Page 180 of Josephine and Clay

“Yes, we do.”

She nods solemnly. “Top tier medical outcome.”

Despite everything, my mouth twitches.

Then another sharp twinge cuts through me and the tiny moment disappears.

Penny reaches over at a red light and squeezes my knee. “Almost there.”

Buckhorn Memorial looks inconsequential, but at five in the morning the fluorescent lights scrape across my nerves.

Penny handles the front desk before I can speak. “She’s pregnant with twins,” she tells the nurse. “She’s having cramping, she’s pretending to be calm, and I need somebody to medically confirm whether I should panic.”

“Penny,” I mutter.

The nurse bites back a smile. “We’ll take good care of her.”

That should reassure me.

Instead, every efficient step sends my imagination somewhere darker.

Soon I’m sitting in a hospital bed beneath a thin blanket while a blood pressure cuff squeezes my arm every few minutes. Penny hovers beside me with the energy of a woman prepared to fight anyone who says let’s wait and see too casually.

The nurse asks questions.

How far along?

Any dizziness?

Any fever?

Any bleeding?

Any unusual stress lately?

Penny snorts before I can answer.

I shoot her a look.

She lifts both hands innocently. “Sorry. That one just felt loaded.”

The doctor arrives a few minutes later, silver streaks threaded through dark hair and calm eyes that make me want to trust her immediately.

She explains that cramping can happen for several reasons during pregnancy, especially with twins, but they’re going to check everything thoroughly.

I nod because nodding is easier than unraveling.

Then they wheel in the ultrasound machine, and my entire body locks up.

Penny reaches for my hand.

Cold gel spreads across my stomach while the screen flickers to life. The blurry shapes refuse to resolve into anything familiar.

Then the doctor smiles. “There they are.”

My breath catches painfully in my chest.

Two tiny forms.