Molly stood up, clutching her purse as she walked toward the nurse. When she glanced back at me, still sitting in my seat, confusion crossed her face.
“Are you coming?” she asked, tilting her head.
“Do you want me to?” I asked, my chest tightening. I honestly thought I was just there for moral support or something.
She laughed softly. “Yes, Liam. I would like you to come back with me.”
I stood, wiping my palms on my jeans as I followed them down the hall.
The nurse told Molly she wouldn’t need to change into a gown this time, which immediately seemed to put her at ease.
I took the single chair beside the exam table Molly sat on, my eyes drifting around the room. A large TV hung on the wall, and next to Molly was some kind of medical machine with wands, buttons, and cords. Pamphlets about different kinds of birth control were scattered across the counter.
That ship has sailed.I laughed to myself.
After a few minutes of awkward silence as I nervously bounced my knee up and down, a woman walked through the door with a long white coat over her scrubs. She looked surprised but happy to see me sitting there.
“I see we brought dad today,” she said, smiling at Molly, who sat up, returning the smile.
“I did,” Molly said, glancing at me with a soft smile.
The doctor flipped through Molly’s chart. “Good news—you’re officially in the second trimester, which is most women’s favorite since the morning sickness usually eases up. The bad news is you’ll probably start feeling like you need to pee more often as the baby puts more pressure on your bladder. Not constantly, like in the third trimester, but enough to notice. How have you been feeling overall?” she said, sitting on the rolling chair.
“The morning sickness does seem to have eased up over the last week or so. I felt him kick for the first time last week too.”
“That’s great. Lots of movement is happening right now as the little peanut develops new reflexes.”
As the doctor checked Molly’s blood pressure, I wondered how she’d managed to be sick and hide it so well. She’d never mentioned anything about morning sickness—at least not to me. But I wasn’t exactly her favorite confidant right now.
“Your blood pressure is great. Go ahead and lean back and lift your shirt.”
Molly lifted her shirt to expose her growing belly. The doctor squeezed some clear gel on top, spreading it around with the wand connected to the white machine stationed next to her.
As the doctor slid the wand over Molly’s belly, the outline of a baby appeared on the TV screen. Not a lot of detail, but enough for me to know what I was looking at. The doctor pressed buttons on a keypad, taking measurements of different parts of the baby’s body.
“Everything is measuring just as it should,” she said. “Let’s check on the little nugget’s heart next.”
She repositioned the wand over Molly’s belly, aligning it with a small circle on the screen, and pressed a button on the machine. A whooshing sound filled the room.
“That, Mr. Carson, is your son’s heartbeat,” the doctor said, smiling at me as we watched the rhythmic spikes on the screen. I covered my mouth in disbelief, trying my best not to cry, but it wasn’t working. I stared at the screen, hypnotized, and tried to swipe away the tears before they could fall. Maybe Molly wouldn’t notice me off to the side, trying not to bawl like the baby growing in her belly would one day.
After wiping the gel off of Molly’s belly and turning off the ultrasound machine, the doctor explained the next steps as she repositioned Molly’s shirt.
“You won’t have to come back in for six more weeks. But if you’re not feeling well or you notice less fetal movement than normal, you can always call us and we’ll get you in sooner.”
She tore off a strip of black-and-white pictures that had printed from the ultrasound machine. The same type of pictures Molly had held up that night at Jace’s when she told everyone she was pregnant.
After leaving the doctor’s office, I walked Molly to her car. Not really sure how this moment was supposed to play out, I shifted from foot to foot, trying to act casual, though my mind kept drifting back to the sound of the baby’s heartbeat.
After a few quiet seconds, Molly held out the pictures the doctor had given her.
“Here… you can have these, if you want.”
“Are you sure?”
“He’s just as much your baby as he is mine, Liam,” she said. “I have some from my last doctor’s visit. You can have these.”
I took the pictures, holding them carefully. My eyes traced the tiny shape on the paper.So this is really happening.
