Page 43 of The Devil's Pair

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Briley burst into the medical area of Rose Terraces, and Delilah Robinson jumped in shock at her friend’s noisy and dramatic entrance.

“Jesus!” Delilah put a hand to her ample bosom, shook her dark head. “Why are you trying to kill me, girl?”

“I need an ultrasound, likeright now, because Ada said I do, and anyway, she’s right,” Briley babbled. “I need to besurethat Ada’s right, even though I know she is, but I need tosee. To be sure. Even though I am, and Ada is too. I mean, she’s ninety-two, so there isn’t much she’s wrong about, right?Right?”

“Ummmm. OK,” Delilah said slowly, looking at the other woman’s crazy eyes and backing away. “Come on over here and lie down. Maybe take a few deep breaths, because you look like you’re about to pass out where you stand.”

“I’m not going to pass out.” Briley practically ran across the room to the examination table, launched herself on to it witha graceless thud. “Well – maybe. Maybe not. I haven’t decided yet.”

“Ohhh-kaaay,” Delilah repeated, picking up the ultrasound wand and some gel. “What am I looking for here?”

“A fetal heartbeat.”

“Ohhhhhh.” Delilah nodded, totally getting what the actual hell was going on here. “It suddenly all becomes clear.”

“Not yet, it doesn’t. I need toseeit to believe it.”

Briley lifted her white nurse’s tunic, exposing her stomach, and stared down at herself in dismay as her friend squirted some cool gel on her skin.Howhadn’t she noticed that gently swelling bulge before now? She’d thought that maybe she was gaining a bit of weight from finally eating properly and regularly again; now that she was away from Gideon’s revolting touch, she could keep food down once more. But really, Ada was right: what kind of nursewasshe, that she had completely failed to notice what these little individual things all added up to?

“Breathe, girl,” Delilah murmured, slowly running the wand over Briley’s stomach. “Just breathe. You got this.”

“I donotgot this,” Briley said between gritted teeth. “Most definitely not.”

Delilah stared at the monitor, moved the wand around a bit, then stared some more. Briley watched her gaze grow fixed, really intense, and suddenly she felt worried.

“What?” Briley asked, afraid of the answer, but still twisting a bit to look at the screen. “What do you see?”

“How far along do you estimate you might be?”

“Ummmm… about sixteen weeks. Maybe a bit less.”

“Mmmm-hmmmm.” Delilah cocked her head. “Do I have your permission to do a vaginal ultrasound?”

“What? Why? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t think anything’swrong, Briley.” Delilah picked up the other wand, started putting on a bit of gel. “It’s just that Ineed to check something and the transvaginal scan is way more accurate and sensitive, and picks up way more. You know this.”

“I do, yeah. You’re right.” Briley finally sucked in a deep breath, then another, and wriggled out of her uniform slacks and underwear. “OK, I’m ready.”

“Here we go.” Delilah slid the wand inside Briley’s tense body, gave her friend a smile. “Another breath, hon. Come on. You’ve got to relax a bit.”

“Not so easy,” Briley said, trying to will her muscles to release. “I’m trying.”

“OK, look here.” Delilah pointed at the monitor, and Briley squinted. “There’s a heartbeat.”

“Oh. Oh, shit.” Briley felt her own heart judder to a stop, even as she watched the baby’s rhythmically pulse and throb. She stared at the screen, mesmerized by the little, thudding, black-and-white blob, that undeniable sign of new and ferocious life inside of her. “I’m actually pregnant. Like, forreal.”

“You really,reallyare.”

Something about her friend’s tone gave Briley pause, and she looked at the monitor again, more carefully. What she saw made her heart suddenly start up again, now beating double-time, triple-time.

“Is that – is that what Ithinkit is?” she said. “Am I seeing what IthinkI'm seeing?”

“It sure as hell is, and you sure as hell are.”

“Holy fuck.” Briley didn’t know if she was going to laugh or cry. “You havegotto be kidding me.”

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