Joe laughed and nudged her ahead of him into bed. Once there, he made her comfortable in his arms, her favorite place to be. “Think about your very first memories. What do you remember?”
“Evan and Adam chasing me around the yard like hooligans.”
“How old were you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe five?”
“PJ and Viv won’t remember living in Ohio. They’ll grow up with their mom, a very successful veterinarian, who’ll be the most important person in their lives.”
“Tied for first with you.”
“No, sweetheart. You’ll always be first with them, and that’s fine with me. You’re first with me, too. We’ll have a busy couple of years while you finish school, and then we’ll come home and settle back into life here, and they’ll pick right up where they left off with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.”
“You’re sure about that?”
“One hundred percent positive. And they’ll be so, so proud of you for finishing school and making your biggest dream come true.”
“Being a vet isn’t my biggest dream. That one already came true because of you and them.”
“And they’ll know that, Janey. They already know how much you love them, and they’ll always know that. Ohio will be just a brief blip in their lives before we come home to stay.”
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm her wild emotions. “I’m sorry to be so over the top about this.”
“You’re not. I get it, babe. You’re going to be really, really busy, and it’ll cut into your time with the kids, but we’ll make the best of the time we have together, and when you’re busy, they’ll have me.”
She pulled back so she could see his face. “In case I forget to say thank you for this…”
He kissed her. “No thanks needed.”
“Yes, Joe, I do need to thank you for everything you’ve done from the start to make this happen for me. I was thinking downstairs how cool it is that us going to Ohio brought Seamus here, and now he’s married to your mom, and they’re so happy.”
“That’s right. That never would’ve happened without you going to vet school. We have to look at all the positives.”
“I’m glad you see him as a positive now.”
Joe laughed. “It took a while for me to see him as my mother’s partner, but the crazy Irishman has grown on me like nontoxic mold.”
Janey lost it laughing. “He’s a good guy.”
“Yes, he is.”
“You told them our plans, right?”
“Earlier today. They were very happy to hear you’re going back to finish, even if they’ll miss us. They said they’d come visit, too.”
“I hope so.”
Joe rubbed her back, which helped her relax and decompress. “As long as we have each other, everything will be okay. I promise.”
Since that’d been true thus far, Janey decided to take him at his word.
Chapter 3
In Providence, Adam McCarthy had been up all night as he tried to think about anything other than the appointment that loomed over them like a dark cloud. Something wasn’t right. Abby was almost to the end of her first trimester, but she looked much further along. From the outset of her high-risk pregnancy, David and Victoria at the Gansett Island clinic had advised them to seek out a specialist on the mainland to be doubly sure everything was okay.
They’d made an appointment at Women & Infants Hospital, waited weeks for the date to arrive, and in the next hour or two, they’d know more. Except he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
If something was wrong…
His heart broke at the thought of that. Abby had been through so much before they’d found each other, and even since then, being diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome and told she might never conceive. They’d adopted their son, Liam, last winter, but Abby’s pregnancy had been a complete shock to both of them.
Their baby was a miracle, and he was determined to do whatever it took to make sure she and the baby were all right. Even if that meant moving to Providence for the duration of her pregnancy. They’d do it if they had to.
They’d hired a young woman named Candice to help run Abby’s Attic at the Surf this summer. Candice had been a godsend so far, and if they had to rely on her to finish out the season at the store, so be it. Whatever it took to get Abby and the baby successfully through this pregnancy.
A chirp from the portable crib let Adam know eight-month-old Liam was awake. He went to retrieve him and found that Abby already had him up and was changing his diaper.
“I can do that if you want to sleep for a little while longer,” Adam said.
“I didn’t sleep at all, so I’m glad to have something to do.”
“I didn’t sleep either.”
They worked together to get Liam washed up, dressed and fed.
“How about some breakfast?” Adam asked.
“I don’t think I could eat. Maybe after the appointment. But you go ahead.”
“I sort of feel the same way.”
They put Liam on the floor in the living room to play with toys while they killed the last hour before it was time to go.
At the hospital, they were taken directly to the ultrasound department for the first of several appointments and tests that would be conducted before they saw the specialist.
Adam held Liam as the ultrasound technician moved the wand over Abby’s protruding abdomen. He watched the screen but couldn’t make heads or tails out of what he was seeing.
The technician moved the wand around, clicking something on the computer. Each click was like a shot to his nerves. What did it all mean? He took comfort in the very strong sound of the baby’s heartbeat. After Mac and Maddie had lost their son Connor in utero, Adam had feared the same silence that had confronted his brother and sister-in-law at a routine ultrasound appointment.
“Excuse me for one minute,” the tech said as she left the room.
“What’s happening?” Abby asked, her brown eyes gone wide with fright.
“I’m sure it’s nothing. You heard the heartbeat. That’s what matters.” He said what she needed to hear even as he tried to hide his own panic. He’d seen enough movies and videos to know that nothing good ever came of the tech leaving the room.
The tech returned five excruciating minutes later with another woman, who introduced herself as a doctor of radiology.
Adam didn’t catch her name and didn’t care what it was.
They started the entire process again from the beginning, as Adam and Abby were forced to wait in agonizing silence for someone to tell them what was going on.
Finally, the doctor looked up at them with an odd expression on her face. “Did you undergo fertility treatment?”
“No,” Abby said. “Why?”
“Has anyone mentioned the possibility of multiples to you?”
“M-multiples?” Abby asked, gazing frantically at the doctor and then at Adam.
The doctor pointed to the screen. “We’re detecting four heartbeats.”
Adam’s knees wanted to buckle under him. “Four?”