Page 98 of Crashing the Altar
“No buts, no exceptions. I’ve been caught in your orbit since before I can even remember. You’ve always been at the center of my life. I don’t care about the details solong as I have you.”
Wet lashes lifted, her glassy gaze searching. “You really mean that?”
I huffed out a laugh. “The idea of losing you had me so twisted up inside that I stood up in the middle of your wedding and begged you to choose me instead. How can you think I could ever live without you? There is no me without you. Full stop. End of story.”
Penny’s lower lip trembled, and I dragged my thumb over it before dipping to capture it in a soft kiss. “My love for you is infinite. It goes on forever like the sky.”
“I’m gonna keep making messes.”
Chuckling, I pressed my forehead to hers. “You think I don’t know that? But lucky for you, it just so happens I’m an expert at cleaning them up. I’ve had a lifetime of practice.”
The sound of the curtain being pulled back had our heads turning. Tara was back, and this time, she was accompanied by a middle-aged man wearing a white lab coat who stepped forward to introduce himself.
“Hello, Penny. I’m Dr. Freedman. Tara has caught me up on your chart and mentioned you’re experiencing some first-trimester bleeding you’re concerned about?”
When Penny only managed to nod, I verbalized her response. “That’s right. Noticed it first thing this morning.”
Dr. Freedman’s lips curved into a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure Tara mentioned that it’s not uncommon during this stage of pregnancy, but it’s good that you came in to get checked out.” He handed Tara the tablet he held. “If it’s all right with you, I’d like to perform an ultrasound to see if we can determine what might be causing the bleeding.”
“Penny?” I looked down at my wife.
Sucking in a shaky breath, she gave a slight dip of her chin. “Okay.”
“Sir, if you could hop down for a minute?” the doctor politely requested.
I began to shift off the gurney, but fingers tightened in the fabric of my shirt, keeping me in place. Face buried in my chest, my wife mumbled a weak, “No.”
Tara jumped in to try and soothe Penny. “I know it’s super scary right now and you need your comfort person. Is it okay if he sits on the edge and holds your hand? We really need you to lie flat for the ultrasound.”
“That sounds like a good deal to me. What do you say, Lucky?” I dropped a reassuring kiss on her forehead.
Tremors wracked her body, but she loosened her hold, allowing me to scooch over. With one ass cheek perched on the edge of the thin mattress, I pulled her visibly shaking hand onto my lap, allowing her to grip me as tightly as she needed.
A cart with a computer set atop it was wheeled into the small space before the curtain was closed around the four of us.
Since Penny was in a dress, Tara helped to pull the sheet at the foot of the bed up my wife’s thighs, offering it as a cover for her underwear before asking that she lift the skirt to expose her bare stomach.
My heart squeezed when my gaze dipped to that hard ridge set below her navel. I’d spoken to it every night for weeks, making promises to a baby I couldn’t wait to meet.
This couldn’t be the end. What kind of God would allow this dream to be ripped away from my wife? Not one I wanted to believe in anymore if today was marked by tragedy.
“This might be a little cold,” the doctor warned before spreading gel on Penny’s skin.
She sucked in a sharp breath, her stomach going concave for a split second before she exhaled.
Dr. Freedman kept his attention focused on the screen, his movements practiced as he glided the wand through the gel. Squinting, I tried and failed to make sense of the black-and-white images myself.
After what felt like an hour of silence, he pointed a finger at a part of the screen. “You see this here?”
I tilted my head to the side. The white shape set against a sea of black almost looked like a gummy bear.
“That’s your baby.” His finger shifted to the center. “And that tiny flickering in the middle? That’s their heart, beating nice and strong.”
The breath I’d been holding rushed past my lips, and a relief like I’d never known crashed over me.
“It’s really okay?” Penny’s words were barely above a whisper.
Dr. Freedman offered her a warm smile. “Yes, ma’am. And I can’t see anything internally that might be the cause of your bleeding, which is an excellent sign.” He turned back to the screen. “Though the dates you gave don’t quite match up.”
