“Oh, I didn’t realize that.” I study the dates. “This isn’t quite right—my period was due on the fourth of January.”
“Oh shit.” She laughs. “I forgot to ask how long your cycle is. The average is twenty-eight days, but of course every woman is different.”
“Mine’s long—usually thirty-two or even thirty-three days.”
“Right, so go back, and in that box type thirty-two. Yep, and press Go again.” We wait for the results and look at the new calendar. “Yeah, there you go,” she says.
“It’s changed the date of ovulation.”
“Yes, because you ovulate fourteen days before your next period begins. So for you, the twenty-first of December. Which puts your fertile window from the sixteenth. Your due date is estimated as September the thirteenth because your cycle is a little longer than average. It’ll be great to have a spring baby!”
I study the calendar. “Yeah.” Then I frown. “It’s not quite right, though.”
“Oh?” She peers at the screen. “That’s good in a way. I’m still trying to iron out any issues. So what’s wrong?”
I tell her. She asks a few questions.
“Huh,” she says. She chews her bottom lip and meets my eyes. “I think we need to speak to Saxon,” she says softly.
Chapter Thirty-One
Henry
“So,” Saxon says, “you’re gonna be a dad! That’s great news.”
We’re lying on the floor on each side of the twins, who are both on a mat, playing with the objects dangling from the arch he placed over them.
“Well, sort of,” I say. I glance over my shoulder to make sure the girls are still in the library, then look back at him. “I wanted to talk to you about that, actually.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, about IVF. The chances of getting pregnant after the first cycle are around fifty percent, right?”
“Yeah, although we’re working on improving the selection of embryos, so between you and me, I think we can get that figure up a little higher.”
I nod, holding out a finger for the twin nearest to me. They both have Catie’s red hair, and Saxon’s mother’s bright blue eyes. “Which one’s this?” I ask as the baby grabs my finger.
“No idea,” Saxon says, and I laugh. He grins. “It’s Aidan. We try to dress him in something with blue in it, and Liam in red. But they also have different shaped birthmarks on the back of their necks.”
“Thank God for that. I bet there are stories of where twins have been mixed up for years.”
“Oh fuck yeah, we heard all kinds of horror stories while Catie was pregnant, so we were determined to find something to distinguish them when they were born.” He helps Liam sit up, and the baby plays with the teething ring he’s holding.
Then he looks at me. “Why did you ask about IVF? Are you thinking about doing it after this one’s born?”
“Maybe. I’d like to be able to give her a baby. But I went through so much with Shaz. Trying to get pregnant is a horrific process when it doesn’t work out.”
“Yeah, I see a lot of couples who are close to throwing in the towel.”
“Oh, of course, yeah, you must do.”
“It’ll be at least a year down the line, though,” he says, “so maybe you’ll feel differently by then.”
“I hope so. I thought that—” I stop as the girls come back into the room and smile. “Hey you two. Find some good books?”
“Mm.” Catie sits on the sofa, and Juliette perches next to her. They both look anxious.
I sit up. “Is everything all right?”