I cradled her face in my hands and placed a kiss on her forehead. “We can’t do anything but what we have to, Nina. We can handle this. The four of us will be together, no matter what.”
Sniffling, she opened her eyes and nodded. “Okay. Together, no matter what.”
The technician tapped Nina on the shoulder. “You ready? Let’s see what these two are up to these days.”
Just like before, she squirted the ultrasound jelly across Nina’s very pregnant belly and began running the tool across her skin. Quickly, we saw our two children, perfect and content on the screen, but something was wrong. I saw it in the technician’s expression. She continued to do the test, concentrating on the left side of Nina’s stomach with a back and forth movement as the sound of the baby’s heartbeat seemed to grow faster and faster.
Nina sensed something was wrong too. “What is it? Is there something wrong with her?”
“You already found out the sex?” the ultrasound technician asked, clearly trying to calm us as she moved her tool to the other side of Nina’s belly.
“No. We’re going to let it be a surprise,” Nina said with a tiny smile.
“What color are you making the nursery if you don’t know the sex?”
Nina looked up at me. “It’s a jungle theme with monkeys and hippos and giraffes. Lots of green grass and blue skies, perfect for a boy or a girl.”
“I think if I could do it all over again, I’d wait until my son was born to find out he wasn’t a she,” the technician said as she slowly guided her tool back to Nina’s left side. “In the end, it doesn’t matter anyway when you look at your baby for the first time and realize there’s a little version of you right there in your arms. Boy or girl, they’re the light of your life.”
As she spoke, the sound of the left baby’s heartbeat grew faster as once again she ran her exam tool over that part of Nina’s stomach. I knew even though she was trying to keep Nina distracted, she was concerned about something.
Suddenly, she stopped and turned off the machine. “All done. Your doctor will have the report in a little while. Let me get the nurse to take you back to your room.”
And with that, she left.
“I think the one on the left is a little jumpy,” Nina said with a nervous chuckle as she eased herself off the exam table and into the wheelchair. “Not much for being on the small screen.”
“That one is more like me then,” I said with a wink.
We waited for another hour to see Dr. Michaelson, but in the end, he saw no reason to keep Nina in the hospital. The heartbeat of the left baby was a little fast for his preference, but with regular doctor visits, he believed if there was a problem, we could handle it.
Alone together in the hospital room, I sat on the bed as Nina got dressed to go to the penthouse, exhausted but relieved. She came out of the bathroom and without a word, she walked right toward me, and I took her in my arms.
“Tristan, I was so afraid something had happened to them. I don’t want to mess this up. I’m sorry.”
Leaning back away from her, I shook my head and looked into her beautiful blue eyes so full of concern. “You have nothing to be sorry for. You did nothing wrong. We’re going to the penthouse and everything’s going to okay. I promise. You better get used to me being around a lot. By the time these kids get here, you’re going to be sick of me.”
Nina kissed me and hugged me tightly in her arms. “I could never get sick of you, Tristan. Never.”
Chapter Eight
Tristan
Nina lay sleeping next to me, all curled up like always, her head tucked into the crook of my neck and her warm breath against my skin. “Good morning, beautiful,” I whispered next to her cheek as my alarm sounded it was time to wake up.
Mumbling something into my shoulder, she rolled onto her back. “It can’t be morning already. I swear somehow nights are shorter now that I’m as big as a house.”
“That’s because you were up and down all night going to the bathroom,” I said with a smile as I placed a kiss on the tip of her nose.
She turned her head to face me and frowned. “You were up all those times too, and now you have to do work all day.”
I lifted her chin to kiss her full on the lips. “Don’t worry about me. I don’t plan to work all day. Not with you right here with me.”
“But don’t you have things to do? I don’t want to ruin anything in your work. They expect you to be the CEO.”
“Exactly. I’m the CEO. If I want to take a few hours off to watch a movie with my wife in the middle of the day, then that’s what’s going to happen.”
“A movie?” she asked with a smile. “Is that what you have planned for today?”
I sat up and swung my legs off the bed. Turning back toward her, I nodded. “Yes. Well, that’s one thing. That reminds me. I better make sure room service has Jiffy Pop. Can’t have a movie without popcorn.”
Nina’s eyes filled with tears. “Jiffy Pop? That’s so sweet. Come here, you incredible man, and give me a kiss.”
I twisted around to kiss her and then leaned over to place a kiss on her swollen belly. “And that, my sons, is how you do it.”
“Sons? Did you see something on the ultrasound?” she asked, her eyes wide with eager curiosity. I knew it was killing her not to know, but I’d gotten her to agree to suppress her very natural urge to know their sex until they were born.
Sitting up, I shook my head. “No. Just something that felt right to say. By the way, since the doctor believes you probably won’t go to term, maybe we should talk about names.”
Nina shrugged. “I thought we had names already. Diana and Tressa. I liked the way that sounded from your dream, so I just figured we’d handled that issue.”
“What if they’re boys?”
Her expression twisted gently as she thought about my question. Sighing softly, she said with a smile, “I hadn’t thought about that. Two boys instead of two girls. We could always do our fathers’ names.”
“Maybe as middle names,” I said, not wanting to explain why naming a son of mine after my own father filled me with dread. I didn’t want my children to be like my father or brother. If I had sons, I wanted them to grow to be Stone men I could be proud of.
“I think I’m going to need some time to think about this, Tristan. Any ideas to help me?”