Chapter 16 Asher #2
I spot the small wheely stool and slide it to be closer to Gracie who is already lifting her shirt up to reveal her tiny bump. I can’t help noticing her bra choice today, and she most definitely gets points for her choice of blue lace.
“You made it,” she whispers and scoots a little to find a better position.
“Okay, we’re going to get started,” the doctor announces. “I was just saying to Gracie that if someone plays nice in the belly, then we might be able to discover if the baby is a boy or girl, unless you don’t want to know.”
“We want to know,” Gracie and I say in unison.
The doctor grins. “Clear. I’m going to do a few measurements on the screen first.”
She starts pressing buttons on her screen in unison with moving the wand on the now-visible slope of Gracie’s belly. I just focus on Gracie who stares at me in marvel. Maybe it’s because I made it or that she knows what is about to happen. Either way, I can’t help but smile.
The sound of the baby’s heartbeat floods the room, and I can’t help but be affected.
It’s fast, strong, and I helped create it.
This isn’t the same as listening on my phone from the last video.
Now, I’m here in real time, and the baby looks bigger, a clear outline of head and legs, with beating heart in the middle.
“Wow, this is…” A long breath leaves me as I try to figure out what this feeling and emotion is.
Gracie tugs on my hand. “Crazy.” She admires the screen, too.
“Nausea subsiding?” the doctor asks.
“Yes,” Gracie answers.
“Sleep?”
“Still a little more than normal.”
“Taking your vitamins?”
“Another yes.”
The doctor looks up from the wand on Gracie’s stomach to check her screen. “Everything is looking healthy on this end. Growing well and nothing unusual.”
Gracie and I couldn’t erase the smiles on our faces if we tried.
“And I most definitely can tell you that someone is cooperating with us today.” The doctor seems just as excited as us.
I swoop Gracie’s hand into mine and kiss the back of it, keeping our fingers interlaced. “Not going to lie, I’m finding this all surreal,” I admit, with the swimming of exhilaration inside me.
“I just can’t believe that this baby is inside my body.”
“Ready?” the doctor checks.
For a moment, the whole room seems to hold their breath in anticipation.
She points with her finger to the area on the screen that I quickly attempt to study. “Congratulations on your little girl.”
Suddenly, everything feels real.
Gracie covers her mouth as she smiles, and a joyful tear drizzles down her cheek.
“A girl,” I whisper and kiss her forehead. “A daughter.”
Holy fuck, I’m outnumbered. I already feel wrapped around my daughter’s little finger, and she isn’t even out of the womb.
Gracie begins to rumble a chuckle as she rests her head back. “This also means that we are saved.”
We both would have been happy with whatever, but there is one thing that we don’t need to worry about. Gracie turns her head while she rests against the exam bed and our eyes meet. We are on the same wavelength.
“Oh, thank goodness. No more circumcision talk from your family and your great-grandmother haunting us.”
We both burst out laughing, and I lean down to give her a peck on her lips before trailing my mouth near her ear to whisper so only she can hear.
“Nice choice of lace today, by the way.” I noticed her panty choice as soon as I came in, with her pants waistband pulled lower.
Pulling away, she must notice the hunger that seeped through every word of that sentence.
“Always.”
“Alright, let’s go over a few more things, then you can get out of here. I think the snow will only get worse,” the doctor notes.
“Don’t worry. I won’t be letting Gracie drive, so we will have to pick up her car tomorrow,” I assure the room.
Gracie rolls her eyes because she knows that I’m in protective mode.
“Good plan.” The doctor ties the appointment up in the next few minutes. “Just make another appointment and then we are good to go.”
“Yep.” Gracie slides on her coat.
Following Gracie to reception, I can’t seem to let my hand fall from the small of her back. She begins to talk to the lady behind the desk, and I look around the now-vacant waiting room and notice the heavy snow outside.
Gracie grabs my attention with her hand touching my shoulder. “Maybe you can come then? It’s the season bye week. Is there a day that could work?”
“I’ll still have a lot of strategy meeting with the coaching staff. But let’s do a Tuesday that week and then I’ll check.”
The receptionist types into the computer then smiles at us. “A Valentine’s Day appointment. Love those.”
My head perks up from her reminder.
Valentine’s Day.
I hate it.
Chocolates, hearts, teddy bears, and roses that will die within a week.
Yet, my mind is already formulating ideas to make the woman next to me happy.
Maybe chocolate hearts aren’t so bad. They can have caramel in them, right? Or even better, I can just lay them in a row on her body to eat my way up to her tits that are growing.
Suddenly, I’m freaking excited for Valentine’s Day.