“Everything looks great at first glance.”
Cheryl was clicking and freezing and measuring things on the screen while Mandy stared and Damien gave a running commentary.
“Look at that, he’s waving at us. Oh, he’s flipping around a little, trying to get comfortable, I guess. Whoa, check out the big toe.”
“What makes you think it’s a he?” Mandy thought they were looking at the bum, but she wasn’t entirely sure. “Do you see something I don’t?”
Cheryl laughed. “Do you want to know the sex? I can see if I can get a good shot for you.”
“Well, I want to know,” Damien said before she could even get her mouth open.
She stared at him. Up to this point, she hadn’t been concerned with whether it was a boy or a girl, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. It seemed like a special surprise at the end. “I don’t think I want to know.”
“She can just tell me and I’ll keep it a secret.”
Damien seemed to have forgotten one minor little detail. This wasn’t his baby. But he looked so enchanted, so excited for her, that she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. Maybe it was the emotion of the moment. Maybe it was her appreciation for all he had done for her. But it seemed to her that maybe, just a little bit, she had fallen in love with Damien Sharpton.
“I’m not going to have you know when I don’t know.” She laughed, picturing Damien trying to keep that a secret. One glance at his desk would unearth a copy ofRaising Girlsor something similar, and she would have the answer whether she wanted it or not.
“So is that a yes or a no?” Cheryl asked.
He looked at her in agony, leg vibrating as he jiggled his foot. “It’s up to you.”
Oh, yes. She was in love with him. Heart swelling, fingers clutching his, tears stinging her eyes, she nodded. “Tell us.”
“It’s a girl.” Cheryl pointed to the screen. “You can see right here there are definitely no baby boy parts.”
A girl. A little girl. Pink blankets and bonnets and lacy dresses.
“A girl,” Damien breathed, staring at the screen. “She’s perfect. Like her mother.”
Maybe that was pushing things a bit, but Mandy wasn’t going to protest. She felt a single tear roll out of each eye, and she blinked hard to fight more.
“But what’s wrong with the name Rebecca?”
Not the name thing again. Mandy wiped her cheek and laughed in exasperation. “There’s nothing wrong with Rebecca. I just happen to like Cecilia.”
“That’s one of those names that sounds great with your British accent, but not as much zing when Americans say it.” He turned to Cheryl. “Which name do you like better?”
The technician held up her hand. “Whoa. I stay out of discussions like this.”
“Damien, we can talk about this later.” Much later. Like never.
“We’re almost finished here.” Cheryl started printing out the photos of the baby. “Due date comes up as October twenty-one according to the size of the fetus.”
“Hey, I wanted to ask, could you tell if there was anything wrong like an embolism or anything?” Damien asked Cheryl. “Because before we knew we shouldn’t, we had oral sex. Cunnilingus. And I wanted to make sure we didn’t inadvertently force air into the vagina.”
Mandy almost fell off the table. “Damien!” She was certain that nothing could sound more horrifying than the wordcunnilinguswhen spoken in reference to her. “You didnotjust say that.” She didn’t dare even glance at Cheryl, afraid she would melt from mortification at the horror she was sure was on the technician’s face.
“What? We’re all adults here, and I’ve been really worried about it.”
The man had the nerve to stand there looking completely innocent. Looking concerned. Looking professional. As if discussing his cunnilingus-ing her wasn’t something a bit too private for mixed company.
“You have really lost your mind. Next thing I know, you’ll probably be stopping people on the street to discuss my hemorrhoids.” Mandy took the towel Cheryl was handing her and started wiping her stomach. She winced as she pressed on her overextended bladder.
“You have hemorrhoids?” Damien exclaimed, his face twisting into a grimace.
She should let him think she did. She should promote any sort of gruesome aspect of pregnancy that would get him away from her before they both found themselves in a complicated mess.
