“Don’t worry about that, Rae. My job is secure. Recession, booming economy, it doesn’t matter too much. People still get divorced or suspect a spouse is cheating. They come up with the money to prove it. It’s not recession-proof, but we’ve done good so far, right?”
I nodded.
“Okay. Then stop worrying.”
I sighed while I rubbed my lower abdomen. “I can’t help it. That saying about every woman is different, every pregnancy is different, and every child is different, well... I really feel like something is not the same with this one.”
He tapped the side of my head. “It’s all right here, honey. Calm down.”
“The two most useless words—”
The door opened and the ultrasound tech hurried into the room. “All right. Before we get started, do you want to know the gender? Or do you want a surprise?”
Clint and I spoke at the same time.
“Surprise.”
“We want to know,” I declared, and stared at him.
After a beat, I asked, “Are you serious? You want a surprise?”
He turned serious eyes to me. “We have Brian and Bronwyn, which means we have clothes for either gender. Why do we need to know? It’s one of life’s only real surprises anymore.”
I shrugged. “I guess we’ll go with a surprise. Unless we’re having multiples. At which point, all bets are off.”
The tech looked at me. “Do either of you have twins in your family?”
“I don’t think so, but I’m just covering my bases.”
Clint shook his head, and though I couldn’t see it, I suspected he rolled his eyes too. “We’re not having multiples, Rae.”
My head was tilted at an awkward angle while the tech moved the wand over my lower belly. The loud whooshing of a baby’s heartbeat filled the room, but the black and white screen looked different.
Slowly, the tech looked at me, her lips curling into a smile. “I don’t know how you knew, if there aren’t twins in your families, but you’re having two babies, Mrs. Ramsey.”
“No way,” Clint breathed.
She beamed at him. “Yes way, sir.”
While the tech took measurements and pointed out body parts Clint squeezed my hand. I couldn’t help but notice his was clammy, but I didn’t blame him. In pointing out the babies’ anatomy, she saved the best parts for last.
“Well,” she drawled. “Some parents would say you lucked out. You’re getting one of each, a boy and a girl.”
I laughed with relief. “That is a definite blessing.”
The ultrasound machine made noise as it produced print outs of the pictures. The technician put them on the counter, handed me some paper towels for the gel on my belly, and saw herself out.
With all the goop off my belly, I caught Clint’s eyes. “This is my last pregnancy, sir. We’re done. Good heavens, the college bills alone. Gah!”
He shook his head at me, and that was when I noticed his humongous smile. I had only seen him so happy on three other occasions. Our wedding day at the courthouse, when Brian was born, and when Bronwyn was born. His joy was infectious, and I felt my face light up with a smile.
“You’re giving me four babies, mi reina. It’s all I ever dreamed of and more.”
Curious about how Clint met Raegan, way back when? Sign up for the Karen Renee Newsletter and you’ll receive my latest news as well as the story of how they first met.
This concludes the O-Town Series...for now. Office manager Deanne gets her own short story coming in Fall 2021!
~ The End ~
About the Author
KAREN RENEE IS THE author of the Riot MC, Beta, and O-Town series of books. She once crunched Nielsen ratings data but these days she brings her imagination to life by writing books. She has wanted to be a writer since she was very young, but it’s taken the last twenty plus years for her to amass enough courage and overall life experience to bring that dream to life. Some of those life experiences came from the wonderful world of advertising, banking, and local television media research. She is a proud wife and mother, and a Jacksonville native. When she’s not at the soccer field or cooking, you can find her at her local library, the grocery store, in her car jamming out to some tunes, or hibernating while she writes and/or reads books.
Other Books by Karen Renee
PLEASE VISIT YOUR FAVORITE eBook retailer to discover other books by Karen Renee:
The Riot MC Series
Unforeseen Riot
Inciting a Riot
Into the Riot
Calming the Riot
Foolish Riot
Respectable Riot
Starting the Riot
A Friendsgiving Riot – a short story found in Romancing the Holidays Available Now!
THE BETA SERIES
Beta Test
Beta Sites Coming in 2021
RIOT MC BILOXI CHAPTER Series
Harm’s Way Coming April 2021
Brute’s Strength Coming Summer 2021
Roman’s War
THE O-TOWN SERIES
Relentless Habit
Wild Forces
Abrupt Changes
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