Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 121(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 121(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
“Hey! Quit buzzing! It’s the middle of the night!”
I look up to see a sleepy old man looking down at me and take the opportunity to get in.
“I’m looking for Fiona! Could you buzz me in?”
He scowls at me, thinking. “Fiona? The pregnant girl?” he asks, and I nod. He stops to ponder. “She left in a taxi about an hour ago. Lots of noise. Breathing heavily like she’s about to pop. Can’t get any sleep tonight!”
And he closes the window with a bang. But it doesn’t matter, I know what I need to know: Fiona’s in labor! And the baby is early. She needs me! I jump back in the car and drive to the hospital, realizing I don’t even know which one she’s gone to. My hands shaking, I simply dial the nearest one into my GPS and drive straight there, hoping for the best.
I feel as if I’ve just woken from some kind of dream. Like the last few months of torment have just been a useless muddle, just foolish indecisiveness. Because Fiona’s labor has incited a surge of instinct in me, free of thought, free of doubt - I suddenly know that I want to be with her. I suddenly know I don’t care whether the baby is mine or Ricky’s. It’s all so clear to me now, and I need to tell her before it’s too late. Before the baby arrives and she’s decided she doesn’t want me around anymore. Somehow, I feel that if I’m with her during the birth, we can still go through this together and I might be able to make up for not having been with her throughout the pregnancy.
I arrive at the hospital and am relieved to find out she’s there. And I rush to her room, prepared to lay my life at her feet. Storming down the hall and arriving outside her room, I take a few deep breaths and then knock and enter. I was expecting Fiona to be preparing for labor, on her own, furious with me. I was expecting to have to put my case forward as to why should allow me back in my life, to have to fight for her. But what I wasn’t expecting to walk in on Ricky, standing with his arms crossed at the end of her bed … ready to do the same.
13
Dylan
I freeze. Ricky and Fiona had clearly been in the middle of an argument. Ricky stops mid-sentence and glares at me. Fiona, heavily pregnant and draped in a hospital gown, is staring at me with a mixture of shock, surprise, exhaustion, anger, and love. And somehow all of those emotions are abundantly clear.
“What the hell are you doing here?” my twin accuses me. I close the door behind me and bat his question right back.
“What the hell are you?”
Ricky scoffs. “Fiona called me to tell me she was pregnant, and there was a very good chance the baby might be mine.”
My girl interrupts then.
“I called you six months ago, Ricky. And only because I wanted you to do a DNA test, not because I want you around,” she says in a trembling voice.
“I told you, I was in Europe,” retorts Ricky defensively. “I only just got your message when I came back last night!”
That makes Fiona angry.
“And just like that, all of a sudden you want to be a father to my baby? After the way you treated me?” she spits. I’m amused to see her sassiness had gone up a few levels during her pregnancy. She looks absolutely beautiful and glowing, even if she does look uncomfortable.
“Well, I’d like at least to discuss the option. I have the right!” whines Ricky like a spoiled child.
This is going too far too fast.
“Okay, hold on a minute here,” I step in. “I’m not going to just stand by and watch this bullshit.” Ricky glares at me with a venom that would never make anyone believe we were family, let alone twins. “I came here to tell Fiona something important, and I need a moment alone with her,” is my stern command.
Ricky scoffs, taking a few aggressive steps towards me. “I know you fucked her right after we broke up, asshole. I’m not going anywhere. If that’s my baby, I have the right to stay right here.”
Anger starts boiling up inside me, but when I see from the corner of my eye that Fiona is burying her face in her hands, I hold myself back.
“You’ve said your piece, Ricky,” I growl through clenched teeth. “Now get out before I throw you out.”
But my twin has never known when to step down. It’s one of his greatest flaws.
“At least I had the decency to break up with Fiona when it wasn't working out. The way I hear it, you abandoned her as soon as you found out she was pregnant,” Ricky spits at me with a sneer.