in my hair. I only break the kiss when she’s breathless and squirming. Slowly trailing my lips up the curve of her jaw line and pressing them to her ear, I whisper, “Now I am.”
She laughs in delight, curling her fingers in my hair. “I make you happy?”
“You make my life.”
Her eyes gloss over and her expression gets soft. Her fingers run throughout the length of my hair and she tugs it lightly once she reaches my nape. “I make your life?”
“Every day,” I whisper in her ear.
She leans in further, placing her lips at my ear. “You’re all I dreamt about, Hunter.”
“You’re all I ever wanted, Isabel,” I say to her neck before pressing a kiss there. “You’re all I need.”
Her fingers get tense in my hair, the pain spiking throughout my scalp and shooting straight to my dick. She loosens her grip a moment later, snuggling into me. “You’re worth all my suffering, Hunter. I’ll take the misery if I get to have you in the end.”
My heart almost splits from the sadness in her voice. “Baby,” I murmur, my nose gliding up her neck and feeling the weight of her words in my chest.
“I love it when you call me ‘baby’ when you’re inside of me,” she says through a grin. “But I love you saying that more right now.”
One of my hands drop to her legs below the table and I stroke her bare thigh that the fabric of her skit fails to cover. “You hungry, baby?” I ask, not referring to food at all.
She pulls back to look at me, her eyes have gone dark with and the desire within them is enough to steal my breath. They’re almost black. “I’m starving.”
At her words, my cock twitches. “Let’s get you fed then.”
I make sure Isabel is stuffed full when we get home. I feed her so much that she falls asleep on my chest with me still inside of her.
Isabel has me.
All that I know is I’m fallen for her.
I’m completely gone for her.
She’s better than I imagined her to be in my wildest fantasies.
I love this girl with everything I am and with everything I will be.