Debbie Doll | Ringo Starr ✅

36

Three Months Later

At our six month baby scan, Ritchie's leg wouldn't stop bumping up and down, and it was the most irritating thing that I had ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

I groaned, feeling the stifling heat surround me as I readjusted my position on the stupid plastic chair, the underside my legs sticking to it as I moved. It was uncharacteristically warm for March.

"You okay, doll?" Ritchie asked quietly, "do you want some water? I know it's hot -"

"What I really want is for you to stop moving your fucking leg!" I snapped, causing the nurse to glance up at us, her thin lips pursed as if she had just sucked a lesson.

Ritchie hung his head and sunk back into the chair. He put one of his hands on his legs and it stopped moving,

I immediately felt terrible.

"Ritchie..." I tried to lace my hand with his, but he just turned away from me. "Ritchie, I'm sorry -"

"You're right," he said, his back facing me, "it is annoying." He looked at me over his shoulder, "but that doesn't mean that you can shout at me for it, Deb! All you do is complain about stuff that me and George do, and we're so fucking sick of it!"

"Ritch..." I felt my bottom lip trembling and my eyes watering. I looked up at the nurse, who was now watching us curiously. We were in a separate room because the band had hit it off and Ritchie would be harassed by fans wherever we went, but she wasn't even being secretive about watching us. "Ritchie, I'm sorry, baby -"

He looked at me. "Deb, don't cry!" He put his arms around me, his attitude having completely changed. "Baby, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have shouted at you. I know you're under a lot of pressure, and I know everything's heightened, now. I'm sorry, please forgive me -"

I laughed at the absurdity of it.

He was asking me to forgive him? Of course I did.

I smiled, cuddling closer to him. Ritchie put his arms around me and I snuggled my face into the crook of his neck, still crying. "Why don't we both forgive each other?"

He chuckled, "that sounds good."

"Mr and Mrs Starkey?" A different nurse called from the doorway. We both looked up at her. I wiped away my tears, waiting for her to continue. "The doctor's ready for you."

We thanked her and stood up, following her to the doctor's examination room.

"Ah, Mrs Starkey." It was the same doctor who had told me that I was pregnant - he hadn't been at my last scan, but I was glad that he was here now. It was nice to see a familiar face. "Welcome back - you brought your husband this time, I see." He smiled at Ritchie, who grinned back.

"I did," I said, "Doctor Robert, this is my Richard."

"Congratulations on the bundle," Doctor Robert gestured to my swollen belly, "are you sure that you're only six months, Mrs Starkey?"

"Debbie's fine." I got onto the examination bed and laid back before I continued, "and I could only be six months maximum - Ritchie and I didn't... y'know... before the night of our wedding."

"Well your baby might have a little weight problem, then," the doctor teased as he gestured for me to pull my top up, "are you sure that you're eating properly?"

"Deb's all for eating healthy," Ritchie told the doctor before I could, "she makes me and my mate eat our veggies, too - he lives with us, y'see. Good practice, really, because Geo's like having a kid, isn't he, Deb?" He looked at me.

I nodded, "I've got an unstoppable appetite now, doctor," I frowned - I had put on several pounds since the beginning of my pregnancy and it was a relatively large worry of mine that Ritchie would lose interest in me if I was fat, carrying his baby or not - however, I hadn't voiced these worries to him. "I eat a lot of fruit - apples, mostly - and a lot of broccoli."

Ritchie wrinkled his nose. He hated broccoli, but cooked it for me whenever I asked him to.

"Right, well as long as you're healthy, then there shouldn't be too much of a problem." Whilst we had been talking, Doctor Robert had been setting up the computer to scan me. He squeezed the gel onto my belly and rubbed the wand around on top of it. An image appeared on the screen. Ritchie's eyes widened and my brows furrowed.

"Is that...?" Ritchie pointed across me at the screen, "Deb, do you see that?" He looked down at me. My jaw had dropped.

There was no way.

"Twins, it appears, Mrs Starkey." The doctor looked away from the screen to smile at us both, "congratulations. It looks like you have two babies on the way."

Two.

It had been hard enough to tell people that there would be one, let alone two.

"T-two...?" I stuttered, hardly able to believe that I was carrying more than one baby.

"Two!" Ritchie squealed, "baby, we're going to have two babies!"

I couldn't quash his happiness, but inside my guts were churning with nerves.

I hadn't been sure that I could parent one child, now how would I cope with two?

You won't be on your own - you've got Ritchie.

But the band were getting big. They were becoming more well known, and increasingly so the last few weeks, Brian was pushing for them to tour.

But Ritchie had told him that he wouldn't leave me until after the baby was born... but now that there would be two, how would I cope when he did inevitably go on tour?

"I'll get you a copy of the scan." The doctor left the room, leaving Ritchie and I alone.

I wanted to admit to my husband all of my worries, but I took one look at his gorgeous face and I couldn't ruin his happiness and excitement. I had to bottle my thoughts. I had to act like I wasn't falling apart on the inside. I took a few deep breaths.

I could do this, I was sure of it.

"Two!" Ritchie continued to exclaim, the brightest smile on his face.

I smiled at him. "Two." I agreed, trying to sound as excited as possible.