Page 40 of Endurance
“I’ll get dressed.” I move to get out of the bed.
“I didn’t mean to rush you.”
“No, it’s fine. I need to work out anyway.” I stand and stretch, my morning wood still at an honourable salute. I tweak my brows right at Belle.
“Hurry the fuck up, Tan,” she grumbles and strides out the door.
I laugh. There’s my girl.
I’M NOT SURE WHATI expected Dr. Miller’s daughter to look like, but I’m certain I never would have envisioned the woman sitting on the exam table before me.
Reyna is a short, curvy, brunette vision with deep, soulful eyes that haunt you if you stare into them for too long. As if her face wasn’t striking enough, her artfully inked arms peek out from beneath the sleeves of her pale blue hospital gown. I’ve never seen body art so…suiting. Without knowing anything about her, I can tell that this ink is the story of her life, from the pocket watch to the sunflower bouquet and everything in between.
Her husband sitting beside her is a much more traditional sort of bloke. Liam is handsome but has a cleaner, more prep school sort of appearance with no alternative edge to him whatsoever. But the way his eyes stay trained on Reyna, even as I introduce myself, makes me weak in the knees. It’s a look of complete and utter devotion.
“So you’re eleven weeks, two days?” I ask, pulling out the transducer and covering it with a condom. Reyna nods, swallowing nervously as she watches my actions. I reach out and touch her arm. “Take some deep breaths and try to relax.”
“Easier said than done,” she mumbles, and Liam leans down and whispers something in her ear. Whatever it was seems to comfort her. He kisses her temple and she looks at me with a wobbly smile. “I’ll try.”
I return the smile as I squirt some gel on the tip of the probe. “Your last ultrasound was vaginal, correct?”
She nods and lies back, propping her feet in the stirrups and shimmying down to the end of the table. “I know exactly where you’ll be shoving that long thing.”
This makes Liam and me both chuckle.
“All right then,” I reply. “This gets us the best pictures this early in the pregnancy.” I position the probe between her legs. “All set?”
Reyna gives me a tight nod and I insert slowly. The screen is a mess of blotches until I twist and focus in on the three tiny figures. Reyna and Liam press their foreheads together, their eyes shut tightly, almost as if they are bracing themselves for bad news. I let them have their moment as I confirm what I hoped to see right away.
“Have you guys heard their heartbeats yet?” I bite my lip as Reyna looks at me with a shake of her head, tears slipping down her cheeks.
“They said it was too early before,” Liam adds. His eyes are wide and grave as they flick between me and the screen.
I quickly move my free hand from the keyboard to the audio monitor and twist the knob until a sound erupts in the room.
A sound similar to that of a galloping horse.
“Those are your babies.” I beam and then add, “Well, one of them right now, but I can see all their hearts drumming away.” I turn the screen so they can see it better and point to the tiny spots contracting and expanding at high speed. “Right there, there, and there. Three babies, three heartbeats.”
“All three are still there?” Reyna’s voice croaks.
My heart falls at the desperation in her tone, but I inhale deeply and give her all the confidence I can muster. “Yes, all three are there. I still have to take measurements, but at a glance, they all look to be about the same size, which is a good sign.”
Liam looks at me with concern. “Are the heartbeats supposed to be that fast?”
I nod. “Foetal heart rates usually peak around ten weeks and then slow as you go into the second trimester.”
“They’re all still there.” Reyna’s voice is breathy as her chin begins to wobble. She looks up at Liam and tears fall down her face one after another. Her belly shakes with a small cry. “I know we still have so far to go, but they’re all still there. I can hardly believe it.”
Liam kisses her hard on the lips, cupping her face reverently and stroking his thumbs down the lines of her tears. He sniffs through his own tears and murmurs, “I believe it.”
I feel inappropriate as I watch them, but I can’t look away. She smiles in a way that only a woman accepting the role of a mother could. It’s inspiring. My eyes begin to sting and I’m a bit mortified when Reyna turns to look at me.
“Would you mind doing me a favour?” Reyna’s voice sounds urgent. “Can you page my mother to come in here?”
I smile around my emotions. “I’d love to.”
As I leave the hospital, I’m on a high I haven’t been on in months. The images I captured for Dr. Miller’s daughter and son-in-law were some of the best 4D images I’ve ever seen, let alone produced myself. The pride that Dr. Miller had in her eyes when she thanked me and the look on Reyna and Liam’s faces…It just gave melife!
