Page 119 of Wicked Love

I wave my hand in his direction. “Pretty sure it’s just you…but pregnancy could be contributing to me wanting it every single second of the day.”

“You will not find me complaining about this…ever,” he says, adjusting himself.

My mouth goes dry and he laughs when I gape at him.

“Let’s get through this so I can give you what you want before our appointment this afternoon,” he teases.

“Oh, you’re doing me a solid?” I narrow my eyes.

“I want you every single second of the day too, Wicked Stella.”

I giggle and then sigh. “Not sure it’s possible to hurry through this. I’m not sure what I expected from baby registry shopping, but being overwhelmed by a million baby bottles was not high on the list.”

Our friends and family want to have a baby shower for us before the baby comes. Marley and Eric will even be flying out for it. Marley instructed us to register on the earlier side…just in case we think of more things we want in the meantime. I can’t imagine that we’ll need all that much, but now, I realize I must be wrong. There are bottles to mimic breastfeeding, bottles with anti-colic systems, bottles that reduce air intake, and on and on…and that’s just bottles!

Bowie shifts his weight and exhales. “There are so many more choices now than when Becca was born. I didn’t know we needed a PhD to pick out a bottle.”

I groan and laugh, pressing my lips together. “Should we just close our eyes and pick one? It might be the only way.”

I move toward the breastfeeding options, close my eyes, and pick one. He scans it and we move on to the pacifiers anddiaper pails with grim determination. It’s hilarious and bizarre, and more than once, it makes me feel inadequately prepared for what life with a baby will really entail.

“Miracle swaddle?” Bowie says, raising his eyebrows. “Does that mean it makes a baby sleep a solid eight hours?”

We end up with a random assortment of things—some for style, some for function, and some purely because we’re too tired to figure out which is better. I have no idea if we did well or not, but we have fun in the process. Bowie keeps grinning at me like we’re in this together, and I live for that look from him.

“Oh!” I freeze as we’re walking out. “Wow, the baby is moving a ton.”

Bowie reaches out and puts his hand on my stomach. I position his hands where I feel the baby moving. He stares at me as he waits and then his eyes light up when he feels a kick.

“I love that so much,” he whispers.

He leans down and kisses my stomach right there in the parking lot.

“Hey, little banana,” he says. “I can’t wait to see you today.”

I drink a ton of water and snooze as we go back to Silver Hills and pick up Becca from school. From there, we head to the clinic for our ultrasound. I’m about to burst when we’re taken back to the room to get the ultrasound. Becca sits perched on the chair, legs swinging, her excitement contagious. She’s been talking about this appointment for days, asking if the baby will see her on the screen too.

I lie back as the technician moves the wand over my belly.

“Actually, I need you to go empty your bladder because you’re too full,” the technician says.

“Oh thank God,” I say.

Bowie laughs at me and I hold up my hand.

“No laughing. I can’t laugh right now,” I say, hurrying to the bathroom.

I can hear his laughter from down the hall and it makes me smile so hard.

When I get back in place, he holds my hand, his thumb rubbing gentle circles over my knuckles. We’re having a 4D ultrasound done, so when the screen flickers and shows the little world our baby is living in right now, my breath catches.

This isourbaby, Bowie’s and mine, and Becca’s too. My lip trembles and a tear runs down my cheek when I see the features of our baby.

“Hi, baby!” Becca says in awe.

“This is amazing,” Bowie says, his own voice catching. “I can’t believe how clear it is. I can actually see what our baby will look like.”

A little fist goes up in the air and the baby’s feet move back and forth.

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