Free Big Girls Do It Pregnant by Jasinda Wilder Page A

free hand, hearing a real live heart beating inside me. I looked at Jeff, who was as transfixed as I was.  
    There was something odd about the heartbeat, an odd overlapping in the rhythm. It made my stomach drop. “Is that how a heartbeat is supposed to sound?” I asked.
    “I’m looking into that, just wait a second,” the nurse said. “I think—” But she cut herself off as she wiggled the wand around, sliding it from one spot to another, the sound of the heartbeat distorting.  
    “What is it? Is everything okay?” Jeff demanded.
    “She’s fine, it’s just…wait…now listen.” She swiveled the wand a fraction, and the distortion of the heartbeat cleared, and then she swiveled it in the opposite direction, making the sound fade, distort, and then clear up again. “Hear that?” She turned in her seat to grin at me.
    I felt an inkling of realization strike me. “Is that… two heartbeats?”
    “Two? Like twins?” Jeff asked.  
    I turned to look at him, seeing surprise on his face as I’m sure it was on mine. The nurse repeated the effect of producing two distinct heartbeats, then tapped a few more keys and searched my belly some more. I watched the view on the monitor shift and adjust, and then, as she brought the wand around to my side, I saw it, saw them , two distinct forms. Four arms, four legs. Two heads. Two heartbeats.  
    Two babies. Holy shit .  
    The nurse searched and tapped some more, and then pointed at the screen once more. “Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright. You’re having twins!”  
    Jeff and I traded stunned glances. Jeff’s mouth flapped open and closed as he tried to speak. “Twins? How—how— twins ?”
    The nurse just laughed as she continued to adjust the wand for different views. “That’s a very common reaction, actually. Are there any twins on either side of your families?”
    I nodded my head, almost absently. “Yeah, yeah, we both have twins in our family.”
    “Well, there you go. It’s a genetic thing, although there are rare cases of twins in families with no history of it.” She printed out some pictures of the babies— babies, plural…oh, god —and put them in an envelope, then proceeded to swivel the wand and tap on the keyboard, sometimes making parts of the screen turn technicolor. “So, do you still want it to be a surprise, now that you know you’re having twins?”
    Jeff and I exchanged glances.  
    I touched his cheek so he looked at me. “Jeff? You’re the one who wanted it to be a surprise in the first place.”
    He shook his head slowly. “I think…I think we’ve got enough of a surprise now.”
    “So you want to know?” The nurse adjusted the wand to focus on one of the babies. “Well…it looks like this one is…ooh, this is a great potty shot. It’s a girl. See?” She moved the wand, searching for the best view once more, talking to herself. “Okay. Baby number two…where are you? There you are. That’s your head, and there’s your legs, come on, baby, give a good look. Ah, gotcha. Baby number two is…a boy! They’re fraternal twins, a boy and a girl.”
    I sucked in a deep breath to calm myself. “God, twins.” I looked at Jeff, who seemed to be still struggling with shock. “You called it, remember?”
    He shook his head, then met my eyes. “I called it? Oh, yeah. Way back, just after I proposed.” He laughed. “I did, didn’t I?”
    “We’re having twins, Jeff.” I said it out loud again.  
    “Oh, god. Oh, god. Twins.” He gave me an odd smile. “So, Miss Interior Decorator. How are we doing the nursery now that we’re having a boy and a girl?”
    I just shook my head. “I have no idea. I like green?”
    Jeff laughed. “What I said in the first place? Nice, Anna.” He turned to the nurse. “So aside from the fact that there’s two babies in there, does everything else look good?”
    She nodded. “Yes, everything looks great. All the measurements are right on target for twins. The high-risk