Page 109 of Adoring Delaney

He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t have to. His soft green eyes and gentle face did the trick. I took a breath and prepared myself not to freak out if it was still too early to hear the heartbeat. I reminded myself that it wouldn’t mean there was something wrong, it was simply too early.

The room filled with static as Dr. Butler pressed the handheld Doppler probe to my belly and moved it around. I could hear the gurgling of my stomach but nothing else. She slid my unbuttoned shorts lower and spread more jelly around, and just when I thought she was going to give up, she pressed harder and there it was.

The whooshing.

I closed my eyes and let the most beautiful sound in the world wash over me. Carter’s hand in mine flexed and I didn’t think he meant to do it. Simply an involuntary reaction to hearing his child for the first time.

“There it is,” Dr. Butler unnecessarily announced. “Nice strong fetal heart rate. One hundred and forty beats per minute, just where I’d thought it would be.”

“One hundred and forty beats?” Carter gasped. “Is that—”

“Perfectly normal. The short answer is, the fetus is growing rapidly. Think of the energy and fuel needed to grow from a cluster of cells to a fully developed human. Your baby’s heart rate is exactly where I like to see. Average. Not above or below, perfectly in the middle. Average means healthy.”

She smiled at Carter and graciously waited for him to ask more questions. When he was silent she went on. “Now, the last question of the day, would you like me to email you the recording of your baby’s heartbeat?”

“Yes,” Carter rushed out. “Please, we’d like that,” he hurried to add.

“Great. Make your next appointment on the way out and I’ll see you in four weeks.”

“Before you go, where can I buy one of those?” Carter gestured to the Doppler.

“I have to admit, I love the enthusiasm of first-time dads. It makes the next eight or so months exciting. They are readily available online. But I will caution you, some work better than others, and it takes training and practice to find the FHR. No panicking if you can’t find it.”

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to groan at the thought of Carter chasing me around with a monitor trying to find the baby’s heartbeat every day, or if I wanted to smile.

I chose to smile.

“Why are we going to Tuesday and Jackson’s?” I asked when Carter pulled into the long tree-lined drive of The Manor.

“You’ll see.”

He was acting funny. He had been since we’d left the doctor’s office earlier. He’d been quiet through lunch and seemed to have a lot on his mind. I’d also thought he had to get back to work. But instead of taking me home we were now at Tuesday and Jackson’s monstrosity of a house.

He’d helped me out of his truck, around the side of the house, and to the orchard. My heart was flipping in my chest—the last time I’d been here it hadn’t been pleasant. Actually it had been downright agonizing.

He stopped us in front of a newly planted cherry tree, and when my gaze hit the dirt around the base of the sapling, I had to blink back tears. Tuesday hadn’t just planted a tree to honor our baby— she’d had a pretty bronze plaque set at the base.

Always in our hearts. Baby Lenox.

There were laser-engraved angel wings behind the script and I’d never seen anything more beautiful. I couldn’t believe my cousins had done something so special for us. Though I shouldn’t have been surprised. Jackson Clark had always been thoughtful, and his wife Tuesday had a heart of gold. She fit him in every way.

“It was here in this orchard that for the first time I allowed myself to think about what it would be like to be your husband. For years, I shoved all of those kinds of thoughts down deep and locked them away. It was the only way I knew how to survive. Every time I had to leave you was more painful than the time before. Every year that passed more excruciating. I knew you were mine. I knew that I’d never, in a thousand lifetimes, love anyone but you. I knew you were the best part of me. And I knew I was denying us both the beauty we were supposed to have.

“And from the second that thought hit, I couldn’t stop the freight train of emotions that flooded. Seeing you so close but lost to me was brutal. A dagger to my heart. One that I’d self-inflicted. And when Jackson and Tuesday were saying their vows, I knew you felt the same way. And seeing that pain, I knew I still had a shot at making it right. And, Laney baby, I promise to keep makin’ it right. Every day I’ll prove you didn’t make a mistake starting over with me.

“I promise I’m gonna love you the rest of my life. I’m gonna love our kids and be a man they can be proud of. I promise I’ll never stop taking you on dates. I promise I’m gonna fill our lives with so much beauty you’ll never regret giving me everything I could ever want.”

Carter lowered himself in front of me, but I couldn’t see past the tears in my eyes. I felt him take my left hand, kiss my palm before he slipped the cool metal down my finger.

“Delaney Lillian Walker, would you please do me the honor and be my wife?”

“Yes.”

He was on his feet in a flash and I was off mine. He lifted me high and tipped his head back. I lowered mine and Carter Lenox, my dream man, sealed the deal with a scorching hot kiss. And of course it was magical.

What else could it be?

It would be a week later the package Carter had been eagerly expecting arrived. And just as I’d thought, the moment he’d opened the box, torn open the packaging, and put batteries in it, he’d demanded I go lie on the bed.

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