This earns me another appearance of her dimple.
“What did you call me?” I ask.
“Trevor,” she says. “Or Trev.” She chuckles. “Not very original.”
I kick her sneaker with my boot. “You called me baby once. That first day under the tree. After you kissed me and you thought I got my memory back.”
“That had never happened before. I think I was overcome by the moment. Is there something you prefer?”
“Well, let’s see. You tend to call me Trev when you want my dick inside you. And you definitely call me Trev when you come. So, yeah, I’m gonna go with that. I mean, you call me God too, but I’m thinking that might be a tad inappropriate for everyday use.”
She blushes and looks around to see if anyone heard me.
I chuckle. “Is that the sort of dangerous you’re talking about, babe?”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“Deal with it,” I say with zero guilt whatsoever, surmising this may in fact be another new trait.
She smirks then smiles. “Gladly.”
“Now, how about we call my parents and ask if they can get together for dinner?”
Mom is crying. And not just happy crying, blubbering idiot crying. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve called her Mom, or if it’s because she just found out she’s going to be a grandmother. Probably a little of both.
Ava is pulled into a hug by my dad as Mom’s arms surround me. Then we switch it up and Dad grips me tightly and pats my back. “I knew you had it in you to step up and do the right thing.”
“This is definitely not just about the baby,” I assure them, as well as Ava. “I’d have come to my senses with or without her.”
“Her?” Mom squeals. “It’s a girl?”
More hugging.
I think I’ve gotten more hugs from her in the past five minutes than in the past few months. Probably because I was always so standoffish and she didn’t want to come on too strong. I appreciate that about her and my dad, that they gave me the time to figure things out for myself.
I tell them about my quest to reinstate my physician’s license, how I delivered a baby at Carter’s cabin, and about how reading an old letter I’d written to Ava had me crawling back, tail between my legs.
And even though she didn’t have to, Ava comes clean and tells them about the loan and the embryo transfers.
They have zero negative reactions to it. I get the idea my parents would have been thrilled to have a small part of me had I truly been the one who died in that attack.
Ava shows them the ultrasound pictures, and it has me thinking…
“When do you go back to the doctor?”
“Not for a few weeks.”
“I want to go with you. I want to see the baby live and in person.”
With a slight shake of her head, she says, “I won’t be having another ultrasound until the visit after that. Around twenty weeks will be the next one.”
“I’m coming,” I say. “And you’ll be getting another ultrasound. I have no idea if I was capable of convincing people before, but I promise you, I can beveryconvincing now.”
Ava snickers loudly as we share a look. Is she thinking what I am? That I convinced her to take me back after what a douchebag I’d been? Convinced her to let me sleep in her bed the very night I returned? And that I convinced her to give this whole thing a go even after she’d pretty much decided it wasn’t going to happen?
“Plus,” I say with a cocky grin. “I’m kind of sort of a doctor, and doctors do each other favors.” I snort. “I think.”
“I think you can do whatever you set your mind to,” Dad says. “I’m proud of you, son. I hope you know that.”
