CHAPTER TWENTY

STELLA

Sebastian made me feel much better about my standing in this strange little family we've created. However, I'm still not sure about going to this doctor's appointment. Any of the guys could be the biological father so they all are. But me? I know without a doubt that I did not get Lucy pregnant. It seems like I'm an outsider, so I don't want to go. I can stay here. I'm sitting on the bed, with my laptop, reading through my next book for the third time, when Lucy walks in.

"Hey, Gage is hollering for you downstairs. Everybody is ready."

I shake my head. "Tell him I'm staying here. I have a deadline and honestly, I'm not even possibly the father, I don't need to be there."

Her eyes widen with shock as she crosses her arms over her chest. "Excuse me?"

I giggle and repeat myself. "I have a deadline and honestly I'm not even possibly the father, I don't need to be there."

A tear falls down her cheek, which catches me off guard. "What if I need you there, Stel?"

I put my laptop aside, so she knows I'm paying attention to what she's saying. "Why would you need me there, Peanut? You have three strong men happy to hold your hand."

Lucy stares down at the floor with a headshake. "So, if we weren't all together like this, and I told you I needed you today, you'd say you aren't the father so I'm on my own? It's not okay for me to need my best friend?"

I give her a slight nod. "Tell them I'll be ready in five minutes. I'm sorry."

She turns and walks to the door, facing away from me, she whispers softly, "Thank you. I'm really scared, and I need my girl, not just my guys."

I feel a twinge of guilt when she goes to join our men. She's right. I should be there, not because I share DNA with the baby, but because she's my best friend, my family.

GAGE

Like the trip to her parents' house, Lucy fought with us. Why do all three guys need to be there? She was concerned it would look weird to the doctor, considering everybody knows a woman can only get pregnant by one man at a time. Yeah, that wasn't fucking happening. Who the fuck cares what anyone thinks? We are a family, and that means we love each other without shame. My biggest pet peeve is people feeling ashamed about who they are. If more people were like me and simply didn't give a fuck, this world would be a better place.

We walk through the double doors to the doctor's office, and I don't miss the way our women are walking hand in hand, their fingers interlocked. Something has been going on with Stella, I don't know what it is, but she's struggling, so I'm happy to see her with Lucy like this. We all need to be one cohesive unit with this baby coming. I'm determined to give our child everything I didn't have. I had a good life but when my sister was murdered everything changed. I will do whatever I have to in order to keep our child safe. If I had the ability to time travel, there are so many things I would've done differently with Giselle. Losing her was the single most devastating thing in my life. It won't happen again, because I will lay down my life before I lose any part of this family.

Lucy signs in and I hand over my credit card because there's no way I'm allowing her to pay for this doctor's visit. Finding out Lucy and the baby are safe is the only thing that matters at this moment. Lucy giggles as she pulls my hand away. "There's no charge, Gage. It's covered by the NHS."

"Who the fuck is the NHS?"

She glances at me and rolls her eyes. "Shhh. It's kind of like insurance but not really."

The overly made-up blonde at the reception window asks, "How far along are you?"

Lucy shrugs. "I don't have a clue, but I took a home pregnancy test and it was positive."

"And you're all going back?"

I know without even glancing at Lucy that her face is red. I nod to the woman sporting a name tag that reads, ‘Beverly.'

SEBASTIAN

A lady that looks like a grandmother comes to the door and calls out, "Lucy Greene."

Mav walks beside her with his arm around her, as if he's afraid she'll run away screaming. He may not be far off because she looks so embarrassed. We all file into the small room and attempt to fit, but it's tight because none of us guys are what you'd consider small. We all glance to the door when Dr. Henderson comes in. He takes a look at our rather large group and clears his throat.

"Ms. Greene?"

She nods and he says to the rest of us, "Would you like to wait outside?" We don't move an inch, because we all know that none of us are leaving.

"Why?" Gage asks.

The doctor gives a weary glance. "I need to examine her. A pelvic exam."

Mav chuckles obnoxiously. "We've all been in there, doc. Nothing we haven't seen before."

Lucy buries her face in her hands, as she sits naked from the waist down with a tiny little sheet covering her bottom half. Dr. Henderson clears his throat. "Alright then," he says with a not-so-subtle shake of his head.

He moves to Lucy's side and asks her what I assume are normal questions, the first day of her last period, if she's been pregnant before, blah blah blah.

"Your test was positive so you're definitely pregnant. I'd like to remove your implant. We'll do a pelvic exam and then take a look at the baby."

Lucy sighs as she reaches for Stella's hand. "Okay."

"Lie back," he says to Lucy and then turns to us with an annoyed expression, "Step back."

All three of us tense up when he inserts a finger inside our girl's pussy. Gage growls loudly, "Is that really fucking necessary?"

Lucy whimpers a quiet, "Oh my God," as the doctor removes his fingers. "All done. I'm going to do an ultrasound, but I think you're too early for the abdominal one. It will have to be transvaginal. Is that going to be a problem?"

Lucy glares at all three of us. "Behave or get out."

You could cut the tension in a room with a knife, but a few minutes after he pushes this white dildo looking thing inside her, he says, "Here's your baby. Right where it should be."

He points at the screen. "Here's the head, the legs, the heartbeat is one hundred forty beats per minute which is perfectly healthy. I have here that you're approximately thirteen weeks and one day pregnant."

After he pulls the instrument from her, he prints off a picture and hands it to her, and then looks to us guys. "How many pictures do you want?"

Gage smiles bigger than I think I've ever seen from him. "Four more."

The doctor doesn't say anything as he hands us the pictures and gives Lucy a prescription. "You should start prenatal vitamins immediately. And be sure to see your primary care physician when you return to the United States. Bear with me a moment and we'll get rid of this implant that didn't work very well."

She giggles, and then winces as the implant is removed from her arm. Luckily for us, Gage reeled himself in and didn't attack the doctor for hurting her. It wasn't off the table and we can't go to jail now.

It takes a few minutes for us to leave, because we're all grinning stupidly at the picture of our baby.

Our baby.

We're all going to be fathers, and I don't think there's anything scarier than that.

LUCY

The only thing more intrusive than a strange man with his finger up inside me, is our three fucking men hovering over me watching. It was mortifying, and the whole thing was so unnerving. Suddenly I'm this pregnant lady, and I'm going to be a mother, and I never wanted any of that. Not yet anyway.

There's so much I don't know or understand, and I'm freaking out, so when I suggest to the others that we find the nearest bar and have a few drinks, albeit soft bloody drinks for me, they quickly agree. It's after three in the afternoon, but it takes us another forty minutes to find somewhere that we all think looks like our kind of place. I'm not sure what ‘our kind of place' is exactly, but it's nice. Posh. There are posters up about upcoming bands and stuff, but it's just got quiet music playing right now. I guess afternoons aren't really for bands.

"I'll just have a lemonade," I say, when Gage starts ordering drinks for everyone. Say what you like about Gage, but he's generous with money, and I know he has a lot of it, but I think even if he didn't, he'd still be like this. He's an asshole at times, but he never leaves anyone wanting for anything.

Stella's still a little quiet, and I hate that, but when she has a few drinks in her, she'll feel more relaxed, and maybe stop worrying so much about what she thinks she can't bring to this family and remember everything she does bring.

I'm on my second lemonade when my bladder complains, so I head off to the bathroom to pee, with Stella of course, because we ladies go to bathrooms together for so many reasons. It's on the way out that the weirdest thing happens.

I walk smack into a man who isn't one of the three allowed to touch me, and when this man catches my arms, and I look up at him, I'm hit with a flash of unexpected recognition, and my heart nearly stops in my chest. Oh no no no .

"Scott!"

Stella runs right into the back of me, and I crash into him again, and he chuckles softly.

"Been a while, Lucy, but you look so fucking good. You feel good too." Oh my god! I can't believe this is happening.

"Who's this?" Stella asks, grabbing my arm and tugging me out of Scott's warm grip very sensibly, because if Mav or the others see him touching me, he'll die for it.

Scott releases me but offers a hand out to Stella. "I'm Scott, an old friend of Lucy's from way back. Wow, I haven't seen you in so long, Luce. Why the hell didn't we keep in touch?" Really?

Stella shakes his hand, but she's not speaking, and she pulls back fairly quickly, reaching down to lace her fingers through mine. I'm still reeling from this unplanned meeting, and his affectionate pet name that nobody else has ever been allowed to use, and he's not welcome to either.

"Scott. I uh… I live in America now, with uh… with Stella."

He raises his eyebrows, glancing at her before he looks at me again. "Like… uh… together? Wow. I never saw that coming. I mean, you were the one that got away, and I guess I always thought we'd meet up again and, well, you know." The one that got away? Is he shitting me? Doesn't he remember what happened back then? What a prick!

"I don't… uh…"

"Gonna introduce us to your new friend, Lucy?" Mav is suddenly standing right behind Scott, and I can see he's not alone. And he's also not happy at all. Oh fuck. If Mav finds out he's the one who broke me way back when, he'll kill him. Mind you, if he saw him touching either of us, he's already dead. A small part of me, a really small petty part of me, kinda wants to see Mav punch him though. Can I blame that thought on pregnancy hormones?