You Stayed With Us

Four

Jennie's POV

The moment I woke up that morning with my face practically glued to the toilet bowl, I knew the calm was over. Again. The past few days had been nothing but nausea, sore boobs, and Lisa panicking every time I so much as blinked too slowly.

But we needed to be sure. Because neither of us could go into another storm without solid proof. So we did what any mentally stable, totally rested parents of three would do: we called in back-up.

"Tae? Kai?" I said sweetly over the phone. "How do you feel about some quality bonding time with the kids?"

Tae paused. "...Define bonding."

"You sit with them. You feed them. You don't let them climb the fridge."

He groaned. "Finee."

When they arrived, the twins were already fighting over who got to sit inside the laundry basket, and Ella was arguing with herself in the mirror about her new headband. I didn't even give Kai or Taehyung a chance to change their minds—I shoved the diaper into one of their arms and kissed Ella's cheek before escaping with Lisa.

Lisa was unusually quiet during the car ride. Which meant her brain was working overtime. Her hands were gripping the steering wheel like it owed her money, and her mouth kept moving even though no sound came out.

"Are you praying?" I asked her.

"In Thai," she muttered, eyes still wide on the road. "I'm asking the ancestors, my grandma, everyone I can think of, to make this just one baby."

I blinked at her. "That's your big hope? Not for a healthy baby? Just one?"

"I mean, obviously healthy, but also yes. Just one."

We arrived at Dr. Lee's clinic, and everything felt familiar again—the reception area, the smell of antiseptic and lemon-scented air freshener, the stack of wrinkled baby magazines from years ago. Lisa practically sprinted to the front desk to fill out the forms like a woman on a mission. She even wrote with two pens at once, because of course she did.

When we sat down to wait, I could feel Lisa's leg bouncing beside me like she was trying to shake the panic out through her kneecap. I reached over and held her hand, mostly to stop the vibrations from reaching my spine.

She looked at me, wide-eyed. "What if it's two again?"

"We don't know that yet."

"But what if it is? We can't even put the twins in car seats without a hostage negotiation. And Ella steals all the strawberries from the fridge and blames Cooper."

I tried not to laugh, but a snort escaped. "You're spiraling."

"Jennie," she whispered. "Our house is full. Our bank account is crying. Our laundry baskets are full. I stepped on four Legos this morning and almost accepted death."

Before I could respond, the nurse called our names.

Lisa stood up so fast her chair squeaked across the floor, and I swear I heard her muttering another round of Thai prayers. We walked down the hallway, hand in hand, our fingers tight, like we were going into battle.

Inside the exam room, Dr. Lee greeted us with a knowing smile. She didn't even need to ask why we were here.

"So," she said as I lay down, "we're doing this again?"

"I guess we are," I said, heart pounding.

Lisa looked like she was trying to smile, but it came out more like a grimace. "We're hoping for a singleton," she blurted.