“There, right there.” She looked up at me. “Did you feel that?”
Concentrating on Maggie’s taut belly, I looked at her earnest face. God, she was beautiful. For the first time, I wondered what our baby would look like. Looking down, I realized that I felt a little flutter under my hand, like someone was running a finger under my hand. “Whoa, was that the baby?”
“Yes,” she whispered, eyes locked on mine.
Leaning down, I gently kissed her, keeping my hand firmly in place. Maggie opened her mouth to me, her tongue meeting mine immediately. She grasped my head, pulling me closer to her as she moved to wrap a leg around mine. I let go of her belly so that I could slide my hands under her ass to her thighs, picking her up and placing her on the counter. Maggie quickly parted her legs so that we were lined up in a way that made me want to scratch all our previous plans for the day.
After a few more moments, the whistle of the teakettle brought us back to the present. Leaning my forehead against hers, I worked to catch my breath. “Babe, we have to get to the doctor appointment.”
Maggie laughed. “Yeah, yeah.” She waited a beat or two, then looked up at me through her thick lashes. “Rain check.”
I pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Absolutely.”
Leaving her on the counter, I moved to the cabinet, nabbing the peppermint tea bags and a mug before filling it up with water from the kettle and setting it to her side. “So, agenda for the day?”
Glancing at the clock, Maggie tilted her head before proceeding. “We need to leave in the next half hour. Appointment is at ten. Then I told Ivy I’d work from eleven to three—”
I interrupted. “Want to swing by the brewery after that shift, then come to my parents’ for dinner?”
Maggie stuck her leg out, hooking it around my hips and pulling me flush against her. I figured she could feel my reluctance to take a rain check pressed up against her.
Sure enough, Maggie looked at me with a wicked grin. “I don’t think your entire body is on board with waiting.” Her smirk relayed her amusement with my current predicament.
“You are not helping,” I said, stepping back to adjust my jeans.
Taking my offered hand for help, Maggie grabbed it, slid off the counter, and picked up her tea. “So sorry, Mr. Sullivan,” she said with laughter filling her voice.
I grabbed a kitchen towel and swatted her ass as she swung it, headed toward the bedroom to get ready. “Payback tonight for that, Maggie,” I said, noting that my voice was far deeper than typical.
She glanced over her shoulder, brown eyes bright with amusement. “Counting on it, babe.”
I dropped the towel and let my head drop as I braced myself again the counter. Groaning, I wondered what else I should be doing to help Maggie figure out her next steps. She’d asked for time, and I was glad to give it to her. But her move-in date for her apartment was a week from today. While she hadn’t begun boxing up anything, I still had the countdown committed to memory. Staying had to be her choice. I didn’t want to pressure her. But as I listened to her talk to my dog in our bedroom, I prayed once again that she would finally believe that I was in this for the long haul. Life without Maggie was not on my agenda. Not now, not ever.
An hour later we were sitting in the exam room, Maggie on the table as she squirmed while we waited. I glanced up at her from my phone. “Babe, why are you fidgeting so much? You okay?” I looked at her with a little concern.
“I’m fine,” she said while, let it be known, she squirmed some more.
I thought back on the past hour. She’d had tea and a shit ton of water. Surely she had to pee, why not just go?
“Babe, do you want me to let them know you need to go to the bathroom?” Maybe she didn’t want to parade out there to find a nurse in the ass-baring gowns they always put her in.
Maggie gave me a look that told me to mind my own business. Noted. I wasn’t able to be at the last appointment due to some shit at the brewery. I wondered if we’d hear the heartbeat again today. I couldn’t get enough of that.
Maggie moved again on the table, then crossed her legs.
“Princess,” I said as I gave her a you’re-full-of-shit look. The woman had to pee. Just as I was about to find a nurse myself, the door opened.
A tech walked in, and she said, “Are we ready to see this baby?”
Grinning, Maggie looked at me. “Surprise?”
I stood slowly, moving next to Maggie, “What’s going on?”
She lay back as the tech moved next to her, pulling out some jelly. “We’re going to see the baby today.”
I slid my hand into hers. “Seriously?”
The tech put some jelly on her belly. She flinched. “Dang, that’s cold.” Looking back to me, she asked, “Good surprise?”
