The Boot (Book 1)

Chapter Ten

TIM

The words echo in my mind. Triplets. There's a third baby? How the hell have we missed it up until now?

The doctor clears his throat before answering my unasked question. "Sometimes, if babies share a sac, it's harder to differentiate. This third baby must've been hiding behind the other."

"So... what does that mean?" Lucy asks.

"Chances are those two are identical. Their sac is separate from the third, though."

"So one is fraternal and the other two are identical?" Angela asks.

"That is correct." the doctor confirms.

I sigh, running my hand over my face before settling at my chin, thinking. That's when a lightbulb goes off in my mind. I have an idea. But it's going to take more than just me to make it work.

"Ange, can I talk to you for a second in the hallway?" I ask.

She and Lucy exchange a glance, but Lucy nods her approval. Angela follows me out of the room into the hallway. I wait until the door has closed and we're a few more feet away before I speak.

"Tim, what's going on? Are you okay?"

I smile. "My girl is going to be okay. Our babies are alive and thriving. We have been blessed by an extra miracle. I couldn't be happier."

She raises a suspicious eyebrow at me. "But...?"

I sigh. "But Lucy and I were already freaking out about how we were going to be able to afford kids at all, let alone two. She's having to cut back on her workload, and even though my boss gave me a generous raise and as much paid leave as I could possibly need-"

"Wait, he did? Seriously? That's awesome."

"Yeah, well, regardless, we hadn't budgeted for a baby to begin with. We had just started to warm up to the idea of two and how we're going to make this work, but now there's three. That's not even mentioning the fact that our apartment doesn't have room for even one kid! And..." I glance both ways before dropping my voice to a whisper. "Our apartment isn't safe anymore."

Angela has a confused look on her face. "What do you mean it's not safe anymore? What makes you think that?"

"I think that A has a bug in our apartment. Maybe even some eyes."

"How sure are you? And what the hell happened with you earlier?"

I sigh and explain everything. From the ominous phone call to the threatening message left at Nolan's house. When I'm finished telling her the story, her jaw drops in shock.

"Yeah, no, you're totally right."

"Right?"

"Absolutely. You can't live there anymore. It's not safe."

"But what do I do? I don't want to add any more stress onto her plate, now more than ever."

"No, of course not." Angela pauses, humming thoughtfully. "You go back there and distract Lucy, but don't raise any suspicions. I'm going to call Wesley and see if he can't help us out."

"Help us out?" I ask. "With what?"

She just smirks nonchalantly. "I suppose you'll just have to trust me and find out."

I look at her skeptically before sighing reluctantly with a nod. "Okay. I trust you."

ANGELA

Tim goes back into the hospital room and I pull out my phone to call Wesley. He picks up on the second ring. "Hey, babe. Is everything okay?"