Page 27 of Can We Try?

“Tell me more. Over thirteen weeks, have you heard the heartbeat?” Mom asks.

“We have. I even bought us a doppler to keep at Maggie’s place so we can listen anytime we want.”

“I, um, I brought it,” Maggie says, her face flushing. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want to hear.”

“Yes. Yes. Yes!” Mom exclaims.

“Congratulations, son, Maggie. Being a parent is one of life’s greatest joys. It’s also one of the hardest jobs you will ever do.”

“Thank you,” I tell him, my emotions getting the better of me.

“I’ll run out to the car to get the doppler,” Maggie says.

“I’ll go. Where is it?”

“In my purse. I left it on the floorboard.”

“I’m on it.” I squeeze her hip, a silent thank-you, before rushing out to my truck to grab the doppler. I’m excited about my parents getting to hear our baby’s heartbeat, but if I’m being honest, I’m stoked I get to hear it again as well. I heard it Wednesday night, but that was a few days ago.

When I got home from work on Wednesday, the box was on my front porch, and I went straight to Maggie’s so we could try it out. We sat on her couch for almost an hour, listening to our son or daughter.

“Mags!” I call out as I enter the house. “Get comfy on the couch,” I tell her, walking into the living room.

She smiles and moves to sit on the couch. I lift up her shirt just a little, and put the doppler on her belly, mindful that my dad is also in the room. Not that it’s nothing he wouldn’t see if she were in a bathing suit. Even so, I want to keep her as covered as I can.

I kneel before her on the floor, turn on the machine, and move the wand around a little and there it is. The fast whooshing sound of our baby’s heartbeat.

“Oh my goodness,” Mom says, and I can hear the tears in the sound of her voice.

“That’s really something,” Dad says, who I can tell is trying not to let his emotions get the best of him.

“We made that,” I whisper to Maggie.

“Bragging rights,” she teases before Mom starts talking her head off about the nursery theme, if she’s registered anywhere, and if she can help with the baby shower.

Dad and I are content to sit and listen to the women talk, and by the time we leave, Maggie and I both have to-go containers full of leftovers, and Maggie has set up a date to go window shopping with my mom to start looking at baby items.

With a round of hugs and the promise to do dinner again soon, we’re headed back to her place.

“You were right,” Maggie tells me.

“Say what?” I pick up my phone from the cupholder and hand it to her. “Can you bring up the voice recording app and say that again?”

“Stop.” She laughs, swatting my hand away. “I mean it. Your parents are incredible, and your mom, she’s offered to help so much.”

“I hope you let her. This is her first and maybe only grandchild. I’d hate for her not to be able to be involved.”

“When I found out I was pregnant, I just kept thinking that this baby won’t have grandparents. Before you say anything, this was before I told you, and I was worried that you wouldn’t want anything to do with this baby.”

Her words affect me more than they should. I know she was scared, and that asshole ex of hers made her think all men are douche canoes, but I’d hoped she knew me better than that.

“Finding out made me miss my parents so much, but my mom, she was supposed to be here to take me shopping and to help me register, and to know that I have your mom who wants to do those things with me, that means more to me than you will ever know, Lachlan.”

I pull into her driveway and leave the truck running but make no move to get out. “This baby makes us family. That means my parents included. They both gave you their numbers tonight for a reason. Not just so you can go shopping with Mom, but in case you need anything. Anything at all, don’t hesitate to reach out to them or me. We’re in this, Maggie. All the way in.”

She nods. “I know you are. You’ve never wavered, and I’m sorry that I ever thought you would turn me away. I had a pregnancy scare with Eric. I was a week late and freaking out, and when I told him, he told me to handle it. I guess I just had flashbacks of that moment. Thankfully, my period came the next day, but I knew then that he and I would never work out. That very next weekend is when I walked into his apartment and found him naked on the couch with someone else.”

If I ever see the guy, it’s going to take a hell of a lot of effort not to kick his ass for treating her that way. I keep my face neutral, letting my anger for her simmer on the inside, because I don’t want her to stop opening up to me.

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