17. Elio
Kayla was doing better with rest, but it became apparent that any time she did any sort of activity, even just going up and down some stairs, it hit her like a ton of bricks. So there was no way that Elio was putting her on a boat across choppy waters and then in a car through the steep hills of the coastal town to go to the hospital for a checkup. This was one of the problems in life that money could solve.
“I’ll sort it out,” he said, insisting that she wouldn’t be setting foot on the mainland unless it was the worst-case scenario. It was so obvious that she wasn’t up for any travel that Kayla had even admitted defeat… grudgingly.
“Are you sure?” she asked, still so hesitant to ask for help, unintentionally proving to him how much she wasn’t here for his money.
“Kayla,” he said firmly, trying to get through to her. “Let me help.”
She was a stubborn woman, but Elio still had her beat in that department, and Dr. Albero was soon on his way for a checkup.
Spending more time with Kayla had meant that for the first time in months, maybe even the first time in years, Elio had spent full days away from his desk. He was amazed at how much more refreshed he felt and keeping her company had obviously done Kayla the world of good as well. She was far too extroverted to be locked up alone in a room all day.
She got out of the house when she could, but Elio insisted on being with her lest she faint again, just like now as they waited by the dock for Dr. Albero to arrive. Elio, against his better judgment, was hovering over Kayla like a mother hen.
“Are you making sure that I don’t tumble into the water?” she asked dryly.
“What would you say if I was?”
“I’ll make sure to keep back from the shoreline, if it makes you feel better,” she said with a smile.
“I’d appreciate it.”
It surprised Elio how true that was. He’d started worrying about little things; was she eating enough? Was it too hot during the day? Too cold at night? What if she fell and no one heard her call for help? What if, what if, what if… Kayla had him feeling things so deeply that even his worry about her felt like a sword to the gut at times.
Their usual bantering was interrupted by a speck racing across the water.
“Is he… on a jet ski?” Kayla asked, looking like she was about to rub her eyes to see if the spectacle of Dr. Albero riding towards them was actually happening.
“Oh,” said Elio with a grin as the doctor’s fluorescent green Hawaiian shirt came closer into view with every second. “You didn’t see him arrive last time, did you?”
“This is a regular thing?”
“Well, regular for Dr. Albero.”
Kayla nodded in something like approval. “I’m pretty sure he’s the coolest doctor on the planet.”
“I think so too,” Elio said fondly as Dr. Albero slowed to a stop, swept his sunglasses on top of his head and dismounted the jet ski, tying it up by the dock so he could retrieve his trailer.
“Let me help you inside,” Elio said, holding out an arm for her to steady herself on. She peered at him with a small grin and a raised eyebrow.
“Would it make you feel better?” she asked.
“Just take my arm,” Elio said with a sigh, but she did, looping her elbow through his. Elio refrained from pointing out smugly that by the time they made it back to the guest suite, she was leaning on him for support.
The scan setup was makeshift but functional, as Kayla was directed to lay on her bed in the guest suite and pull her shirt up so her round stomach was exposed. Seeing how flushed Kayla’s face was just from the short walk outside, Elio was glad he’d gone the extra mile and asked Dr. Albero to transport the equipment here.
“This can all stay here with you,” the doctor announced as he set up the ultrasound device and screen at Kayla’s bedside. “No use lugging it back and forth across the water. Better to have it at hand.”
Kayla peered curiously at all the machinery being assembled while Elio had started pacing back and forth at the end of the bed. When he started running his hands through his hair, he knew he was more than just the normal level of stressed.
“Hey,” Kayla said, stopping him mid-stride. “Why don’t you come and sit beside me. You know, so I don’t fall off the bed or something.”
“I don’t actually think you’d fall off the bed.”
“I don’t know, I’m pretty round these days. I might roll straight off if I’m not careful.”
Elio scowled at her, his arms folded tight over his chest. Kayla just smiled as bright as the sun, as if teasing him was incredibly amusing to her. The more he got to know Kayla, the more he realized that she was one of the most stubborn people on earth. So unless he broke the silence, they were going to be stuck in this weird stalemate, stare down. So repressing a sigh, he changed direction and walked over to beside the bed.
“By the way, this is just so I can see the screen better,” he said, perching on the bedside table as Kayla failed to smother her smirk.
“Sure it is.”
Dr. Albero, apparently completely oblivious to anything else going on around him, chose that moment to squirt gel onto Kayla’s bare stomach with an unholy squelching sound and a satisfied nod as he prepared the screen.
Elio wasn’t going to laugh. It wasn’t even that funny, so he wasn’t going to laugh. It was a mistake, then, to glance at Kayla, whose lips were pressed together in a thin line, her eyes staring straight ahead in fierce concentration. Then she glanced up at him, and they both nearly lost it then and there.
“Shut up,” Kayla said, entirely breathless and shielding the side of her face so she couldn’t look at him.
“I’m trying,” Elio said, his voice just as weak as hers. “You’re not helping.”
Kayla slapped his knee and that was nearly Elio’s undoing. But Dr. Albero, as if making up for kicking off this whole thing, turned around and clapped his hands together as if calling for the attention of a class.
“Right!” he said enthusiastically, apparently either not noticing or not caring why Kayla was still shielding her eyes. He placed the sensor onto Kayla’s stomach, gliding around in the gel and nearly setting both of them off again, still entirely oblivious to the chaos he was causing.
“Let’s have a proper look at your baby, shall we? Give me one moment to zero in on it — they like to move about sometimes.”
A glare on the screen from the open window made it impossible to actually see what was going on, so Elio knelt by the side of the bed for a better view.
“I thought you were sitting there to see the screen better,” Kayla said with more than a hint of smugness.
“You worked for lawyers way too long, you know that?”
Kayla shrugged with a small smile. “No, I’m just my mother’s daughter.”
“She sounds terrifying, then.”
“In her own way.”
Despite Kayla’s cavalier attitude and barrage of teasing, Elio’s eyes drifted to her fingers, which were picking at the bed covers beneath her, nails pulling at the blanket in a nervous tic. Without thinking, he took her hand in his, stilling her fingers. Kayla snapped her head around to look at him. Any trace of humor was gone, replaced by surprise, and beneath that, Elio could see the anxiety that had been bubbling away this whole time. He said nothing, just kept holding her hand, letting his thumb rub gently back and forth across her knuckles.
“There we are,” announced Dr. Albero. “May I introduce you to your baby?”
Elio dragged his eyes away from Kayla and looked at the screen where, sure enough, the outline of a tiny infant made up of shifting black and gray lines was visible. He hadn’t thought he’d be able to make it out so clearly, but there it was, as plain as day. You could even see it moving, the outline of a small fist shifting around.
“Are you all right?” Kayla asked, and Elio looked up at her, blinking.
“Why are you asking if I’m all right?”
“Because you’re squeezing my hand really quite hard.”
He looked down and saw that he really was, his own knuckles white against Kayla’s. He loosened his fingers and pulled his hand away as if burned, embarrassed. But Kayla reached out, taking his hand in her own and giving it a light squeeze.
Even if Elio had wanted to talk after that, he didn’t think it was actually possible, not with the lump that was rapidly growing in his throat.
“Everything looks good,” Dr. Albero said, peering at the screen with a practiced eye. “Your preeclampsia is stable for the minute, and baby looks just fine.”
He looked away from the screen, and Elio just hoped that he looked a lot more collected than he felt.
“Do you know the gender already?” Dr. Albero asked Kayla. She shook her head.
“Why not?” Elio blurted out.
Kayla raised her eyebrows at him, that infuriating and adorable smile still hovering around her lips.
“I don’t mind either way,” she explained, giving his hand another quick squeeze as if he were the one that needed support. “I was happy for it to be a surprise. But if you want to know the gender…”
She left the question hanging, with Dr. Albero waiting for an answer from him as well. Elio shrugged, trying his best to come off like he wasn’t that bothered either way. He had been shocked by the ferocity of needing to know, not because of any actual preference, just because… well, he didn’t really know why. He couldn’t explain it, where this wave of intense feeling for the image on the screen had come from, so he certainly couldn’t explain it to them.
“I’d like to know, yes,” Elio said in his most neutral voice. Kayla nodded at Dr. Albero, who double-checked the screen, deciphering things only he could understand.
“It’s a girl,” he announced with a pleased smile. “A daughter.”
Well. A daughter. A little girl. Knowing that shouldn’t make a difference to how he was feeling compared to twenty seconds ago, but… well, this was a whole new level of feeling that Elio knew he’d never experienced before.
His eyes definitely weren’t blurry. Definitely not. And he was clearing his throat because he was thirsty, not for any other reason. Kayla seemed perfectly composed and so he would be too. But when she squeezed his hand, he squeezed back. Every time.