The Marriage Contract by Natasha Black (best novels for teenagers TXT) 📕

couple of hours talking about baby names and how to decorate the nursery. I fell asleep with sweet images of our new little family in my mind.

39

Matt

It’d been a week, and things had been moving so fast I could barely keep up. The time with Chloe’s parents was informative in how she ended up where she did but helping them get back together and find some peace made me Chloe a lot more relaxed and happier, which made me more settled and excited for our future. Without the scepter of her parents hanging over our heads, we were able to move forward without worry. The fact that her parents turned on her bank account access didn’t hurt either. While I didn’t want to depend on them in any way, Chloe was excited to begin acquiring baby things that we would need. Every day I came home that she wasn’t at work with me was a surprise game of what new baby item we now owned.

As we parked at the doctor’s office, it was yet another milestone and one that we were both nervous for. They were doing a scan of her womb, and we would be able to see the first images of our baby. I was beyond excited to have something I could print out and keep on the wall of the kitchen in the bar. It would help me get through the grind of the busy nights the bar had been seemingly increasingly getting.

I held Chloe’s hand as they applied the gel to her stomach, and she sucked in air through her teeth at how cold it was. There was no bump or any sign she was pregnant yet, but it was so exciting to know that our baby was in there, and it was big enough that they should be able to see it with the scan. I sat down and watched the screen as the doctor moved around her stomach, stopping at various times and seeming to peer closely at the screen.

“What is it?” I asked, trying to force down the panic in my voice that threatened to rise and take over. “Is something wrong?”

“Not wrong,” she said, moving back and forth between two places. “You see this right here? That’s your baby.”

“Oh my God!” Chloe cried as she saw the little white speck on the screen. She squeezed my hand, and I squeezed back. Before I could say anything, though, the doctor moved the wand across her stomach.

“And this over here is your other baby,” she said.

I stared at her in confusion. Surely, I heard her wrong. There was no way she just said what I thought she just said.

“You mean we’re having twins?” Chloe asked, quicker on the uptake than I was.

“That is exactly what that means,” the doctor said. “Congratulations.”

The rest of the doctor’s office trip was a blur. I knew I celebrated with Chloe and got her carefully in the car, as if I jostled her too much she would break like a fine china. Then I got behind the wheel and drove us home. As we drove, we sat silent for a few moments, shocked before all the words came flowing out in streams.

“I’m so scared,” Chloe said. “But so excited. We’re having twins!”

“I know,” I said. “It means double the love. We can do this. There’s no reason to be scared. We can do anything as long as we do it together.”

She warmed at that and squeezed my hand. At a stoplight, I checked my phone to see a text from Hannah. I grinned but tried not to let Chloe see.

All set up, the text read.

“What’s was that?” Chloe asked as I put the phone back in the holder on the dash.

“Just confirmation on something I ordered,” I said. Technically it was the truth, though “ordered” was a bit strong. More like “begged for a favor.”

“Oh,” she said, slowly sliding back into daydreaming again. We discussed the potential fun of having two babies, and then the potential chaos as well.

“At least we have built-in babysitters,” I said. “Multiple cousins, you know?”

“That’s right,” Chloe exclaimed, making me jump a little. “Hannah’s baby and my babies will be cousins! But wait, what does that make them? First cousins twice? Double first cousins?”

“Double first cousins sounds pretty good,” I said, laughing.

When we got home, I made sure to open the door ahead of her but let her walk in first. She was fiddling with her phone at first, but when she looked up and saw what Hannah had done, she turned to me, her mouth agape and her eyes wide.

“What is this?” she asked.

“I wanted to celebrate,” I said. “So, I had Hannah come over and set up a lunch date for us. She may have also had instructions to put flowers around. Looks like she took that very literally.”

Indeed, there were flower petals everywhere. All over the floor, the table, and a trail leading to the bedroom, where I assumed they would be on the bed as well.

“This is amazing,” she said, looking around the room and seeing the candles I had left in a bag for Hannah to put around and light. Soft music drifted from the smart pod in a corner. I walked up to her and took her hands in mine.

“I just want you to know how much I love you, and how much I love us,” I said. “Now knowing that we aren’t having one, but two babies only makes my heart bigger and my love grow even more. I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone.”

“I love you, too,” she said. Then she turned to the table that had a salad set out. “Is dinner still in the oven?”

“Staying there to keep warm,” I said. “Are you hungry?”

“Actually,” she said, pulling herself closer to me and kissing my neck. “I was wondering if you wanted to accompany me to the bedroom for a little while before we ate.”

Instead of telling her,