Page 35 of Sincerely, Pack Pucked
“You are magic,” I whispered, staring at my arm in disbelief.
“I’m just very good at what I do. Now, how about we get you onto the exam table and we can take a look at your baby?”
“Yes, please!” I said, hopping out of the small chair and heading toward the exam table.
The Doppler jelly was cold, but I was still smiling as the sonogram machine powered up. A baby appeared on the screen; it was small and not completely proportional, but it was clearly a baby, curled up with little arms and legs.
“Oh my,” I whispered.
“Looks like a good chunk! Gosh, I would say they’re almost big enough for their anomaly scan, but you won’t need that for another month or two. Everything looks good,” she said as she watched the screen intently, moving the Doppler every now and then over my tiny bump.
The appointment finished with some routine questions, and the nurse even printed a few of the sonogram images for me to keep. I couldn’t stop staring at them as I walked out of the office.
There was no denying this was very real, and even though I was nervous, excitement bubbled to the surface.
My childhood home was just an hour’s bus ride away from campus. My mother still lived in the small duplex where she had raised me.
“Hey, Mama,” I greeted warmly as I walked into the house.
Marrianne Presley stood by the stove, stirring a pot of something that smelled delicious. The familiar scent of homemade fudge hit my nose, and I immediately knew I was home.
“Mable! You didn’t tell me you were visiting!” she cried, pulling me into a warm hug before stepping back to look me over.
My mother was no longer in peak health. Her hair was beginning to gray and her body was becoming frail. She was only in her late thirties, but she’d had a hard life and it was takingits toll. As a child, I had zero appreciation for how hard she had worked to keep us afloat, but as an adult, I could see with clarity.
Her life had been far from easy, but she had done everything so I could have the best of the best.
And I was about to tell her that I was potentially throwing all that away by making the same mistake she had.
“I missed you, and I had a light class day,” I said, hugging her back tightly.
“Well, do you want some coffee?” she asked as she turned off the burner, pouring the fudge into a tray to cool.
“Actually, can I have some of that lavender tea you used to make for me at night? I’ve had the wildest craving for it.”
My mother chuckled, shaking her head. “It’s not even midday, and you want the tea that made you sleepy? Well, I can’t say I understand it, but for you, my dear girl, I will make it.”
I sat at the kitchen table as she bustled around the room. I tried to get up and help her, but she waved me off, insisting I sit down.
As she made the tea, I bit my lip, trying to figure out how to break the news to her that I was pregnant.
“Here you go, just the way you like it.” She beamed as she placed a mug in front of me, taking a seat opposite me with her own mug filled with coffee. “You know, I need to tell you all about our neighbor. She has been absolutely obsessive when it comes to her flowers lately. She almost lost her mind when the puppy from across the street decided tosniffher beloved petunia bush. Then again, I thi?—”
“Mom! I need to tell you something!” I rushed to say. Usually, I could handle chitchat and gossiping about neighbors, but I felt like I was going to explode if I didn’t get my news off my chest soon.
My mother’s eyes widened, and she looked at me with concern. “Are you okay? Mable, honey…”
“I’m pregnant,” I blurted out, my stomach cramping painfully with nerves as I did so.
For a moment, my mother simply stared at me, blinking in surprise. When she finally spoke, she wasn’t able to say much.
“What… I mean, how? No, not how—who?”
I took a deep breath, tears gathering in the corners of my eyes. “A few months ago, I went into heat. It was a surprise, and I was in public. A really nice guy helped me out. He got me through the heat spike. He was a complete gentleman, and he wrote his number on my hand. Then I went home and showered without thinking about it. So, I lost his phone number…”
My mother’s eyes were wide as saucers. “Your heat?”
I nodded. We had discussed my heats briefly, but considering she was a beta, we had never really gone into depth about the topic.
