I laughed, "Okay, I'll do that for you."
Nico smiled happily.
Keela nudged him. "When Bronagh eventually gets pregnant, you both might have twin girls since you're a twin."
Nico grabbed his chest. "Don't wish that upon me, I can't have one girl let alone two."
"Why not?" I giggled and leaned against my door frame.
Nico gave me a duh look. "You've seen Bronagh, she's stunningly beautiful. Any girls she'd have would take after her and I cannot live my life fighting off every stupid boy that sniffs around my girls. I feel sick just thinking about it."
I smiled. "Not all teenage boys are creepers."
"No, but I know what all teenage boys think about. It's all I could think about when I first met Bronagh. It's all I still think about and I'm a grown man so yeah, I want boys, not girls. All boys. Ten of them."
Kane groaned and looked up at the ceiling. "Please God, I don't want any of what Dominic just said. Please bless me with a boy. Please."
Myself and Keela fell around laughing.
"I want a girl just to torture you," I said to Kane.
He growled at me, "She-devil."
I laughed so hard I gave myself a stitch.
"Stop," I wheezed. "I'll wet meself."
Kane smiled at me. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Please don't worry about things-it really will be okay. I promise."
I felt the other two look at me, but I focused on Kane and said, "I'm holdin' you to that promise."
And I did.
8 weeks later...
"Make sure you get the DVD, Aideen. Pregnant or not, I'll kick your arse if you don't. I want to see me niece in all her 4D glory."
I saluted my oddly aggressive best friend. "I've got this, Kay. Trust me."
Keela nodded her head to me once and then switched her gaze to Kane. That was when her eyes narrowed and her hands balled into fists.
Uh-oh.
"Don't look at me like that," Kane said to her, his tone firm. "You went to the first big appointment, the rest are mine."
He sounded manly, but really he was being a bitch because he wouldn't look at Keela directly in the eye when he spoke to her.
"Don't talk to me, you," she growled.
I wanted to smile, but I knew better so I didn't.
I simply leaned over to the passenger door of Kane's SUV, or now the family SUV, opened it and proceeded to get into the car. Keela, Alec, and Kane, however, thought sliding into the passenger seat was more like climbing Mount Everest for me. The three of them reached for me and held onto some part of my body and tried to ease my already easy transition into the car.
"Oh, my God," I grumbled. "I'm not a doll, I won't break."
Alec snapped his fingers at me. "Don't jinx yourself."
I snorted, "Stop it. You're all being way overboard with me. I'm pregnant, not disabled. I can do things meself and not cause any bodily harm, you know?"
"We know, Ado, but you can't blame us for wantin' to keep you extra safe."
I grinned. "If your over-protectiveness causes me to lose the plot and go crazy, I'll blame all of your for drivin' me to the point of being coo-coo."
Alec raised his eyebrow at me and said, "You'll be fine."
I chortled, "Please, for all you know I could suffer from a mental illness. That means I could kill you, plead insanity, and get away with it. I'd think about that if I was you."
Silence.
"Keela, why are you friends with her?" Alec murmured to his fiancée without taking his eyes away from me.
My best friend turned, looked him dead in the eye and said, "I honestly have no idea."
I gleefully laughed, "I do. It's because I'm the glue that holds this fucked up group together."
"Or you're just the incubator to my nephew and that's the only reason I, and everyone else, puts up with you," Alec countered.
"Kiss me arse, Slater!" I snapped.
Kane sighed, closed my door and gestured Keela and Alec away from the car. He shook his head and walked around to the driver's side of the car and got in. I glared at Alec through the window and then stuck my middle finger up at him. Keela burst into laughter while Alec shook his head at me while grinning.
I glanced at Kane as he leaned over to me and grabbed a hold of my seatbelt. He pulled on it, positioned it over my body then buckled the belt. He lowered the bottom half of the belt under my belly and fixed the upper strap across my shoulder. He looked up on the Internet the proper way for a pregnant woman to wear a seatbelt and he was pretty hands on in making sure it was always adjusted correctly every time I was in his car.
I waved to Keela until she and Alec left my sight. I relaxed into my seat and rested my head back against the headrest. I closed my eyes and hummed as the vibrations of the engine slithered up my seat and reverberated against my back.
I opened my eyes and glanced at Kane after a few minutes of music filling the car.
"Are you excited?"
He nodded his head as he drove. "I'm nervous, too."
I raised my eyebrow. "Why nervous?"
He shrugged and for a moment I thought the shrug was his reply until he grunted and said, "I'm worried I might cry."
I burst into unexpected laughter.
"It's not funny," he hissed. "I can't cry-it will be the ultimate bitch thing to do."
I continued to laugh.
"You aren't helping, you know?" he snarled.
I crossed my legs when my bladder objected to my laughter.
"Sorry," I wheezed a little and forced myself to calm down.
"Are you really?" Kane questioned.
I bit my lip and nodded my head.
"Bullshit."
I laughed again then waved my hands. "Stop. I'm goin' to wee meself."
"It'd serve you right for laughing at me."
I calmed myself down-it took two minutes-until I was only chuckling here and there.
"I'm only teasin'. You'll be fine," I said and fanned myself with my hands.
Kane grunted, "We'll see."
"If you do cry, we can blame it on your diabetes somehow," I said, grinning.
"I hate you," Kane murmured.
I smiled to myself. I was enjoying this conversation far more than I should have. It was like every other conversation we'd had over the past few weeks; it resulted in me feeling giddy with happiness. All. The. Time.
I glanced at Kane then looked down to his thighs.
"I haven't asked you this in a while, but how are you feelin'? You have had a steady routine over the past few weeks with your injections. Are you startin' to feel like yourself again?"
Kane didn't look at me as he spoke, "Yes and no. I feel stronger and overall really good because I don't feel sick anymore. But I don't feel one hundred percent myself because I have to rely on you for my injections. It makes me feel a little... inadequate."
"Inadequate? That's silly, you could haven chosen not to let anyone give you your insulin, but you made the choice to let me do it. You have the control, not me. You allow me to give you an injection, that's all on you. I'm just the helper."
Kane mulled this over in his mind, but I could see that my response made him feel a little better so I didn't push for further conversation, I let it lie.
"I'm glad we're getting along better."
I snorted, "We fought over baby names yesterday and I threw a cup at you."
"That's true," Kane nodded, "but we spoke five hours later which is way quicker than usual."
When he put it like that, we sounded so weird.
"You're right, that's major progress," I said, sarcasm dripping from every word.
Kane shook his head. "That's just me and you, Aideen."
"Yeah," I chuckled. "Me and you."
"We still aren't naming the baby Jenna if it's a girl."
I growled, "But it's cute!"
"Not happening. I hate that name."
"Why?" I complained.
Kane shrugged. "I just do, okay?"
I groaned, "Fine, whatever."
Kane laughed at me when I folded my arms over my chest and it pissed me off. "Don't poke the bear, Kane. I said fine. Accept that and don't bathe in your smugness or I'll knock it out of you."
"Damn," he murmured, "hormones are in full swing today."
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing, I just said you look so beautiful today."
Bullshit.
"I'm wearin' leggin's, an over sized shirt, and a cardigan."
"Yep. Beautiful."
I rolled my eyes. "You're so full of it."
"I've meant to ask-you don't wear jeans anymore, it's just been leggings the past two weeks. Why is that?"
I frowned. "I'm twenty weeks and a day pregnant, Kane. You can see my belly has gotten bigger, but so have my thighs and arse. Me old jeans don't fit anymore."
It hurt saying that. It really did.
"So why not buy the next size up?"
I felt sick. "Because the next size up for me is a twelve! I've never been a twelve. Always a ten."
Kane glanced at me before returning his eyes to the road. "I forget the difference between Irish and US sizes. What is a twelve in the States?"
I pouted, "A sixteen."