Page 44 of Christmas Cheer

The nurse rolls her eyes and wanders off.

Chapter 16

Evan

Keira is pissed. I expect nothing less. But she’s too classy to make a scene. Instead she introduces me to her doctor as the baby’s father and I keep my arm around her shoulder to make it clear that we’re in a relationship.

We are. It’s just complicated.

They talk for a few minutes, touching base as the doctor reviews her charts and gives her the results of recent blood work.

Everything is great. She’s as healthy as humanly possible, her weight is statistically right where it should be, no detected anomalies. With all that taken care of, the doctor looks to both of us and says, “Are you ready to see your baby?”

That’s what I came here for. I pulled some serious strings and went full stalker on Keira to figure out that this was ultrasound day. I lucked out that it was spring break so I was able to be here the entire week; I was already in Berlin by the time I figured out the exact day of the appointment.

Keira scoots her pants down and shimmies her sweater up before lying back, already an old pro. She had her first ultrasound a month ago and sent the image to Ryan. It’s hanging over my desk in my bedroom now. Dr. Harrington wheels her cart over, squirts some goop on Keira’s belly, and lowers the paddle into the goop.

A moment later, a grainy black and white image appears on the screen. I’m not sure what it is at first, just two chaotic masses, and I have a momentary panic that we’re having twins. I’m not ready for that. I’ve been reading the new dad blogs and watching the new dad videos. They like to describe the baby like a football, which is a comfort to me. But I’ve never played with two footballs before.

Dr. Harrington says, “Feet look good, now let’s see if we can get a good angle for the rest of the baby.”

My heart rate drops back to normal. Only for a second, though, because after some sliding around of the paddle, the baby appears on the screen.

My baby.

That’s my baby.

Great big head, pot belly, those feet might be flippers — hopefully the doctor would have said something then, though — but that’s my baby.

“Oh fuck,” I whisper.

“Don’t curse in front of the baby,” Keira mumbles.

I grab her hand in mine, needing to touch her but unable to tear my eyes from the screen.

That’s my baby.

“Would you like to know what you’re having?” Dr. Harrington asks.

I nearly saya babybefore Keira squeezes my hand.

“I want to know, and, umm, other people do too. For shopping.”

Things click. This is about the sex of the baby. And Ryan wants kids but Mark’s still on the fence, so he’s already planning on spoiling his first niece or nephew rotten. He’s been telling me everything, but it’s all been padded with a lot ofDon’t tell Keira or she’ll stop talking to me, but . . .So she’s probably keeping him anonymous to keep me from bullying him for information.

Too late.

It’s not even bullying if it’s your big brother. It’s payback from all the shit he pulled when we were kids.

“If you don’t wanna know,” Keira says to me, “I can—”

“I want to know.”

Dr. Harrington slides the paddle until she finds the right spot and taps the monitor. “See that nub there?”

“Holy cow,” I gasp, doing my best not to swear. “Is that a di—a penis? Is it a boy?”

“That’s a genital tubercle. It’s at about the same angle as the spine, so I’m guessing a girl.”

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