Boomtown

by Lani Lynn Vale

  Sam stood off to the side while the nurse indiscreetly called off my weight so everyone and their brother could hear how little I worked out. She took my blood pressure, drew some blood and then led us to a small room.

  “You don’t have to take your clothes off today, just have a seat and someone will be in shortly to try to get the baby’s heartbeat. The doctor should be in not long after that.” She said before giving Sam one more longing glance, and then left the room.

  “She’s cruisin’ for a bruisin’.” I said to Sam while jumping up onto the exam table.

  Sam laughed but wisely said nothing. He walked up to me and gathered me into his arms.

  “I know you are scared, but it will be alright, baby. I’m not going anywhere.” He said into my hair.

  Something loosened in my chest that I wasn’t aware had wound tight. I turned my head into his chest and kissed where his heart beat against me.

  The door opened up behind me and a pixie like voice said “Hi! I’m Amy. I’m going to see if I can find the heartbeat.”

  Amy was cute, and married according to the ring on her finger.

  “If you will lay down and raise your shirt, please.” She said to me.

  I complied and settled with my arms behind my head. Sam watched in fascination from his position across the room where he was leaning against the wall. Amy took her little wand and smeared the cold gel on my lower abdomen. She moved it around until a faint “whir, whir” was able to be heard through the little speaker on the handheld device.

  “The heartbeat is 142. Good and strong.” She said as she pulled the wand off my stomach and went to clean off my stomach. I opened my mouth to tell her about the twins when Sam beat me to it.

  “Wait.” He said.

  She looked towards him questioningly.

  “At the ER they said there were two. You still need to find the other heartbeat.” He explained.

  Amy squealed and pressed the wand back to my stomach with a delighted expression on her face.

  “We don’t have many twins! It didn’t say it in your chart, so I didn’t know. Let’s see where the other one is hiding.” She said.

  She went on for a couple more minutes sliding the wand this way and that before finally finding the slick little devil low towards my right hip bone. This baby’s heartbeat was lower at 132, but still strong according to Amy. Amy left shortly after and informed us that the doctor would likely be another fifteen minutes or so since it was his busy day.

  Sam was wearing a cat ate the canary smile and was practically bouncing in place by the time the door close. Seeing him this happy made me super happy.

  “Take a chill pill, Mr.” I said to him.

  “Make me.” He said while giving me a kiss.

  It was another ten minutes before the doctor came, gave me a thorough exam, and then sent us off to the ultrasound tech.

  The tech took us in and had me lie down on another exam table.

  “Shirt up, and lie back please.” She said.

  There was a flat screen on the wall directly in front of us, so once I was situated I looked towards the screen. The tech squirted the gel on my tummy and started rubbing it around on my stomach with the wand.

  I turned and watched Sam’s face as soon as the picture was projected onto the screen. He seemed in awe. They looked like tiny little aliens, but they were my little aliens. I took a picture of him with my phone so I could forever keep the memory.

  The tech sent us on our way six pictures and a short video later. Neither one of us spoke while Sam settled the bill, and we made our way to the elevator. The elevator was empty, and I pressed the G on the buttons. I’d just stepped back when I found myself pinned against the opposite wall, Sam’s mouth clamped to mine.

  Once he pulled back I asked “So you’re happy?”

  “Never in my life have I been happier than I am right now. The only thing that could make this moment better is if we were married.” He whispered against my mouth.

  I gave him one final kiss before the doors opened, and I practically beamed for the rest of the day. Little did I know that I would be cursing him later.

  Chapter 17

  “Cocksucking bastard.” I muttered to myself as I threw my jeans into the ever growing pile of clothes that didn’t fit anymore. Those didn’t even make it past my fucking hips. What the fuck.

  I pulled out a pair of charcoal gray yoga pants that had a fold over waist with little stars in bright neon green dotted the band. Guess these were going to have to work.

  I checked my phone to see a text from Sam.

  Sam: “Don’t forget to take your vitamin.”

  Rolling my eyes I made my way into the kitchen and shook out a purple pill. I washed it down with a swig of milk from the carton.

  Sam was being extremely over protective since he found out I was pregnant. I still wasn’t sure how I was going to handle this. My thoughts went back to the night I found out I was pregnant.

  ∞

  Ember was lounging at the end of my bed, tapping her feet against the bed while we waited for my discharge papers. The nurse said they were waiting on my labs to return. As soon as they were reviewed by the doctor, then I would be all set to leave.

  Sam and Gabe were outside waiting on us since the nurses didn’t like having so many people around. James and Jack went back to the compound with the girls. They were very tired, and it had been a long day. Ember and Sam had fought over who was going to stay with me; Ember won because she pointed out to obvious to Sam.

  “Don’t you have some shit to do, calls to make?” she said sweetly.

  Sam had rolled his eyes, given me a peck on the lips, and said he would be outside waiting for me. That had been thirty minutes ago.

  Just then a cute little nurse with hot pink scrubs came up to us, along with the older doctor. The nurse was wheeling what looked like an ultrasound machine over and set it up right beside the bed.

  “Did you know you were pregnant?” the doctor asked.

  I stared at him blankly.

  “Pregnant?” Ember asked the doctor for confirmation.

  “Yes, ma’am.” The doctor said. “You have quite a bit of HCG floating around in your blood too. I would say you were at least four months, if not more.”

  “Three months is possible.” I said to the doctor. “Not four.”

  My first time with Sam was exactly three months from today. Four was physically impossible.

  “Well let’s go ahead and have a look.” He said to me. “Are you comfortable having this young lady in here while we do this?”

  “Yes.” I said to him.

  Ember had been incredibly quiet. She got up and went to the side of my bed where the machine was directly in front of her so she could get a better look.

  The nurse lifted up the gown past my stomach and squirted clear jelly stuff all over my stomach. The doctor took the wand off its holder and spread the jelly out along my lower abdomen. Goose bumps broke out over my stomach at the feel of the cold gel. The black screen showed shades of gray, and looked grainy.

  “Ahh.” The doctor said.

  I looked at the screen and squinted. My heart started speeding up a little bit. Yes, that was definitely a baby. Fucking Sam. I told him this would happen. You could make out a big large head and tiny little hands and feet branching off of the body. There was a little tiny heartbeat, and something inside my chest restricted, and tears started to prick my eyes. I didn’t mean for there to be a baby, but I could say that I was definitely happy. I was carrying a piece of Sam with me. The man I loved with all of my heart.

  The doctor was moving around the wand again, and suddenly I could see two of them. I stopped breathing. No way. Holy Guacamole!

  “Well congratulations, its twins!” the doctor said to me. “They look to be about three months gestation just like you said. The extra baby would certainly account for the higher level of HCG in your system.”

  The doctor rambled off some more shit, but I didn’t lis
ten. Ember had grabbed my hand and was squeezing, but that didn’t affect me much either. I was released shortly after with a prescription for pain killers, a note to make an appointment with a doctor for my arm, and an OB/GYN for the baby as soon as I could arrange it.

  Ember watched me dress in silence, and we were escorted out the doors by a nurse.

  Sam and Gabe were standing off to the side of the entrance leaning against the brick of the building. He smiled at me, but then the smile died just as quick when he took in the look on my face. Ember was standing behind me and to my left, so I could make out that she was shaking her head in my peripheral vision. I ignored her and walked up to Sam slowly. He glanced between Ember and I with a raised brow.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “What is it?” I said calmly. “You really want to know?”

  “Yes, otherwise I wouldn’t have asked!” Sam said with a tone that was perilously close to being smartassy.

  I smiled at him, poked him in the chest, and then let him have it.

  “You knocked me up!” I yelled.

  Two older people who were sitting on the bench beside the doors were watching us closely. The lady smiled and whispered something to her husband, but they both continued to watch the show.

  “Not only did you knock me up, but you knocked me up with twins! What the fuck? Did you have to have super sperm? Couldn’t you just have normal sperm? No not Sam. He has to have super swimmers. I am going to be as big as a house!” I kept yelling.

  Sam shut me up with a kiss. Not a nice kiss either. His tongue pillaged my mouth. He was kissing me like he didn’t expect to live past this moment. It didn’t take long and I was kissing him back. I anchored my good hand in his hair and hung on for dear life.

  I heard a throat clear, and I broke my mouth from Sam’s and glanced to my right where Ember and Gabe were watching us with smiles on their faces.

  “What?” I growled.

  “You probably won’t be as big as a house, maybe just a barge.” Ember told me nicely.

  “Fuck off.” I said to her and started stomping across the parking lot.

  Sam grabbed my hand and then turned me in the opposite direction, leading me to his bike that was parked in the middle lot.

  Sam stopped beside his bike and pulled my body into his and gave me a kiss on the forehead.

  “I love you.” He said quietly. Then hopped on his bike and started it up without waiting for me to answer him.

  ∞

  That was four months ago, and today started my doctor’s appointments where I would go every two weeks.

  Smiling, I pulled my phone from inside my shirt where I stored it on the left side of my bra and typed out a message to Sam.

  Cheyenne: “Done. I’ll see you in a minute.”

  Sam: “Bring me a new shirt.”

  Heading into the bedroom, I picked a clean black shirt from the drawers, most likely the same color as the one he was wearing. He only worked in black t-shirts because he didn’t have to worry about getting them stained that way.

  I grabbed my keys, his shirt, my back pack, and walked out to the new truck.

  The insurance money allowed Sam to buy a new Suburban. He kitted it out with almost the exact same things he had on the previous one, except this one was white. It became my vehicle because I never used mine anymore. Most of the time Sam used his bike, but if he needed a truck he just used mine.

  I started it up and drove around the building to the front of the garage. Only one of the doors was open today because it looked like it was about to rain, and they didn’t want rain blowing inside. I parked in front of the open door and got out, walking inside, glancing around to see if Sam was in there. He wasn’t, so I walked through the garage and into the office that was attached to the side.

  Sam was at his desk on the phone writing something down on a ticket. Max and Elliott were sitting on the couch that was in the corner of the room eating donuts. Sam pushed his chair out and patted his lap indicating that I should go over to him and sit down.

  I on the other hand had a better idea and walked over to the donut box that was open on the coffee table in front of Elliott and grabbed two glazed donuts, and then went to him and sat on his lap. He shook his head and laughed under his breath, but didn’t say anything. His arm wrapped around my stomach, resting on my lap, his hand spread out almost supporting it.

  I loved it when he did this. These little shits were heavy, and my stomach liked when it had a little extra support to hold it up. Now I know why women always walk around with their hands supporting their stomachs.

  I finished my two donuts in record time, and glanced at the box longingly. There was only one left. Elliott was just reaching for the last one when he glanced up and saw me starting at it. He picked it up and glanced from the donut and then to me. I gave him my best puppy dog eyes and curled my lip down with a pout. Putting a little quiver in for a better touch.

  With a long suffering sigh he got up and walked the donut over to me. I snatched it out of his hand and shoved it in my mouth.

  “Thanks.” I said around my donut.

  It came out sounding more like “Franks.” But Elliott just laughed and went back to his seat at the couch. Max rolled his eyes and reached forward for a bottle of milk that he had obviously gotten when he went to go get donuts. He had just taken the cap off when and glanced at me when I gave him the same puppy dog pouty look that I had given Elliott.

  “No.” Max said.

  I let a little tears enter my eyes, and he caved like the loser that he was. Sucker.

  “Fuck.” He said and got up to hand me the bottle.

  I smiled and took the milk from him and drank deeply, belching when I was through.

  “Jesus.” Max said. “Can’t you keep that shit in?”

  “No. There ain’t no room to keep that shit in.” I said to him.

  “You are looking mighty huge today.” Max said with a smile.

  I was just about to get up when Sam’s arm tightened on my waist preventing me from getting up. So I settled for the easy way and flipped him off. Max laughed leaning back in to his couch; Elliott stayed quiet, deciding not to get into the argument that he knew would happen.

  Sam hung up the phone, and then wrapped his other hand around me too.

  “What time is your appointment?” Sam asked me.

  “Nine forty five.” I said and then laid my head back against his chest. I loved this position. I would do it forever if I didn’t worry that I was making it hard for Sam to breathe. Not that he would complain.

  One of the babies kicked hard right where Sam’s forearm rested on my stomach, and Sam moved his arm so his hand rested where he just felt the kick at. The babies loved the sound of Sam’s voice. They could be sleeping peacefully and Sam say something, and they are soon wide awake and kicking the fuck out of me.

  At least they weren’t kicking my vagina this morning. A particular violent kick and then a roll followed making Sam laugh.

  Elliott and Max were watching this with smiles on their faces. Max got up to throw the donut box away and stopped to feel too. They all did this a lot. I was like some amusement game, and they loved poking and prodding my stomach to see if they could get a reaction. All they had to do was start making racket in the garage, and the babies started flipping out. This amused the shit out of them, so they did it often.

  I glanced at the clock and saw that I needed to leave now to make it to my appointment in time. I braced myself on Sam’s things and propelled my body forward and out of his lap. Sam helped by putting his hand on my ass and lifting.

  I turned around and looked down at Sam.

  “Are you coming with me today?” I asked him.

  “Max is going.” Sam said to me. “I have a meeting with a group from California who wants us to design a bike for them.”

  “Honestly Sam, and no offense Max, I don’t want him with me. The women in the office are going to flip if they see me with some other man besides you. They
see me with a different guy every other week. I always hear them whispering out in their little cubicle. I know they talk about all the men I bring with me.”

  “He wasn’t going to go to your actual appointment. He has a hearing screen the next floor down he’s going to go do while you have your appointment. You’ll wait for him in the waiting area until he gets back, understood?”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.” I said and saluted him with my middle finger.

  “This is for your protection, Cheyenne. It’s not like I want to have some psycho after you.”

  “I know, but it’s been fucking seven months! Find him already!” I yelled.

  “I have every available resource on this. I hate my father’s guts, but I called him for you!” he was getting riled now too.

  I nodded and went to the restroom for a pee break before I left. I peed a lot. Apparently pregnant women did this a lot, and women pregnant with twins did it even more. I also figured to just let it go before it got out of hand and I started crying like I always did too.

  I came out and Sam stood and walked with me to the truck. He didn’t seem very mad anymore, and I felt bad. I knew he was trying his hardest, but this was getting old. I didn’t want to have these babies and have to be with a guard for the rest of my life.

  He opened the passenger door for me and the foot bar came down. I made a face at it and placed my foot on it to help me get into the truck. I had to let Sam put the foot bar in because when I was about five months pregnant I could no longer lift my girth up into the truck without assistance. Even with the bar I still had a hard time getting in without the steering wheel.

  That is why Sam was there to help; there was only so much an OS bar could handle, and my weight was steadily rising. He helped me up into the truck, gave me a quick kiss, said to call him when I got done, and then slammed the door. He tapped the side of the door and we were off.

  Chapter 18

  We arrived at the doctor’s office, and Max walked me in, checked me in, and then sat with me until I was called. We waited about fifteen minutes before I was called back by my usual nurse. I headed towards her as Max got up and walked out of the office.