by Geri Krotow
After Patience scooted up onto the exam table, Nash sank into the chair. His knees never wobbled, never behaved like jelly. Did all new fathers-to-be go through this?
“Nash, are you okay?” Patience’s concern pierced his nerves.
“Yeah, I’m good. I’m not the one carrying our kid in my belly. You’re the one we need to focus on.”
“It’s not just about me, Nash. Yes, the baby and I are in this together. But you’re the dad. It’s okay if you’re feeling shaky about it.”
“It’s not because I already am raising four kids, Patience. I’m not disappearing on you. I’m in this for the long haul.” Annoyance made his temples pound. He hated it when she fell back upon her belief that he wanted nothing to do with more kids after he finished raising his siblings. Sure, he hadn’t planned the pregnancy any more than she had, but it was what it was.
“I know you are. It’s not a part-time dad who does all the research you’ve been doing, or who is so determined to equip the baby with the supplies you’ve purchased.” She smiled from the exam table, her hand on her belly in a classically maternal pose. Her beauty made his heart hurt.
“The baby is going to be beautiful, Patience. Like you.”
“Healthy is all that matters. And yes, the baby is already beautiful. We’re going to see it today.”
“I read that the first appointment is usually just a fetal heartbeat check—it can be too early to see a whole lot.”
“Yes, if we’d planned this and were here for the first time when I’d just missed my period. But this is two missed periods out, so I’m at least fourteen weeks along, maybe even sixteen. My periods have never been regular, so we’ll have to see what the doc says.”
“Do you want to know the sex, Patience?” It was her decision. Nash would love to know, but he wasn’t the one who had labor and delivery to get through. Maybe she needed the surprise to wait.
She worried her lower lip again. “My instinct is yes, of course. I’m a K9 vet and it’s my job to know what our bitches are having, their health, all we can find out before the pups are born. The baby isn’t a puppy, though, is it?” She looked at him and he got up and went to her.
“Come here.” He wrapped his arms around her and she leaned into him, her head on his chest.
“Thank you for coming today, Nash. It’s so much to...”
“To absorb.” He rubbed his lips on her hair, breathed in her ginger-spice scent.
“Yes. I keep telling myself I’m a professional and this is nothing unknown to me, except for the fact that I’m having the baby. But it’s all uncharted territory. All those books with the pictures of the pregnant woman sitting in deep contemplation of her baby, they’re stressing me out. I haven’t had time to do anything but survive these last weeks.”
“We’re working on it, babe.” He resolved to put the Groom Killer and Lake Killer in their rearview mirrors as soon as he humanly could. His work colleague, the mother of his child, deserved at least that much.
Wait—was Patience his partner only in work and making the baby, or more?
He shoved the questions down. Today was about their baby and figuring out what they needed to do next.
Three quick raps sounded before the door opened and Dr. Girard entered. “Dr. Colton and...”
“Nash. Nash Maddox.” He shook the doctor’s hand, and then Patience did.
“Dr. Girard.”
“Well, congratulations to you both. Your urine test was positive, but you already knew that, I assume. I see you’ve missed two periods.”
“Yes. There wasn’t an open appointment before today, and the receptionist told me I could do a same-day walk-in sooner, but I’ve been involved in a case at work.”
“You’re the vet at the RRPD K9 facility, right?” He reached for his stethoscope. “There’s been a lot of excitement in Red Ridge lately, according to the news. Breathe in.” He continued the exam as he peppered her with questions. Nash’s impatience grew, but then he figured out that the doctor was developing a rapport with Patience. He recognized it because it’s what he did with citizens during his police work. Put them at ease, let them know they could trust you.
“That’s me. And yes, we’ve been busy.” Patience lay flat at the doctor’s invitation and pushed her waistband down low. Dr. Girard pulled out a tape measure and ran it from her pubic bone to the top of the baby bump. “What am I measuring?” she asked.
The doctor smiled. “You’re more than four months, from this, but let’s see what the ultrasound says. This will be cold.” Without further comment, he squirted clear gel onto her belly and fired up the ultrasound machine.
“Have you two decided if you want to know the sex?” He moved the paddle up and down Patience’s belly, and Nash was torn between watching her expression and the image that began to take shape on the screen.
“Yes. Yes, we do,” Patience answered, and Nash’s stomach flipped. It was the same kind of anticipation he had while watching one of the kids participate in an athletic or academic event. Excitement for how it could turn out, joy at watching their achievement.
“Well, folks, here’s the deal. You’re measuring larger than a typical four-month fetus.”
“It’s not older than that—before this baby was conceived I hadn’t had sex in at least a year.” Patience’s declaration brooked no reaction from the doctor, but Nash’s insides tightened, then erupted in what he could only describe as a glow. She’d picked him to ease her loneliness with, as he had picked her.
“It’s clear to me that you conceived when you think you did. The fact is, there’s more than one baby here.”
* * *
Patience almost sat up and grabbed the paddle from Dr. Girard.
“What? How many?”
“Two. You’re having twins. And you’re ready for the sex?” He narrowed in on one baby, and she stared at the screen. “Here’s a boy.”
Tears slid past her lids, and she blinked so that she wouldn’t miss one bit of seeing her babies. Her babies. Nash’s babies. She looked at him. His gaze was transfixed on the screen, and in the dim light she couldn’t tell if he was especially pale or just reflecting the monitor.
“And here’s a girl. So, fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. Both are measuring right where we want them to be.”
“How have I been pregnant with twins and not realized it sooner?” She blurted out her thoughts before she had a chance to process.
“Good genes is my bet. And you’re very healthy, active. It’s easy to mistake a pregnancy for stomach upset, the flu or none of the above. The bottom line is that you’re doing great and so are your babies.” He wiped the gel from her belly and helped her to sit up.
“Will I be able to work until term?”
“We’ll take it a week at a time, but my guess is no. With twins it can get tricky toward the last trimester, if not sooner. We want to keep your babies inside until we know their lungs are fully developed. Patience, you’re doing great. Hopefully you’ll be the mother who goes full-term without a hitch, besides getting uncomfortable the last few weeks. But we have to monitor you, the babies. If anything comes up that necessitates bed rest, then that’s what we’ll do. For now, enjoy it and be glad you’re out of the woods for morning sickness. These next several weeks can be very exciting and a great time to get ready for the babies.”
Patience listened with half a mind as the doctor reassured her. She couldn’t stop looking at Nash, seeking the warmth of reassurance in his glance. But her search was in vain. He looked like a man with shell shock. More like twin shock.
Adding one child to the four he was raising was a tall order. Might twins be too much for even Nash’s indomitable strength?
* * *
They walked out of the ob-gyn clinic together and Nash stood with her near the beat-up sedan. “We’ll get through this, Patience.” Sure, he was thrown of
f balance. Twins. Yet nothing, not one thing, was more important to him than her well-being. He had to make her see she wasn’t alone in this.
Her teary eyes made his heart hurt. “Twins, Nash. Two babies. There’s no way you’re going to be able to handle two in addition to your four siblings.”
“Hey.” He cupped her face. “That’s my decision, not yours. All that matters is that you’re healthy, the babies are healthy. That’s it. We’ll get the killers in no time, trust me. These past weeks will seem a blur, but they’ll be over. And then we can live life the way we want to.” He kissed her gently, not caring who saw.
As he drove away, he wondered if they’d agree to what kind of life they wanted for the babies. First, Red Ridge had to be safe from two murderers.
Chapter 15
Patience was used to coming in on weekends, as she did most days all year round since she’d started working at the clinic. But she had to admit that she’d gotten used to the life she and Nash had carved out in the cabin over the past weeks. Leaving the warmth of Nash’s arms this morning had been difficult. He’d let her go alone because she was heading straight to the clinic, to a safe place. Fortifications around the fences and gates, as well as the entranceways, made it much more difficult for the Lake Killer, or any intruder, to get past.
She and Nash had fallen into a comfortable routine over the last few weeks since the ob-gyn appointment, with no further threats from the Lake Killer or the Larson twins. The ongoing threat never left her awareness, though.
As much as being with Nash each day and each sexy night made her want to believe it’d always be like this, Patience couldn’t allow herself to grow complacent. She did let herself enjoy her work, though. Wearing extra roomy scrubs she’d purchased meant that, so far at least, no one had asked her if she was pregnant. If they did, would she tell them there were two? How could she not?
She’d had to move the monthly community-wide K9 training day to a Saturday. Red Ridge citizens signed up months in advance to learn from the K9 experts. But since Patience had spotted the Lake Killer, the workload and security requirements made training with civilians during the week nearly impossible. The RRPD was stretched thinner than ever.
She made the drive from the cabin in just under fifty minutes, thanks to the clear roads and lack of precipitation. She headed for the postoperative board to see which patients were still in-house, and then over to the kennels.
“Good morning!” Gabby, the parrot, stretched her red wings for Patience, begging for an affectionate beak rub from her. Patience complied, stroking the smooth surface, careful to keep her fingers clear of the edges of Gabby’s marbled gray-and-white beak.
“Morning, Gabby. I’ve missed you, too.”
The macaw made kissing noises, like two lips smacking together, and Patience laughed. “I’m not that stupid. You nicked me the last time you asked for a kiss, remember?”
“Hey, sister.” Blake, her younger brother by two years, stood in the entrance.
“Hi, Blake. How are you doing? And where’s Juliette?” Juliette’s K9 partner, Sasha, had recently injured her paw, so the beagle was doing some light training with Patience before being cleared for regular sessions at the training center.
“They stopped just outside to say hi to someone, so I thought I’d come see you privately for a minute. Because the real question is, how are you doing?”
Patience straightened. Her brother’s eyes and fair coloring matched their father’s. He resembled Fenwick more than she did, but despite being wealthy in his own right, Blake couldn’t be less like the selfish, money-seeking businessman.
“I’m fine. Let me guess. Dad’s been bugging you?”
“No, but he did call me.” She watched her brother’s gaze fall to her belly. Her much-extended belly. She realized her baggy scrubs weren’t cutting it. By her count she was almost eighteen weeks pregnant, and none of her jeans or fitted pants were able to be zipped up any longer. She’d have to make a general announcement soon.
“Yes, I’m pregnant. It’s true. But what Daddy doesn’t know yet, what I didn’t know when I saw him, is that I’m having twins. What else did he tell you?”
Blake shook his head, a wide grin splitting his face. He enveloped her in a big bear hug. “Twins? That’s great, Patience. Congratulations.” When he let her go, he looked at her and she saw that he was sincere. No judgment or recrimination. Just joy.
“Thanks. I have to admit it’s come as a surprise, but I’m getting more excited about it.” She braved putting a palm on her belly. “And I guess I can’t really hide it too much longer.”
“No need to hide it. It’s your life.” Blake paused, his own hand on the door of an empty kennel. “It’s none of my business, sis, but are you and the father, uh, an item?”
“Daddy didn’t tell you who the father is?”
“He may have mentioned a certain K9 officer’s name in between a string of cursing, yes.”
They both laughed. Patience nodded. “Yes, Nash is my baby daddy. Babies’ daddy. It’s a boy and a girl. But don’t get the wrong idea about Nash and me. He’s insisting on being involved with the babies, but he’s got four kids of his own to raise.”
“I don’t know Nash Maddox well, but I’ve met him a few times and he doesn’t strike me as the type to blow smoke, Patience. He’ll be there for you. Why wouldn’t he?”
Because she wouldn’t let him. Because she wanted to keep her independence. Because she needed her autonomy in all areas of her life. “You know I have a tough time with men, Blake.”
“Aw, sis. Nash isn’t our daddy. It’s hard for us to see that there are men who really give a fig about their kids and are devoted to their wives. We didn’t have that example. But there are good guys. Nash is one of them.”
“How about you, Blake?”
His glance slid away. “I’m doing my best to be a good partner and father. Finally.” He’d recently fallen for K9 officer Juliette Walsh, who’d had his child three years earlier. But Blake hadn’t known about his kid until he and Juliette connected again. Patience knew it had been hard on all involved.
“You got your happy ending, Blake. I’m happy for you.”
He nodded. “And you can have yours, too, sis.”
* * *
Nash let the boys out of the Jeep and looked around the clinic’s training yard. Patience stood with two other trainers, their attention on a pair of young pups that were joining the RRPD K9 team.
“Can Greta run with us?” Troy looked at Nash.
“No, but you can walk her over there on her leash.” He let Greta out of the back and handed the lead to Troy. “Remember, she’s your responsibility until you get her to Dr. Colton.”
“Doc Patience lets us play with all the dogs.”
“That’s when you’re here for a family day, or to help with the other clinic patients. This is an official K9 training session for dogs who’ve been under veterinary care. It’s a privilege to be here.”
“We heard you before.” Jon was being a snarky teenager, which Nash could usually brush off. But today it annoyed him.
“Watch your tone, Jon.”
“Sorry.” The teen’s mumble felt like a victory. Nash had been through such emotional upheaval with Paige and Maeve when they were that age. So far the boys seemed so much easier to handle. but he knew that one wrong, impulsive decision on their part could change the whole trajectory of their adolescence.
As they approached Patience, she turned, and he saw her profile in the full sunlight. She wore scrubs with a hoodie that had the K9 clinic logo emblazoned on the front. To the casual eye, or someone who didn’t know her well, she might appear to have grown thicker around her middle. Not unheard-of as people hit thirty years old; Nash heard so many of the officers at the RRPD complain about having to cut back calories and increase their workouts to maintain professional standards in unifor
m. But Patience’s belly was more pronounced today, and he couldn’t keep the grin off his face. That was their babies growing inside her.
His breath whooshed out of his lungs as he saw how her eyes lit up when she recognized the boys, and then him. Knowing the swell of her belly was from their lovemaking added oxygen to the ferocious protective flames he’d felt since finding out she was pregnant.
“Nash, are you and Greta going to do agility or signals first?” Officer Juliette Walsh, who was dating Patience’s brother, walked up and stood next to him, watching the scene unfold.
“I haven’t decided. How about you?”
Juliette nodded at the beagle on her heels. “Sasha and I are going to work on signals today, aren’t we, girl?” Sasha was a narcotics dog and her expert sniffer had kept a lot of illegal substances out of the hands of Red Ridge teens.
“Life will be better for all of us once we shut down the drug ring,” Nash stated. Juliette knew as much as he did, and probably assumed the Larsons were responsible, but it wasn’t their place to indict without evidence and a solid case. Most of that was left up to the RRPD detectives. K9 did the heavy lifting as far as drug detection and interdiction, as well as search and rescue to include diving.
“It sure will be. I’m sick of anyone around here thinking they can take advantage of the good people of this town.” Juliette looked over at Patience, then back to him. “I hear you’ve been spending time with Blake’s sister, Nash,” she added with a smile.
“Greta and I were first on scene when she witnessed the Lake Killer dumping the victim, yes.” He suspected Juliette wasn’t referring to the Lake Killer case, though.
His colleague grinned. “I’m just busting on you. Blake’s father couldn’t wait to tell us he’d been to Patience’s cabin, and that he’d run into you there.”
Nash froze. Had Fenwick blabbed about the baby before he and Patience had had a chance to tell their relatives themselves?
