Maitland Maternity: Triplets, Quads and Quints. Kasey Michaels
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to tell me your checkup went well. He knew I’d be worried and he was afraid you wouldn’t want to talk about it.”
Though she was fuming inside, Bri tried to make her voice calm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think to tell you. But everyone’s fine.”
“I know,” Alice said with a smile. “Now eat your cookies and drink your tea. I put in cream instead of milk. It makes it taste wonderful.”
Alice was so pleased with her behavior, Bri couldn’t be mad at her. But she could be mad at Dr. Hunter Callaghan.
As soon as Alice left, she grabbed the phone. She wasn’t calling Hunter. Not yet. She had some other calls to make.
“Dad? Just wanted to let you know that my checkup went well.”
“Yes, I’m so glad. Hunter said the girls looked great. He thinks you may make it almost to term. I really appreciated his letting me know. I’ve been worrying about you.”
“So why didn’t you call me?”
After a moment of heavy silence, Jackson said, “I was afraid you’d get scared because I was worried. After what happened to your mother, you know.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I know, Dad. But it’s all right. We have better doctors and better equipment, thanks to you. Everything is going to be fine.”
“Yeah, Hunter assured me he’d take care of you and the girls.” He actually sniffed into the phone, as if he were hiding tears, as she had in the doctor’s office. “Hey, how about lunch again tomorrow?”
“Thanks, Dad, but with the appointment today, I lost a lot of work time, so I can’t go out for lunch. I’ll just have my assistant bring me something. I’ll take a rain check if you don’t mind.”
“Okay, but you let me know if there’s anything you need.”
“I will, Dad.”
When she’d disconnected, she began dialing Caleb’s number, but a knock on her door stopped her. She moved to the door to peek through the peephole. Dr. Hunter Callaghan, bossy doctor, stood there.
She was wearing her Hawaiian muumuu, so she swung open the door, a big glare on her face.
“Hmm, welcome as usual,” he said with a grin.
“How dare you!”
“I don’t know how I dare, since I don’t know what’s got you steamed this time. Unless it’s my sitting in on your checkup.”
“No! I’ve accepted that you have a right to do that, though I don’t like it.” She folded her arms across her chest, though they actually rested on top of her stomach. “But you don’t have a right to interfere in my personal life.”
He nudged her backward and stepped inside, closing the door. She was so wrapped up in her anger, she didn’t realize what he’d done for several minutes. “I didn’t invite you in!”
“But you should have. Grace would be appalled at your manners,” he assured her, still smiling.
“You think you’re so smart, but you wouldn’t be so popular if I told everyone you abandoned me after getting me pregnant!”
She immediately realized what she’d done when his eyes brightened and he took a step closer. “I didn’t mean you really—I meant what if I told them that! That’s what I meant. What if I lied to them?”
Somewhere during that speech, he’d switched to doctor mode, instead of father-to-be mode. “Your blood pressure is rising again. Come sit down. I’ll make you some more tea.”
“How do you know I want tea? Maybe I want a slug of whiskey, or a soda, or Kool-Aid! You don’t know me—or what I want.”
“I know you don’t want to hurt your babies. Come sit down, Bri.”
He arranged cushions behind her back. Then he picked up her cup and took it to the kitchen. In no time he was back with a fresh cup of tea, with cream added, much as Alice had made.
“Do you still have cookies to eat?” he asked.
She glared at him and didn’t answer.
“Honey, we need to talk about what’s upset you so it won’t make your blood pressure go up. I promise I haven’t deliberately tried to rile you.” He sat on the couch, pressing against her legs as she lay there. “Now, tell me what I did this time.”
“You told Alice, my dad, and probably Adam, Caleb and Grace about my checkup.” She doubled up her fist and hit him in the arm, knowing it wouldn’t hurt him, but maybe it would let him know how angry she was. “Alice told me I needed to eat the cookies because you told her I needed calories.”
“Who else but your cook should I have told? And I had to tell her about seeing the babies, so she’d believe me.”
“And my father?”
“Well, I could tell, when we talked at lunch, he was putting up a front about everything being all right. He was scared to death you were going to die just as your mother did. I wanted to reassure him.”
Her eyes filled with tears, and she bit her bottom lip. “And my brothers?”
“Your father asked me to call and reassure them because they were worried sick about you, too. You’re the only female in the group. They don’t know if you’re just trying to reassure them, or if maybe you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“And they believe you because you’re a man!”
“No, they believe me because I’m a medical professional who’s delivered a lot of babies.”
“Did you call Grace, too?”
“Yes, because she asked me to. She said she didn’t like to ask you because she was afraid it would make you worry.”
She sniffed. She’d been sure the man had overstepped his mark, but there he was, explaining it all away, making her look like a hysterical woman. “I—I still think you should’ve at least told me you were going to—to interfere in my life.”
He leaned forward to pick up the cup of tea and then held it to her lips. “Take a sip.”
She did so, trying to ignore his body pressed against her stomach. His touch drove her crazy. It apparently affected the girls, too, because they suddenly began jumping around like five-year-olds playing soccer, running in all directions and kicking anything that moved.
After he set the cup back on the table, he looked at her and whispered, “May I?”
She didn’t have to ask what he wanted. She knew he wanted to feel her babies move. She nodded.
His big warm hands spread out over her stomach, acting like a lightning rod for the movement. One lump in particular caught his attention. “I think one of the girls is standing on her head.” He rubbed the lump and it shifted.
“They move around a lot, especially at night.”
“Bri, I want to thank you for having the courage not to terminate the pregnancy.”
“You’re wel—I mean, it has nothing to do with you! Nothing at all.”
With his hands still on her stomach, he stared at her, challenging her words.
“These are my girls, and no one, not their father or anyone, is going to hurt my girls.”
“Why would you think their father would want to hurt them?” he asked softly.
“Because he hurt me! He left me alone, wanting—wanting his love and—and my children are better off just belonging to me. I won’t hurt them.”
“Are we talking about the mythical boyfriend who split? Or are we talking about me?”
She looked away, refusing to give