Page 78 of Rescuing Tobias

Once she nodded, he lifted it just enough to bare her stomach without revealing anything else. Tobias took her hand, his long fingers curling around hers as the medic applied the cold gel to her stomach.

As terrified as she’d been for the last couple of days, this moment felt the most terrifying of all. Since she was so early in her pregnancy, there was no way for her to feel her baby moving inside her. Which meant she had no way of confirming it was still alive. She hadn't had any bleeding, which had to mean she hadn't miscarried, but she wasn't going to believe it until she heard her baby’s heartbeat.

“Doctors at the hospital will do a proper vaginal ultrasound when they examine you, but we might be able to see something with this,” the medic informed her as he took the ultrasound’s wand and placed it on her stomach. “Ready to see your baby for the first time?”

Was she?

If she really was going to see it then the answer was a resounding yes. This baby was already real to her, and she was already planning what their lives were going to be like.

Which brought her to the problem.

Since she already loved this baby, learning she’d lost it would not just be a devastating blow, but could betheblow that sent her spiraling. She hadn't done a good job of dealing with her trauma, mostly she just managed it the best she could and focused on the baby.

But without the baby …

“Hey.” Tobias squeezed her hand, and she glanced up at him. “Whatever happens, I'm here. If we lost the baby, I'm still not going anywhere. You and I are in this together. If we lost it then we’ll grieve it together, and when we’re both ready, we’ll try again for another baby. It won't make losing this one any better, but this isn’t it for us being parents. This doesn’t change anything that I feel for you, or for what I want in the future.”

Studying his gaze, terrified he might not mean it, when she saw nothing but sincerity, tears flooded her eyes, making his face go all blurry. “You're going to stay with me no matter what happens?”

“For as long as you’ll have me,” Tobias vowed.

Nodding to the medic to tell him she was ready, she tightened her hold on Tobias’ hand as the machine switched on.

A moment later, she saw it.

The tiny little blob that was her baby.

Relief came hard and fast, and with it a rush of tears. Tobias folded her into an embrace, and she could have sworn she felt his own tears fall against her skin. Crying aggravated her headache, but she didn't care. Nothing else mattered today, because Tobias was alive, she was alive, and their baby was alive.

While the timing of this pregnancy might not be great, Isabella couldn’t be happier. The three of them were a family now, and she wanted them both until the end of time.

CHAPTER 23

April 28th

10:44 P.M.

Paddingdown the hall in bare feet, Tobias saw the faint glow from the screen before he saw Isabella curled up under a pile of blankets on the couch.

Waking up to an empty bed, with the side his firecracker had been curled up in when he fell asleep cold, telling him she hadn't been there in a while, was not how he wanted to wake up.

Ever.

For the rest of his life, he wanted to wake up with the woman he was falling helplessly in love with snuggled against his side. He wanted the warmth of her body to make him feel too hot, wanted her wild curls to tickle his skin, the soft puffs of air a constant reminder of how close he’d come to losing her but hadn't.

After everything she’d been through these last few days, weeks, months, coming on for a year really, he’d thought she would easily sleep through the night. But it seemed he was wrong because here she was in his living room on her phone.

“What are you doing awake?” he asked as he walked toward the couch.

Wide blue eyes peeked up at him from her little blanket roll, startled for a moment until she realized it was just him. Tobias hated that possibly for the rest of her life her default would be to assume something bad was going to happen. That wasn't what he wanted for her, but there was no putting her ordeal in a box and pretending it hadn't happened. Isabella’s desire to put all her focus on the pregnancy was going to have to be watched closely by him. As her partner, it was his job to make sure she was taking care of herself and dealing with what had happened, not ignoring it.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” she asked.

“Nope. Just woke up and you weren't there.” Leaning down to drop a kiss to her forehead, when she immediately parted the blankets so he could join her, he sat down beside her, hauled her into his lap, and then tucked them both in again. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, well, since I couldn’t sleep but it was already after ten and I didn't want to wake Becca if she was asleep, I kind of started shopping,” she answered sheepishly.

“Shopping?” She turned her phone around so he could see the screen, and he immediately knew what she’d been up to. “Baby shopping.”

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