He pressed his lips against my temple. “Are you okay?”
“Uh-huh. Perfect,” I replied deliriously. “I think you just fucked me into a coma.”
Killian chuckled and while I laid limply onto the stack of hay, he rearranged my dress for me so that I was decent again. Then, he swept me into his arms and carried me out of the stables. I buried my face into his throat, inhaling his unique scent.
Drowsily, I heard him speaking to Gabriel but I couldn’t make out their conversation. His steps lulled me into a sleep and I didn’t fight against it.
I was safe in Killian’s arms and I’d wouldn’t choose to sleep anywhere else, except right here.
***
“And how are you feeling, Mrs. Spencer?” Doctor Jennings asked me as I laid down on the exanimation table. My previous Gynecologist, Doctor Johnson, went on her own maternity leave, so Pearl was my new doctor.
“I feel completely fine and healthy,” I responded as Killian laced his fingers through mine.
Pearl kindly smiled at us. “Well, let’s take a look.”
She placed a cold gel on my stomach and then pressed the transducer to my swollen abdomen, moving it around while looking at her screen. “Heartbeat is strong,” she observed and then her expression changed.
Worried gnawed at me and Killian leaned forward. “What’s wrong?” he asked urgently. “Is there something wrong with my wife? The baby?”
“Nothing.” Pearl was quick to assure us, but there was just something strange about her expression. I couldn’t tell if it was bad or good. “I checked your reports and Doctor Johnson said you’re having twins, right?”
Killian was silent for moment before he barked, “What?”
Pearl’s gaze flickered between my husband and me. “You didn’t know?” she asked in confusion.
I flinched but my husband didn’t notice because he was staring our doctor as if she had grown two heads. I knew we were having twins…
Killian didn’t.
It was an innocent lie; a secret because I wasn’t ready to tell him yet.
I could see that my husband was still reeling from the news because he was shaking his head. “No, that can’t be right.”
“You’re right,” Pearl agreed. “It’s not correct, because there are three heartbeats here.”
Shock coursed through my body. “Three?” I choked.
“Yes. You’re not having twins. You’re having triplets.”
“Oh. My. God. Triplets…” My voice trailed off because now I was in shock.
Pearl moved the transducer around my stomach again and she stared intently at her screen before breaking into a smile. “Yup, triplets and all girls. You’re having three daughters. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Spencer.”
Three daughters…
Oh God.
I was shaking and Killian still hadn’t said a word. He was frozen in the spot; too still for my liking. His expression was completely blank and dread filled my chest. Killian stared at the screen, watching the three tiny bleeps.
“Killian,” I said nervously, while my heart swelled with excitement. Three babies!
When he didn’t react, I called out his name again. This time, he blinked slowly.
“Triplets,” he whispered, so quietly I almost missed it. I clenched his hand in mine and then he did the most unexpected thing ever.
His eyes rolled back into this bed and my strong, arrogant husband collapsed.
I blinked. And then blinked again.
“Oh dear,” Pearl gasped.
Did Killian… just pass out?
Alarmed, I sat up and stared at his limp body on the floor. The doctor checked his pulsed and then coughed, but she was probably holding back her laugh. “He hit his head on the corner of the table when he passed out. Won’t need stitches but that spot is probably going to be sore.”
“Um, o-okay,” I stuttered.
I wiped away the gel from my stomach before kneeling down at Killian’s side. I patted his cheek, once and twice and then harder. He groaned and then his eyes fluttered open, giving me a dazed look.
“Triplets,” he said, in awe.
I nodded and then giggled. “You passed out!”
Killian rubbed his temple, where he was quickly bruising and then winced. “I didn’t pass out. I was merely resting my eyes,” he announced begrudgingly. “It’s good to… rest your eyes, every once in a while. So yeah, I was doing that. My eyes. Resting. Didn’t pass out.”
This time, I threw my head back and laughed.
I had never seen Killian like this. He was always so composed and right now, he was absolutely not. He swore under his breath and then our gazes locked. “Three babies,” he said, his voice thick with emotions. “Three daughters.”
And then he was taking me in his arms, kissing my lips like he had been dying to taste me all along. “I fucking love you, Princess.”
Yeah, I loved him too.
More than I could ever put to words.
And that was why I lied. For now.
CHAPTER FIVE
Killian
Two months later
“Daddy,” Cameron whined sleepily when I closed the children’s book. “Another story, please. The last one.”
I tucked his bedsheets snuggly around his little shoulders. “You said that for the other two stories,” I drawled, quirking up an eyebrow. Putting Cameron to bed was my job; this was our father-son time and my boy knew exactly what my weakness was.
I could never say no to him.
There was a knowing look on his face and then my son gave me the sad eyes and pouty lips. “This is the last one. I promise.”
“Last story,” I agreed, before opening another book. Giraffe’s Can’t Dance. This was his favorite bedtime story and I knew he was waiting on this one. Cameron sighed happily when I started reading about the timid Giraffe, who had probably fitting in before he found the confidence in himself to do what he wanted.
By the time I finished the story, he was fast-asleep and I grinned, while I looked at his peaceful face. Cameron was basically my carbon copy. Same hair. Same strong nose and full eyebrows. He looked a lot like me when I was his age. The only difference was his eyes. They were his mother’s. The prettiest grey.
I pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Sweet dreams.”
He sleepily smiled in response and I knew he was somewhere far away, in a dreamland of horses and giraffes. Instead of leaving, I stayed there, sitting next to him on his little bed, watching my son sleep.
It was crazy how in a few weeks, we were going to go from a family of three to a family of six. Cameron was going to be a big brother to his three sisters. I didn’t doubt for a second that he was going to be a loving and protective brother. He had been anxiously waiting for his younger siblings. Yesterday, he put his head to Julianna’s swollen belly and told his sisters all about his day. He was already bonding with them and they weren’t even here yet.