Page 91 of Man Seeking Woman

“Sorry,” the doctor said, his smile thinning as he glanced between us. “I shouldn't assume anything nowadays.” Chuckling, he pulled the rolling chair out from under the small desk and sat down. “Families come in all different shapes and sizes. I need to just put my foot in my mouth sometimes. So, are we ready?”

“I think so.” My stomach began to rumble, buzzing like a swarm of locusts were let loose inside. “I'm a little nervous.” August was standing beside me, so he took my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of my palm.

“That's totally normal, most new parents are nervous at first.” The doctor stood up and wheeled a small cart to my side. Taking out a long wand, he turned on the machine. “I'm going to need you to lay back for me.” Pulling out an attachment from beneath my legs, he helped me to adjust.

“What are you doing?” August asked, squeezing my hand tighter.

I could feel how nervous he was. His hand was clammy and warm, small beads of sweat were starting to form across his forehead. He didn't have that confident tone to his voice. There was so much unknown for him on a level he had never experienced before.

I wished I could comfort him, give him some advice so he didn't feel like he was randomly dropped on another planet. But we were both going to have to learn together.

“Well, we're going to see just how far along Ella is exactly, and hopefully send you home with a few good pictures.”

“Well, I'm pretty sure I'm over a month late for my period. Wouldn't that make me four weeks or so?”

“Not necessarily. If you aren't too sure when you had your period last, even if it was a month ago, some woman actually bleed during pregnancy. Some don't even know they're pregnant at all.”

“Like that show, Pregnant and Surprised?”

“Yeah, just like that.”

“Wait,” August held up his hand and furrowed his brows. “A woman can pregnant and not even know it, how the hell is that possible?”

Dr. Hall squeezed some clear jelly on the wand, pulling up my paper gown and setting the machine on my stomach. “There's several factors, uterine lining and how thick it is could be one reason, placement of the uterus and fetus is another.”

Whoosh Whoosh

Whoosh lub-dub lub-dub lub-dub

“Is that?” I asked, looking at the doctor.

“It is.”

“It's what?” August asked, looking at the monitor and angling his head. “What is that? It sounds like when you have water in your ear and you're breathing really hard.”

“It's your baby's heartbeat, Mr. Burke.”

August's skin turned ghost white instantly as his eyes became glossy. “Are you serious?”

“Pretty cool, isn't it?”

August dropped his gaze onto mine, staring at me with tears sitting in his eyes. “Do you hear that? That's our baby.” Smiling, he took in a deep breath and cleared his throat. “That's incredible.” Wiping his eyes with the back of his wrist, he lifted his shoulders higher.

“Let's see if we can get a better picture.” Twisting the wand, Dr. Hall pushed it harder into my lower belly. “Oh, there we go, that's a nice image for you.” Hitting a button on the machine, he kept probing the surface of my stomach.

“Oh wow, I can see the baby wiggling around.” Teardrops began to fall one by one, following the curve of my jaw and dropping onto the paper. “This is incredible.”

The doctor hit the button on the keyboard a few more times, his hand moving and spinning in different directions. “It looks like you're actually ten weeks according to these measurements.” The machine began to print out a long strip of black and gray images. “Here you go, baby's first pictures.”

August kept staring at the pictures as we walked to the car, the smile on his face was broad, running ear to ear. Holding up the pictures, he touched the small blob in the center. “This is unreal, that's our baby—our baby,Ella.”

He looked so proud and happy, and it didn't look like it was a selfish happy. It wasn't anI got what I wantedhappy or a middle finger to the sky happy; August looked genuinely thrilled about the baby and the fact that it wasourbaby.

“I can't believe that's growing inside me.” Resting my hand on my stomach, I touched my belly lightly. “It's so weird to think about it.”

“I want to surprise my mother with this tonight. Maybe we can invite her over for dinner? She hasn't been over since you moved in, I think it's time for her to get over herself.”

“Well, she hates me.” Looking down at the ground, a horrible thought crossed my mind. Snapping my head back up, I grabbed August's forearm and stopped him in the middle of the parking lot. “You don't think she'll hate the baby do you?”

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