Love, Texas Style 15

"That's wonderful!" Amy chirped, startling Verónica in her arms. She took her man into her other arm. "I love you, Michael Woods. Can we buy some furniture for the house?"

He smiled... "Can we wait until June? I have something else in mind. Hopefully, it will be a wonderful surprise."

"Yes! ... I love surprises!"

"And... I'm going to take some time off when Kylie returns. I need a break. I want to spend time with you and Verónica."

*****

Amy was flipping screens through her phone...

Instagram.

Looking at the cute maternity clothes and the trends the young women were wearing.

A knock on the door and Dr. Austin steps into the examination room.

"Well..." she offered, as she sat in the chair. "You're pregnant." She smiled widely. "I just looked at the test results."

Amy beamed.

"That was pretty quick, girl. Any morning sickness?" Dr. Austin got up and began listening to her chest with her stethoscope.

"A little. That's how I thought I was pregnant... It started after my birthday. Michael and I had a wild night that evening." She giggled.

"Too much information," Sally chuckled. She continued examining Amy. Her ears, throat, chest, abdomen. Her joints, her feet. Sally sat back down and typed some information into the electronic chart. "You're in great shape, Amy. You got rid of that weight with Verónica quickly. I'm impressed. But, now we're doing this again. Same as last time. The nurse will give you some brochures to take care of yourself and your baby. Now... you said your birthday." She scrolled through the electronic chart. "You told the nurse you didn't have a period after Verónica, so for a due date, we'll have to go with the conception date, and... let's see here... your birthdate is January 3rd. Let's see now." She picked up her iPhone... manipulating the screen... "That's going to be sometime around September the 25th." She looked up and smiled to her patient. "Today's the 6th of February, that's math in my head... hmm... you're around seven weeks... so, an ultrasound for you and your baby will be... hmm... to be on the safe side, sometime around March 24th."

"That's Michael's birthday!"

*****

Michael arched an eyebrow.

The burner phone went off with its familiar ring.

"Hello."

"Good morning."

Ed Morales, he thought.

"Good morning."

"All the houses have been built. Right on schedule."

"Good news. When will the package be ready?"

"Seven months." The line went dead.

Seven days, he thought.

His burner phone pinged. He looked at the message.

Seven months area 5... 9:00am

Michael nodded as he slipped the phone into his desk drawer. He knew where he had to be in seven days.

*****

"I'm telling you this, but I need for you to not say a word. It's very important."

"OK," Amy replied, as she set her fork down. She looked at his face and saw concern.

"I'll be leaving again, unannounced. It can't be helped. Maybe for two weeks... or longer"

Amy blinked. "Michael... The ultrasound for the baby is next week. On your birthday." The disappointment leaking from her lips.

"Little One," he offered, as he took her hand. Sadness on his face. "It's the baby why I'm warning you instead of saying nothing at all, as in the past." He paused. "It will be worth it, Amy. For us. You, Verónica, the baby... us."

Amy's lip quivered for a fraction of a second. "I was hoping you could be there for the ultra..." She choked on the lump in her throat.

"Pretty Girl, please don't." Michael rose from his chair and knelt beside his pretty girl. "I tried to reschedule, but it wouldn't work." He paused. "Please, help me. For both of us."

Amy wiped the tear from her cheek and nodded.

"I'll take you dancing this weekend at the club. OK?"

Five days later, he was gone.

Amy, Verónica and Olivia watched him drive away. He left his phone on the night stand... On purpose.

*****

Amy saw him furl his brow.

For a fraction of a second... his eyebrow moved downward. She saw it. She could tell he was concentrating on the screen as he moved the ultrasound wand across her tummy.

"What is it Steven? I saw your face just now."

"You did, Mrs. Woods," he replied, not taking his eyes from the screen... a smile on his lips now. "The baby is turned a little and is making it difficult to get a good image. I'll have to have a talk with this baby when the time comes." He chuckled at his remark. "Now, I'm going to take a few pictures for Dr. Austin and she'll be in here to go over the images. And... I'm going to print you off a picture of your baby."

He typed. He clicked the mouse a few times. He moved the wand across her tummy... For several minutes. Amy turned to see her mother... Olivia cringing her neck to see the monitor. Verónica asleep in the carry cradle next to her grandmother.

"OK, Dr. Austin will be here in just a minute." Steven turned to leave.

"Wait... Aren't you going to take this goop off my tummy?"

"Nope. Dr. Austin is going to use the wand on you this time, Mrs. Woods." Then, he left.

The two women looked at each other... and blinked. Seconds later...

"Good morning, ladies."

"Good morning." The women responded in unison.

"And looky here. She is so sweet." Dr. Austin bent at her knees to squat next to Verónica... to get a close look. "I'm betting her daddy brags on her often." She chuckled as she stood back up. She looked at Amy with a wider than normal smile. "Steven gets a little excited sometimes, so he wants me to take a look, too." She nodded as she made her way to the ultrasound station.

She squeezed some gel on Amy's tummy, smoothed it out with the wand, typed a few keys on the terminal... and began running the wand across the tummy. For a minute or two.

"Well, I now know why Steven was excited." She beamed at Amy... and took her hand...

"You have two babies."

Chapter 168

Terry was walking back to his office.

His phone rang.

Pulling it from his pocket... he furled his brow at the notification...

"Hello, Amy."

"Hi, Terry."

Terry knew something wasn't right... her tone.

"I'm trying to reach Michael. He left this morning for a project... you know... the one you and Daddy know about. Well, anyway... is there any way you can get a message to him?"

"Amy, tell me what's wrong. Is it an emergency?"

Terry listened to a long pause.

"No, not really, but... I was hoping I can get some good news to him... about the baby."

"Baby?" he paused. "Is everything OK? I mean... Is there something I can do to help?"

"No, but... I really to need to talk to him. The baby is fine. I just need him right now."

Terry paused... trying to decide how to respond. "Amy, I can probably find him, but it could be two or more days. If it isn't an emergency, can we both talk about it? I can bring Traci in on the call if you like?"

Terry listened to another long pause.

"No... but if you hear from him..." Terry heard a sniffle...

"Will you tell him to call me, please? And, tell him everything is OK... I just want to tell him the news."

*****

Michael was thinking of his family.

His beautiful wife and daughter... another baby on the way.

He had to think of them... instead of the boring technical aspects of petroleum reserves, drilling, geophysical reports, pay zones, fracking, Wolfcamp Shale, Gates County, and...

The stunned looks on the faces of five engineers, a geologist, and a very strong minded, 60-ish Scottish engineer in charge of production and reserves for Sigma Petroleum.

The Morales family had spent the last two hours going over the shocking news... an extension to the Wolfcamp Shale had gone undetected for going on nearly 80 years.

"Holy, Mary," Duncan Graeme sighed, as he leaned back into his chair. The thick, and graveled, Scottish accent reverberating in the conference room. "We'd gotten word someone was up to something on the eastern edge of the Permian." He paused to look at his lead engineer.

"Everything I've seen, so far, appears valid, Mr. Graeme. We'll of course..."

"Want to take a look ourselves," he interrupted. "We have ye confidentially agreements. Leave ye data for these lads and lasses to study, and aye, Mr. Woods," Duncan Graeme glared at Michael. "We be done in the 40 days you demand. Now... I'm a gonna want ta see these producing wells." He leaned over the conference table toward Robert Morales... with an equal glare. "Tomorrow!"

Before he knew it, Michael was on a corporate jet from Houston to Big Spring, Texas. While on the flight... a feeling crossed his soul he'd rarely experienced, but was familiar...

An overwhelming need to call home.

*****

Amy flinched at the sound of her phone ringing.

Her mother left the kitchen, snatched the phone from the counter top and furled her brow.

"It's a number not in your contacts," she reported, waving the phone at her daughter.

"Answer it!" Amy chirped, while she nursed her daughter. "It could be Michael!"

Her mother smiled... "Hello, Amy Woods' phone, this is Olivia."

"Hi ya, Mrs. M. Is Amy available?"

Olivia smiled and Amy knew.

"Just a moment there, Mr. Woods. I've got two girls who want to speak with you." Olivia giggled as she walked toward the couch in her home. Handing the phone off, she sat next to her daughter and granddaughter.

"Michael! I've missed you, Baby! Verónica, too!"

"I've missed you, too, Amy. Both of you. Say... is everything OK? I mean... I just needed to hear your voice."

"Yes, we're fine," she chirped, as she winked at her mother. "All of us." She giggled at the exaggeration of her words.

"That's great. Are you sure everything is OK? I... well... had a feeling I needed to call."

"Oh, my," Amy sighed, at the surprise use of Michael's words. "I received good news at Dr. Austin's... we are 'all' fine." She giggled.

"Great news, Pretty Girl. Say, I can't talk for long... you know. But, before I go, may I speak to Verónica, please."

*****

Three days later, Michael pulled into his garage.

Just as he pulled his luggage from the back seat, the door to the garage flew open... and then a squeal.

"Michael! I've missed you!"

She leapt into his arms and kissed his lips. Passionate kisses from them both.

"Come on," she chirped. "I have a surprise for you!"

"I love your surprises, Little One," he replied, as she pulled him into the house. He set his luggage on the floor of the living room as Amy disappeared into their bedroom. Moments later, she came skipping out smiling her cheerful and unique smile. The smile that melted his heart every time he saw it. Wearing her cute eyeglasses.

"Look," she ordered, as she shoved a sheet of paper into his hand. "It's our baby."

"Beautiful," he moaned, with joy in his tone and heart. "Absolutely beautiful." He digested the detail of the human form on the image. He noted the letter 'A' on the edge of the sheet. He furled a brow... curious why it was there. "Are we going for the surprise again? You know, wait until the baby is born to find out?"

"Yes, and is it ever going to be a surprise!" she squealed. "Here's another one." She snatched the sheet from his fingers and presented the other one.

"This is great," he offered. Looking up from the sheet. "It basically looks the same as the other one. Just a different angle. But why's there a 'B' scribbled here on the edge? Is it a boy?"

Amy gut laughed as she took her man into a hug. She hummed her love into his chest. She snatched the other page from his fingers and present both images to him... stepping back a step.

"Can you guess?" she giggled. "Two images? A and B?" She wiggled an eyebrow with a huge smile.

The light bulb went on.

"Oh, God," he whispered. He blinked. "Twins?"

"YES! Isn't it wonderful?!"

She tossed the pages into the air in celebration and leapt into his arms... kissing him.

The kiss broken... His next words, a whisper into her ear...

"Yes. Yes it is wonderful. The biggest, and most wonderful, surprise in my life."

*****

"Wow."

Terry nodded at the whispered comment from his wife.

"Amazing," he replied, as he set his phone on the lamp table. He paused as a thought entered his mind...

"I suppose Michael and Amy are in a hurry to have a family. Two for one."

*****

Amy was huffing, panting and squeaking.

Both hands on her husband's chest. Keeping her balance as she rode his cock. Michael slouched against the headboard. His cock twirling inside her slick tunnel while she swiveled her hips forward and backward across his lap. Three minutes in, a squeak from her lips with each motion... concentrating on her need.

"I love it," she panted between her squeaks. She felt her first orgasm building rapidly. "I love you... Yeep!"

She quaked and quivered as she bent over on her way down to her husband's chest and neck. Gasping for oxygen... groaning through the explosion of nerves within. Her pelvic muscles convulsing around his intrusion.

Recovering, she righted herself and began undulating her hips... sliding her slick puss up and down the length of his swollen rod. Her husband soon matched her rhythm... thrusting upward on her downward... withdrawing on her upward... the effect increasing toward her next orgasm.

"Holy fuck!" she squealed. "Yeep!"

She shivered so violently through one of her most intense orgasms ever, her lips mumbled with each shiver... the little muffles reached her husband's ears. Coming off her quakes, she found she couldn't fuck her husband any longer. Her aftershocks piling on top of one another.

"Yes," he roared, as he swept her from his lap and gently rolled her onto her back. "You want some more, Little One? I've got some if you like."

She barely nodded. Still quivering beneath him. Her eyes rolled back... He grinned a sly grin.

He slipped his pecker into her needy hole... long stroking her pleasure tunnel. He leaned forward upon her... just inches above her face. "Yes, Pretty Girl. I love it when you come beneath me. It's pure joy to see you this way." With that, she announced her orgasm with a "yeep" ... she snatched the backs of his arms, threw her head back, stiffened her legs and back, curled her toes, and shivered through 35 seconds of sheer delight and pleasure. Colors swarming her soul... pleasure nerves firing from head to toe.

"More," she squeaked. "Don't stop. You're so sexy, Michael."

Four more orgasms, and she begged him to come inside her... and he complied with these words...

"I love you, Amy!"

*****

Michael found himself laughing and giggling.

His daughter doing the same... she... nearly seven months old this early May.

No matter what he said, Verónica giggled and laughed.

"Why do you suppose, she thinks I'm so funny? I'm just talking to her." He arched an eyebrow. He winked.

Verónica laughed at his words. The uncontrollable laugh babies find themselves in at times.

"She can't help it," came the reply from their bedroom. "She has you and me for parents. I would laugh, too." A chuckle followed.

Soon, Amy came out and began taking photographs with her phone. Then a video. To record the memory of father and daughter. Having an intimate and enjoyable moment with one another.

"She is so cute," he mused. "That laugh is killing me."

Amy sat next to her man and hugged his left arm... The arm and hand holding their little girl in his lap.

"She is cute," Amy whispered. Then she paused. "Mommy told me yesterday she's a twin."

Michael, caught by surprise with the comment, furled his brow as he turned to his woman. "A twin?"

Amy nodded. "I didn't know either until yesterday. She had a twin brother, but, he died a few days after he was born."

"Damn," Michael whispered. "I'm... sorry. I suppose your mother needed to tell you?"

Amy nodded. "She was with me when the doctor told me we were having twins. I think it kinda scared her. It took her over a month to tell me. She said her mother really didn't know why he died other than she thought his lungs were damaged."

"What was his name?"

"Juan."

"Dang, Amy. I don't know what to say."

"Mommy also told me twins run in her family. Ours will be the fourth set she knows about. She has an aunt who has twins and her great-grandmother had twins. Mommy's brother makes three."

"Wow."

"I called Dr. Austin yesterday and told her. I also told her your mother was an identical twin. She said not to worry, that she would be keeping a very close eye on our babies. She said she couldn't say what happened to my uncle, but, if he passed away, he must have been very sick, and sometimes we don't know why. She also said identical twins is not a family trait, but, fraternal twins can run in families."

"Are you worried? I mean..."

"I'm excited, Michael. I've never been happier than I am right now with you and Verónica. Knowing she is going to have little brothers or sisters. And us... parents for the second time!"

*****

"The babies look fine, Amy. I'm looking forward to this."

Amy beamed as Dr. Austin cleaned the ultrasound gel from her swollen belly, then helped her from the table to a chair.

Sally sat next to her and held her hand.

"The September 25th due date? It likely will be sooner. Twins typically are born a little early because there isn't any room for them. But don't worry, we will keep them right where they are as long as we can. You may have to lie in bed for the last few weeks because... you are gonna get big, girl." Sally chuckled.

Amy giggled. "I love these babies too much. I'll keep them as long as I need to keep them."

"Good girl. Now... From the measurements I've taken, I'm guessing the babies are 20 weeks. And... they are fraternal twins."

"I know what that is. That means I had two eggs and Michael fertilized both of them."

Sally nodded with a smile. "There are two placentas... Fraternal twins."

Chapter 169

"Michael John Woods. The son of Terry and Mary Woods."

Michael didn't flinch. He expected this. He smiled a sly smile.

The president of Sigma Petroleum, Augustus "Gus" Mason. Late 50-ish, strong jaw, confidence that commands the room. Michael's negotiating opponent.

"Terry Woods, the investor of the century... from just right down the road in Brenham. You... Third child and second son, three brothers, one sister, attended Texas Tech University, as did your parents, graduating Summa Cum Laude with degrees in Accounting and Finance. Continued your studies at Texas Tech, graduating... again, Summa Cum Laude with Master degrees in Tax and Banking. Certified Public Accountant. Married to the former Amy Masters, daughter of Leon Masters. The most successful real estate broker in Texas. One daughter."

Michael could see Robert Morales becoming uncomfortable out the corner of his eye. Stay cool, Robert, he thought.

"Partners with your father in law, forming Woods Masters Private Wealth Management and Capital just 17 months ago. Of course, your operation is private, but my spies tell me you're managing one and half billion dollars in assets... if not more." An awkward pause. "It's no wonder Mr. Morales came to you for help on this. Your father... not well-known to dabble in the oil business. It seems, his son doesn't have a problem with it."

Michael, again, didn't flinch when Mr. Mason stared him down with his nearly coal black eyes. His reputation as an oil man, beyond legend. One of the few African Americans to achieve high status in the petroleum industry. His recitation, just moments ago... from memory. No notes in front of him.

Without hesitation...

"Augustus Mason, son of farmers in Bastrop County, Texas. Just down the road from Brenham. Attended Texas A&M University. The first generation of your family to attend college. Achieved the rank of Captain of the elite Corps of Cadets. Graduated Summa Cum Laude in Mechanical Engineering. Entered the Army upon graduation, attaining the rank of Captain and commander of a tank squad. Resigned your commission upon completion of service to your country and became principle engineer for ExxonMobil. Frustrated with the management heavy corporate bureaucracy, you're hired by Sigma Petroleum as a lowly, reservoir engineer. But soon, began rising within the company. Demonstrating, time and again, the potential Sigma has in oil exploration. Personally taking the company in directions it never dreamed. The North Sea... Indonesia... And... the Wolfcamp Shale of West Texas."