Page 24 of King of the Dawn

“See?” Rose grunted. She gripped the back of the couch and sat up. “I’m fine. Stop worrying.”

“You fainted,” Alastair growled, his teeth grinding.

“Passing out isn’t fine, Rose,” Jericho countered at the same time.

“I merely got dizzy. It was probably dehydration.” Rose shot both men cruel looks. Daggers that should be taken as a threat and not a warning. If they didn’t stop overprotecting her, she was going to murder them both. The air was tight with tension, and I knew I needed to break it.

“Are we getting pictures of the babes?” I asked the doctor.

I had seen those images before, even though I had no little ones of my own. They always fascinated me! How lovely to see the face of your child before they enter into the world. It was true beauty.

Four heads swiveled toward me, all of them wearing some state of mixed emotions.

“For a 4D ultrasound, I’ll need to get her into my clinic. I think you have a 20-week appointment, yes?” The doctor said, flipping out his phone and looking at his calendar app.

Alastair didn’t hesitate to answer. “Yes, we were going to find out the sex of the baby, and…”

The doctor waved off the concerned Dad and nodded. “We’ll get the ultrasound pictures then. You’ll see your kids face’s soon enough. The pregnancy will just fly by!”

The doctor stood tall and looked at Rose. I wasn’t a fan of his bedside manner. He was too clinical for me.

“I’ll need to do some more tests, but from what I can see, you have preeclampsia.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Alastair said.

“The fuck is that?” Jericho bellowed. “How is that anywhere in the realm of doing well?”

The doctor raised his hands, palm out, trying to calm everyone down. “Preeclampsia is serious, but not that unusual. We will need to monitor her blood pressure, check the protein in her urine to ensure that her liver is working as it should. Call me immediately if there are any issues with elevated blood pressure, vision changes, or dizziness…”

“That’s a lot of fucking symptoms,” Alastair’s despair was a little premature, in my opinion. But it was quite loving. “How do we cure it?”

“Bed rest,” the doctor finally said when the grumbling subsided. “The only cure for preeclampsia is… giving birth. In the meantime, those kids need to cook, therefore, we’re looking at bed rest from now until the finish line.”

Alastair looked at Rose, and she stared back, shaking her head. “Fuck no!”

“You heard the man,” Alastair admonished.

“I should be able to do the same things while pregnant that I was doing before!” She protested, her hands lifting in exasperation, slamming down at her sides.

“That was before you fainted,” Jericho sided with Alastair.

I tilted my head, glancing at Rose, who was still seated on the couch. “Is it true they can take a picture of your belly?”

Jericho tensed beside me, and I knew the guilt of my past caused him to stiffen. I had no idea how a normal appointment would go for a pregnant woman. I knew of the sonograms because of Kira and Haley. But aside from that, I didn’t know what else happened. Right now, I was playing into the naive side everyone saw me for. And it was working like a charm.

I turned, giving my best puppy dog eyes to the doctor. “Oh, please? Can’t you do a new one now?”

“He doesn’t have the ultrasound machine, Aoibheann,” Alastair said.

“Maybe next time you should come to the appointment,” Rose nodded. “It would be cool to see how much they’ve grown already. And you can help me keep this one from freaking out.” She flicked a thumb at her husband.

I clapped my hands in genuine excitement. “Oh, please? I would love to be there!”

“We need to get some blood drawn,” the doctor interjected.

I sat beside Rose on the couch and rested a hand on her growing belly. She was showing finally, and my heart skipped a beat when I felt a flutter against her stomach.

“Jericho,” I gasped. “They’re moving.”

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