Page 99 of Sometimes You Fall

“Yes,” Scottie and I say at the same time.

Dr. Rivera chuckles. “All right then. Just don’t be disappointed if the baby gets shy on us. It happens fairly often, especially with the girls.”

As she lifts Scottie’s shirt and squeezes clear gel on her skin, I bring Scottie’s hand to my lips and gently kiss her knuckles. The doctor maneuvers the ultrasound wand, trying to get the right angle of the baby. “Everything looks great. Baby is measuring on track.” Dr. Rivera clicks around on the screen, taking measurements and then moves the wand around, trying to get a clear view of the baby’s anatomy.

“Oh my gosh.” Scottie leans forward in her seat, trying to get a closer look at the screen. But I don’t see a damn thing. In fact, there is nothing between this kid’s legs.

And that’s when it hits me.

“Looks like you two are having a girl!” Dr. Rivera exclaims. Just then, the baby moves and presses her legs together just long enough to confirm her lack of a penis.

“Holy shit.” I look down at Scottie just as she stares up at me. “We’re having a girl.”

“I don’t know how to raise a girl,” Scottie says with a pout of her lips, but there’s an excitement in her eyes as well.

Dr. Rivera chuckles as she takes a few pictures of our daughter’s profile, and then prints out a strip of pictures for us to take with us. “Each sex has its own set of challenges, but the teenage years are what you really can’t prepare for either way.”

Scottie sighs, leaning back on the bed, but my mind is still swimming.

I’m going to have a daughter.

Dr. Rivera hands Scottie the strip of pictures. “Keep doing what you’re doing, Mom. We’ll see you both in a month.”

After Scottie gets situated and we schedule our next appointment, I lead her back out to my truck and help her inside. I insisted on picking her up from work to drive her to the appointment together, and now that I know I have a daughter on the way, the world just completely shifted beneath me.

“So, she’s not allowed to date until she’s thirty, and I may need to buy more guns—I already have a few at home.”

Scottie slaps my arm as I continue to drive back to Carrington Cove Elementary. “Oh, stop it.”

With a grin, I glance over at the mother of my child, picking up her hand and kissing the top of it. “We’re having a girl, Scottie.”

“Yes, Grady. That’s the third time you’ve said that now.”

“I’m gonna get to be a dance dad.”

She laughs at me. “Well, at least you already have practice with that.”

“There’s going to be pink and purple everywhere.”

“How do you feel about that?”

I take a deep breath. “Honestly, I’m overwhelmed all over again, but this time it’s an exciting overwhelm. Now I can prepare for more things that were up in the air—like the nursery.”

Scottie’s eyes dip down to her stomach. “Yeah. It just became very real.”

“Did you doubt that it was before?” I tease.

Smiling, she shakes her head. “No, but I raised a boy, Grady. Raising a girl is something I don’t have any experience with.”

“We’ll learn together,” I reply. “Plus, Astrid will go through everything with Lilly first, so we’ll get to watch her as sort of an experiment.”

Scottie nods. “Good point.”

“So when do you want to start getting her room ready?”

Scottie’s head whips over to me so fast, I swear, I hear it crack. “What?”

I quicklyglance over at her. “What do you mean, ‘what’?”

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