Page 96 of Love and Memories

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Want to make a guess on whether it’s a boy or a girl?” he asked with a wiggle of his brows.

Bella made a show of thinking. “I have a guess, but I don’t want to say it.”

“Fine. I’ll keep my guess to myself too.” He pressed a kiss to her temple, and the stiffness in her shoulders melted away.

“Isabella Young,” a woman called from a doorway on the other side of the waiting room.

Travis stood and took Bella’s hand in his. “It’s time.”

She let out a deep breath. “I’m nervous.”

“Don’t be. It’s going to be great news either way.”

The tall brunette woman greeted them with a warm smile. “Are you ready for this?”

“I guess so,” Bella said as they followed the woman to a dimly lit room.

Travis helped Bella steady herself as she settled onto the exam table. With a firm grip on her hand, he whispered, “I love you.”

She smiled up at him, but the smile he loved so much was strained. “I love you too.”

The nurse typed at a machine on wheels. “Okay, you’re just going to lift your shirt over your belly, and I’ll put some of the jelly on it.”

About that time, a large screen hanging on the wall showed Bella’s name and information along the top. “Wow. What’s that?” Travis asked.

“That’s where you’ll see the baby,” the nurse said as she scooted over to Bella with a wand. “Are you ready?”

Bella nodded and squeezed Travis’s hand.

Black and gray lines and shapes moved over the screen when the woman placed the wand against Bella’s skin. After some moving around, he could make out arms and legs.

“Let’s see if we have a little misses or a little mister.” The woman moved more until she stopped and used her other hand to put a circle on the screen. “There she is. It’s a girl!”

Bella lifted her head and studied the screen. “A girl. Are you sure?”

“Positive.” The woman drew lines and clicked on the machine as she moved the image on the screen around. “She’s measuring perfectly. I see lots of fingers and toes.”

Travis stared at the image on the screen. It looked like a baby. It moved like a baby. It had a heartbeat that thumped loud and quickly throughout the room.

The realization clicked into place. Sure, he’d seen the earlier sonogram photos, but this was a living being moving in real time before his eyes. Bella was having a baby–a girl–and his heart swelled and hammered against the walls of his chest.

“You okay, Dad?” the woman asked.

Bella turned to him, and her eyes glistened in the dim light. The woman he loved was having a baby girl, and he was the lucky guy who got to witness it all.

Dad.

The lump in his throat kept him from correcting the woman, and Bella didn’t say anything. Someone else had helped make this baby, but she needed a dad–a real one. She needed a man who would stand by her and her mom through anything.

And that’s what Travis would do. She didn’t have to be his flesh and blood. She already had a grip on his heart like a vise.

The woman kept moving the wand around and pressing buttons while Travis kept a tight grip on Bella’s hand.

When the ultrasound was complete, the woman excused herself with congratulations.

Bella sat up and straightened her sweater. “I can’t believe it’s a girl.”

“Did you think it would be a boy?” Travis asked.

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