Little Pink Plus Sign

The Three of Them

"T...twins?" I heard myself say incredulously. Beside me, Dimitri's breathy laugh sounded almost surreal.

Dr. Ashland nodded. "I can't believe it either, but there they are." He studied the screen for a moment before letting out a small sigh. "We won't be sure if they're identical or not until they're born. Even then, we may not know right away." He set everything down and turned to face us. "Your babies don't share a placenta. That's good. That means much fewer complications, and in your already high risk pregnancy, we don't need any more complications added to the mix. This makes them dichorionic diamniotic, or DCDA."

Removing his gloves, he explained, "All fraternal twins are DCDA, but there's a 1/3 chance that identical twins will also be DCDA. Basically, if you have a girl and a boy in there, we'll know for sure they're fraternal. Otherwise, we'll have to do blood tests and rely on physical features like eye and hair color to really know if your twins are fraternal or identical."

Finally Dimitri spoke, "What do we need to do to lower our risks?"

The doctor smiled. "You're going to have to make sure she doesn't work, and that she takes those prenatal vitamins I gave her."

"Done and done," he smiled before taking my hand in his. "We're having twins.Twins."

"I'll let you two have some time alone," the doctor said before dismissing himself.

My cheeks grew warm, and my eyes clouded over with tears. "We get to have two babies. I didn't fail."

Dimitri pulled me into a hug and buried his face in my hair. "Roza, I love you so much." Holding my head in his hands, he gently wiped away a tear that managed to escape. "You're going to be the best mother." Suddenly his face grew serious. "You heard the doctor. No more working. Can you do that?"

Laughing, I placed a hand on his cheek. "Yes, Mom. I can do that."

"You be careful, Rosemarie. That tone of voice won't fly in this house," he joked.

Giggling, I kissed him softly, warmth making its way through my entire body. His hands found their way to my back and pulled me up into the kiss. I couldn't help but feel butterflies which made it hard to breathe. I loved him so much.

After getting dressed, Dimitri and I decided to pay a visit to Liss and Christian to tell them the good news. As we left the doctor, I realized I hadn't told Dimitri about their amazing news. It's for the best, I decided. He should hear it from them.

"What's with the smile?" he asked. "You look like you're planning something."

Shaking my head, I avoided his eyes. I knew that he'd see right through any lies I'd try to feed him, so instead I responded truthfully, "I'm just so happy."

Putting his arm around my shoulders, he pulled me close to him and kissed the top of my head. "What do you think they'll say?"

"I don't know. I don't even know if Lissa told Christian."

"Then he's in for one hell of a surprise." We took a few steps in silence before he added, "I'm sure she did. I mean if Lissa told you news that big, you'd tell me right?"

Shit. I mustered up all the confidence I had before answering. "I mean probably, but I don't know...there's something sort of special about hearing it straight from the source, don't you think?"

Shrugging, he said, "I guess, but I know you, Rose. You'd be so excited. You couldn't keep something like that from me. I'm willing to bet Lissa is the same."

Chocking back laughter, I nodded. "You're probably right." Just you wait..., I added silently.

Smiling at the guardian posted at Lissa's door, I knocked perhaps a bit too vivaciously. It took a bit of time, but eventually Lissa found her way to the door, her hair an absolute mess.

"Were you two making out?" I whispered, trying to tame her wild hair.

"Maybe just a little," she giggled. "Christian, it's Rose and Dimitri!" she called, no doubt warning him to put his clothes back on.

Christian emerged from the bedroom, his hair too, a mess. "You two haveimpeccable timing," he said, sarcasm dripping from his every word. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

I glanced at Lissa. The sly look on her face told me that Christian knew nothing about our pregnancy, although I'm sure she'd told him about theirs as we'd just interrupted their celebration.

"We should probably sit down," Lissa suggested, smirking at me. "Can I offer anyone anything?"

"Belikov, you want a beer with me?" Christian offered. Dimitri nodded, taking a seat next to me on the couch. "What about you, Rose?"

"Nah, I'm fine."

He peeked his head around the corner, looking at me as if I'd grown another head. "Never heard you turn down a beer. What's going on?"

"That's what we're here to talk to you about, actually," Dimitri said, smiling.

"Oh, I get it. Rose going dry with Lissa?" Christian asked. It took all I had not to burst into laughter.

"What?" Dimitri's eyebrows furrowed together.

Christian handed the beer to him and shrugging said, "Well I just figured, Rose would've told you."

Dimitri suddenly spun around, searching my face for answers. Winking, I said simply, "Checkmate, Comrade."

Turning back to Christian, Dimitri asked, "You two are having a baby?"

"Well yeah," Christian responded, putting his arm around Lissa. "What else would you come here to talk about?"

Finally, unable to hold it in any longer, I folded over in laughter. I could hear Lissa laughing as well. She stroked Christian's face. "Oh honey...neither of us can drink right now."

I looked up, meeting Christian's look of confusion, and explained the situation to him leaving out the latest development. He looked from me to Lissa before his eyes made their way to Dimitri.

"Leave it to these two to be pregnant at the same time," he said holding up his beer bottle.

Dimitri tapped his against Christian's and nodded. "Always inseparable and no doubt the kids will be the same way." He turned to me and smiled.

"Oh, of course!" Lissa interjected enthusiastically. "The two of them will be thick as thieves!"

I shook my head, causing Lissa's smile to turn into the slightest frown. "No. Not the two of them," I said, placing a hand on my stomach. "The three of them."