Page 38 of Keeping Our Secrets

They had covered the white painted walls of the room with posters. The posters depicted several stages of baby development and human anatomy. There was a sheet of paper near the door listing parenting classes. My chest tightened as I thought about the path laid before me. There was so much I needed to do. Then, when I looked around, but didn’t see any way for me to hide while I changed into the gown. I froze, panicked both by the seriousness of the situation and my impending state of undress. To my surprise, Liam noticed.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Uh… um… can you turn around?”

“Oh… oh… yeah, sorry.”

I laughed. “I know I’m acting weird.”

“It’s okay, I understand,” he assured me, as he turned to face the posters wall.

“It’s just… I know you’ve seen me naked before, but that was different.”

I changed into the gown and folded my clothes on the chair in the corner. Liam held out his hand to help me up on the examination table. I shivered when my legs touched the table because the room was cold. Liam sat in the corner of the room, with his hands clasped in his lap.

“I’m so nervous,” I whispered.

“It will be okay,” he stood and leaned next to the table.

A knock on the door made us both jump. I giggled. A younger woman wearing a lab coat and stethoscope walked in the door holding a folder. She closed the door behind her and faced me.

“Mairi Stewart?”

I swallowed. “Yes.”

“I’m Dr. McCall,” she opened my medical file. “So… it says here that you’re eighteen.”

“Yes, I’ll be nineteen on January second.”

Dr. McCall turned to Liam. “And you’re the father?”

Liam moved closer and intertwined his fingers with mine. “Yes.”

I expected a more judgmental reaction from her. If she disapproved of my condition, she was great at hiding it.

“When was your last period?”

I cringed. “Um… I can’t remember, but I know I’m pregnant. I’ve done the test, and I went to a doctor at home.”

“So how far along do you think you are?”

“Around five months,” I answered.

“I’ll have to lie down on the table and we’ll do the ultrasound.”

Dr. McCall put on latex gloves and grabbed a bottle of liquid. She rolled the monitor around so Liam and I could see. She rolled up my gown to reveal my midsection, then pushed the elastic of my underwear down. I glanced at Liam’s face and his gaze was fixated on the tiny bump, which was becoming larger every week.

“That won’t hurt her, will it?” Liam asked.

“No, not at all. It’s just going to be cold and she might feel uncomfortable if I need to push harder with the transducer.”

Dr. McCall squirted the gel on the wand and rubbed it on my stomach. I gasped at the coldness.

“Interesting,” she stated under her breath.

“What’s interesting?” I asked, trying to see what she was looking at. “Is there something wrong with the baby?”

She leaned closer to the monitor and turned up the volume.

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