Page 108 of Wild Pitch
“We’re having a girl.”
I don’t know where that conviction originated, but I felt it in my soul.
“Are you just saying that? Don’t all men want boys?”
She turned in my arms and studied me.
“I had given up on having children, which means I feel like this is a gift. Do you think your father is disappointed with all girls?”
She shook her head. “He jokes about it, but he never made us feel like we were not enough.”
“I think what I worry about the most is that while this baby is coming at a time whenIam emotionally and financially prepared for it, this isn’t the best timing for you. I feel selfish for being this excited.”
“It wasn’t instant, my acceptance. And the first several weeks were wrapped up in fear. Kelsey was my rock throughout it. It’s hard to imagine her life before Sam, but she did it alone. And I’m in a much better financial situation than she was. Kendra surprised me, too. We’ve come a long way with her; lately, she seems happier than ever.”
“Jack was pissed the night he consoled you. At me.”
Kylie sighed.
“I thought we were going to talk things out, and until I saw that my code no longer worked, it didn’t seem real.”
“I would have caved, Ky. And you have to believe me, if I thought there was another way, I wouldn’t have done it.”
“I don’t want to rehash this anymore.”
Kylie rolled on her back, and I rested my hand on her abdomen. While she had been frustrated with how her pants wouldn’t zip, her belly was a little more than a bump.
As we lay there, I felt what felt like a small gas bubble against my hand.
“Did you feel that?” she asked.
“Yes. Gas?”
“I don’t think so, Luc.”
“It’s not too soon?”
“Hand me my phone. I need to look it up.”
I passed Kylie her phone, and she texted her mother and Kelsey before jumping on Google.
“What does it say? Is it too early?”
Shit, my eyes were wet thinking that we were together for this first. It was as much of a sign as we could get.
“It’s possible. At sixteen weeks, it feels like…gas.”
She read her text messages. “Kelsey and my mom both said it was the baby!”
I kissed her and pulled her close. Our hands joined on her belly, urging the baby to make itself known again. We fell asleep like that, but neither felt any more movement.
Driving to the ultrasound appointment, I confirmed with her for the hundredth time whether she wanted to know at the appointment or to be surprised later for a gender reveal.
“I want to know. And I don’t want a spectacle for a gender reveal, I would rather it be between the two of us.”
Over the last several days, we had worked to break down some of the walls that Kylie had built. She belonged at my place, and I had been trying to make her understand that it was as much hers as it was mine.
I would be gone on a road trip starting tomorrow, and she still refused to stay at my house alone. I also understood that it wasn’t just about her not wanting to move in, but she didn’t want to be alone here.
