Page 83 of Wed to the Devil

"You're okay," he reminds me.

I can only nod.

The white-coated doctor sits on a low stool. I pull my shirt up to expose my distended abdomen and the doctor squirts KY jelly on my belly. It's icy. The doctor smiles as I wriggle in my seat.

"Sorry."

"No problem," I murmur.

She begins scanning with the wand. I squeeze Dare's fingers and stare at the blank screen before me. The whirring of the machine and the beep of the heart monitor fill the small exam room.

The jelly is warm on my stomach, and cold on my skin. The sensations are at odds with each other and create an uncomfortable, nauseous stirring in my gut.

"Let's see..." the doctor says, squinting at the screen. "Come on, baby."

Dare and I share a glance - this is the moment we've been waiting for. Our baby appears on screen in all its glory, limbs stretching and curling, tiny head bobbing up and down.

"There we go." The doctor presses the wand into my stomach, massaging tiny circles into my flesh. "Can you see?"

She angles the screen towards us more. I nod, astounded. I can't stop staring at the little person I'm growing inside my body.

Seeing the baby on the screen, it just seems more real now somehow. The sight of its little heart beating sends a jolt of pleasure straight through my heart.

"Oh my god." I look up at Dare, whose eyes are fixed on the screen, his brows furrowed in concentration. "What do you think?"

His jaw is clenched tight and he swallows.

"I don't know," he says. But it's clear that he is having a visceral emotional reaction.

"It looks like your baby is in great shape," the doctor says, reassuring me after a few more scans. “We made it to the six-month mark!” I exclaim excitedly. "Our little one is developing exactly as they should be."

The doctor nods with approval. "Let's take a closer look," she says, gesturing towards the advanced 4D machine.

It takes a minute to set up the wand over my belly again. But when it’s in place, my mind is blown. My jaw drops at the clarity of the images. I can make out each crease in the baby's lips and count every single finger and toe.

"Dare!" I gasp in awe, reaching for his hand. I tug on his hand. "That's amazing!"

The room is silent except for the beating of my heart and the low hum of the machine. Tears sting my eyes as I stare at our baby, finally becoming real before my very eyes.

I grip Dare’s hand tightly as a new wave of emotions wash over me. His grip tightens in return and he looks up at me with a mixture of joy and awe.

We stay like that for a few moments before the doctor interrupts our reverie. "Well, everything looks good," she says gently. "Your baby's growing right on track with my projections."

I reach out and gently stroke the screen. "Hi, baby."

The doctor smiles and looks between Dare and me. "Do you want to know the gender of your baby?"

My heartbeat quickens in anticipation. But before I can answer either way, Dare blurts out, "Of course we want to know. Information is power."

His voice is strangely urgent and it catches me off guard. He glances at me before quickly looking away, a flush creeping up his cheeks.

I smile in surprise. I had been expecting Dare to be more ambivalent about the whole thing, but it seems like he's just as invested into having this baby as I am. I kiss his palm and he drops his hand to cup the back of my head.

The doctor smiles gently at our dynamic before going over the sonogram again with us. Finally, she pauses at a particular spot on the screen and points out a vague blob that looks like a hamburger patty.

"It looks like you're having a baby girl," she announces calmly.

"Really?" My pulse skyrockets at the news. Every little scrap of information, every moment I look at my baby on the screen, she becomes more real.

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