Read Online CLONER : a Sci-Fi Novel about Human Cloning (A Captivating Story about Reproduction Outside the Womb and Identical Humans) by Emma Lorant - Free Book Online Page B

appeared almost ridiculously easy to Lisa. The child’s first cry was almost as powerful as his brother’s. Was this child also healthy? Why hadn’t Meg said how easy it would be? Thinking back, Lisa found it even harder to understand the shifting of Meg’s eyes, her reserve.
    ‘Twin boys! Isn’t that lovely. And another respectable five and a half pounder!’ the midwife announced, awe creeping through her voice. ‘Fancy that. Normally one twin’s quite a bit smaller than the other.’
    ‘Looks like another long one, too.’
    ‘Not quite such piercing eyes,’ Rita said slowly, thoughtfully. ‘That’s the only difference I can see.’
    Alec was standing by Janus in his carrycot, staring from one new arrival to the other. Lisa could not see his expression, could only guess at his reactions. He’d only wanted two children, after all.
    ‘We could call this one Jeffrey,’ she heard him say, gruff and low. ‘My father’s name was Jeffrey.’
    Lisa, almost delirious with the fact that she had, indeed, given birth to twins, decided not to make an issue of the name. She didn’t care, she had two more healthy sons, and the four leaf clover had come through with flying colours.
    ‘Where on earth shall we put him?’ Alec now wanted to know. ‘We haven’t made any sort of provision for two babies.’
    ‘Don’t worry about that.’ Rita was cleaning the second infant’s nostrils. ‘Just pull out a drawer from a chest, that’ll do nicely.’
    ‘There’s all the rest of Meg’s old gear in the airing cupboard,’ Lisa told them, feeling smug. ‘Including another carrycot.’
    She saw Alec’s mouth drop open, then close without comment.
    ‘All nice and warm. I asked her to let me have her old things, just in case we ran short of anything.’
    ‘I suppose,’ Dr Witherton mentioned to Alec, dropping his voice, ‘your wife resisted the idea of twins. Many women simply cannot cope with that. It’s only natural. It is a great deal of extra work.’ He smiled benignly at Lisa. ‘I’ll be very glad to counsel you. Mother and child care is my speciality, you know.’ He turned to look as Rita brought in the second carrycot. ‘And we’ll make sure you have sufficient help.’
    ‘I think the scan showed only one – ’ Alec began.
    ‘Not possible.’ The doctor brushed him aside. ‘Fraternal twins are conceived within days of each other. Identical twins do often develop later, but not as late as after a scan. The embryo can only split within two weeks of fertilisation. Some sort of mix-up in the notes, I expect.’ He smiled again. ‘I’m afraid getting the paper-work right is one of our greatest difficulties.’
    He evidently misinterpreted the slight dismay on Lisa’s face. ‘Don’t distress yourself, my dear.’ Witherton patted her arm. ‘They’re definitely yours, whether the paper-work was right or wrong!’ He laughed uproariously.
    ‘There’s still something moving,’ Lisa said nervously, turning to the midwife for support.
    Even Rita’s impatience was held in check this time. ‘Don’t worry, love. That really is the afterbirth. And you’ll lose that little bit of flab before you know it, when you get your muscle tone back.’
    This time, Lisa thought grimly to herself, she was quite keen that the medical profession should have produced an accurate diagnosis. She was perfectly content with twins.
    ‘They are both all right, are they?’ she heard Alec ask. He sounded anxious, even a trifle suspicious.
    ‘Beautiful little boys, perfectly formed in every way.’
    ‘No defects?’
    ‘Ten fingers and ten toes, all present and correct,’ Rita put Alec down, back to her old form.
    ‘I’m being serious.’
    Witherton took over. ‘As far as I can tell they’re completely normal. They’re both unusually long, and the first one has a remarkable grip. Their eyes are extraordinarily well developed. The first little lad almost seems to be focusing at a range of distances, even at this