The Bachelor's Baby (Bachelor Auction Book 3)(38)

“Really?” Meg asked, squeezing Linc’s hand so tightly she expected to hear his bones snap, but hope clenched her in its anxious fist. She blinked hard, trying to clear her vision so she could see properly.

Linc was still hovering half over her, arrested, gaze fixed on the screen, not even breathing that she could tell.

“Oh,” the technician said, kind of startled by something unexpected that made Meg squeak out an urgent, dread-filled, “What?”

The technician pointed at the screen again, smiling as she said, “And there’s the other one. Also moving.”

“Other…?”

“You’re pregnant with twins.”

“Twins?” Linc straightened.

His grip on her hand changed, turning to crush her hand while his other hand gave each of his cheeks a quick swipe. “Are you serious?” His voice was ragged and filled with emotion, most of it hope.

“Identical, since there’s only the one placenta. You see how the placenta is sitting right here? That’s probably the cause of the spotting. We’ll have to monitor that, but for the moment everything looks normal…”

Meg didn’t track much after that. Linc was kissing her, and they were both laughing, astonished and happy and relieved. Shocked. Stunned to the soles of their feet.

“Twins. I’ll assume they run in your family because they don’t in mine,” he said.

“Fraternal twins are hereditary,” Rachel said when she confirmed everything and pronounced the spotting was a false alarm. “You get identical twins from winning the reproductive lottery.”

Meg didn’t have to stay the night, but she had a list of precautions and symptoms to watch for once she was discharged and home.

Her heart panged a little as they walked to the truck. She wished she knew whether twins ran in her family, but that was one more mystery she was learning to live without resolving. Where she’d come from wasn’t nearly as important as where she was going.

She was going home.

With Linc. The man she loved.

“Do you want to stop in on our way?” he asked, not having to say who he meant.

She nodded. “I can’t wait to see their faces.” She felt the goofy grin on her own, fueled by the one on Linc’s as they both tried to process the news.

“Your brother is going to kill me. We are getting married as soon as possible. Got that?”

“Agreed,” she said, adding under her breath, “Bossy.”

He pulled over, set the truck into park and flung out of his side of the truck, leaving the door open.

“What—?” she asked as he opened her side.

“This scared the hell out of me.” He unclipped her belt. “And I’m so grateful it turned out okay. So relieved. I need to hold you.” He drew her out of the truck onto her feet and gently crushed her to his front, heart slamming hard against her ear. His lips nuzzling near her ear. “I love you. Did you hear me say that? Because this has been a really crazy day so you might have missed it.”

She stroked his spine, cheek nestled against his chest, heart so full she thought she’d burst. “I did hear it and I love you so much. I’m kind of in awe—” She pulled back a little, looking around. “This is where we met.”

He scanned the side of the road next to where they stood, glanced to where a widening in the road had allowed him to turn around and come back to attach his winch. With a smirk of self-deprecation, he said, “Chicago, huh?”

“Marietta,” she corrected without hesitation. “Never leaving.”

“Well, that keeps things simple, doesn’t it?” he said with approval, humor glinting from the look he slanted down at her.

She was still smiling by the time he’d kissed her and they’d got themselves buckled back into their seats.

“You know what I’m thinking?” he said as they got back on the road.

“What?”

“We’re going to be busy once the babies get here. If you still want lunch in Great Falls, we have to do it soon.”





Epilogue




?


Fourth of July, the following year…

Meg carried Robbie, named for Linc’s father, on her hip. Linc had Will, named for hers, dozing on his shoulder. She kept thinking she should go back to their blanket where they’d left the stroller, but they were having too much fun, catching up with everyone here at the picnic. Linc, it turned out, was a sucker for community events. He was always insisting they make time for things like the Christmas Stroll and whatever parade or fair or rodeo was happening in town.

“There they are,” Linc said, nodding to where Liz and Blake were following Ethan and Petra from the BBQ area back toward their own blankets. Blake held their daughter, Lucy, and Liz carried two full plates of food.

Petra spied them and smiled, coming to eagerly claim the cousin that was awake. Robbie quickly cuddled into her with adoration.

“We’ll keep Rob while you guys get your food,” Liz offered.

Meg and Linc headed toward the smell of hamburgers and French fries. People immediately began asking why they only had one of the boys with them. Honestly, as notorious as their romance had been, seeded at the now infamous Bachelor Auction and culminating in a shotgun wedding, the twins were their real source of notoriety.