LIV

Congratulations! At 13 weeks, your baby is the size of a lemon...

I looked down at my phone as I tried--and failed--to keep a tear from rolling down my cheek, as I read the info about my baby, and the changes I could expect in my own body at this point in the pregnancy. So far, I was fine. I wasn't experiencing any of the really bad symptoms I'd heard about from some women, and my nausea had started to subside. The only noticeable symptom I had, aside from fatigue and appetite, was a few pimples.

The pregnancy was great, and so were the pictures I got Rob to take of my belly every week. The thing that was starting to become annoying was having to balance school, the pregnancy, and my writing. I hadn't told Rob about it yet, but I was working on the possible final draft of my novel, as well as the second draft of another novel that I planned to convince my editor to publish.

My cousin, Fawn, was one of the best editors in the business, as well as editor-in-chief at her publishing company. Her being my cousin didn't make it any easier for me to become a writer at Vender Publishing House, though. If anything, Fawn made it harder for me with her high standards of the quality that I could produce. I'd worked on and revised my book several times before Fawn agreed to take it on. So, I was really excited to be close to getting it published.

Balancing my writing and university careers was fine before I got pregnant. But, now, I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. I tried not to talk about school with Rob, because I didn't want him changing the workload for me, whether he realised he did or not. The only thing I could think of was to create a schedule for myself. So far, it was working.

Luckily, there was nothing left for me to do in terms of work and school. I'd also gotten my workout in, so I decided to call Rob and tell him the good news.

"Our baby is the size of a lemon," I exclaimed once he answered the phone.

I could hear the smile in his voice on the other side of the line. "I'm sure the doctor would've told us that at the ultrasound today."

"Well, I get notifications about the pregnancy every week. I like to have as much information in the palms of my hands as possible, if you really need to know."

"I'm becoming well aware of that... It's almost time for us to go, are you ready?"

"Yeah, I was going to grab a drink then head to your place." I got up, grabbed my bag and charger, then left my room.

"I can just come over there and wait for you."

I stopped at the bottom of the steps on my way to the kitchen. "You sure? My parents are here," I whispered.

Rob and I thought it would be a good idea for him to meet my parents before the dinner at his parents' place. They happened to come back from their trip early, so we had dinner that past Sunday. It was not great, but it could've been worse.

Which was why I wanted to let them adjust to him slowly, and in small doses. We were already having dinner together again in the next two days, so Rob coming over to say "hi" didn't seem like an awesome idea.

"Yeah, it's fine. Besides-"

There was suddenly a knock at the door, which made me jump. I took a breath, then went to open it.

"I'm already here," Rob said as I opened the door to see him standing there.

He had a bright smile on his face, and leaned in to give me a kiss on the cheek. "You look beautiful, as always."

I stood in front of the door, frozen in surprise as Rob slid past me. The sound of his footsteps were heard throughout the first floor. When I turned around, he was taking off his shoes, and was making his way to the kitchen before I knew it.

"Wait," I hurried after him. "My parents are in the dining room."

He stopped and shook his head, as though he was shaking off some nerves. "I'm already here. I might as well go and say hi, right?" I looked at him, eyes wide, and wanted to scream at him. "No, Rob. What happened to slow adjustment-"

"We're gonna be family soon, after all. It'll seem rude if they found out I was here and didn't say anything" he added, and left a small pat on my right shoulder. I stood there, frozen, as he made his way into my dining room. I was expecting the worst, which didn't even seem like enough.

My parents' reaction to finding out I was pregnant was... Less than gracious. And I'm their daughter, they had some space in their hearts to get over it for me. But, Rob? Ha, he was a stranger. A strange, white, American boy, who kinda ruined me as far as my parents were concerned.

Yeah, they met him already. But they didn't not have the best time at that dinner. I was pretty sure he was the last person either of them wanted to see.

And now he wanted to say hi.

I spun on my heels and rushed toward him, "Rob, wait!"

Too late.

"Good afternoon," he smiled as he walked up next to my seated parents. They looked up from their conversation at Rob, then looked at me.

"Good afternoon..." My parents said, then my mom asked me, "Olivia? Why didn't you tell us he was coming over? I would've made tea."

"You would've made me make tea," I thought to myself.

I swear the whole world heard me swallow, hard, before I smiled and told them that, "Robert and I are going to the ultrasound appointment. The one I told you about, remember?"

Watching them slowly look back at him was like something out of an animated movie. My dad did his best to smile at him, while my mom's eyes remained cold. My dad's attempt at a smile was barely believable, mostly because it didn't reach the top half of his face.

"I thought we were taking you to the appointment," my dad asked.

"Oh, uh, I didn't realize you guys were planning to do that-"

My mom waved her hands, "of course we were." She looked back at Rob, and I could see her decide something before she gathered her things and stood up. My mom smiled, genuinely this time, then said, "well, we may as well go together. Olivia, ne le laissez pas vous convaincre de laisser vos parents derrière vous. La famille passe toujours en premier, je vous le dis."

I fought the urge to roll my eyes, "maman, il n'a pas fait ça exprès. Il est gentil, d'accord?"

Rob was completely lost, which I knew. But I didn't wanna add another layer to this conversation by exposing my mom in front of him. At that moment, she chose French. She chose to confuse the guy.

It was a calculated attack.

My dad got up as well, "your mom and I will take our car. We'll meet you kids there."

Thank God.

******

"What did your mom say earlier?" Rob asked me as we pulled up to my OB's office.

"She was telling me not to let you make me forget my family. I told her that you're a good guy and wouldn't do that."

He nodded, and seemed like he was thinking about it. "It seems like your parents plan to get very involved in this pregnancy."

The car stopped, and I unbuckled my seatbelt, "you have no idea. I mean, they travel a lot for work so I'm not completely sure how much we'll be seeing of them. But it's probably gonna be more than usual. So, prepare yourself."

Rob laughed as we got out of the car. He moved to put his arm around my waist when we saw my parents walking up to the building doors at the same time as us. My mom shot obvious daggers at him when she saw his arm around me. Rob definitely noticed, but it didn't seem like he was going to move his hand away. I, on the other hand, had a healthy amount of fear in my heart and did not want to have a conversation later. I slowly moved his hand off of me, and I let my parents go ahead of us. As they walked inside, I turned to Rob, who seemed surprised.

"What's wrong?"

"You shouldn't get too... Physically comfortable with me when we're around my parents, Rob."

He scoffed, "is there a problem with that? I'm not some stranger, we're together."

"This is a part of my culture, okay? We haven't been together long enough for them to be cool with that. They'll probably lighten up once the baby's here. Until then, you'll just have to be more aware around them. Okay?" I looked up at him sweetly, which made him roll his eyes before placing a sweet kiss on my lips.

"Fine. Let's go see our baby."

After waiting a bit, we were finally seated in our ultrasound room. It was a bit of a squeeze with the four of us and my OB, so my parents offered to stand which was so sweet of them. They let Rob take the chair next to me, and as I was getting settled in my spot on the observation table, I heard my mom and dad whispering something about "being a dad" and "bonding". I almost shed a tear.

"Are you all ready to meet baby," my OB, Dr. Victoria Hayes, asked us. Everyone smiled and said "yes". I looked over at my parents, who had their phones out to snap a few pictures. Dr. Hayes sat on my right side, opposite from Rob, and said "this will be a bit cold" before squirting that blue jelly onto my belly. She then got that thing that I don't know the name of to look around my uterus. After a little bit of waiting, she smiled, then furrowed her brows.

My heart started pounding, and I started to panic. Something was wrong with my baby, wasn't it? Rob seemed to sense my fear, because he quickly asked her if something was wrong. Dr. Hayes shook her head, then smiled once again. She turned to Rob and I, "are either of you related to twins?"

He nodded, "my younger sisters are twins."

"I'm also a twin," my mom said, and Dr. Hayes turned around to smile at her.

I thought about it for a bit, then gasped, "wait, are you saying-". I looked at Rob, then back at the doctor, "are we-"

"Having twins," she asked. "Yes, you are. Congratulations!"

*********
A/N

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-Ruth