Keeley finally braved the great outdoors again toward the end of February. Her due date was in mid-April and she had put off going to the doctor for a check-up for too long. Especially since she was carrying twins and they had a higher chance of being born early.
She decided to go alone in the middle of the day while Aaron was at work, thinking that it was unlikely Lacy would stake the place out when he wouldn't even be there. She was right; she made it down to the parking garage where Aaron's driver was waiting without seeing her.
"You really should have come in sooner," Dr. Chapman clucked as she checked the babies' heartbeats.
"You're 28 weeks along now. Most twins are born around 36 weeks, which is about a month earlier than the average single baby. You're obviously stressed and you want to keep those babies cooking in there as long as possible. If your stress doesn't go down, your blood pressure will be too high and we'll have to induce birth early."
She should have known that the stress would have a negative effect on her pregnancy. But how was she supposed to calm down knowing that Lacy Knighton—the woman who killed her first child, her father, and eventually her—was staking out her apartment building?
"Is there anything you can do?" Keeley asked desperately. "I really don't think I can lower my stress. I have some life stuff going on right now that I have no control over."
"If you do end up with preeclampsia I can give you steroids to help the babies' lungs develop but that's about it. I would advise staying off your feet as much as possible and getting plenty of sleep, Mrs. Hale. You still haven't gained as much weight as you should have. Are you eating properly?"
"I am, I promise! I've been following all of your dietary suggestions."
Dr. Chapman shook her head and smiled. "I guess you're just one of those women who run small. It does happen, though it isn't terribly common. Take care of yourself and come back here in a week. I want to monitor you more closely from here on out."
Keeley nodded and thanked her as she headed out the door. What a nightmare. She didn't want her babies to be born too early and have to spend time in the NICU or have developmental problems later in life. They had to stay inside her womb as long as possible!
She did her best to relax for the rest of the day. She ate a hearty lunch, took a nice long bubble bath, and listened to a CD of classical music mixed with ocean sounds until she fell asleep.
When she finally woke up, Aaron was home. He looked at her expectantly from the kitchen table. "How did it go?"
She let out a weary sigh. "My blood pressure is a tad too high. She wants to watch me on a week by week basis from here on out. There's a good chance I'll have to deliver early."
He frowned. "You're only seven months along. Isn't that dangerous?"
"We've already passed the most dangerous period…from here on out babies have a 90% survival rate and it only gets higher as the weeks pass."
He crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her. "You need to relax, sweetheart. You're safe. Lacy can't get you."
Logically she knew that. Lacy was a schemer and she didn't know about Keeley yet so she wouldn't have time to come up with anything premeditated. What she was worried about was the crazy woman doing something spontaneous like pushing her to the ground and landing on her stomach.
One of her neighbors growing up delivered a month early because she slipped on some ice and landed on her stomach, causing her water to break prematurely. That was the last thing she wanted to happen. She wanted her babies to be born safely and healthily.
Dr. Chapman had told her that with most twin pregnancies one or both of them had to spend at least a little time in the NICU because they tended to be smaller sharing the space. That would be nerve-wracking enough. She didn't want them in there a moment longer than necessary.
"I want this to be over with, Aaron," Keeley said in a small voice. "I want our babies to be safely in my arms."
He kissed the top of her head. "I know. It'll be over before you know it. And then you'll have to deal with sleep deprivation and dirty diapers all the time. You should enjoy the relative peace while you can."
He just had to be realistic about everything. She cracked a tiny smile. Somehow his strange method of cheering her up sort of worked.
She tried to think about happy things, like the nursery they had already prepared in what used to be Keeley's bedroom and the fact that Molly and Dinah had both been extra protective of her stomach as it grew bigger. It was all going to be okay, right?
"What are you going to do about your fake fiancée?" she asked suddenly.
Aaron shrugged. "I'm hoping the babies are born by the time I have to explain myself. Kaleb will automatically grant me ten percent of my father's shares according to that contract he gave me when I got fake engaged. He'll certainly be surprised that it backfired on him."
He had told her about this before including how he was fairly certain Alistair used the phrase "Aaron's wife" instead of "Bethany Carlisle" thinking that Lacy would be able to replace her. It was pretty ironic that it would actually help them out.
But wasn't he still 12% short of what he needed? Where was that extra 2% going to come from? It wouldn't be safe to tell Alistair about the babies until Aaron had all the shares he needed.
"What about the other two percent?" she asked nervously.
"That…I'm still trying to figure out."
Great. They were doomed. All of the stress that had gone away earlier was back full force. The next month and a half was going to be very rough.