Chapter Seven: Turning point

"What do you mean irregular?" I asked, looking between her and Liam. My husband gave my shoulders a gentle squeeze as I leaned into his frame.

"From what I'm seeing here, the heartbeat is weak and this may predispose to congenital heart conditions, we can't know for certain until we run tests."

At this point my heart was already in my mouth, I didn't want any of my children today. The joy of discovering that I was carrying things was immediately snatched away because of this bad news.

She removed her stethoscope from her neck, "I think you should follow me to the test room."

I held on tight to Liam's hand fearing the worst. The next couple of minutes was a blur for me, they did more scans and then we ran some tests.

Now Liam and I were waiting anxiously by the waiting area. "What's taking them so long?" I soliloquized.

He placed his arm against my back, "calm down honey, I'm sure the results will soon be ready."

It was as if he summoned them with his voice because the next door that clicked open, was the doctor coming out of her office.

Her glasses were perched on the bridge of her nose as she looked through the files she was holding, her mind distracted as she strolled slowly towards us.

"From what I can see here, it's not something too serious. It can be treated with regular checkups in the hospital alright?"

I let out a breath I didn't even realize I was holding, "thank you," I said and then Liam and I got on our feet.

When we got home, my mind was still preoccupied with thoughts. What if something happened to one of my babies, or even both of them?

As much as I tried to distract myself by doing some chores, it was too obvious that I was worried.

I was doing the dishes when suddenly I felt his arms grab my waist as he leaned into the hook of my neck. "You still look stressed," he said to me.

"I'll be fine," I assured him and rinsed the soap off my hands. I tried my hands in the napkin and then grabbed a basket and began heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

Right.

I'd forgotten to tell him that I was heading over to Michelle's house. "You know that thing I said about wanting the cookie recipes from Michelle right? Well turns out she has a whole lot of baking recipes to share, I want to go learn and eat!" I said excitedly.

"Have fun, and be careful," he said, sounding like a dad advising his teenage daughter. I know that and then left the house and crossed the road over to Michelle's.

****

The days that followed were filled with hospital visits, check ups and some shopping. I was beginning to get some baby items like clothes and toys.

"I don't want to be a spoiler, but between me and you I think the boys are planning something big for you."

I was still raking my eyes through the shelves, looking for the perfect pacifiers. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged, "I don't know, but it just seems like that."

Well now that you mentioned it, that could explain why they paid for us to have a spa date out together, leaving only them in the house.

All along I thought they probably just wanted to play chess or something, but now it seems like Michelle is right, they are up to something.

Without bothering my mind with it, we continued our shopping and paid and then headed to the spa.

My belly was beginning to protrude by now, but it wasn't too obvious. After confirming our reservations, the lady in the reception had us change into some white robes.

Then our spa treatment kicked off, we had the full package from face masks, to foot massages to body massages.

Michelle and I spent most of the time gossiping and finally after everything was over we changed back into our normal clothes and then headed home.

Immediately I stepped in through the front door, there was a loud pop sound and I was doused with confetti. The string lights immediately turned on revealing such a beautiful arrangement.

Rose flowers were arranged on the floor and thrilled all the way to the dining room. As I followed the trail, Collins suddenly materialized beside me and shoved a bouquet of flowers into my arms.

I still couldn't believe what was going on, as quickly as he showed up he left. I turned to look at Michelle but she was gone.

That was when it clicked, she was in on it too! Just really bad at keeping secrets. I clutched the flowers, and then grabbed the note that was on top.

'To the most beautiful woman in my world.' the note read. I was already becoming overwhelmed with emotions but I could tell that my eyes were coming teary.

There he was, sitting at the end of the dining table in a crisp white shirt. "You should have said something, I would have worn better clothes!" I squealed in a shaky voice.

He got up and walked up to me, "you're perfect just the way you are," he said in a husky voice and we shared a deep kiss.

It was a long passionate kiss, his lips against mine and at that moment nothing else mattered in the world. Not even the roses, they had met the floor long ago. I wrapped my hands around his neck and we continued to kiss.

When we broke apart, he crouched down and planted another soft kiss on my stomach. "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," I said with my eyes closed. He pulled out a seat for me right beside his.

"I realized that since we got together, we've never really gone on an official date, so consider this our first date."

Truthfully, we never went on a date. We used this opportunity to get to know each other deeper. I found out that just like me, he's an orphan. The only difference is that he was an only child.

It was great getting to know the man that I married on a more intimate level.

Five months later

"Give me your hand," Liam said, extending his arms.

"I'm fine, I can handle it," I retorted, refusing his help. I might be nine months pregnant but I could definitely get down some damn stairs on my own.

Collins and Michelle were downstairs, along with their kids and then Aubrey, one of the retirees that lived here. Aubrey was a lively and friendly old woman, and she was great at game night.

"For the very first time, we're having game night at your place!" Michelle shrieked. I rolled my eyes, she was always the dramatic one.

"Hope you guys are ready to lose?" Liam said, "because there's no way you're coming to my house to come and beat me," he added.

"We'll see about that," Collins remarked.

"You're all going to lose to me anyway," Aubrey said with a smirk on her face.

Anna and Roxy didn't seem particularly interested in what was going on, they were just running around the house and that was good enough for me.

I grabbed my phone to check the time but then a notification popped up on my screen, it was showing breaking news about the Tan family.

Normally I'd ignore news like this, but then I could see from the poster that the article was talking about a wedding.

Curiosity gripped me and I had to give in. I opened the article and began to read through, my eyes nearly popped out of their socket when I saw it. Ava Moore weds Aiden Tan.

For a second it was like all the air that was in my lungs had been knocked out. My phone fell to the floor and Liam rushed over, picking it up.

The force of contraction hit me and my face twisted in pain as I felt water trickling down my legs. "Oh no, her water broke!" Michelle yelled.

They all began to scamper about to get things while Liam slung my arm over his shoulders, guiding me towards the car. "It's going to be okay," he whispered against my ears.

I was still trying to process the pain of labor and the betrayal for my sister all together. It couldn't be, there had to be a mix up somewhere.

Waves of pain washed over me as they rushed me to the hospital. When we arrived I was placed on the stretcher and rushed to the labor room.

Tears streamed down my face as I pushed. At some point I was even numb and couldn't feel anything, with black dots clouding my vision.

Finally the babies were out, and I collapsed onto my bed, my breathing slow.

Just as I was at the verge of passing out, I heard one of them speak. "This baby isn't breathing."