24. Liam

24

LIAM

N o one moved. My entire body froze so suddenly I swayed on my feet. The man’s words ricocheted around in my skull. Father? What the hell?

Alexander turned green, his expression falling blank so rapidly I readied myself to catch him if he toppled over backward.

There was no word for this feeling. Shock was too mild for the emotions, the fear, pain, anger, and uncertainty battling for dominance even as I tempered my reactions so Clara could remain calm. She held onto the counter with both hands, her breaths coming in short, shallow bursts.

“What…” Gruff and painfully raw, Alexander stopped and leveled his tone. “What is the meaning of this? I’m going to be a father?”

“Oh, hell.” The man’s eyes darted to Clara and widened comically behind his glasses. “I’ve made a terrible mistake. I’m sorry.” He bolted, racing for the exit as fast as his legs could carry him.

“That man is your doctor?” I cut off a scoff before it led to worse noises.

Clara released her grip on the counter. “He was. Not sure I’ll keep him after today.” She passed a hand over her face. “Honestly, what kind of doctor breaks HIPPA like that?”

“You want to go after his license?” I jammed my clenched fists into my pockets, not caring if I ripped the seams on my favorite charcoal gray and blue suit.

Clara cast a look around the jewelry store. “No. It was bound to happen at some point. I just.” She rubbed her temples. “I wasn’t expecting it now.”

Alexander pressed a fist to his sternum, working it back and forth like he meant to restart his heart. His perfectly pressed designer suit made him appear equal parts businesslike and dangerous. I’d never understood how he pulled that off. “Explanation, Clara.” He bit the words out in short, sharp bites.

Clara regained some of the color in her cheeks and pushed her hair back over her shoulders. “We should discuss this in private.”

“Fuck.” Alexander’s jaws ground together. He snatched the jewelry box off the counter and dropped it into his pocket. “Why the secrecy?”

“I don’t want to cause a scene.” Clara moved toward the door. “‘We’re in the middle of the mall for God’s sake. Can we go somewhere else?”

“We can talk in the car.” Ethan offered the suggestion with a worried line pinching his brows together.

Clara hesitated and took us all in with a frown. “Probably would be better if we had a space big enough to move around.”

So this would not be an easy conversation. “It’s true, though.” I eased into the beginning of the conversation we were bound to have. “You’re pregnant,” I spoke so low she had to lean in to hear, and her face paled to that ghastly gray color again.

“Not here.” She remained resolute despite the evidence.

I respected her ability to hold up against the question. And I give Alexander a hell of a wide perimeter on my way past him. The man was ready to explode, audience be damned.

“Liam?” Alexander snapped my name with a crack that split the air.

I knew that tone and my phone practically jumped into my hand. “On it. I’ll have the bar clear by the time we get there.” I tapped the most called contact in my phone and barked out my demands as soon as Nick answered. He replied with a grunt of assent and hung up. One thing about owning the bar was having my orders obeyed without question. Mom and Dad were busy with other projects. They’d never even think to question why I cleared it in the middle of the afternoon, right before peak drinking hour.

We left the jewelry store almost at a jog. Clara’s eyes flared briefly with anger before she caught up. I slowed to a quick walk.

“Alexander.” Ethan fell back to join us.

Our fearless leader barreled through the mall like a man possessed. His powerful strides carried him ahead of us. He skipped steps on his way down the escalator and barely paused at the elevator, stopping then because he finally realized we were not with him. An annoyed look passed over his face before he smoothed it.

We made it to the bar in one piece, though by the time I stepped through the doors and breathed in the familiar smell of beer and oak worn smooth by time and thousands of hours of polishing, my bones felt fragile as glass. I held up a single finger, silently warning them to wait, and made my way over to the office to turn off the inside security cameras we kept going day and night. Alexander gave me a nod of thanks when I returned and we all sank into the closest booth.

Silence became a shroud of punishment. Clara picked at a napkin, tearing it into strips, then tiny, confetti-sized pieces. One breath lifted her shoulders, and at the exhale, she spoke. “I’m pregnant. I found out the day of the food poisoning incident.”

I recalled the day without hesitation. That was when things started feeling odd between all of us.

Alexander’s posture stiffened so abruptly I waited for his jacket to shred as he hulked out. Ice blue eyes pierced Clara. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

The fact that one of us was about to be a father seemed to elude him as he sought answers. I held my tongue, curious to hear Clara’s explanation.

“Because you don’t listen to me.” She held up a hand. “Let me clarify. When I brought Allan to your attention, you brushed off my concern. Do you have any idea how that made me feel?” She scoffed. “Of course, you don’t. You’re men. You’ve never had to tell a man no, then fight him off as he tries to pressure you into changing your mind, wondering if he’ll listen or if he’ll be waiting for you in the parking lot when you leave work.”

My knuckles popped from the force of my hands clenching. All around the table, eyes and jaws hardened.

“This has happened?” Ethan’s voice was a lethal thing, but it was less frightening than the blaze of pure death scorching from Alexander with every blink.

“Allan is a dirtbag who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. You look at his work history and have the nerve to tell me he’s harmless.” She cupped both hands over her stomach. “I won’t let my child grow up in a situation where they feel unsafe or unloved.”

Unloved? That was how she felt, like we would not protect her or love her?

“It’s not just that.” Clara steeled herself, her chin jutting out in a familiar way I’d noticed her doing when she made a point during a meeting. “What happens to our jobs when this comes out? I wasn’t sure you’d even want to know. I mean, I can hide it for a while, but at some point, everyone is going to know I’m pregnant.”

“We deserve to know.” Alexander stabbed a finger into the table.

I stood and poured each of us a shot of whiskey, then grabbed a bottle of water for Clara.

The hard lines of her face softened when she took it from me. “I was trying to figure out the best way forward.”

“The best way forward is to tell us so we can work together. This is not a one man show. Or a one woman show.” Ethan downed his whiskey without even a hint of a grimace. “I’d been keeping tabs on Allan.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She shot the question back at him with the same amount of venom used against her. “Let me guess. You didn’t want to worry me. Well, how’s it feel when it happens to you? Hmm?” Her low, throaty scoff twisted a knife into my heart.

Alexander’s hands flexed on the tabletop.

“We’ve been ignorant and unreceptive to your fears.” I swirled my whiskey around in the glass, eyeing the amber liquid. “We made a mistake. A potential stalker in the office is never something to be taken lightly, and we should have told you that we were taking you seriously.”

The low hum of electricity wound into the spaces between us when we fell silent. Clara turned her bottle of water around and around in her hands. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you myself.” A self-deprecating laugh tinged her cheeks with pink. “I didn’t want you to think I was trying to force you into a relationship.”

“Like you could.” Ethan held out a hand, his palm up toward her, a peace offering. “We will be present as fathers, Clara.”

Clara settled her palm against Ethan’s.

“No questions asked,” I added, putting my hand on top of hers. “We’re a team. We do this together.”

Alexander relaxed muscle by muscle until he shook out his fists and added his hand on top of Ethan’s and Clara’s. “A team. Can I be captain?”

Laughter barked out of my chest in a hard cough. “You’re a sick bastard.”

“Comes with the devastating good looks.” He flashed a smile that I’d seen women swoon over in this very bar, then he turned serious again. “I mean it, Clara. I’m in this. I understand why you hesitated. Can you trust us enough to keep us up to date?”

She bit her lower lip, worrying it between her teeth. “I have an ultrasound appointment tomorrow.”

A collective breath shared between all three of us brought us closer together. “We’ll go with you.” Alexander slid his other hand beneath Ethan’s, making a tangled mess of fingers and hands sandwiched between his. “And I promise you that Allan will be dealt with.”

Damn right he would be. No more surveillance and waiting for the man to make a move. One wrong move and we’d have him out the door.

Alexander released our hands. I stood and gathered up the shot glasses and Clara’s empty water bottle. I had the glasses washed and put away before Alexander and the others left the booth.

“Can you take me home? I’ll meet you at the doctor’s office tomorrow.” She tapped Alexander’s phone. “I texted you the address.” Once again, she pushed us aside in favor of being alone. It was a sucker punch to the throat to realize we’d lost her trust and confidence.

It would take time to build it back, but we would. I’d see to it myself.

After taking Clara home and making arrangements for the following day, I fell into bed exhausted and woke up excited for the appointment. Alexander picked me up and then Ethan. We barely spoke the entire drive to the doctor’s office, and even once we were in the waiting room with Clara. The intimacy of the moment dried out my throat, making it impossible to say more than one word every few minutes.

Clara stayed subdued and quiet through the questions as we were led down a white corridor and shown into a sterile room with zero personality. It was all gray paint, white counters, and beige chairs, muted colors that sucked the life from the space. I hated it, even as I loved why we sat in the horrible chairs.

Father. I was going to be a father. We all were, in some capacity. We hadn’t worked out the semantics yet, but we would.

A woman in pink scrubs hurried in, a smile firmly in place. She kept her attention on Clara sitting on the crinkly paper stretched over the uncomfortable exam table. “How are you feeling today?”

“Fine.” Clara leaned back at the nurse’s nudge on her shoulders and stretched out her legs. “Will we find out the sex today?”

“Probably not. We typically do that at twenty weeks, so you’ve a little while to go.” The soft smile widened when she picked up a wand-looking thing and a squirt bottle. “If you’ll lift up your shirt, we’ll get started. Now, the gel is a little cold. I put it on the warmer but don’t be surprised if it’s not up to temperature yet.”

Clara nodded, her lip between her teeth. She turned her head away from us and toward the black screen.

“Okay. Let’s see.” The lights dimmed and the nurse waved at us. “You can come over if you want. There’s no reason to hide.” Her soft laugh said she’d used that phrase before with other nervous fathers.

It eased some of the worry from me and helped me stand and make my way over to Clara’s side. I held her hand. Ethan touched her shoulder, then settled his hand on her arm. Alexander kept his hands in his pockets, but his leg pressed against Clara’s knee.

“Hmm.” Static appeared on the screen, then a glob of black and a blur of static inside. The nurse moved the wand around on Clara’s stomach. “Interesting.”

“I don’t like interesting,” Clara complained with a fearful note in her tone. “I want boring. Safe. Not interesting. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” The nurse stopped and snapped off her gloves. “I’m going to get the doctor to come in and verify my findings.” Her smile appeared forced when she squeezed Clara’s knee. “Be right back.”

“What the hell?” I almost went after the woman. How did you make a claim like that, then walk away?

Before we panicked, a short, stout woman with black hair cut in a fringe and a no-nonsense attitude marched in. She looked at the screen, at Clara, then at us. “Clara, honey. You’re having triplets.”

Every ounce of oxygen left the room. My head swam but I focused on Clara. “Breathe. Don’t freak out.”

“Don’t freak out?” She squeezed my hand until the bones creaked. Tears rolled down her cheeks in fat drops. “Triplets. Are you sure?”

The doctor pointed at the screen, each black circle with its little bean-shaped dot of gray. “Baby A. Baby B. And Baby C. All there, all with heartbeats and growing well. We’ll leave you alone for a few minutes.” The doctor exited the room with the same march in her step, like she hadn’t blown up our lives even more with that blast of news.

“Triplets. How?” Clara threw her arm up over her eyes. “How the hell are we going to manage triplets? I can’t do this. One baby was scary enough. Three? That’s impossible.”

“Not impossible,” I reminded her softly. “You’re not going to be alone, Clara. We’ll be with you every step of the way. Three babies is a lot, but there are four of us. We’ll help.” I squeezed her hand, willing her to accept the reassurance I offered.

“We’re a team.” Alexander moved around to the head of the bed. He framed her face in his hands and stroked the tears from her cheeks when she lowered her arm. “This is our family.”

“Together.” Ethan rubbed her shoulder. “We’re in this together.”

“It’s an unconventional family dynamic, but we can make it work.” The promise calmed her enough to nod.