Page 24 of Spade

“What’s wrong?” Cynthia asked.

“Did you know that you’re pregnant?” the doctor asked. He held out the blood test results to prove that he was telling her the truth.

“Pregnant,” she repeated the word as though it was a new one for her. Cynthia took the paper from the doctor and looked it over, handing it to Spade. He looked about as confused as she felt.

“Pregnant,” he said, looking at the paper.

“I had no idea,” she insisted. She took the paper back from Spade and looked it over again. “I swear, I didn’t know about this, and I didn’t plan it. You have to believe me,” she said to Spade.

“How far along is she?” Spade asked the doctor. She wanted to tell him to look at her, as he just told her, but she gave him time to digest the news.

“You’re probably in the early stages, but we’ll need to do an ultrasound to be sure. We’re worried that the drugs might have affected the baby, so we’d like to take a look,” the ultrasound. “Would you be willing to let us do an ultrasound?” Cynthia nodded her consent, and he promised to be back in soon.

The room was so quiet that she worried that a baby was too much for Spade. He had just asked her to marry him, but she wouldn’t hold him to it if he had changed his mind with the news.

“You have to believe that I didn’t know about the baby,” she insisted. “I would have told you right away if I did. And I’d understand if you want to take back your proposal. This is a lot of new information, and I wouldn’t ever fault you for doing that, Spade.”

“Is that your way of telling me that you don’t want to marry me?” he breathed.

“What—no,” she almost shouted. “I just wanted to give you an out. You just found out that you’re going to be a father and this all must be overwhelming for you.”

“And you,” he countered. “You have to be just as overwhelmed as I am, but that doesn’t change how I feel about you, honey.” He pulled her across the bed and onto his lap and she gladly let him. Spade wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead as she laid back against his shoulder.

“I’m just wondering how you feel about me,” he whispered into his ear. The doctor walked back into the room, carting an ultrasound machine and Spade growled. “Can you give us just a minute, doc?” he asked.

“Um, sure, but don’t take too long. I’m the only one here that can work the ultrasound machine today.”

“Let him just do it. I need to know if the baby is okay. We can talk after,” she insisted. Cynthia didn’t want to waste the doctor’s time, and she didn’t want to take a chance that he’d be too busy to do it later. Spade nodded and stood from the bed, helping Cynthia back onto the gurney.

The doctor got her situated and squirted some warm gel onto her tummy. “Sorry, that might be a little cold.”

“Not at all,” she insisted.

“Okay, let’s take a look here,” he said. He ran the wand over the bottom portion of her tummy and made a humming sound in the back of his throat.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing,” the doctor insisted. “I’m just trying to find the baby’s heartbeat. You might not be far enough along to hear it though.” She grabbed Spade’s hand and squeezed it, worried that something was wrong, and the doctor didn’t want to tell her for fear of worrying her.

He ran the wand over her belly for a few more minutes, and when a swooshing sound filled the room, he cheered triumphantly. “There’s the heartbeat, and it’s strong. I was just looking in the wrong place for the baby. I haven’t done an ultrasound in some time.”

“It’s okay,” she said, tears once again running down her face. “Can you see how far along I am?” she asked. She looked up to find Spade wiping tears from his eyes and she knew that she had to tell him how she felt about him. It didn’t matter what was going on around them—she had to give him the words.

“I love you,” she said to him. He looked down at her and for a split second, it felt as though the entire world stood still. She had never seen so much love in one person’s eyes, and it was all for her. How she had missed the way that Spade looked at her before was a mystery, but she could see it now as though a light had turned on and everything was bright and clear.

“Say that again,” he ordered.

“I love you,” she breathed. He bent to gently brush his lips over hers, and the doctor cleared his throat, bringing them both back to the present.

“You look to be about eight to nine weeks along,” he said. “So, you’re still in the early stages, but everything looks good so far.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“I think that we should keep you overnight, just to make sure that the drugs are completely out of your system before we send you home. Plus, if I admit you, an Obstetrician with be able to check you over, and that will give you more peace of mind.” Cynthia wanted to insist that she didn’t need more peaceof mind than she already had, but Spade insisted that she do as the doctor ordered. He even promised to stay with her as he had done the first time that she was roofied.

As soon as the doctor left the room again, Spade sat back down on the bed and pulled her back onto his lap. “Are you going to make me sleep on the chair this time?” he asked.

She giggled, “I still feel bad that I made you do that the first time. But, since I plan on marrying you, I guess we can share the bed this time. I wouldn’t want my future husband and father of my baby to have a sore back.”

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