“Don’t,” he says, kissing the top of my head. “It will work out. Maybe I can go plant some drugs in someone’s dorm room and get them kicked out?” he jokes and I smile.
“No, they all have babies.”
“And we will too.”
“Yeah, but they have them now. Ours is still cooking.”
He smiles. “True, which is why we gotta get to the doctor.”
I eye him. “I’m not done talking about this.”
He waves me off. “It will work out.”
And I don’t doubt that. If anyone can do it, we can. But at what cost?
Lying back on the cold table, I lift up my T-shirt as Dr. Vernon moves his hands along my abdomen.
“How is everything? You still vomiting a lot?”
I smile. “Yeah.”
“It’s normal, but you let me know if it gets out of hand.”
“Okay.” I smile at Jace as he watches, his eyes intent on the doctor.
“Her boobs hurt a lot,” he says then, and I giggle as the doctor smiles.
“It’s normal.”
“That will go away, right? She said it will go away.”
Rolling his eyes, Dr. Vernon laughs. “Yes, son, it will.”
“Cool,” he says, rocking back on his heels. “And everything is good? Like, she’s normal?” He’s shaking with nerves and I reach out to take his hand. “Like, her meds won’t hurt the baby, right?”
“No, she’s right where she needs to be. You are showing already.”
I smile. “I look bloated, fat,” I say with a laugh, and Jace glares at me.
“I told you, you aren’t fat.”
“Woo-hoo, got you a good man right there. Smart man,” Dr. Vernon says with a wink and I grin.
“The best,” I say to Jace, but he’s too busy watching everything the doctor does.
When his eyes widen, I cut my gaze to the doctor as he comes to me with a little machine. “What is that?” Jace asks, horror in his voice.
Dr. Vernon laughs. “I haven’t had a skittish daddy in a while. It’s nice,” he jokes, but Jace isn’t laughing. “It’s a fetal Doppler. We’re going to see if we can hear the baby’s heartbeat.”
“Aw, cool!” I say, coming up on my elbows to watch. Jace comes closer, his eyes wide as Dr. Vernon turns it on and then places it to my belly, pressing into my skin. But I hear nothing. He moves it around, but I still don’t hear anything other than the static of the thing moving. Oh, no. What if something is wrong?
“I don’t hear anything,” Jace says, the alarm in his voice matching mine. “Does that mean it doesn’t have a heartbeat?”
But Dr. Vernon waves him off. “No, it’s early. We may not be able to hear it,” he says, moving it around more, but that doesn’t help the anxiety suffocating me. Lucy said I should be able to hear it at this appointment. I glance at Jace and he looks white as a ghost and hasn’t moved, only his eyes following the little probe on my belly. Turning back to the doctor, I watch him, and when he smiles, I hold my breath. “Hello there, little bit,” he mutters before turning the knob of the thing up, and the most beautiful sound in the world fills the room.
Our b
aby’s heartbeat.