Page 73 of Hooked On Them

“Do you want to know the gender?” Dr. Patel asked. “We can try to see, though it’s still a bit early.”

“Yes,” I said immediately, just as Miles said, “That’s Nora’s decision,” and Nora said, “I’m not sure.”

Our voices collided in the small room, and heat crept up my neck. Nora’s fingers loosened slightly around mine, but she didn’t let go.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “I’d like to know, but it’s your call.”

Nora audibly exhaled. “Can we try? If you can’t tell for sure, maybe that’s the universe telling me to be patient. But don’t tell us if you see what it is. I kind of want to do one of those blue or pink cakes to reveal it.”

“We should.” I brought her hand to my lips and kissed the back of it, causing her head to snap toward me in surprise.

Dr. Patel smiled. “Let’s see if Baby’s cooperative. We can also get the gender from prenatal testing.” She moved the wand around, adjusting angles and pressing buttons on the machine. “Hmm. Not giving us a clear view today. We can try again at your twenty-week anatomy scan as well.”

I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or relieved. The constant emotional whiplash I was experiencing was exhausting.

“How’s the baby’s size? Is everything... okay?” Something in Nora’s voice made me finally tear my eyes away from the monitor to look at her face. There was worry etched in the tiny lines between her eyebrows.

“Everything looks perfect.” Dr. Patel removed the wand, taking with it the sound and image of our child. “Baby is measuring right on schedule, and all development markers are exactly where they should be.”

She handed Nora tissues to wipe the gel off her stomach. As Nora cleaned herself up, her hand finally slipped from mine, leaving behind a cold emptiness I hadn’t expected.

“I’ll give you a moment while I grab the images from the nurses’ station. I’ll also have them loaded to the portal so you can share as you wish.” Dr. Patel walked out of the room, leaving us in awkward silence for a few moments.

Miles cleared his throat. “That was amazing. Thank you for letting me share that with you two.”

Nora nodded, still looking a bit dazed as she tugged her shirt back down. “Yeah.”

“Are you okay?” The question felt inadequate, but I needed to say something.

“I’m growing a human being inside my body. Okay doesn’t really cover the range of emotions happening right now.” She attempted a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “But yeah, I’m okay.”

I understood that feeling. Words failed to capture the magnitude of what was happening. I opened my mouth, closed it, then tried again.

“It has my nose,” I finally said, completely serious.

Nora blinked at me, then burst into surprised laughter. “What? It looked like a lime-sized blob!”

“A little squishy Gummy Bear. With the Wilson nose. It’s genetic.” I needed to stop talking.

Miles rolled his eyes, but he directed a smile at me for the first time in weeks. “You couldn’t have possibly seen that.”

“I have very good eyesight. It’s why I’m such a good shooter.”

“It’s why you missed that empty-netter against Toronto?” Miles shot back before he seemed to realize he was speaking to me normally.

“The ice was bad,” I defended automatically. “Even Coach agreed.”

“The ice was fine. Your aim was shit.”

Miles and I both fell silent, the moment of normalcy evaporating. I’d missed the easy banter between us, the friendship that had defined so much of my adult life. Everything was so fucked up now, tangled in ways I didn’t know how to straighten out.

Dr. Patel returned with two black-and-white printouts with several pictures, passing one to me and one to Nora. “Here you go! Baby Wilson’s first photo shoot.”

I stared down at the image in my hands.Baby Wilson. Not Baby Hastings. Not Baby Collins. She’d saidWilson.

My chest did something complicated that felt like expanding and constricting simultaneously. I swallowed hard, tracing the outline of that tiny shape with my eyes.

“So, everything looks great,” Dr. Patel continued, seemingly oblivious to the emotional chaos she’d just triggered. “We’re right on schedule for a due date of June 21st. Nora, I’ll see you back in four weeks for your 16-week appointment, and then we’ll do the detailed anatomy scan at 20 weeks. Do you have any questions for me?”

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