Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
I rubbed my cheeks with my palms and shook my head. “I’m fine. I swear. I just had to … I didn’t want you to think I was like that. I mean, I had sex with you after seven days. That didn’t make me look good.” I forced a smile and moved off him and back over to my seat.
He let out a deep sigh, then started the truck. We rode in silence to the doctor’s office.
When he parked the truck, he looked at me. “You good?” he asked.
I nodded.
“I’ll help you down,” he said before climbing out of the truck and coming over to open my door.
He reached up and took my waist the way he used to do, then set me down. He didn’t hold me against him like he used to, but then I hadn’t expected that. Instead, he let me go, stepped back, and closed the door, then clicked the fob in his hand to lock the car.
We made our way to the white coastal building that reminded me of an expensive beach home. Inside, everything was white and sea blue. The lady behind the desk looked to be in her late forties, but she still gave Saxon a long, appreciative once-over. It was annoying, but I couldn’t blame her. He was in jeans and a fitted black sweater. The man was sexy.
“Haisley Slate?” the lady asked as we approached.
“Yes,” I replied.
She smiled and handed me a clipboard with a pen. “We have most of your personal information, but we need your medical history filled out.”
I took it and went to sit in one of the comfortable, plush chairs in the small waiting room.
Saxon took the seat across from me, and I focused on answering the questions to the best of my knowledge. When I was done, I started to stand up, but Saxon reached out and took it, then walked it back to the lady.
“You both can come on back,” she told him.
I stood up, and we went through the door. A younger woman met us. She was petite with short, curly brown hair and wearing scrubs.
“Let’s go ahead and weigh you,” she said. “Then, we’ll get a urine sample before heading back to the room.”
I went to the scale and stepped on. I watched as it settled on one hundred eighteen pounds. That wasn’t bad. I had worried I was under one fifteen. I was quickly gaining back the weight I’d lost with the food Saxon provided. The milk was probably helping too.
She then checked my height. “Five-five and a half,” she announced then pointed to the restroom door. “When you’re done, go right down this hallway to room two,” she told me, then looked at Saxon. “You can go on in and wait for her there.”
He glanced at me before following the girl to the room. I handled the urine sample business, then hurried to room two. Saxon was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, looking at the stages of a baby’s growth in the womb that hung on the wall.
When he turned to look at me, he nodded his head to one of the pictures. “Our kid currently looks like an alien,” he said.
I went over to look at the pictures, and it surprised me how much it looked like a baby already. I had expected it to still look like a pea.
“It has toes,” I pointed out.
The door opened then, and a short woman with wiry red hair and glasses entered. She smiled at me. “Hello, Haisley. I’m Dr. James, but you can call me Bess. I’m not big on formalities. Now, you are ten weeks today, according to your last period. Is that correct?” she asked, looking at me from the chart in her hands.
“Yes,” I replied.
“We are technically supposed to hear the baby’s heartbeat with a Doppler. You just hit ten weeks so it could be difficult to find but we could try it, or we could take you to the room across the hall and listen to it via a vaginal ultrasound.”
A vaginal ultrasound sounded terrifying. I had no idea what that was, but it didn’t sound good.
I looked at Saxon nervously. “Uh, maybe we could try the Doppler first?” I asked.
She smiled and nodded. “Of course. Hop up, and we will give it a try.”
I climbed onto the table, and she had me lie back, then pulled up my shirt to expose my still-flat stomach. I realized I was nervous. What if she couldn’t find a heartbeat? I turned to look up at Saxon as she put something warm on my stomach. His eyes met mine, and I wondered if he was nervous, or maybe he would be relieved if there was no heartbeat. I didn’t want to think about that.
“This might take a few minutes,” the doctor said as she moved the Doppler around my stomach. The warm stuff she’d put on me before made it slide around easily. “Oh!” she said, smiling so brightly that I felt my heart slam into my chest.