Blackness Takes Over & Blackness Awaits (79 page)

“We’re gonna have to start construction on the extension next week. You two keep making a baby every nine months we’ll have to move to a compound and let Kid home school and sew all our clothes,” Kavy jokes with Kel.

“You’re serious about extending the house?” I ask Kavy in shock.

“Fuck yeah, Kid. I hired an architect and Kellerman hired a contractor last week,” Kavy scoffs at me. I told them to do whatever they wanted. Apparently, they did.

“How big is the extension?” I ask realizing maybe I should have some details now.

“Just about twelve hundred square feet off the back of the house. I’m thinkin’ we need to adjust now though,” Kel answers silently communicating with Kavy’s eyes. They so have man crushes on each other.

“Was it a twelve hundred square foot stripper room?” I snark.

“Only half was for the strippers. I put two bedrooms and a bathroom on the top floor,” Kavy answers with no waver in his voice. Fuck he’s serious.

“You’re serious,” I say in disbelief.

“Kid,” Kavy says harshly. “You really think I’d have a stripper room in our house where you and my nephew sleep at night?” Kavy’s offended. He’s never offended.

“No,” I respond sheepishly. “You just sounded serious.”

“I almost lost you a few months ago, then you lost Kellerman, then we all almost lost Johnny, and now you’re sick. Why the fuck would I bring strippers into the place where I keep you all safe? Give me a little fuckin’ credit!” Okay now Kavy’s just pissed. I pass Johnny off to Butch again and pull Kavy toward me. I don’t want him too close because I reek of vomit, but I need him near me.

“Kavy, I know you would never endanger me or the baby,” I say firmly.

“Babies,” he corrects me in a snort. I smile at him and cup his cheek forcing his gaze to mine. He’s not pissed. He’s scared out of his mind and leading with anger.

“I’m okay, Kavy. Don’t freak out on me. Women get pregnant every day and have babies every day. I’m okay,” I stress firmly. I feel fine right now. Not nauseous in the least. Kind of hungry actually.

“People are after you again and you’re sick,” he whispers and presses his head further into my palm. All eyes in the room are on us and I can feel Kel’s anxiety at my side.

I brush my thumb across Kavy’s cheek before I sit back in my uprighted bed. I look to Kel who is just as freaked as Kavy and has been tryin to hold it in. Before I can assuage any of their worry Dr. Jenkins returns with a cart carrying an ultrasound machine. Butch stands up with the baby to make room for the machine yet allowing him a view of the monitor.

“Can you roll your pants down a bit for me and raise your shirt?” Dr. Jenkins asks clinically while switching the lights off in the room and messing with the ultrasound. The men in the room have tensed like the young doctor just asked me to perform a striptease. These boys never quit. I do as the doctor asked and grab Kel’s hand to get him to calm the hell down. I hear the faintest growl at the back of his throat and roll my eyes.

“This gel should be warm for you,” the doctor says as he squirts goo on my belly. And then he has the wand in his hand and starts moving it around. It’s just a bunch of white noise and black and grey on the monitor as he moves around clicking away at the keyboard. Then he stops and rotates his wrist just slightly before pausing.

“There we are,” Dr. Jenkins says softly. “Here, Miss Kelly.”

“Shannon,” I correct quietly focusing on the monitor to try and decipher what I’m seeing.

“Shannon, see here and here,” he points to two blobs blinking on the screen.

“Yeah.” I look for a long while and then it starts to hit me. “Twins?”

“Yes. And probably the cause for your severe nausea and vomiting. Some women carrying twins have worse morning sickness than others but it usually fades by the second trimester.”

I know he just said something important, but I quit hearing after yes. I look at Kel who looks a little pale.

“Kel, you okay?” He nods slightly still staring at the screen. I look at my boys and family around the room and they’re all staring at the screen with the same scared as shit face that Kel has. I start to giggle.

“It’s not funny, Kid,” Kavy admonishes me with a grin in his voice.

“You’re all scared of two babies,” I say through a louder laugh. They snort and humph at me as the doctor starts moving and clicking again.

“I’m just taking some measurements here so we can get a ballpark due date for you,” he explains. I watch the screen and my flickering blobs. I’m going to have three babies. Maybe this isn’t funny. But I feel nothing but happiness so I keep my smile plastered on my face. Kel kisses my palm and I look over to him.

“Hey,” I say tenderly.

“Hi.”Kel’s face breaks into a face splitting smile.

“Well from these measurements it looks like you’re due date is March eighth. Which puts you at about thirteen weeks, conception date around the fifteenth of June.” Dr. Jenkins furrows his brow at his math. That would mean I got pregnant only a few days after giving “birth”.

“They didn’t waste much time breaking my heart again,” Karl sniffs from the end of the bed. WHAT? All my boys bend in half laughing as I watch in utter confusion. I’m left out of an obviously very comical inside joke. Dr. Jenkins looks beyond uncomfortable. He quickly hands me a few pictures with arrows pointing at the babies, hands me a towel to clean the goo off and pulls the machine from the room. As soon as the door shuts I’m on them.

“Spill,” I command Karl.

Kavanagh

“Spill,” Kid orders Karl who is still laughing along with the rest of us.

“The hospital Nazi’s wouldn’t let me back here so I told them that I was the father of your baby and Butch was my dad,” Kid’s eyes are huge but there’s a smile playing at the edges of her mouth.

“I’m still a little lost,” Kid says trying to piece the rest together.

“Well, when the baby-faced doctor, who is yummy by the way,” Karl raises his brows suggestively at Kid.

“I get all the luck with young good looking doctors and pilots,” Kid purrs. Kellerman growls and squeezes her hand that he’s not letting go of in the near future.

“Kiddo,” he warns in a threatening tone.

“What? Karl said he was hot too.” Kid pouts. She’s trying to lighten the mood of this room but it’s not working. We’re all worried and tense.

“No,” Kellerman says harshly.

“Here we go again with the caveman IQ and the toddler vocabulary.” Kid rolls her eyes and looks back at Karl. He’s just as worried about her as the rest of us but they communicate in snark so he’ll give her the levity she needs right now.

“Anyway, the hot doc started freakin’ the room out talkin’ about whatever he thought was wrong with you and then assumed we knew you were pregnant. Nice job by the way hussy. Dylan ended my lie then so that we could get some straight answers because the doc was askin’ Aaron about your medical treatment and me about your lady bits.”

“You love talkin’ about my lady bits,” Kid snarks (told you).

“Your lady bits are the things my dreams are made of…oh wait no. They’re the things my nightmares are made of.” And the snark fest begins.

“I informed the hot doc that you and Dylan had an affair and I didn’t find out until Johnny was born.” Karl finishes with a shrug. Kid pauses for a moment and then bursts into a full belly laugh bringing the room to life and Johnny to a wakeful state.

Kid reaches out to Butch for the baby. Butch presses a kiss to his head before handing him off. With all our parents living in Chicago Butch has become the resident grandparent. If you would have told me last year that Butch Rossi would be the surrogate grandparent to Kid’s baby I would have throat punched you and laughed about it. Kid’s life has never been predictable but the last year has been a new level of bizarre.

Boob in the mouth and Johnny’s settled. Time to talk.

“We need to talk about stuff, Kid,” I say quietly watching Kellerman. He hasn’t said much but I can hear the wheels grinding in his head. I can see he wants to scoop up his family and run. I don’t blame him and at this point I’d drive them to the damn airport.

If we find out Kid has whatever illness they are concerned with we can get her out of the subpoena. I don’t want her to be sick but I’d take sick and safe over not sick and in Chicago.

“Let’s talk tomorrow boys. It’s late and I’m tired. I don’t think Mancini’s gonna come and get me in the hospital. That would be profoundly stupid. You guys go home and get some rest. Maybe you can talk and work through some ideas because my brain is zapped right now.” Kid closes her eyes but continues to talk. “Thank you guys for takin’ care of me. Can I talk to Kel for a few minutes?”

“Sure Kid,” Cal answers for the room. There are collective murmurs of agreement even though none of us want to leave her right now. We’ll just go to the waiting room. I’m in the back corner of the room nearest to Kid across the bed from Kellerman. Everyone leans over me to kiss her before they leave and I wait patiently (not really) for my turn. I go to stand up but Kid’s hand darts out grabbing my wrist firmly.

“I know you’re scared shitless right now and you feel out of control. I see your hands shaking. Nothing is gonna happen to me. Nothing.” Kid’s gaze is penetrating my soul as she speaks. I believe her. Fuck if I should but I do. I give her a chin lift and a long kiss on the forehead before walking away.

“Kav,” Kellerman calls before I open the door. “Thanks for deferring to me earlier.”

He’s talking about when the baby-faced doctor asked about her scan or whatever. I was never going to make any medical decisions without consulting him. I’ve had Kid for almost fourteen years but she’s Kellerman’s now. I haven’t lost her to him. I’ve given her to him. And in giving Kid to Kellerman I get to keep every piece of her I’ve had since the day I met her because Kellerman hasn’t taken a thing away from me. He’s given me more of her. There’s a light to her now that never existed all those years she was with me and that light stems from him. So no, I haven’t lost Kid. I’ve gained Kellerman.

I offer him a chin lift and leave the room. It’s time to keep my sister safe.

Kellerman

“Hey,” Kid whispers as Kav shuts the door behind him.

“Hi,” I say through a small smile.

“So, your swimmers do good work Dylan Kellerman,” she jokes quietly.

“I aim to exceed expectations, Miss Kelly,” I joke in return. “How are you feelin’?”

“Tired. I don’t feel sick anymore, at least not right now.”

“That’s good, Kiddo. Twins?” I ask because I’m still shocked. We haven’t been as careful as we should have been. I refuse to wear condoms (I’ve never used one with her and I wasn’t about to start after being kept away from her for months) and Kid had to quit taking the pill to bring her milk in. I understand where babies come from yet I’m still shocked right now.

“Irish triplets,” Kid whispers. I hate that I know what Kid is referring to because Cassie explained it to me.

Kid picks Johnny up and hands him to me. It’s way past his bedtime and dude is out cold. I lay him in his stroller and then sit on the edge of Kid’s bed. She looks better, not green and pale.

“Scared the shit outta me, Kiddo,” I say gazing into her green pools.

“Sorry,” she says meekly. “I had no clue I was pregnant. I’ve been tired, but I’m takin’ care of Johnny all the time so I figured it was that. I’ve been queasy some days, never sick though. I just brushed it off.”

“You never told me you didn’t feel well. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t really think anything of it. It would come and then go. I’d go back to doing whatever I was doing. It really didn’t seem unusual. I figured it was hormones from nursing or eating too late or eating too little. I really wasn’t worried about it.” Kid shrugs and runs her hand over her flat stomach.

“I’m pregnant,” she says in a whisper. “I never wanted to be pregnant.”

Shit. That’s not what I want to hear right now. I should have worn condoms. I should have stayed off her when she said she might be ovulating. I shouldn’t have flipped and fucked her in the bathroom on the plane. I’m a selfish bastard and now she has to carry two of my babies that never wanted.