Forever (Fallen 3)

“Come in,” said Jonathon.

“Hello,” Dr. Crane greeted upon entering the house.

Yippee, time to get poked and prodded, and all kinds of other tortures.

He set his bag down on the coffee table and proceeded to listen to my heart and take my blood pressure. “How have you felt today?” he asked as he took my heart rate.

“Perfectly normal, just abnormally huge,” I muttered.

“Hmm, your heart rate’s a little fast,” he frowned. He pressed his ice cold hands to my stomach. He pushed my skin and it didn’t budge. He pushed it again. My stomach didn’t give like it should have. His eyebrows raised and he poked the other side of my stomach. It moved. “Peculiar,” he muttered to himself. Jonathon looked worried. “I wonder…” Dr. Crane murmured.

“You wonder what?” I asked. It drove me nuts how he always talked to himself. I mean, couldn’t he tell me anything?

He pulled out his portable ultrasound. He first put it to the side of my stomach where my skin gave when he touched it. The image of our son filled the screen. His heartbeat was a fast little flicker on the screen, like a humming bird. It was a relief seeing that heartbeat. Dr. Crane had told me that it was normal for a dhampir’s heart to beat faster than was normal and not to worry. But that didn’t stop me from worrying anyway. I was pretty sure I worried about everything when it came to the baby.

He moved the ultrasound to the other side of my stomach. The screen immediately went fuzzy. A crease appeared in the doctor’s brow. “So, strange,” he muttered. And it was. Jonathon leaned in towards the monitor. His brow creased too like the doctors. He removed the ultrasound device from my stomach and shook his head.

“I’ll be back in the morning. Feel free to call if you need me,” Dr. Crane said packing up his bag and then he was gone.

I put my hand on my stomach. “I wonder why it does that?” I asked referring to the ultra sound device, it was doing that every time and Dr. Crane couldn’t figure out why. He’d even replaced his equipment, thinking that was the problem.

“I don’t know,” Jonathon shrugged his shoulders. “It’s very strange. But at least the bambino is okay. That’s what matters.”

“You’re right,” I said although I wasn’t convinced. If the prophecy was correct, and about us like Jonathon thought it was, then everything would be fine with the baby. But I wasn’t convinced. I’d lost two babies before I’d ever had a chance to meet them and held another dead in my arms. I didn’t want that to happen again, but after what I had been put through I just didn’t believe I would get the happy ending I wanted. I was sticking to my guns. If something happened to the baby, if, and I hated to think the thought, then I was done. I would have Jonathon turn me. I couldn’t have my heart broken anymore. Diana was the only one I had told about my plan back when I first found I was pregnant again. I didn’t want to worry Jonathon any more than he already was. Ever since I had announced my fourth pregnancy there had been a permanent crinkle in his forehead. I hated to see it, knowing that the baby and I were the cause.

Seeing that I didn’t believe him he said, “Everything will be okay. You’ll see.”

“Yeah, we’ll see,” I mumbled. I may be glowing but that didn’t stop my worrying.

Chapter Twelve: Worries

“Everything will be okay won’t it, Diana?” I asked.

She threw the book she was reading onto the floor of her bedroom where it landed with a loud thunk. I flinched from the noise and her sudden anger. We were both propped up on her bed surrounded by book after book on the miracle of birth. Although the books just made me worry. So much could go wrong and it wasn’t like this was a normal pregnancy. It wasn’t even in the realm of normal as far as vampire-human pregnancies went. Dr. Crane was puzzled which wasn’t a good thing in my eyes. He was the doctor after all.

“Kylie, really?” she snapped, looking over at me. “If you ask me one more time if everything’s going to be okay I’m going to explode. I’m sure everything will be fine but I can’t see the future. You’ve made it this long without anything happening and if you delivered right this second everything should be fine. You’re due date is in two weeks. The baby is already developed. You need to stop worrying. Worrying isn’t going to help the baby and you know it. We’re prepared for anything to happen at a moment’s notice. Dr. Crane is on call twenty-four seven for you. We’re doing everything we can and we just have to hope it’s enough.”

“I know,” I frowned, rubbing my stomach. It calmed me. I felt a kick on my hand like the little baby boy was acknowledging me. Telling me that everything would be okay. At least one of us was confident.

Diana gave me a sad look. “I know you’re worried and that’s normal af

ter all you’ve been through, but you need to enjoy this. Pretty soon you’re going to have your little boy to hold and everything will be okay.”

I knew everything would be okay once I had my baby to hold. Once, I could look at him and know he was okay.

“Ugh,” I groaned laying my head against a pillow. “I am so sick of this bed rest. Is it ever going to end?”

She laughed. “Two more weeks.”

“I guess I can put up with it for him,” I smiled. I may have complained about the bed rest, because who wouldn’t, but I’d do it for another nine months if I had to.

“I think you would do just about anything for him already. And Jonathon loves him too.”

“You think so? He was so mad. He’s better now but I still wonder sometimes.”

“He’s just worried about you. But trust me, he loves that baby,” she pointed at my stomach.

“I hope so,” I whispered. “Diana, I’m worried.”