Page 23 of A Very Oceanport Christmas
David's hand found mine and squeezed. I glanced at him. At least I wasn't here by myself. David might not be my child's father, but he’d insisted on coming to the doctor with me as my partner anyway. Partners, that was what we were now. I liked the word. It implied equality. Like I wasn't burdening David with my shit.
"It's going to be fine," David said in a soft tone of voice as if he knew exactly how nervous I was. Maybe he did. He'd known me long enough and I'd never enjoyed going to the doctor. Somehow it was even worse now that the visit wasn't really about me. What if something was wrong with the baby? All this time I'd been pregnant and never gone to see anyone about it. What if there was some vital thing I'd forgotten to do? What if the baby had some serious problems and now it was too late to do anything to help? It would be all my fault then.
David's thumb stroked over my knuckles, quieting the storm of worries raging in my mind until it was nothing more than a gentle breeze in the back of my mind.
We waited another ten minutes or so before being led into the examination room. I'd asked my cousin Bastian for doctor recommendations and this was where he'd told me to go. I was glad for it. The doctor, Doctor Maloy, was kind. A man in his mid-forties or so, with a bit of silver stubble growing on his chin. If I'd been into men old enough to be my parents, I might have found him attractive.
Not that that mattered right now.
I parked my butt on the examination chair as instructed, feeling a bit awkward as I pushed my jeans down far enough to give the doctor access to my baby bump.
At least David stuck by my side. There was a regular chair for him to sit in beside mine and I grabbed his hand again, squeezing tightly as the doctor did his thing.
I was tense throughout. I didn't even realizehowtense until the doctor smiled at me and said the baby looked fine. I let out a breath, wondering if all parents felt this way, if it was ever going to get better.
If I believed what my paps had said about learning what it meant to worry when the kid was born... probably not.
The thought struck me that I should probably call him and Dad and apologize for everything I had ever done. God knew I'd caused my parents more than a few gray hairs.
"Would you like to know if you're having a boy or a girl?" the doctor asked.
"You can tell?"
Doctor Maloy chuckled. "This little one is being very cooperative, not hiding anything."
I thought for a moment. Did I want to know? I glanced at David.
"Your decision," he said.
I licked my lips, looking at the screen. It was the weirdest thing, being able to see my baby like that, knowing there was a real person growing inside of me. A person who would call meDaddyand look up to me for guidance, for protection, foreverything.It was scary and wonderful at the same time. And still I couldn't really picture it. Not even as the baby kicked again as if wanting to give their own input on the matter. I laughed, watching the movement on the screen.
"I want to know," I decided. At least once I knew, I could start thinking about names, right? That would be one thing to cross off the list at last.
The doctor moved the ultrasound-scanner thingy he had on my belly, the gel still a bit cool on my skin. "See this?" he asked, pointing at the shifting image on the screen. "That's your boy showing off his manhood."
My boy. I had a son. I swallowed, overcome with an emotion I couldn't even describe. "That's... That's really great." I turned to David. "Did you hear that? I'm going to have a son!" It was so surreal, but so wonderful at the same time.
"Yeah, I heard." David smiled, his thumb stroking the back of my hand. His expression turned teasing. "If he's even half the brat you were, you're done for."
I laughed, because damn, wasn't that the truth?
Idefinitelyhad to swing by my parents' house and apologize.
* * *
As it turned out,it wasn't necessary for me to swing by my parents' house at all. David had a surprise waiting for me at the ice cream parlor. When he parked his car in front of it, the store was dark. I frowned. "Did your dad close up already?" I asked. It wasn't even six yet.
"I don't know," David said. "Maybe he wasn't feeling well."
"Maybe we shouldn't have stayed out so long." But David had insisted that we go for a walk in the park to enjoy some fresh air after the doctor's appointment. I'd thought that was weird because David had never been that big on walks before, but I'd been in a good enough mood to just go along with it anyway. Besides, it had been nice to walk hand in hand with David and watch some of Oceanport's many dogs tear across the open field in the park, even when the air was chilly.
"I'm sure everything's fine," David said, unbuckling his seat belt and getting out of the car. I followed.
David opened the door to the dark ice cream parlor. It wasn't even locked, which was really weird. Mr. Clark wasn't irresponsible enough to--
My thoughts cut off as lights flashed on in the store and confetti rained over me.
What the hell?
