The color was returning to Pieter’s cheeks. “You’repregnant?”
Eva nodded, biting her lip. “I just found out. I mean, maybe I should have expected something, but I honestly didn’t. I fainted during drill and—”
“You fainted? Oh, Eva, were you hurt?” Pieter stood up quickly and put his arms around her, holding her at arm’s length so he could look into her face.
“No, I wasn’t hurt. But Ali took me to the medical center and ran some tests. That’s how I found out.”
“How are you feeling? Do you want a drink? Do you want to sit down? Or lie down?”
“Please don’t fuss, I’m fine. But there’s more. It’s twins, Pieter. We’re expecting twins.”
“Twins?” Pieter said loudly, his face breaking into a huge grin. “We’re havingtwobabies?”
“Yep. Two babies — twins,” Eva said, smiling at his reaction.
“Eva, this is wonderful! I mean,Ithink it’s wonderful. Doyouthink it’s wonderful?”
Beaming, Eva said, “Yes, I do. I think it’s wonderful.”
“We’re going to be parents!”
“Yes, we are.”
“To twins!”
“To twins,” she said, her hands on her stomach again.
Pieter laughed. “This is the best news I’ve ever had in my entire life!”
“I’m glad you think so,” Eva said, relieved.
“Don’t you think it’s the best news you’ve ever had in your whole life?”
The smile on his face as he said that filled her with hope and happiness. “It’s pretty great. And I’m relieved thatyouthink it’s great.”
“Eva, I have something to tell you now. I was just upstairs, practicing how I was going to tell my parents that I planned to go back to Alaska.”
“Really? You were planning on going back? But why?”
“To tell you I love you.”
Eva’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh, Pieter,” she said, tilting her head up to his. They kissed, slowly and tenderly, undoing the past few weeks in an instant.
“You’re the most wonderful woman in the world,” Pieter said, stroking her cheek. “I can’t believe how lucky I am.”
“We need to talk about the future,” Eva said softly.
“You mean as in where are the four of us going to live?”
Eva began to cry, tears of relief and joy mixing with tears of worry about how they were going to figure everything out. “That’s what I mean.”
“And of course it might not be just the four of us,” Pieter said. “I mean, the four of us to start, but then there might be more of us.”
Eva pulled back and stared into his face. “One thing at a time, Pieter.”
“Okay, you’re right. One thing at a time.” He kissed her again and then asked, “Are you hungry? Thirsty? Did you get any decent food on the flight? I’ll bet you’re hungry.”
“I’m fine, Pieter. Let’s talk first, and then we can get some food.”
