Page 97 of Once Yours (Love & Wine)

I move around, standing beside the bed and taking Tessa’s hand in both of mine as the doctor lifts her shirt and folds down her jeans, and then squirts some gel onto Tessa’s flat stomach. I can’t resist smirking at her, chuckling a little when Tess blushes, because we both know this isn’t the only thing she’s had squirted on her stomach.

“Stop thinking dirty thoughts,” I whisper, leaning down so my mouth is at her ear and the doctor can’t hear us.

She squeezes my hand, widening her eyes at me as if to tell me to shut up. Laughing, I give her a quick kiss before turning my attention back to the doctor.

“So can we get some of those alien baby pictures people get?”

The doctor laughs, picking up the probe as she starts to move it over Tessa’s stomach. “Let’s see what we can do,” she says, glancing at me, a relaxed smile on her face.

She’s quiet for a few moments, moving the probe over Tessa’s stomach before she finally stops. I watch as she taps a few keys on the machine, before turning it to us and pointing to something on the screen.

“Okay, that there is your baby,” she says.

Tess and I both turn and stare at the screen where her finger is pointing, neither of us saying anything for a few seconds before I blurt out, “It looks like a jelly bean, not an alien baby.”

The doctor laughs again, moving the probe a little as she says, “I’m guessing from the size, you’re about eight to nine weeks along, so you can’t really see too much. We might be able to hear the heartbeat though. Would you like me to try?”

Tess glances up at me, her eyes wide as I grin and say, “Hell yes we would. And can we get pictures of the jelly bean too?”

“We sure can,” the doctor says, moving the probe again as she plays with a few more buttons on the machine. A couple of seconds later there is this weird fluttering sound and the doctor smiles as she turns up the volume. “Okay, and that’s the baby’s heartbeat.”

We all fall silent, none of us saying anything as the strange noise fills the room. It’s really fucking fast, practically mirroring my own heartrate as it whooshes from the speakers.

“Holy shit,” I breathe out, my grip on Tessa’s hand tightening. “That’s our baby!” When I look down at Tess, I see her cheeks are wet with tears, her eyes moving from the screen to my face, a look of complete and utter amazement on hers. “Our jelly bean baby,” I say, leaning down to kiss her.

Her hand moves to my cheek, holding me as she kisses me again. “Thank you, Dylan,” she whispers, her lips against mine.

I smile against her mouth, kissing her once more before I pull back a little. “Thank you, baby. I never realized how much I wanted all this until you.”

I can’t believe how amazing this is, the sound of our baby’s heartbeat filling the room. Never in my wildest dreams did I picture myself in this situation, but fuck if I don’t want a million babies with Tessa now.

“Okay, so everything looks good,” the doctor continues, either oblivious or used to her patients having these moments during her appointments. “I’m going to recommend you start some prenatal vitamins and let’s schedule another appointment for about eight weeks from now.”

“When can we find out if it’s a boy or a girl?” I ask and Tess laughs at my question.

The doctor smiles, turning to hand me some prints of our jelly bean baby. “Not just yet,” she says with a wink. “We can take a look at the next scan though and you can decide if you want to know.”

I take the pictures from her hand, mine shaking a little as I stare at them for a few moments before turning back to Tess.

“Do you want to know?” she asks me.

“I don’t know, do you?”

“I don’t know either,” she says, laughing.

“You have plenty of time,” the doctor tells us, cleaning the gel off Tessa’s stomach as she stands. “Okay, everything is good. I’ll see you again in a couple of months.”

The doctor leaves and Tess gets up off the exam table and adjusts her clothes. It’s not until she walks over and puts her hand on my shoulder do I realize I’ve collapsed into the chair beside the exam table and am staring at the pictures of our jelly bean kid.

“You okay?” she asks.

I look up at her and am suddenly completely overwhelmed. I feel my heart beating hard in my chest, as I stand and pull her into my arms, wrapping her in a tight embrace. “I just…I, fuck, baby, I don’t have any words right now.”

Tessa kisses the side of my neck. “I know, it’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

“Amazing?” I repeat, pulling back as I cup her face in my hands. “It’s the greatest thing ever,you,are the greatest thing ever. Fuck, I just…god, I love you so much right now.”

Tessa laughs, pushing up on her toes to kiss me. “Come on you, let’s go home. I think you might have mentioned something about sex?”

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