He smiled. “Sure.”

The door opened, and Dr. Levy entered. She was my favorite doctor so far. She was in her mid-forties and always smelled like fabric softener. She also had a tattoo of a moon on her wrist, which gave the impression that she was down to earth.

“Rayne, how are you feeling?”

“I’m good. A little nervous.”

“Oh, there’s no need to be nervous. Today’s easy. You must be Dad.”

“Hale. Nice to meet you.” He shook the doctor’s hand.

“Make yourself comfortable, Rayne.”

I leaned back and blew out a breath. Hale took my hand and sat on the other side of the exam table, facing the machine so he could also see the screen.

“We’ll start with a little warm gel on yourstomach. Can you lift your dress and lower your undergarments so nothing’s covering the belly?”

I did as she instructed. Dr. Levy tucked some paper towels into the folded waistline of my undies and drizzled gel on my stomach.

Warmed my ass. That shit was ice-cold.

“Doing okay?”

“Mm-hm.” I disguised my ongoing nervousness and nodded as she pressed the little scantron joystick thing over the blob of gel, smearing it around my slightly swollen stomach. My full bladder immediately registered the pressure, and I had to pee.

There was a soft swishing sound and then the steady beat of something more defined. “There’s your baby’s heartbeat.”

I breathed in, my eyes focused on the black and grey screen as the sound intensified. Hale’s hand squeezed tighter. “Look at that.”

Panicked, I watched them both stare and smile. “Where?”

“Right here.” The doctor clicked the mouse, and a small cross-hair cursor measured the screen. “Here’s the baby’s head. And you can see its profile there.”

My heart stuttered. I hadn’t expected the picture to be so defined andprecise. There was a real person inside of me with an actual face. I could see its little nose and what looked like a mouth.

“He or she has a strong, steady heartbeat.”

Beaming like a proud momma, my vision blurred, and I wiped my eyes, not wanting to miss a single detail.

“There’s its arm, and you can see the fingers are starting to form. Oops.” The image shifted.

My smile fell. “What happened?”

“They just moved a little. It’s completely normal and healthy for them to be active at this stage. Have you felt any kicks yet?”

I shook my head. “Nothing yet.”

“Well, you can expect them soon.”

“Can you tell if it’s a girl or boy?” Hale asked.

“It’s still a little too early to determine. Did you want to know the gender?”

“We’re not sure.”

“Well, there’s time to make up your mind.”

It was over all too soon. She cleaned off my stomach and froze the screen on Little Bean’s precious head. Or was that his butt? No, it wasdefinitely his head. Or hers.