[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter Thirty Two

I didn’t like that ‘well.’

“Well?” I repeated.

“I’m going to have to refer you back to Dr. Tresher. You're pregnant.”

“What?”

Nick looked up, his hands covered in shampoo. I saw him mouth ‘What?’ but I just waved my hand in his direction.

“Your thyroid tests were perfect, your blood sugar was good, your insulin is a little high, but I’ve seen much worse. But your very high HCG levels indicate a pregnancy.”

“But…how?” I asked dumbly.

“While home pregnancy tests have a 90% success rate, in 10% of cases, a blood test is needed. Your levels look great, by the way.”

“Are you sure?”

Dr. VanSynz laughed. “I’m positive. I’ll send the paperwork over to Dr. Tresher if you want.”

“That’s fine…” I said trailing off. “Thank you.”

“No problem. Congratulations.”

I hung up and set the phone down on the table gently. Nick rinsed Brooke off and wrapped her up in a towel. She cried a little in protest.

“Hey now, nekked baby girl. You’ve got to get out of the water before you get pruney.” With a smile, he took the corner of the towel and wiped some renegade water drops off her face. As he did so, he looked over at me. The smile left his face.

“Liv?”

I looked over at him. Pregnant. Again.

“Huh?”

“What’s up?”

“I’m…pregnant.”

Nick’s eyes widened. “What? But the test…”

I laughed; I was still in shock. "I guess I’m part of the ten percent that gets false negatives.”

Nick came and sat down with Brooklyn. Her fingers wrapped around a loose piece of towel and she began to suck on it happily.

“Well…well…are you okay? I mean…” he trailed off. He looked as shocked as I felt.

“I’m fine,” I said lightly.

“So what do we do?” Nick asked. “Do you think we need to postpone the honeymoon? I mean…you’re going to have to go to Dr. Tresher and get checked out and…”

I stopped him. “We’re not postponing the honeymoon. Do you know how much harder it would be to go on a honeymoon with two babies? I’ll just get checked out when I come back.”

“But if we conceived when we think we did, you’d be what? Six weeks along?”

“I’ll call Dr. Tresher tomorrow. If I need to, I can always get a blood test wherever we’re honeymooning. Unless we’re going to be on a desert island, I should be fine. We’re not going on a deserted island, right? I don’t need any immunizations or anything?”

Nick shook his head. “I was trying to keep it a surprise,” he said. “But, we’re going to Australia.”

As freaked out as I was, I still couldn’t help grinning. “We’re going to Australia?” I said excitedly. “Like the continent?”

“No, I’m taking you to Outback Steakhouse and we’re pretending it’s Australia. Of course, I mean Australia,” Nick said with a laugh. Then he paused. “Is it a continent? I always thought it was a country.”

“Trust me, it’s a continent. I’ve always wanted to go to Australia.”

“I know, I remember.”

I looked at him in confusion. “When did I tell you I wanted to go to Australia?”

“Howie asked you where you would go if you could go anywhere and you said Australia. Remember when we interviewed you?”

“How could I forget?”

“Plus, I had Angel ask you again when you guys did your girly dress thing,” he said.

I vaguely remembered the conversation. I smiled.

“You’re sneaky.”

Nick smiled. “I try.”

We sat in silence for a minute, both of us watching Brooklyn drool all over the soft yellow terry cloth towel. She leaned back in her fuzzy cocoon oblivious to us. When she did finally look at me, she laughed.

“Well, having another baby so soon is good for one reason,” Nick said thoughtfully.

“What?”

“We aren’t going to have to deal with sibling jealousy. Brookey’s too young to know any better.”

“That’s true…” I said.

“And we have tons of baby clothes. And a lot of the sleepers and junk could be used for a boy or a girl.”

I smiled. “True again.”

“And we do make pretty babies,” Nick finished with a smile. I laughed.

“Three for three.”

Nick leaned over and kissed me softly. Brooklyn let out a little squeal as she momentarily got smushed against Nick’s chest. When Nick’s lips gently left mine, I saw a familiar sparkle in his eyes.

“Here we go again, Livvy.”

I smiled. “Here we go.”

------------------------------------------------------

June 30

Nick let me sleep in the next morning. I woke up to the sounds of Dora the Explorer on TV. Nick was lounging beside me with Brooklyn on his lap.

“C’mon vamamos. Everybody let’s go! C’mon we can do it. C’mon let’s get to it!” Nick sang. From my viewpoint, Brooklyn was looking at him like he had completely lost his mind.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and sat up.

“I’m a little scared. We only have a four month old and you’re already singing the lyrics to Dora the Explorer.”

Nick looked over at me and grinned sheepishly.

“She’s educational. How do you think I’m able to speak Spanish so well?”

I raised an eyebrow. He only knew about ten words of Spanish and three of them were dirty. Nick laughed.

“Okay, maybe I don’t speak it well. But, I have Howie so it doesn’t really matter. Good morning, by the way.”

I smiled. “Good morning.” I leaned over and kissed the tip of Brooke’s nose. “Good morning, Brookey.”

She looked up at me and I waited for a smile. I got a sneeze in return.

“I really hope she isn’t getting sick,” I said worriedly. Nick shook his head.

“It’s a sneeze. Everybody sneezes.” Nick picked Brooke up and kissed her pudgy cheek. Then he paused and held her out at a distance. “Ugh, she pooped.”

I smiled. “Everybody poops,” I teased.

We got out of bed at the same time; I went to take a shower while Nick headed for the changing table.

After a quick shower, I wrapped a towel around me and stood at the sink while I brushed my teeth and flossed. The metallic taste in my mouth seemed to come and go at random times. I hadn’t had that with Brooklyn, but it was absolutely disgusting. I ran my tongue along my teeth, making a face.

At least now I had a confirmed suspicion about how I had lost those last few pounds that I had wanted to lose. I had dropped a few pounds while I was pregnant with Brooklyn.

Until I had blown up to massive proportions.

I just hoped that I wouldn’t blow up unti lafter I was back from the honeymoon.

I headed back into the bedroom and walked into my closet. Unlike Nick’s, my closet was neatly organized. I had just dropped my towel and was contemplating what to wear when Nick appeared in the closet doorway.

“Where’s Brooke?” I asked.

“She’s in her swing watching Dora. She’s like Boots the Monkey. ‘Cause she’s swinging. Hey, you’re naked.”

I looked over at him. He gave me a slow once over.

“I’m getting dressed. I’ve got a lot to do today before our parties tonight.”

“Do you want to see my monkey first?”

My eyes widened. His fingers looped around the band of his basketball shorts.

“Nick, when God handed out testosterone he must have accidentally given you a couple extra doses,” I said. My eyes watched him pull the shorts down exposing that amazing dip from his abdomen that I knew all too well.

“I can’t help it. I am who I am,” Nick responded. He took another step into the walk-in closet.

“I know and I love you. But it’s also why I’m pregnant again,” I said with a laugh. I held a t-shirt up in front of me and backed up. He took another step forward.

“Actually that was your fault,” he said with a grin. “You wouldn’t let me get up if I remember. I had your claw marks in my back for a week and a half after that.”

I blushed. “I don’t know what came over me that night.”

“You were horny. You were baby-making horny.”

He closed the distance between us and wrapped his arm around my waist. He thrusted against me. I dropped my damn shirt.

“Well what’s your excuse today?” I said, slightly breathlessly.

“Well, like you told me,” he said. One of his hands dropped down to the back of my leg. I wrapped it around his hips. “I love prego sex.”

Before I could respond, I leaned back slightly, pressing against the closet wall. Nick grabbed my bottom and like a replay of that night, I did a little jump so that he was completely bearing my weight. His mouth dipped to the crook of my neck, the spot that always elicited a moan as he sucked. I playfully dug my nails into his back; in response he pressed into me, momentarily taking my breath away. I knew he wouldn’t drop me, but even still, I reached up and grabbed a hold of the rod hanging above my head.

I wondered if marriage would mean a slowdown of our sex life.

In a way, I hoped it wouldn’t.

On the other hand, if we kept this up, I’d be giving the Duggar mom a run for her money.

And twenty miniature Carters running around was a terrifying thought.