Victoria grinned. “I’ll be quick.” She picked up the phone. “Hey there. No, I’m at work. Where are you?” She listened for a few minutes. “Sure, that sounds good. Meet me here at five? All right, see you then.” After another pause that turned her face bright red, Victoria said, “I’m hanging up now.” She put down the phone and seemed embarrassed to look at Maddie. “Sorry about that.”

“So who is he?” Maddie asked with a teasing smile.

“Um, well… Do you know Seamus O’Grady?”

“Sure. I love Seamus.”

“It’s his cousin, Shannon. We’ve been seeing each other.”

“If he’s anything like Seamus…”

“He’s just like Seamus, only younger and even hotter, if that’s possible.”

Maddie fanned her face. “Hot damn, girl. Good for you.”

“It’s been very good for me, if you catch my drift.”

They shared a laugh that descended quickly into hysterics that went a long way toward relieving Maddie’s tension. “Thank you,” Maddie said as she wiped up laughter tears. “I needed that.”

“Happy to help, even if it’s frightfully unprofessional to be dishing about my sex life with my patients.”

“Oh please, we’ve been through two pregnancies together, and you had your hand up my hoo-ha five minutes ago. I think it’s safe to say we’re friends by now.”

Maddie’s statement set Victoria off again, and the two of them were mopping up more tears when someone knocked on the door.

“Enter,” Victoria called.

“Test results you’re waiting for,” the receptionist said, eyeing the two of them with curiosity.

Maddie figured they probably were red-faced and silly looking after their laughing fit.

“Thank you,” Victoria said, scanning the page and then smiling. “Congrats, Mom. Looks like we’re going for three.”

Maddie promptly burst into tears that had nothing to do with laughter. She wasn’t sure if it was relief or fear that had her sobbing like a fool.

Victoria got up and came around her desk. “What’s this? I thought you’d be thrilled.”

“I am,” Maddie said between sobs. “I’m thrilled.”

“Um, you don’t look thrilled.”

“I’ve been on this roller-coaster ride of emotions this week, thinking I was pregnant and then being convinced I wasn’t and now finding out I am when my friend Syd is dying to be pregnant, and it’s not fair that I’m having a ‘whoops’ baby when she wants one so badly.”

“Wow, that’s a whole lot of hormones in one sentence.”

“See? I’m a wreck. How will I handle three kids under the age of five?”

“As beautifully as you handle two of them. If anyone can do it, you can. Think of it this way, at least yours are coming one at a time, unlike your friend Laura, who’s having twins.”

“That’s true,” Maddie said, wiping her tears.