A Pregnancy Scandal by Kat Cantrell Page A

I’m only at eleven weeks,” Alex said as her pulse started hammering in her throat. “Is something wrong? Is that why you want to do one?”
    Dr. Dean waved at the nurse to roll the ultrasound machine over to the examination table and smiled at Alex. “I guess that depends on your definition of wrong . One explanation for the severity of your symptoms might be twins. An ultrasound will tell us, and if you are carrying multiples, finding out sooner is best.”
    â€œTwins?” All the blood rushed from Alex’s head as Harper clapped gleefully from her spot across the room. “Oh, my God.”
    One baby felt like a huge enough responsibility to raise without damaging him or her. But two babies?
    The sonographer pulled up Alex’s gown, poured warm goop on her abdomen and then rolled the wide white wand across Alex’s stomach. The black-and-gray screen near the table blurred and shifted with each movement and a blobby thing appeared.
    Alex’s heart stopped, and when it started beating again, it was too big and tight for her chest.
    â€œIs that the baby?” Alex whispered, eyes wide so she didn’t miss anything.
    Phillip should be here. He should be holding her hand and watching this miracle unfold with her. Her throat ached with emotions she couldn’t name, and she wished he’d care enough to be here to experience all of this, too.
    â€œYes,” the sonographer confirmed, grinning. “And there’s the other one. Dizygotic twins, or in layman’s terms, fraternal. See how there are two distinct placentas?”
    Twins. Alex’s eyelids fluttered closed and then she pried them open to watch the sonographer type into the machine. Xs and dotted lines appeared.
    â€œWe’re measuring their size so we can monitor growth,” she explained. “Dr. Dean will want to do more ultrasounds as you progress to ensure we don’t have an imbalance.”
    Alex nodded, too overwhelmed to speak. Babies. She had two babies in there sloshing around and causing so much havoc with her stomach. No wonder.
    â€œSo that explains your severe morning sickness,” Dr. Dean said gently. “That’s good news. Means nothing more serious is wrong. You’ll probably start to feel better by about twelve or thirteen weeks, so not long now.”
    The doctor wrapped up the appointment with some additional tips and instructions and answered all of Alex’s and Harper’s questions. When Alex sank back into the seat of Harper’s Mercedes, she let her head fall back against the headrest, too weary to think. Harper chatted about how great the news was all the way back to Fyra, and Alex let her talk, mostly because she couldn’t get a word in edgewise. And her throat was too tight to make a sound.
    Back in her office, she debated how to break the news to Phillip. There was no telling how he’d react. It was a reality they’d never even contemplated. Would they have to hire two nannies now? Have two nurseries—or did parents of twins typically put them in the same room?
    In the end, it didn’t matter. Phillip didn’t answer his phone, even though she called him four times, fifteen minutes apart. Finally, she sent him a text message:
    Went to the dr today. Guess what? It’s twins.
    Phillip was going to get his full-blown family much sooner than he’d anticipated.
    * * *
    When Phillip finally walked out of a three-hour meeting, the only thing he wanted to do was get something hot to eat and cold to drink. He grabbed his phone and briefcase from his office and waved to his admin, Linda, as he left Capitol Hill for the day.
    The week had crawled by. Barely an hour had gone by that he hadn’t thought about Alex, what she was doing, whether she felt better, if she was getting used to living at his house. He’d picked up his phone four or five times to send her a funny text message, like he’d done when they were still