Triplets Make Five

I eyed me sidelong. “Charlie would hear us if we went to your room.”

“And Mandy would hear us if we went to yours. Get your clothes on. Now that I’ve got my rocks off, I want to have a drink with you like two civilized people.”

I laughed along with him, but I got out of the tub and covered my swimsuit with my regular clothes. He took my hand and led me to the hotel bar. We sat on stools at the bar, and he ordered a margarita. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to drink in Vegas?

“What are you having?” he asked.

“I’ll have a Shirley Temple.”

His head whipped around. This was the moment of truth. “What?”

“Shirley Temple.”

“Isn’t that drink for kids?”

I jerked my chin sideways. “Do you have a problem with that? It’s not too expensive, is it?”

He turned beet red. “Of course not.”

He gave the bartender my order, but he couldn’t stop looking at me. My whole attitude changed when we left the hot tub and came in here. Now that we sat here talking to each other, I got stiff and distant again. He couldn’t help but notice.

He faced me with his shoulders squared. “So, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean, what’s going on? We’re in Vegas. You’re going to Charlie’s bachelor party, and I’m going to Mandy’s bachelorette party. That’s what’s going on.”

“I mean what’s going on with you. You just met me for a secret sex rendezvous in the hot tub, and now you won’t talk to me.”

“I’m talking to you right now. How much more talking can I do?”

“Come on, Victoria,” he chided. “What’s going on with you? I thought we put all that stuff behind us. Now we’re sitting in a bar in Vegas, and you’re ordering a Shirley Temple. You can’t sit there and tell me nothing’s going on.”

I arched an eyebrow at him, and my whole expression changed. He couldn’t understand how I could change so fast. One minute, he was talking to Helga the Horrible. The next minute, there I was, the woman of his dreams, all vulnerable and open and ripe for the taking. This couldn’t go on. I had to tell him the truth.

I took a deep breath and stared down at my hands knotted in my lap. “I’m drinking a Shirley Temple because I’m pregnant.”

He opened his mouth to say something and shut it with a click. He didn’t understand what I just said. He blinked and stared at me. He could have been struck by a bolt of lightning that fried his brain. I didn’t just say that. I wasn’t sitting here in front of him telling him I was pregnant.

My mind went into a tailspin. Almost three months of sneaking around, banging me on the side, taking me out to dinner, running errands for Charlie and Mandy and then taking me back to his place afterwards—almost three months of doing it and it never crossed either of our minds to wonder if I would get pregnant.

I read his thoughts written all over his face. Everything he thought was true about his life changed as surely as mine did. He could never go back to being a free agent. A thousand details of child support and car seats and doctor bills clouded whatever remained of our relationship.

I was pregnant. He was a father, and I was the mother. We would have a baby, a child. I never wanted to be pregnant before, but now that I was, I embraced it. What he did no longer mattered. I would take responsibility. I would become the mother this child needed.

I glanced back and forth between my hands and my face. I couldn’t sit here with him staring into space. I jumped off my stool. I waved both hands. “I knew it was a mistake to tell you. I never should have said anything. I’m going upstairs to get my suitcase. I’ll get a flight back to LA. You can explain to Charlie that I had to go. I don’t care what you say. Just explain it.”

I started to walk away when his hand shot out. He snatched my wrist out of the air. He yanked me back so hard I lost my balance. “Sit down, Victoria. You’re not going anywhere.”

15

Brady

Victoria gasped when I jerked her back. That startled fear in her eyes woke me from my stunned shock. I eased her back down on the stool. “Sit down, Vic. Please.” I took both her hands. I had to stay calm.

She was pregnant! She was going to have a baby—my baby! This was the culmination of so many of my dreams, I had to struggle to get a grip on myself.

She wouldn’t soften no matter what I did. I had to make this right. “Please don’t walk away. You didn’t make a mistake by telling me. I’m just surprised. I couldn’t be happier. I always dreamed of us being together and having kids, and now that it’s happening, I don’t know what to do with myself.” Hysterical laughter boiled out of me. I couldn’t contain it.

She blinked at me. “You did?”