Page 53 of Finding Forever

Fern slanted Cade a look but not even his indifferent returning stare could dim her excited grin.

Cade watchedFern practically bounce into the next room and followed her on leaden feet, his pace much slower. By the time he joined her, she was already stretched out on her back on the narrow cot. Her pretty bare feet pressed close together, sea green blouse hiked to just under her breasts, her flat, pale stomach bared to his gaze.

The technician— a pretty, brown-skinned, slender young woman with dark curls and a friendly smile—gently rolled the waistband of Fern’s skirt down a couple of times to reveal even more silky skin.

“I really like your hair,” Fern shyly confided in the other woman, her admiring gaze sweeping over Lee-Anne’s corkscrew curls. “Curls are such fun.”

“Not so much fun to maintain,” the other woman said with a chuckle. “Yourhair is amazing.”

“Thank you,” Fern said, sounding genuinely happy with the compliment. “I always feel like people will think I’m much older than I am, because of it.”

“Oh not at all, it’s such a unique color.”

The conversation was inane, and ridiculous, and also revealing in Fern’s reaction to the woman’s words. She looked as if she didn’t quite believe her, and yet loved hearing it nonetheless. She clearly wasn’t used to receiving compliments. He’d already noticed how much she glowed whenever he said anything remotely complimentary to her.

The two women were still chattering about hair related concerns when the doctor walked in.

“Are we ready to proceed?” she asked, all smiles.

“All set up and ready to go, doctor,” Lee-Anne confirmed.

“Very good, why don’t you take a break, Lee-Anne? I’ll handle this one.” Cade had asked for as much privacy as possible during this appointment and he was happy that the doctor was respecting that wish. The fewer people who knew their business the less likely the press would get wind of it.

After warning her of the cold, the doctor applied conductive gel onto Fern’s abdomen. She inhaled sharply and Cade watched as her flat stomach went concave as she sucked in her breath with a giggle. He hovered awkwardly behind the doctor and she looked back at him.

“Why don’t you join your wife, Mr. Hawthorne?” she invited, ushering him to the head of the bed. “That way you’ll be able to see the monitor more clearly.”

Cade obediently moved into position where he waited—hands in his pockets—while the doctor fidgeted with the machine at the bedside.

“Ready?” she asked them and Cade found himself uncertain how to respond to that question. He didn’t want to be here for this bit. Not really. This wasn’t the part that interested him. He’d asked his questions and had received satisfactory—for now—responses to said questions.

But he couldn’t leave now, not after the big deal he’d made about being here. He sucked in a breath and said nothing, allowing Fern’s breathlessyesto answer for both of them.

He watched, swallowing back his anxiety, as the wand lowered to Fern’s abdomen and the screen next to the bed lit up with a grainy, wavy image. There was nothing but muffled noise, similar to what you’d hear under water and it was all very…underwhelming.

“Let’s see. Where is this little one hi—aahthere we go…”

The muffled underwater sounds was replaced by a strong, fast, rhythmic whooshing, while the grainy image on screencoalesced into a bubble of sorts. Still not sure what he was seeing or hearing, Cade merely found himself glowering at the screen.

“Well, you’ll be pleased to know that this isnotan ectopic pregnancy, Daddy,” Dr. Khan told him and his head jerked up at the word she’d used.

Daddy?

No. That wasn’t him.

His breath left him in a soft, painful exhalation.

“That sound…?” It was loud, too loud—almost deafening—fast and chaotic.

“Your baby’s heartbeat,” the doctor said and he blinked. His reactions sluggish, he felt like he was wading upstream through a river of molasses and losing the ability to fight the slow, relentless push of it.

A heartbeat.

He stared fixedly at the jumble of black, white, and gray on the screen and, as he focused on one spot, the rest of the mess began to fall into place around it.

A nose… that’s what he was looking at. His eyes followed the line of that nose, up to the head, over it and around the curve of a back, down to a bottom and little legs.

Jesus. The sound—heartbeat—was loud, relentless… pounding away at his brain. He didn’t like it. He needed them to turn down the volume, but—as he stared at the screen—his voice didn’t work. He doubted anybody would hear him anyway. How could anyone hear anything above that cacophony? It drowned out all other sound. It made thinking impossible. It dominatedeverythingand Cade…

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