Invisible Strings

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Delaney's POV:

Just like Becky had known immediately that I was carrying a child, Mama had known. And just like I had thought, all it had taken was one look and she knew. Well, one look and me running to the bathroom like my life depended on it no sooner than I;d walked into the house and smelled the familiar scent of sun ripened peaches –the same candles that had sent me running to the bathroom last night and ended up with me taking a pregnancy test. The candles had been a staple in my childhood home, something that I had carried with me into my adult life. But now, it seemed that baby Gilbert was not a fan of the scent. God, I hope that changes since I have those candles on autoship...

And just like Becky had been, mama was supportive when Brantley and I told her that we were waiting to tell everyone until after the first appointment. She understood the reasons behind it, reasons that I hadn't told anyone but here –not even Amanda and Layla; and those bitches knew everything about me. Don't get me wrong, I trusted those two girls with everything in me, but talking about miscarriages and things like that wasn't something that I liked to talk about, especially when I'd had more than a three before I had a successful pregnancy with the twins.

According to the doctors that I'd seen, the specialists that Alex and I both had seen, the miscarriages hadn't been my fault at all. No, they had been the result of Alex's sperm not being strong enough swimmers. The way the doctor had explained it to us, the sperm used so much of its energy to make its way to the egg sack that by the time it got there, it was almost impossible for it to fertilize the egg properly. In fact –and only mama knew this– Alex and I had had to resort to invitro for the twins. Only we didn't think for a minute that the one embryo was going to split and turn into two. The doctors didn't think it was going to be the case either, claiming that that happening was so rare, that it was almost unheard of. Leave it to me to be a walking-talking history maker...

But those visits with all those doctors had also taught me something about myself that I had never heard of either, something else that I needed to sit down with Brnatley and talk about. You see, before those visits, I didn't know that it was possible for a woman to only ever have twins. Well, not always since something could happen and you could lose one of them but my chances of having twins was significantly higher than other people's chances.

"So, have you told him yet?" asked Mama, pulling me from my thoughts as we sat out on the back deck sipping sweet tea. The kids were out playing with their puppies while Daddy and Brantley manned the grill.

"That I'm pregnant?" I asked, keeping my voice low since daddy didn't know yet.

"Sweetheart, I know that he already knows that. I can tell it from the way he's been so protective of you since you two got here today." said Mama. "I meant, have you told him that there is a very high possibility that you could be carrying twins?"

"No." I said with a sigh. "Though I don't think that it will matter. Mama, he was so supportive when we found out. You couldn't have wiped the smile off his face if you tried. So, no, I dont think that telling him that this pregnancy could result in us being a family of eight instead of seven will change anything."

"But he deserves to know," she said, gripping my hand tightly. "Give that man a chance to wrap his head around the fact that this could be multiples before he ends up seeing on an ultrasound screen. He seems like the type that likes to be prepared for things."

"He is." I smiled. "It's just... mama, I don't want to tell him that there is a high risk of me having twins and then he gets his hopes up and then we find out that that's not the case, that it's a single pregnancy."

"I get that."

"He told me that he always wanted more kids. That he and Amber wanted to have as many as the good lord saw fit. But then, well, life happened and he thought that his chance of having more kids was done. Then, here I come. We were stupid one night, didn't use protection, and then because we are irresponsible adults, decided to play pregnancy roulette, deciding to live with whatever happens, happens." I said in a rush.