“Jessica Farrell?” a woman in a white lab coat called from the door leading back to the examination rooms.
Brought back to the present, Nate rose to his feet and took Jessie’s hand in his as they walked down a hall to the room where the ultrasound would be done. He had no idea what he was supposed to do, but he figured holding her hand for moral support was a good start.
“I’m Dr. Evans,” the woman said, introducing herself to Nate.
“Nate Rafferty, ma’am,” he said, removing his Resistol and extending his hand.
The doctor smiled as she shook his hand. “Are you two ready to find out if you’re having a boy or girl?”
“I’ve been waiting for this day since I discovered I was pregnant,” Jessie answered, sounding excited as they entered a small room.
When the doctor looked at Nate expectantly, he didn’t know what else to do but nod. He wasn’t about to explain that he had only learned about the baby a couple of weeks ago or that he hadn’t quite wrapped his mind around the idea that he’d fathered a child.
“If you’ll help Jessica up on the table, we’ll get started and take the first pictures of your baby,” the doctor said, closing the door and seating herself on a stool beside a machine with a small television screen. “Dad, you can stand on the other side of the table in order to get a better view of the screen.”
Helping Jessie up onto the small bed, he took his place where the doctor had indicated as he tried to take in the woman’s use of the term dad. But before he had the chance to let that sink in, Jessie raised her red maternity top and eased her slacks down to reveal her stomach. He had felt the firm bump when he held her against him and the few times he’d put his hand on it when he’d try to feel the baby move, but she hadn’t actually shown her stomach to him. He’d seen her beautiful body many times before, but that had been before she’d become pregnant. Was she self-conscious now about the changes in her body?
She had no reason to be. She was more beautiful now than he’d ever seen her.
When Dr. Evans squeezed some clear jellylike stuff from a tube onto Jessie’s stomach, then picked up something that looked like a microphone, Nate reached down to take hold of Jessie’s hand. He wasn’t sure if it was for her moral support or his. All he knew was that it felt as if he was about to witness something very profound and something that would change his life forever.
With the first touch of the instrument to the clear gel on Jessie’s stomach, the screen displayed a shadowy image. For the life of him, Nate had no idea what he was supposed to be looking at.
As the doctor continued to slide it around on Jessie’s abdomen, she pointed to the machine. “There’s your baby’s profile,” she said, smiling.
His gaze riveted to the screen, Nate’s breath lodged in his lungs when he recognized a little head and an arm and leg. The world suddenly seemed to stand stock-still and reality hit him right square between the eyes. That was his baby he was watching—the child he had made with Jessie.
He glanced down at her lying on the table. Tears had filled her violet eyes and the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen curved her perfect lips. At that moment, he wasn’t entirely sure he didn’t have a tear or two trying to escape his own eyes.
“Does everything look all right?” Jessie asked.
“Everything looks just fine,” Dr. Evans assured her, nodding. “It appears that your baby is right on target for a twenty-week-old fetus, both in size and development.”
“That’s wonderful,” Jessie said as one of her tears slowly trickled down her lightly flushed cheek. He gently wiped it away with his index finger, earning a smile from her. “Is the baby turned so that you can see the gender?” she asked.
Dr. Evans moved the probe around a moment before she grinned. “Well, it looks like you’re going to be buying a lot of pink and purple. There’s no doubt about it, this baby is most definitely a little girl.”
“I’m having a girl,” Jessie murmured like she couldn’t quite believe it.
When she looked up at him with such excitement and wonder on her face, he didn’t think twice about lowering his head to kiss her with all the emotion he was feeling but couldn’t put a name to. At that moment, Nate felt like beating his chest and doing the Tarzan yell. He was going to be a daddy and it suddenly became more important than ever to make sure Jessie and the baby stayed with him—not just for the rest of the month or the first year of the baby’s life. He wanted them with him from now on.