Page 15 of Mending Hearts

“I’ll just grab my nurse to draw some blood. If you can fill out this form while I’m gone so we can get a sense of timing, that would be great.” When I tensed, David patted my hand. “Don’t worry. The nurse is my daughter. There won’t be any problems there.”

Why did everyone in this town believe everyone else was trustworthy? In my experience, family was the least trustworthy of all. Across the room, Tyler straightened at the mention of David’s daughter. As soon as the doctor was out of the room to fetch his nurse-daughter, I narrowed my eyes at his change in demeanor.

“If she’s not trustworthy, we’re outta here. I’m not having this fall apart before we even start.”

He shook his head but pulled a lollipop out of his pocket, twirling it between his fingers. I was starting to realize that motion was as much a nervous habit as sticking the lollipop in his mouth was a substitute for smoking. “You can trust her.”

“Then why’d you get all weird?”

“It’s a small town. People know each other.”

“That’s bullshit. What happened to the guy who sat beside me yesterday and said we’d lie to everyone else but never to each other?” I raised my eyebrows in challenge.

“We dated in high school. Satisfied?” He flushed.

A swell of something I couldn’t quite pinpoint ran through me. Envy? Jealousy? I took out my phone to check dates and scribbled the answers to the questionnaire about my last period and all the other relevant health details. Anything to avoid analyzing whatever feeling had zipped through. He was roughly fourteen years older. Of course he had a history, and probably most of it existed in this town.

When I finished, I leaned back on my hands and let my gaze roam over him. There was definitely something about him that drew me in, even now when I should be angry that he hadn’t given the truth right away. Honesty was going to be vital between us, at least on his part. I needed to know what was coming and how to navigate it. “I’m intrigued.” Whatsort of woman had Tyler been attracted to in high school? “You only dated in high school?”

“College, too.”

“So, long term.”

His left shoulder rose and fell. With a chuckle, he wandered closer, his hands shoved into the pockets of his trendy jeans. The clothing he wore was another thing that threw me off when I first met him. He didn’t dress like a thirty-something man with no sense of style.

“News flash for you, Mia. All my ex-girlfriends were long-term.”

I frowned. How did that fit? Long-term relationships everywhere, no wife anywhere. He’d said he’d only been dating the other woman for a few weeks. “I don’t get it.”

The door popped open, and Doctor David strolled in with a petite brunette woman behind him. Unlike Tyler, she looked like she was in her thirties. I wasn’t sure if I’d gotten used to seeing women with too many face fillers, but the lines at the edges of her eyes were oddly satisfying. Someday, I wanted to be like that—let the cracks show through, not give a shit if I looked my age. My mother hated any sign of aging, and her constant criticism of what she saw in the mirror drove me insane. Despite the lines, this nurse was pretty, but she only had eyes for Tyler.

When he didn’t greet her or return her longing gaze, I cocked my head and stuck out my hand. “Mia. And you are?”

“Katie,” she said, shaking my hand with the briefest motion. “I’ll just grab some blood for the lab.”

While Katie’s head was bent over my arm, I examined her, trying to figure out what it was about this woman that made Tyler so uncomfortable, made the air thick with tension that the good doctor seemed oblivious to but was written all over them both. He was more relaxedabout his current girlfriend meeting me than this encounter. My curiosity lit. A smile tugged at the edges of my lips, and when I looked up from the blood being drawn, Tyler’s gaze was intent on me, ignoring Katie’s presence completely.What?I mouthed to him, but he shook his head in response.

Katie withdrew the needle and disposed of it. The vial of blood was clutched in her gloved hand. “I’ll let the doctor know as soon as we have the results. It won’t take long.”

“Is it a family affair? Your mom the one in the lab?” My lips twitched in amusement.

“No.” Katie’s cheeks turned pink. “It’s—it’s very confidential. The laws for the lab are very strict.”

At least someone seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. This weird tension between Katie and Tyler was pricking at my sixth sense for gossip. People with grudges or wounds weren’t good secret keepers. I’d moved out of my old neighborhood a couple years ago, but every Tom, Dick, and Harry had tried to sell a story before I left. No loyalty in those people to either me or my mother. Whenever one of the trashy tabloids ran a story, I rarely even remembered the person with the tall tale. None of my neighbors had much money. I knewwhythey did it, but it didn’t stop me from experiencing a range of feelings from annoyance to outright anger at whoever was spinning lies and half-truths.

When David brought the ultrasound machine close to the bedside and had me lie back, he gestured for Tyler to come closer. I adjusted my clothes and closed my eyes, the gel cold against my skin. This was the part I dreaded.

When thethump thumpof the baby’s heartbeat filled the room, I squeezed my eyes closed and tried to block it out. Two large handssandwiched one of mine, and I opened my eyes to see Tyler, his gaze intent on the screen, a look of awe on his face.

“We can’t know the sex yet, right?” he said.

“No. Around twenty weeks, if we can get a good picture, we’ll be able to figure out the sex.” Dr. David glanced down, and I tried to ignore him, kept focused on Tyler. “You’re doing a good thing.”

Tyler tore his gaze from the monitor to peer down at me too. His face softened at the look of panic that must be evident. I felt the emotion rising, threatening to push me off the exam table and out the door. He leaned down so our foreheads were almost touching. In a voice barely above a whisper, he said, “To everyone else, never to each other.” Then he pulled back far enough for our gazes to connect, and his thumb brushed my cheek. “I’ll protect you with everything I’ve got.”

All the tension flowed out as we maintained eye contact, and through all Dr. David’s notes on due date, nutrition, next appointments, and everything else I now had to consider, Tyler held my hand and nodded along. When Katie came back with the test results, Tyler’s frame tightened, but he kept my hand in his, as though he knew the contact kept me stable.

I didn’t know how I was going to face my mother knowing what I knew and not crack or bend, or in some way, offer the truth. But if I told her now, while there was still time for a different outcome, I’d break my promise to Tyler. And to the baby. After hearing the heartbeat, I couldn’t deny someone else was living inside of me now. For me, there was no going back.

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