Ava Reynolds
“I told you, I’m fine,” I whined as I switched lanes and talked through my cars Bluetooth. “Zahra, you are about to pop. You need to be somewhere sitting down with your feet up, not coming with me to a prenatal appointment.”
On the other end, Zahra sucked her teeth. “You shouldn’t be going alone.”
“I’ve been going to prenatal appointments alone for months. I will be fine.”
“That is sad,” she shot back.
I rolled my eyes even though she couldn’t see me. “That’s what happens when you get knocked up by a man that doesn’t want kids.”
Zahra was quiet for half a second, then said, “He feels cornered, Ava.”
I blew out a breath. “I know he feels cornered. I know I kept it from him too long. But I didn’t make him have unprotected sex with me.”
“Honestly? That’s the part still blowing me. Reek is known to be very careful. If he had unprotected sex with you, maybe he has real feelings for you and don’t know what to do with them.”
I barked out a laugh. “Please.”
“I’m serious.”
“I’m serious too. Reek is a grown man. He needs to deal with his trauma and stop acting like a scared little kid every time something feels real.”
“I agree,” she said sadly as I pulled in the hospital parking lot.
“I’m here. I’ll see you at home when I’m done.”
“Okay.”
I hung up, parked, and grabbed my purse.
Once inside the hospital, I made my way through the lobby, up the elevator, and down the hall toward the women’s clinic.
When I stepped into the waiting room and looked over, Reek was sitting in one of the chairs like he was supposed to be there.
I stopped in my tracks so suddenly my shoes squeaked against the floor.
His hat rode low over his eyes as he sat back with his legs spread, looking too good to be public enemy number one.
I was so annoyed.
I ignored him and walked straight to the receptionist’s desk.
“Name?” the woman asked.
“Ava Reynolds.”
After a few clicks of her keyboard, she told me, “Okay, you can have a seat. They’ll call you shortly.”
I nodded, turned, and tried to act like I wasn’t dying to know what the hell he was doing there. But I could only do that for so long. So I sat down beside him, but not too close. “What are you doing here?”
He looked at me slowly, like I was the one asking stupid questions. “Do you really think I wouldn’t know everything going on with my kid? And have eyes on it?”
My head turned toward him fully then. “What?”
He didn’t answer right away. He just tipped his chin slightly toward the far side of the room.
I looked, and there, by the door, was the same security guard who had followed me around Thailand.
My eyes narrowed as I stared at the guard.
Reek had had something to do with that man guarding me.
For one stupid second, warmth swam through me.
That meant he cared enough to watch over me from the other side of the world.
It meant he had been thinking about me when I thought he was trying to avoid me.
It meant some part of him had never really let me go.
And that only made me more upset. Because if he cared enough to do that, then all the coldness, anger, nasty words, and emotional running was him being too immature to deal with his own damage instead of just facing his issues like a man.
Neither one of us said a word after that.
We just sat there stiff, while women around us rubbed their bellies and talked to the fathers of their babies like they actually liked each other.
Every few seconds, I could feel Reek beside me without looking at him.
His knee spread out a little too wide. His cologne settled around us.
I hated that a small, naive part of me still liked him being there anyway. But I kept my eyes on the floor, then on the receptionist, then on the framed posters about breastfeeding and prenatal vitamins. Anywhere but him.
Then the nurse finally came from the back and called my name. “AVA REYNOLDS?”
I shot to my feet and could see Reek standing slowly.
The nurse smiled the second she saw me. It was Miss Carla. She had worked with my OB for years and had seen me in that office many times for regular women’s visits.
“Ava, hey, girl,” she said warmly. Then she looked at Reek and her smile got bigger. “And look at this. Okay, then.”
I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me. Instead, I gave her a tight smile and followed her as she walked us back to the exam rooms, chatting while she checked my file on her tablet. “You should’ve told us you were expecting sooner, Mama. We would’ve been fussing over you properly.”
I laughed awkwardly. “I was traveling and was getting OB appointments in Thailand.”
She glanced back at me and then at Reek. “You excited about your first baby?”
This felt so awkward and uncomfortable. I wished that I could click my heels and be back in Thailand. The moment became even more awkward as the seconds passed without Reek saying a word.
“Yes,” I finally forced out. “I’m a little nervous, but I’m excited.”
Miss Carla smiled. “Aww, you all will be fine. First babies always make parents nervous.”
I cringed as the tension made me sick to my stomach.
She led us into the exam room and started doing her normal routine; weight, blood pressure, and asking me a few questions. Then she looked between me and Reek one more time, and I knew she felt the tension.
“Well,” she said, setting the blood pressure cuff aside, “I’m going to step out and let you get changed. Baby’s father can stay if you want him to.”
I didn’t answer.
Reek didn’t either.
Miss Carla, being smarter than both of us in that moment, pretended that silence was normal. “Doctor will be in shortly,” she said, then let herself out.
The second the door shut, the room went too quiet. I stood there for a second with my back to Reek, trying to act like I wasn’t about to crawl out of my skin. Then I started undressing.
By the time I stood there in my bra and panties, there was no hiding it anymore. My stomach wasn’t just a little secret bulge under oversized shirts now. It was a real baby bump.
I could feel him staring. I didn’t turn around, but I felt his eyes hitting the curve of my stomach and staying there.
I kept my expression as blank as I could while I pulled the gown on, but inside, I was burning with shame.
I knew that all he was thinking was that he was staring at a mistake, a trap, and evidence of everything he never wanted.
I tied the gown, climbed onto the table, and sat there with the paper crinkling under me while he took the chair by the wall.
We just sat there in silence that was as agonizing as listening to nails scrape across a chalkboard. Reek completely avoided me and put all of his attention on his phone. The only sound in the room were the reels he was watching on Instagram.
A few minutes later, the door opened and my doctor came in with her usual bright energy.
“Well, look at you,” Dr. Harrison said, smiling the second she saw me. “Ava Reynolds, you’re pregnant!”
I tried to sound happy. “Sure am.”
She glanced at Reek. “Hi. Dad?”
I purposely stayed silent to see if he would have the decency to answer or just be a rude asshole.
He cleared his throat and just nodded a greeting.
She washed her hands, asked me the usual questions, and started the exam.
This felt painfully intimate because this should’ve been a sweet moment between two people getting ready for a baby.
Instead, it was agonizing. Every question, every touch, and every second of Reek sitting there in silence made the room feel too uncomfortable, with Reek sitting there so close and still so far away.
Dr. Harrison pressed gently at my stomach and talked me through what she was doing. She told me my uterus was measuring where it should, made notes, then grabbed the Doppler.
“Let’s hear this baby,” she said.
The room filled with static first. Then that fast little heartbeat kicked through the speaker. In Thailand, that heartbeat sounded like a sweet melody. Now, it sounded like doom, because I knew Reek despised it.
Against my better judgment, I looked at him. Just for a second, something cracked through that hard expression of his. It wasn’t complete interest. But it was a brief flicker that made him look less angry and more… caring.
Then it was gone so fast I almost thought I imagined it.