“Th-thank you,” I manage to stammer out.
“I’ll tell you what, I’m going to be in Minnesota for a concert for another artist I work with next week. Do you think you’d have time to meet with me?”
My brows furrow in confusion. “I’m sorry, how did you know I was from Minnesota?”
“The internet unfortunately and fortunately in my case knows all, Miss Gray. Anyways, I’d love to meet you and go over some ideas I have to really shoot you into stardom. What do you say?”
I worry my bottom lip between my teeth. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath before opening them and answering Kyle. “I say send me the time and place.”
“Fantastic! Is it okay if I just text you the details once I get them ironed out?” he asks.
“Yes, that works just fine.”
“Looking forward to meeting you, Taevin. Have a good evening.”
“Thank you, you as well,” I tell him before the line disconnects.
“What was that about?” Jackson asks, startling me from where he stands beneath the entryway to the kitchen.
I grasp my chest and take a deep breath. “Oh my goodness, you scared me.” I pause, debating how much I want to tell him because I don’t want to get his hopes up, or worse, give him any potential reason to worry. Today is our wedding day after all. I look past him to where I know my dad is likely sitting in the dining room. “Can I tell you later?” I whisper, hoping I can play it off like I don’t want my dad to overhear.
Jax looks unsure but nods once. “Yeah, no problem. Can I help you with anything?”
“Yes, please. Would you mind grabbing the buns out of the oven for me? The oven mitts are in the second drawer to the right of the oven.”
“Sure thing,” he says. “It smells amazing in here by the way. Thanks for cooking, baby.” Jax places a quick kiss on my forehead before heading to the oven.
We work our way around the kitchen as we finish preparing dinner. I attempted to make one of his favorites tonight. I even asked his mom for her goulash recipe so I could get it just right. She dropped off three jars of his nana’s homemade sauce, so I don’t think I could’ve managed to mess it up too badly.
And with the way Jax ends up eating thirds tonight, I’d say I did just fine. Though the entire time we’re sitting for dinner, I have a niggling sense in the back of my mind that something big is about to happen. Even hours later as I stare up at my ceiling,I feel something akin to dread instead of the overwhelming joy I should feel on my wedding night.
25
Now
I’m in and out of it as I wake up from the anesthesia, and at one point instead of Jackson being beside me, my mind plays tricks on me and I’m almost certain I see my father praying over me.
That’s nice . . . I could use the extra prayers today considering it’s my one shot at having children of my own. No pressure or anything.
Unsure of how much time has passed, I struggle through the haze to open my eyes. I’ve always had a harder time waking up from anesthesia, even general anesthesia like they used on me today.
When I finally come to, I realize Dr. Prescott is at the end of my bed holding a tablet in her hand while talking to Jackson.
“We were able to successfully retrieve fourteen eggs, which is on the higher end of average,” she tells him.
“That’s great, right?” Jackson asks, sounding hopeful.
Dr. Prescott nods her head. “It’s a very positive result for the first phase of the egg retrieval. Now we will fertilize the eggs with your sperm. Tomorrow, the embryologist will checkon the status of the fertilized eggs and by day three you will know how many embryos there are developing. We also typically recommend doing genetic testing at that point. Then on either day five or six, you’ll get a call with an updated number of embryos that have reached the blastocyst stage, which will be the number of embryos they will freeze. If you choose to do genetic testing, the results won’t come in for one to two weeks, so the freezing stage will happen prior to getting those results. Do you have any questions?”
“I do,” I croak, swallowing past my dry throat.
Dr. Prescott and Jax both turn to look at me. “Hey, there she is,” Jax says with a relieved smile.
“Hello, Taevin. I was just telling Jackson that we were able to successfully retrieve fourteen eggs,” Dr. Prescott repeats for me.
“I heard that. That is great news. On average, how many eggs will reach the blastocyst stage?” I ask her.
“Typically between thirty to fifty percent,” she answers.
