Page 91 of Undeniably Convenient

We get each other.

We see each other for exactly who we are and love each other regardless. I don’t need anyone else and neither does he. That’s what we were missing with our exes. With everyone who came before. When I think about Bennett, I smile and my chest flutters. I realize it’s new. We’re only a few months in, but I don’t care, and I know he doesn’t either.

When something is right, it’s right, and time only stands as a means to keep you apart.

Angel dims the lights and lowers my leggings to expose my lower abdomen. “Ready?”

Both Bennett and I gulp and nod. Sometimes being a doctor sucks.

After a squirt of warm lubricant, she places the wand straight into it and moves it around to get it into position. A swish and a crackle fill the room, and then the monitor lights up.

“Okay, let’s see what we’ve got.” Angel moves the probe with one hand and types some things onto the keyboard as she goes. She shifts it this way and that, the image nothing more than a staticky mass of tissue until she narrows it straight on my uterus and the teeny tiny blob in there. There’s not much discernible except for a larger, rounded end, which is the baby’s head, an oval shape, and possibly what looks like little arms.

Tears prick my eyes, and Bennett moves closer, holding me tighter.

A few more clicks of the keyboard and a small adjustment of the wand, and, “There’s your baby’s heartbeat.”

It’s nothing more than a rapid flicker inside its chest, but fuck, there’s my baby’s heartbeat. And it looks good. So good. At least from what I can tell.

“Bennett,” I rasp, my voice hoarse as those tears start to cascade down my cheeks like Niagara.

“I know.” His voice is as thick with emotion as mine.

She continues to check things—the thickness of my cervix and uterus and other details I don’t care as much about but are obviously important. We can see our baby. We can see it moving inside me. It’s the most miraculous, magical thing I’ve ever experienced.

It’s real now.

I never saw a positive pregnancy test. It was simply a notation in my chart. That’s not the same thing as seeing those two pink lines or the word pregnant on the stick.

This is the first real indication I have that this is happening. That there is no going back. Not with the baby or with Bennett. This is forever. This is life-changing. I’m going to be a mother, and Bennett is going to be a father.

My heart skips a beat and then breaks out into one of those ridiculous TikTok dances with all those convoluted moves.

“You’re seven weeks two days pregnant, and your due date is June seventeenth.”

Oh. I mean, I guess I knew that. I figured out the math of it before having it confirmed now. But that’s right when my fellowship would begin. I have no idea what I’ll do about that, but I suppose I have time to figure it out.

“Can I have pictures?” I ask the tech. I need to show Callan and Layla. I need to show Owen, Keegan, Kenna, Vander, and Mason. I need to show my people. All those years of never thinking I’d have this, and now here I am. I know the risks. I know we’re far from out of the woods. I know maintaining tight control of my blood sugars will be a daily challenge, and I also know that my work schedule isn’t the most conducive to either situation.

But I’ll do it. I know I will. I’ll do whatever it takes.

“Of course,” the tech chirps. “Here you go.” She hands me a strip of images and then some towels to get myself cleaned up and leaves. I wipe at my belly, pull up my leggings, and then swing my legs over the side of the table to face Bennett.

Before I know what’s happening, he kneels in front of me and takes my hands, setting both of ours on my lap. He looks me straight in the eyes and says, “I told my boss we’re a couple.”

I blink at him, not having expected that at all. For a moment, I thought… well, that’s a relief, right? Not quite ready for all that yet. I digress. “Um. Okay.”

“I did this weeks and weeks ago. Before we were even a couple.”

My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline. “And you didn’t tell me until now? Why’d you do it?”

“We had just learned you were pregnant, and I had plans to win you even if you did call me your friend.”

I roll my eyes, and he leans in and kisses the inside of my wrist.

“I’m no longer part of the decision-making for fellowship applicants, but I promised him no scandals, Katy. If you’re okay with it, I’d like to tell him we’re pregnant.”

Nervously, I lick my lips. “I wanted to wait until after my interview. Hell, I wanted to wait until after they made a decision.”

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