Page 14 of The Secrets that Surround Us

“I have to get naked,” she whisper yells as she narrows her eyes at me.

A smirk crosses my mouth when I realize she’s being shy. After everything we’ve been through the last day or so, this is what she is worried about? “Love, I’ve had my mouth on every inch of your body. I think I can watch you take your pants off.”

She scoffs. “That was different. Alex, please.”

“See, you’re already off to a good start, begging me like the good girl you are.”

Shooting daggers at me, she smacks my chest with the folded paper sheet the nurse gave her. “Stop being cute. And turn around until I tell you, you can turn back around.”

Knowing that the doctor will be in soon, and also not wanting to make things worse for her, I nod and turn around to face the wall. When I hear a commotion behind me, I try to concentrate on the wall in front me of me and not the fact that I would love to see all of her again. After what feels like forever, I’ve never been more thankful when I hear, “Okay, you can turn around.”

When I do, Fiona is sitting on the table wringing her hands together. She’s nervous. Knowing how that feels, I move toward her and place my hand on her thigh, trying to reassure her. “It’s okay, Fiona. I’m nervous, too.”

“You are?”

“Yeah, I’ve been silently freaking out since you told me. But right now, we just need to focus on the baby. We can figure out everything else after this. Okay?”

She nods her head when a knock sounds on the door. It opens and an older gentleman walks into the room with a clipboard and a doctor’s coat on. “Hi, Fiona. I’m Dr. Matthews.

“What can I do for you today?”

“I just found out I am pregnant, and the doctor at the hospital referred me to you.”

“Okay. Do you know how far along you are?”

“No, I didn’t think to ask. But I’ve been sick for about a week now.”

“Let me ask you this: how late is your period?”

Fiona thinks about it for a minute. “It’s about a month late.”

“I’m going to guess you’re about six weeks pregnant, then. But let’s look and listen to the heartbeat and see what we can find out.”

Neither of us responds to the doctor. We just nod as he pulls out this weird-looking dildo wand that he puts a condom on. Staring at it, I can’t help but wonder what the hell that used is for.

Fiona must be thinking the same thing because she blurts out looking nervous, “What is that for?”

“Since you’re not very far along, we need to do an internal ultrasound to see the baby.”

“Is it going to hurt?” she whispers.

“No, it won’t hurt. It’ll be a little uncomfortable, but you’ll forget all about that once we see your baby. Now lean back.”

Fiona complies and lies back on the table. She places her feet into the stirrups to reveal herself to the doctor. A wave of jealousy hits me right in the chest. Why the hell does he get to see her, but she won’t even let me? I’m the fucking father. Taking deep breaths, I try to push back the thoughts of hitting the doctor in the face.

A whooshing noise interrupts my thoughts, and I look up at the screen. When the doctor announces, “See that?” he points to a blinking spot on the screen. “That’s your baby’s heartbeat.”

Fiona looks over at me with glossy eyes that are filled with unshed tears. “Alex, that’s our baby.”

Wrapping my arms around her shoulders, I pull her into my side, kissing the top of her head.

“Yeah, that’s our baby.”

After a few seconds, Dr. Matthews hands us a picture of the tiny baby we saw on the screen. Then finishes telling us what we should expect next, and that the baby is growing well. “Dr. Matthews, I’ve been having a hard time keeping anything down. That’s actually why I ended up in the hospital, because I was so dehydrated from vomiting so much.”

Pulling out his clipboard, he writes something on a pad and tears the piece of paper off. “Here is a prescription for Zofran. Only use it as necessary. Ginger candies will help a lot, too.”

Nodding, I take the paper from the doctor. “Thank you, Dr. Matthews. We’ll get this on our way home.”

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