Page 69 of Misery In Me

TWENTY-SEVEN

ALEJANDRA

We sit together in the waiting room in the OB department at the naval hospital, waiting for my name to be called by a nurse. Gage is in his uniform, bouncing a giggling Zoe on his knee and tickling her. I am trying so hard to keep it together, but I don’t know if it’s the added hormones or if I’m just not as strong as I thought I was. Going into this marriage, I knew this would happen: him leaving.

I just didn’t think they would send him back out this soon.

You can do this, Ale.

We can get through anything as long as we communicate.

“What’s the matter,Hermosa?” Gage shifts Zoe to his other knee and wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him.

“Nothing.”Lie.“I’m just going through the week’s dinner plans and the laundry that needs to be done for your packing.”

“No me mientas, cariño.” Switching to Spanish to keep the conversation to ourselves. “Sé que estás preocupada. Saldremos de esto.”

“¿Podemos dejar de hablar de ello ahora? Solo quiero asegurarme de que el bebé esté bien.” I close my eyes and let out a slow breath, hoping the nausea doesn’t kick up right now.

“Necesitamos hablar de esto, Hermosa.” His hand trails over my spine and gently caresses the space between my shoulder blades, where my muscles are tight. “Relájate. Te tengo, amor.”

“Alejandra Donovan?” The main door opens, and a nurse steps out with a clipboard. It still sounds strange to hear Donovan as my last name. It gives me those butterflies in my stomach, and then I feel proud that I have it.

“Let’s go.” I stand, bending over to grab the diaper bag and Zoe’s car seat. Gage reaches for the handle and I whisper. “I’ve got it.” Probably with a little too much feeling behind my tone than was necessary.

But that man doesn’t miss a beat.

“Sé que lo tienes, cariño. Deja esa actitud y déjame ayudarte. Sabes que esa actitud solo te va estresar.” I drop my hand while his grips the carrier and he smirks, then nods for me to move forward.

Jesus, that shouldn’t be so hot.

I turn and look at him and he raises his eyebrow at me, and I swallow hard. “Okay.”Just give in, Ale.Knowing Gage, he would have me bent over the tailgate in the driveway, fucking the attitude out of me faster than I could even bring up the situation.

Heat pools in my belly and I can feel my thong dampening.Shit! Don’t get turned on before the doctor checks you out.

We follow the nurse through the door and she asks the routine questions, takes my vitals, then hands me a cup. “The bathroom is over there.” I give Gage a nervous smile and head that way.

Once done with that, I hand the nurse the cup and she leads us to an exam room. “Doc will be in shortly.”

“Shortly,” Gage snorts. “More like we’ll be in here for at least an hour.”

Not even ten minutes later, the door opens. “Sorry for the wait! I’m Doctor Nieto, and I’ll be your OB today. So,” She looks at her clipboard and looks up at me, then at Gage, and then at Zoe on his lap. “We don’t advise pregnancy this soon after the birth of a child.”

Both Gage and I talk, but I talk over him. “I’m not her birth mother.”

“Oh, well then, that’s different.”

“So I am pregnant?” I ask, my clasped hands now moving over my lower stomach.

“Well, the urine test was very positive. We’ll do blood work after this. Technically, you should have gotten blood work before I saw you. But they saw this one.” She scoots closer on her chair to Zoe and makes a face at her. “And the nurse thought you needed to be seen ASAP.”

I let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, no. We wouldn’t be doing that.”

Gage turns and gives me a look, one that says,Are you sure about that?

The doctor catches him looking at me, clears her throat, and then scoots back. “Okay, so… blood work. Then if that is all good, you’ll get a referral to radiology for an ultrasound. Do you know when your last period was?” I give her the date and she clicks on the computer. “So, the due date would be February twelfth. Almost a Valentine’s Day baby. Will this be your first?”

“Yes,” I nod.

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