Chapter 17 #2
The sonographer introduced herself as Cara and listened while Abby explained that the baby’s father was delayed. “We have another scan after yours, so I can give him ten minutes. If we start later than that, we may not have time to get all the measurements.”
“Then we’ll start in ten minutes.” Abby looked at Evan. “You can wait outside the room.”
“Of course.” He sat in a chair at the end of the hall and opened his laptop again. “Tell me if you need anything.”
Hudson did not answer Abby’s next message. At ten twenty-five, Cara opened the examination-room door and told Abby they needed to begin.
Abby lay on the narrow table while Cara dimmed the lights. The second chair remained empty beside the monitor, and every small sound in the corridor made Abby expect the door to open.
“The baby is positioned low today,” Cara said as the image appeared on the screen. “That may make a few measurements difficult, but we’ll see whether we can encourage some movement.”
Abby watched the outline of a spine emerge from shifting gray shadows. The familiar rush of relief arrived when Cara found the heartbeat, followed by a loneliness Abby had not anticipated.
Hudson had insisted on being invited. He had warned her in three separate emails that excluding him would damage their ability to co-parent, then treated the appointment as something the clinic could postpone until he decided to arrive.
“Would you like your friend to come in?” Cara asked as she adjusted the wand. “You don’t have to complete the scan alone because the baby’s father is late.”
Abby hesitated. Inviting Evan into the room would give Hudson another accusation to use, but leaving the chair empty to protect herself from that accusation allowed him to control the appointment through his absence.
“Yes,” she said. “Please ask him.”
Evan entered a minute later and stopped beside the door. “Are you sure?”
“I asked her to get you.” Abby nodded toward the empty chair. “Sit down.”
He placed his laptop bag beneath the chair and sat with his hands loosely clasped between his knees. His attention went to Abby’s face before moving to the monitor.
“That’s the spine,” Abby said as Cara froze the image. “She’s measuring each section.”
Evan leaned forward slightly. “I can see it.”
Cara moved through the examination with practiced concentration, identifying the baby’s heart, kidneys, stomach, arms, and legs. Evan asked no questions until she invited them, and Abby did not have to monitor his reactions or reassure him when a measurement took longer than the others.
“Everything we can see looks normal,” Cara said after recording the heart rate. “The baby is measuring within two days of the due date.”
Abby released the breath she had been holding. “Can you tell whether it’s a boy or a girl?”
“I think so, if this little one cooperates.” Cara shifted the wand and waited for the image to clear. “There we are. You’re having a girl.”
The words settled over Abby before she understood why tears had filled her eyes. A daughter had existed as one possibility among many; now she was a person Abby could imagine with startling clarity and no details at all.
“A girl,” Abby repeated as she looked at the moving image. “Are you certain?”
“I can never promise one hundred percent from an ultrasound, but I’m confident.” Cara captured another image. “She’s making it easier for us now.”
Abby turned her head toward Evan. He remained seated with his hands clasped, but his eyes shone in the light from the monitor.
“Did you hear?” she asked, though she knew he had. “It’s a girl.”
“I heard.” Evan looked from the screen to Abby. “Congratulations.” His voice was thick with emotion.
Abby returned her attention to the screen while Cara completed the final measurements.
The door opened as Abby was wiping the gel from her stomach. Hudson entered without knocking, breathing hard and holding his car keys in one hand.
“I told you to wait.” His gaze moved from Abby to Evan, then fixed on the monitor. “What is he doing in here?”
Cara straightened beside the machine. “The scan is complete, and Ms. Kendrik invited her support person into the room.”
“I am the father.” Hudson stepped farther inside and pointed toward Evan. “He has no right to attend a medical appointment involving my child.”
Evan stood but did not move toward him. “Abby asked me to be here.”
“I didn’t ask you.” Hudson’s face darkened. “You have inserted yourself into this family since the night you attacked me.”
“Hudson, stop.” Abby lowered her shirt and sat upright. “You were given the correct time, and the clinic waited as long as it could.”
“I was stuck in traffic.” Hudson turned toward her. “You knew I was coming, but you replaced me the moment you had the opportunity.”
Cara stepped toward the door. “This conversation needs to continue outside. I have another patient waiting for the room.”
Abby slid from the table and accepted the envelope of ultrasound photographs. “Is there anything else I need to know?”
“Your doctor will receive the report, but everything looked appropriate today.” Cara held the door open. “You can schedule any follow-up at the front desk.”
Hudson waited until they entered the hallway. “Did you find out the sex?”
Abby looked at him. “She’s a girl.”
His anger disappeared beneath an expression of wonder so quickly that Abby might once have believed the emotion erased everything preceding it. Hudson reached for the envelope in her hand.
“Let me see.” He held out his palm and smiled. “We’re having a daughter.”
Abby removed one photograph and gave it to him. “This is your copy.”
Hudson studied the image, then looked at Evan. “You saw her before I did.”
“I saw an ultrasound because Abby asked me to sit with her.” Evan lifted his laptop bag onto his shoulder. “Let’s go.”
“You don’t get to walk away after taking my place.” Hudson stepped into his path. “You’ve been waiting for a chance to play father since you learned Abby was pregnant.”
Evan stopped. Anger entered his face without raising his voice. “Abby had an appointment at ten. I didn’t prevent you from being here.”
“You were probably hoping I’d be late.” Hudson looked toward Abby. “Did the two of you arrange this?”
“Move away from him,” Abby said as she placed the remaining photographs inside her purse. “You are causing a scene in a medical office.”
Hudson glanced toward the receptionist and the patients watching from the waiting room. He stepped aside, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt as if the confrontation had been imposed on him.