Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 51122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
I didn’t realize that I was full on sobbing until Banner moved out of the way of a couple exiting the doctor’s office and pressed me against the building.
“I really shouldn’t be showing any public displays of affection,” he pointed out.
“If you let me go, I’m going to divorce you,” I countered.
Fuck regulations.
My man was home.
Shhh,” he whispered. “It’s okay.”
Was it?
I wasn’t so sure.
I squeezed my arms around him tighter and continued to sob.
“Shhh, shh,” he continued. “Baby, you’re killing me.”
Was I?
I was finally living for the first time in what felt like a lifetime.
Breathing in Banner’s scent, sweet and salty and spicy.
God, I could stay here for the rest of my life and be content.
“You’re not stopping,” he teased.
I pulled back and looked into his eyes.
Or tried to.
He was wearing stupid sunglasses.
I pulled them off, getting my fingerprints on the lenses as I did, and said, “What the absolute hell, Banner?”
He grinned.
“Let’s go look at our baby.”
And that was exactly what we did.
With me full on sobbing.
Funny enough, nobody noticed, or if they did, didn’t care.
Obviously, it wasn’t unusual for sobbing women to cry their way through the waiting room.
When it came to waiting, I sat in Banner’s lap and cried against his neck.
And he let me.
By the time we were called back, I was no longer crying.
“All righty,” the young woman who would be doing the sonogram said. “We’re looking for size today. I know you’re getting close. With you as far along as you are, don’t expect any miracles today, okay?”
I didn’t.
Well, not when it came to seeing anything good. I felt like the baby was squished in there like a sardine, so it wouldn’t surprise me if you couldn’t see much at all.
“And the baby made a liar out of me already,” the woman said as our baby’s face was displayed on the screen as soon as she stuck the wand to my belly.
“Oh,” I grinned. “He’s so fat. And looks exactly like you.”
“Thought you said it was a she?” Banner teased, squeezing the fingers of my hand that he’d yet to let go of.
“Whatever,” I grumbled.
“Do y’all not know?” she asked the two of us.
I shook my head. “At first, when we wanted to know, we never got a clear shot. Now, it’s just something we don’t know. As if maybe we’re not trying as hard to know.” I scrunched up my nose. “If that makes sense at all.”
“Ahh,” she said. “Then I won’t tell you. Unless you want to know. And he or she gives me a good view.”
Which he or she didn’t.
In the end, all we got were a really good headshot, a picture of his or her feet near the head, and a cute little butt shot.
I was smiling at the photos, and snapping pictures to send to Banner’s mom, as we walked out the door.
Banner had moved his possessive hold from my hand to my hip as we walked outside.
“Damn,” he said as squeezed my hip. “I’m fucking scared now.”
I snorted. “Why?”
“Because it’s real. I guess…I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be as close. I mean, logically I knew it could be any day, but I was almost too late. That’s like a real-life baby in there!” he said in surprise.
I rolled my eyes and poked him. “Why didn’t you just meet me at home?”
His smile was sheepish.
“I thought I’d catch you at Walmart. Your mom was supposed to get you there, and then I’d meet you there. But then shit happened, and I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it…” He paused, letting me know that something big had happened on the way home. Something that’d caused him to slow down in his process of getting to me.
“You better not have stopped to change some woman’s tire like you did last time.” I poked him in the chest. Which wasn’t very impressive when I was all but snuggled into said chest. “This time, someone better have died.”
He chuckled. “Actually, worse. A couple of cows fell out on the freeway. I stopped to get them all tucked into a hastily erected cattle pen. Which is why I’m about to say what I’m about to say next.”
I waited, not sure I was going to like what he had to say next.
“We have to go see the boys tonight,” he said. “Because if we don’t, then they’ll know that I’m home. And you know that I like to surprise them.”
It’d become a game to him and his ‘boys.’ Him surprising them when he got home.
This was his fifth ‘deployment’ if you could call it that. More like very long mission that’d taken him away from us for months and months.
This time, he’d been away for seven long ones.
Anyway, he liked to surprise his friends, just like he liked to surprise me.
Meaning, he’d have to go see them play tonight to shock them.