ER Doc's Miracle Triplets
Author
Tina Beckett
Reads
18.8K
Chapters
11
In this first installment in the Buenos Aires Docs quartet by Tina Beckett, can a marriage be reunited when estranged spouses discover they're going to be parents — to triplets? TRIPLE THE SHOCK! ER doctor Isabella can't believe it. She's miraculously pregnant! With triplets… She knows she must tell her husband, Sebastián, that he's about to be a father. But they're separated, and the last time she saw him, he was departing Argentina following yet another IVF heartache. Isabella was left questioning if there would be a marriage for him to come back to. Now Seb's home, can they reignite their flame to secure their future as a family?
PROLOGUE
“BELLA...QUERIDA. I’M so sorry, but I just can’t...with any of it. We agreed this would be the last time.” Sebastián held a sheaf of papers in his hand.
She bowed her head and stared at the dining room table, willing herself not to cry over her latest loss. Their latest loss. She knew they’d agreed. Six weeks had passed since their latest attempt at IVF had ended with her spotting again. It had followed the same pattern for the last couple of years: implanting the embryos only to start bleeding a week or two later and hear she’d lost them. Their doctor had even tried a new regimen of hormones, hoping that she would be able to retain the pregnancy this time.
It was obvious she hadn’t. Again. Even though she’d held on to it for weeks longer this time.
Seb wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know. And although he hadn’t been cruel and mentioned that they’d both agreed that the time before this one would be the last attempt, he might as well have. Because today he seemed different. Harder, somehow. As if he’d made a decision and was walling himself off from what had happened...walling himself off from her. Brick by brick. Layer by layer.
“But...” She forced her teeth to bite down after that single word came out, refusing to beg him for one more attempt.
As if he knew the words were swirling in her brain, even if her lips weren’t uttering them, Seb slowly shook his head, a pained tightening of his mouth the only indication of how difficult the gesture was.
She stared down at her hands, knowing he was right. But after all this time...after all of those tries, how could he just...give up?
The fact that he hadn’t mentioned adoption or surrogacy like he had after the last failed treatment was telling. Her head came up to look at his face. The gorgeous face of the man she’d loved. The man she’d once burned for with the fire of a thousand estrellas.
Once?
No. She still loved him. Desperately. But when was the last time they’d made love deep into the night? The last time she’d reached for him without the fear of jarring something loose in her womb? Everything had become so timid and fearful and...careful. Her glance shifted back to the papers in his hands and her breath hissed out.
Divorce? Oh, Dios, no! She swallowed hard.
“W-what are those?”
He didn’t even have to ask what she was talking about. “I’ve accepted a temporary assignment with Médecins sans Frontières.” A muscle worked in his cheek. “You need some space, Bella. We need some space.”
Part of her wanted to sag in relief that he didn’t want to end things completely. But wasn’t this the same thing? A trial run to see how he would fare without her and her relentless attempts to carry a child? He was probably wildly relieved to get away from her.
Unlike her, who needed him on so many levels. Especially right now. She wanted to shout at him that he needed to stay, needed to at least try to work things out. But she wondered if there was even anything left to work on. So she didn’t say any of that. Instead, she simply asked, “When do you leave?”
“Next week.”
Next week. So he’d already applied for this position some time ago. How long did it take to be accepted? Had he been busy filling out forms even as they’d implanted the embryos? The thought filled her heart with anger, and bile swept up her throat, leaving an awful taste in her mouth.
“How long will you be gone?”
Did she really want to know?
“I’m contracted for eight weeks in Angola. But it depends on the conditions I find when I arrive.”
In other words, he might stay even longer. Her anger went up a notch.
Let him go. He’d already decided all of this without consulting her. Without even asking her if she wanted to go with him. In the back of her mind there was a little nudge. He had asked her. A few years ago, when they were still making love with a fervor that left her breathless. When trying to have a baby had actually been filled with adventure and lots of steamy experimentation. Before the desperation had set in. Before they’d turned to fertility specialists and all that it entailed. Yes, he’d asked her about Doctors without Borders, but she’d been too excited at the possibility of being a mom, so she told him to ask her again in a year or two. He never had.
And he evidently wasn’t going to.
She hardened her heart against the hurt, against the feelings of abandonment. So yes, let him go. She didn’t even ask him where in Angola he was headed. Maybe the separation would reset her system and she’d be able to let go of the dream of having his child once and for all. At forty-one, and after ten years of trying to beat the odds, she knew those odds were now stacked higher than ever against them. And if he decided he wanted a divorce? She wouldn’t fight him. She was too tired to. Instead, she’d simply move on with her life and let her career be enough.
So she said all she could say right now. “Okay. If that’s what you want.”
She didn’t promise she’d be here when he got back, and he didn’t ask. While Seb was gone, she had a lot of thinking to do. About what she wanted to do with her life, and if he’d even fit into it after this.
Once that decision was made, there’d be no going back.
So she wished him well and headed on to work, leaving him to pack or do whatever else he needed to do. And Bella would do whatever it was that she needed to do and hope to God that she could figure out what that something was.
And soon.