“Oh my God, James!” she whispered emotionally and lifted wet eyes to me.
The sight of her tears was like a kick to the gut, and I snapped to attention. “What? What is it?”
Doc patiently pointed to the screen again. “Baby A is right there. This is Baby B. And here is Baby C.”
“Three?” I choked out.
All I could make out were three little dark blobs. If he hadn’t told me what I was looking at, I never would have thought they were babies. But as I watched Doc shift the pictures in front of me by moving the wand inside of Willa, my heart melted in my chest. Then the room filled with the sound of their heartbeats. Willa began to cry and laugh, and it was all I could do to hold back my own tears.
Three babies. Holy motherfucking shit. How was that even possible? Sure, people had twins all the time, but fucking triplets? I thought that only happened when the parents used IVF or some shit.
“Looks like you’re measuring at about ten weeks, Willa,” Doc told her with a grin. “And everything is looking great. I want to get you into a specialist as soon as possible, though. Someone who deals with multiples on a regular basis.”
“Can you tell if they’re identical or not?” She tossed it out there just as the thought floated through my own mind.
He shook his head. “I can’t determine that, but the specialist might be able to.”
“This… Whoa, this is just so crazy. I never imagined something like this could happen. Triplets… Twins don’t even run in either of our families, and here we are with three?”
Doc’s face suddenly became very serious. “I’m going to warn you now, Willa. There is a chance that all three babies may not make it to delivery. You’re still in the first trimester, even if you only have a few weeks left. You need to be aware that carrying multiples, no matter how healthy the mother, comes with some bigger risks than if you were just carrying one baby.”
“O-okay,” she whispered, but then she set her chin in that stubborn way that irritated the hell out of me but always made me fall a little more in love with her. This woman was strong, determined, and all mine. “But we’ll be okay. These little beasts will come out fighting no matter what happens over the next six months.” She lifted her gaze to mine, and I nearly fell to my knees beside her. “They’re too much like their daddy not to.”
Chapter Twenty
Rory
“REMEMBER THAT TIME TANNER PUNCHED Bates in the face and told him to suck his dick when the sheriff pulled him over?” Raider snorted beer out his nose he was laughing so hard at the memory. “Spent three days in jail because of it, and made like two g’s from playing poker with some of the guards.”
“Remember the time…”
That was how all the conversations seemed to start tonight. From the moment we had walked through the doors of Hannigans’, everyone had been talking about Tanner and Warden. They were remembering the hilarious antics Matt’s brother had gotten into and all the good times they had shared with the two fallen brothers.
Having only ever attended my mother’s funeral, I didn’t really know what to expect tonight. I figured it would have been held at a church and people would stand up and talk about the two men who were now gone.
Instead, Matt had surprised me by pulling his motorcycle into the parking lot at Hannigans’ along with everyone else. Music was playing loud and proud, while everyone laughed and had a good time. Food was lined up inside on the bar top, a buffet of what Raven had told me were all of the two fallen brothers’ favorite dishes. They were celebrating the life of their brothers, not mourning them.
I had never seen the MC brothers look so dressed up before. At least, by their standards. They all wore button-up shirts under their cuts, with jeans that looked newer compared to the distressed ones they all tended to wear on any other day. But this day was different. Today they were saying goodbye to two of their own.
Oddly enough, that seemed like a better way to say goodbye to someone than standing over a casket and sobbing because my heart was broken at the loss of someone I cared about.
The bar was overflowing, and it was nearly impossible to talk to anyone over the roar of music and lau
ghter, but somehow, they did. I stood beside Matt because he wouldn’t let go of my hand long enough to even get my own drinks. He sent someone to get him a fresh beer and a glass of wine for me whenever we needed a refill.
Bash, whom I’d only seen a handful of times throughout the night, appeared out of the crowd with Spider and Hawk on either side of him. “We got a new lead,” he said in a deadly serious voice, and I saw a switch flip inside of Matt.
“You’re sure it’s legit?” he growled at his cousin as he released my hand.
“It’s worth looking into,” Hawk said with a shrug.
Spider tipped his head toward the door. “Let’s talk about this outside, man.”
“Yeah.” Matt dropped a kiss on my lips, barely looking at me. “Get something to eat, babe. I’ll be back in a little while.”
Without looking back, he followed the other three out the door, and I had a sudden bad feeling. Something told me that whatever was going on, it involved what had happened to Tanner. I understood Matt’s need to avenge his brother, but I didn’t want to have to go to another one of these damn memorials, next time for him.
I wasn’t hungry, but I figured Matt would be when he came back inside. There was a long line at the buffet, so I grabbed a paper plate and waited.