Chapter 3

Instead of Archie's car, we took one of the SUVs to my OB appointment. Reaching over I put my hand on his where it rested on the gear shift. "You still doing okay?"

He'd admitted to having a moment the previous week, but between the kids and the guys, and the hustle for school and getting ready for the tour, we hadn't had a lot of Archie and Frankie time.

That needed correcting. Maybe we should take an earlier babymoon before the tour. If we waited until after, it would be January or February. I'd be a lot further along. It might limit our options.

"I'm fine, babe," he said, turning his hand over underneath mine. "I kind of lost it there for a few. But, I'm really fine. We're kind of old pros at this. Not sure why it just got me all of a sudden. I handled the rest of them okay."

"We've all freaked out in our own ways. Remember when Coop didn't sleep for a week?" It seemed funny in retrospect. It hadn't been at the time though.

He'd grown crabbier and crabbier. The day he snapped at me had actually given him pause. The very real regret in his eyes earned my forgiveness before he even apologized. After he confessed his exhaustion, I called the guys. Something needed to give and Coop needed us.

Then we all put our heads together. Three days later, Coop and I left for the babymoon. He spent the first three days sleeping, but he felt better and then we had the time that was just us.

"I'm not that bad, am I?" He frowned, then shot me a look when we had to stop at a light. "If I've snapped babe…"

"You haven't," I promised him, then squeezed his hand. This—hesitance and worry—it wasn't Archie. He was always so confident about everything. "And if I didn't tell you before, I'm very glad you told me what was going on. I like being able to help you."

He blew out a breath. "I feel like I'm going to screw all of this up."

"Why?"

He blinked over at me a minute. The honk of a horn behind us jerked his attention forward. The light had turned green. So I waited for him. Sometimes, the best thing any of us could do was be patient while the other person sorted out what was going on with them. All that time in therapy paid off.

We were maybe three blocks from the OB's office when he said, "I don't know. It's weird. This—this isn't me. Or do I just have a higher estimation of myself?"

I couldn't help it, the disbelief in his voice made me laugh. "No, it's not."

The rush of his exhale seemed to make him sag. Lifting my hand, he pressed a kiss to my palm. "Fuck me. Good. Also no listening down there…" He glanced down at the very small bump that wasn't even visible in my clothes. I'd reclaimed my figure after Izzy.

Post Josh, I'd had more curves and just a little bit of a belly from how big I'd gotten with him. My tiger stripes fully formed with him too. Charlie just added to the emphasis and I never quite got back into those jeans.

It was all fine. No one was complaining. That said, the illusion of the bump already being there wasn't hard to imagine. Especially with all the guys pausing to kiss my tummy at every turn. Jake liked to pull my shirt tight and Ian would just nudge it up. Coop was somewhere in between and Archie had been putting his hand there every night he slept next to me.

Some of the habits developed with Izzy. Others formed with Josh and then with Charlie. We were going to get new habits with… It was my turn to put my hand over the small bump. The bump needed a name. We would get one, eventually, as soon as we knew.

"You're not going to want to wait until they get here, are you?"

"Absolutely not." He shot me a grin. "I love you more than life, but if I have to suffer for months to find out if we're having another girl or another boy, I might grow crazy."

"Well, currently, that's not a long trip." The dry remark earned me a laugh.

"You're not wrong. But—after the scan today, we'll take Dad out to dinner tomorrow or invite him over?"

"Whatever you want." Truthfully, telling the grandparents was both fun and stressful. I loved that they were all always happy.

"Hmm, I want a lot of things, Frankie babe. You may not want to give me that much latitude." At the last light, waiting to turn, he leaned over and gave me a kiss.

"I can handle you," I reminded him and his smile transformed into a genuine grin.

"Hell yes, you can." He tapped his hands against the steering wheel. "Do you want to wait? Because if it's that important to you…"

I shook my head. "We waited with Izzy and I loved the added mystery of it to everything else. We fell in love with the bump, all of us. When she arrived, it was amazing. Jake wanted to know with Josh and finding out we were having a boy a few months ahead of his arrival—it was still magical. Then Coop wanted to know, but Charlie never cooperated."

He'd constantly been turned away during every ultrasound. Even when they tried to get him to turn, he was a hard no. Silly baby.

"Then yes, I really want to know. I want every minute of the anticipation and I want to talk names and plans and…" He pulled into a parking spot and then twisted to face me. "I want every single moment. I never got it when the guys said it was a little different when they knew. It doesn't make me love the other kids any less. I will punch the first person that tries to tell me Izzy isn't mine too, but…"

"But this one is the one we made," I murmured, and the desire that flared in his eyes at the acknowledgement had me reaching over to cup his cheek. "I remember. I love all of you so much. And every baby is just another reflection of how much we love each other. Do you have any preferences?"

"Happy. Healthy. With us." Archie ticked off each one. "I want you happy, and healthy too. So far, the morning sickness hasn't been a problem?"

"Not even a little bit. I know my age might play a little factor, but women have babies later on all the time."

"This isn't our first, but you have to be fine. You have to be fine, then they have to be fine." The intensity in his brown eyes held me captive there just like it had the first time he told me he loved me. I'd loved them for so long, I really couldn't imagine my life without them in it.

"We're all going to be fine. The benefit of being old pros, you know?" I wanted to make this as easy for him as I could.

"You calling me a pro?" He pursed his lips. "I can live with that." Then with a wink, he was out of the car and hurrying around to my side. The late September weather was almost perfect. Warm sunshine. Cooler breezes. The grass had been cut recently and they'd begun to swap out the flowers for the fall colors.

"Nothing like Texas, huh?" Archie said as he wrapped an arm around me.

"Nope. I like the seasons here and the not sweating all the time." Tilting my head back, I grinned up at him. "You?"

"The best part of Texas came with me up here. Never have to go back again. Dad and I are talking about selling the house there eventually. I mean—I have really fond memories of it, but again, the best part of Texas came with me."

"I love you," I whispered and he grinned.

"Best part of my day, every day."

With a long sigh, I nodded toward the building. "Shall we?"

"Yes, we shall."

Thirty minutes later, we were all set up in the exam room. I didn't have to get naked for this one, so that was always a plus. Instead, I sat on the foot of the little exam table, kicking my legs lightly. Archie parked it in a chair after pacing around the room. The time between the nurse checking my vitals and going over everything, and now, seemed forever.

"Why have an appointment, if they are going to be late?" Archie asked.

"Patience," I counseled him.

"If we were late, you'd lose the appointment."

"True," I said, with a little shrug. "But I need to see the doctor and they don't need to see me. Ergo, we need to be patient. Besides, Dr. Patterson is fantastic and she never rushes us. She spends as much time with her patients as they need."

Disgruntled, Archie folded his arms. "Not a fan of the waiting."

"Tell me about the engine you and Jake are testing, I know you wanted to be ab—" Before I could finish asking there was a brisk knock on the door.

"Hello," Dr. Patterson said as she hustled into the room. The woman always filled the air around her with so much positive energy.

"Hey, Dr. Patterson."

"Frankie and—we have Archie today. Welcome."

Archie rose and shook her hand, polite smile in place. "Hey, Doc," he said. "Hope everything is fine."

"It's great," she said before moving over to the sink and washing her hands. "How are you two doing? I know Frankie said we wouldn't need to do any paternity testing this time."

"No," I told her. "Archie was the only contender this time." I grinned at him.

"Got it. That's good. It means we're already starting ahead. You updated the medical chart with his family medical history?"

I nodded. "Took care of it this weekend when I did my online check-in." I loved not filling out paperwork anymore. While paper was tactile and I liked it for some things, trying to fill out microscopic lines with a long list of anything sucked.

"Excellent." Turning, she swept her gaze from me to Archie and then back. "Any concerns?"

"No," I said with a quick shake of my head. "I haven't really had any issues with morning sickness. Nausea has been pretty minimal across the board. My appetite is definitely fine. Maybe a little more tired than normal, but the kids just went back to school and Charlie was sick the first week of classes and keeping us up."

"That's all relative. The kids will settle down into their schedules and you have a lot of help at home."

"I do. More than enough. Getting ready to do another tour, so that's something to discuss. It's not going to be extensive. We're going to do what we did when I was pregnant with Charlie. A few shows followed by a break, then another few shows. I want to be home by the third trimester unless Archie and I are having a babymoon, but that won't be stressful."

Surprise flickered over his face, followed by a hint of delight. "I forgot about the babymoon. That—is going to be fun." The sudden mischief in his eyes and the way he rubbed his hands together promised that he was already planning. Good, I liked giving him something else to focus on.

"Right then, we'll just dive into the ultrasound. I'd normally have my tech do this, but I know how you are with the first one." The lightness in her tone robbed it of any sting. The guys could be a lot with the techs and with the doctor there, she could answer everything right away. "I will want new bloodwork soon, but all of your labs look great and you're exercising regularly without overdoing it. Go ahead and lay back for me, Frankie."

She was pulling the machine over. Archie moved to the other side of the bed and when I held my hand up to him, he gripped it.

"As a reminder, we're at fourteen weeks. This is our first scan. We may not be able to see any genitalia. Not all babies are cooperative."

Archie chuckled, more of the tension leaching out of him. "We were just talking about Charlie on the way here."

Dr. Patterson paused and made a face before she broke into a sunny smile. "He really didn't want anyone to know."

"That or he just wanted to keep mooning us." That had been Coop's theory. The comment made both her and Archie laugh.

"Maybe so," she said as I rolled up my shirt and then she spread the warm gel out on my stomach. Even warmed up, it seemed a little chilly. Maybe I was just being too sensitive. "Ready?"

She had the screen up and was typing one handed while she held the wand with the other. One deep breath, then another. I had no reason to be all anxious, yet here I was, getting nervous. Archie squeezed my hand and that helped too.

"Ready," I said.

"And if I can tell, you both want to know?" She confirmed as she began to rub the wand against the gel.

"Yes," I said firmly and Archie echoed me.

"Let's see what we can see…" She hummed a little as she began searching. From this angle, I could kind of see the screen but squiggly lines made it harder to read. She paused a couple of times, hit a couple of buttons and then continued. It was really quiet, though.

"Why can't we hear the heartbeat?" We'd heard it during an earlier appt, but…

"Oh, don't start panicking on me, Mom. Here you go." She turned up the sound and there was a distinctive beat. I tried to relax my hand where I'd been digging my nails into Archie's skin. For all that I'd been calm, the lack of sound had actually been the worst thing.

"Thank you."

"Of course, sorry, I didn't mean to worry you. I just wanted to see if our little one was going to give us a good look." The last few words came out far slower than the first few. She frowned as she stared at the screen, then fiddled with something.

"Not being cooperative?" Archie asked.

"Yes and no, give me a second here. They're moving."

I bit my lower lip. Calm thoughts. Focus on calm thoughts. Everything was fine. It took forever with Charlie too, cause he was being so difficult. This was really just our first chance, hardly the last.

"Okay," she said with an exhale of determination. "Here we go…"

Excitement threaded through me as she turned the monitor toward us more firmly.

"Now, we've estimated fourteen weeks and I'd say that we're on the money there, but the fetus was looking a bit small…" She highlighted the screen as she pressed down slightly with the wand. The baby was moving but I couldn't really feel it yet. I wouldn't, not for a while.

"Doesn't look all that small to me," Archie said. "But what is that…"

"That," Dr. Patterson said as she shifted the wand, "is why I was having trouble getting a good image. I thought it was an echo."

"Not an echo?" Was that another head?

"Nope," she said, then marked the images with an AA next to the first and a BB next to the second. "Twins."

Twins.

My mouth opened then snapped closed again.

"Twins?" Archie didn't seem to be similarly afflicted. "Really?"

"Yes, one of them is definitely a girl," she said. "BB right here, she's not at all shy, but AA keeps moving over and is curled. So, not getting a good look."

One was a girl.

"A girl," Archie blew out a long breath then gradually pulled his gaze from the screen to look down at me. "One is a girl."

"The other might be too," I said. Twins. "Can you tell if we're looking at identical or fraternal?"

"Not yet," she said, doing another pass and snapping a couple more photos. "They are curling up together so it's making it hard to see them without seeing it as an echo, but we've definitely got two. That means, Miss Frankie, we will be shifting your appointments around."

A shiver went through me, apprehension and delight. Twins. I couldn't quite wrap my mind around it, but Archie's grin hadn't diminished in the slightest. "How much different?"

"Well, for now, as you go into the second trimester, you might be a little more tired than previously. I need you to keep track of everything. Trust your instincts, Mom. When we get to the third trimester, we'll be seeing you much more regularly. Twins are normal, but they sometimes bring complications. That's not anything for you to worry about, but we will just take precautions." She passed me some tissues so I could clean up. "I'm printing these out for you to take home to the others. Let me be the first to congratulate you both."

"Thank you," Archie said, the shock evident in his voice. "We appreciate it."

"Of course, now, take it easy. Call me if you need anything and I'll see you next month, okay?"

I nodded as Archie helped me sit up. The doctor left us alone and I found Archie staring at me, dazed.

"Twins."

"Apparently, you were an overachiever," I said.

"Me?" He blinked. "What about you?"

"Well… We've always known I've got issues."

He chuckled then cupped my face in his hands before he kissed me. It started out solemn, sober, and serious. Then he chuckled before sweeping his tongue in to tease mine. I swore my toes were curling before he was finished. Hot and cold flashed through me and I really wished we were anywhere but the doctor's office so I could climb him like a pole for that kiss.

"What did you think about?" I had to know. Cause that laugh had been downright devilish.

"Just… thinking we know who shoots the big shots." His grin grew. "The guys are gonna have words."

"Maybe, then you waited a long time," I reminded him.

"Didn't feel like waiting," he traced his thumb along my cheekbone. "Felt like living our best life. Still does."

Another kiss and then he helped me off the table. "Do twins run in your family?"

"Not that I know of," he said. "You?"

I gave him a bland look then lifted my shoulders again. "I don't think so. I'm pretty sure Dad would have mentioned it and what I know about the Graysons, none there either."

"Frankie… one's a girl."

I grinned. "Still going just for healthy and happy?"

"Hell yes, but now I'm like, do I want two girls who are identical? Two that aren't? Or a girl and a boy? The possibilities are endless."

"Well, not endless, endless. I need to pee before we go. Meet me out front?"

"You got it." He dropped another kiss on my lips and then headed toward the exit while I slipped into the bathroom. My heart hammered at a furious pace. Twins. We were already talking four kids with one more, this would be five.

We would officially no longer outnumber the kids.

A giggle escaped me at the thought. I couldn't wait to tell the guys and Eddie. The kids. Had to tell the kids. They definitely needed to know. After I peed and washed my hands, I headed out to the car.

Archie leaned against the front of it, his phone in hand but his expression a little distant except for the smile on his lips. When I started forward, he glanced up and I could feel the heat of his gaze.

"What?"

"Well, you know how frisky you get?" His grin widened.

Since I was feeling pretty frisky at the moment, I just nodded. "Yes. I'm aware. Pretty sure I wore all of you out the last couple of times."

Archie's chuckle was downright wicked. "How much more will it be with twins?"

"We might need to buy some toys." I couldn't resist tweaking him, just a little.

His eyes narrowed and he looped an arm around my waist. "Trust me, I'll make sure we keep up. Husbandly duties and all that."

I snorted. "Husbandly."

"Sure, it sounds good," he said kissing me lightly. "Almost as good as you sound when you come. That is one of my favorite sounds."

"Archie…"

"Hmm?"

"Can we go home now?"

He nibbled a kiss along my jaw. "We have to call Dad about dinner."

"We can call him later," I said and spread my hand against his chest. "I'm definitely feeling some of that frisky right now."

"Yes," he whispered. "Then your wish is my command."

"Three orgasms," I said and his eyes lit up.

"Just three?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Let's start with three."

Two of us could play this game.

"Challenge accepted, Mrs. Standish."