Page 26 of Mia

“I am.” I reached in my pocket and handed her an envelope. “For your troubles.”

She didn’t miss a beat in sliding it into her pocket.

“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you. What brings you two in today?”

“He just wants to see the baby,” Mia answered.

“Is this your first ultrasound?” she asked me.

“It is.”

“Well, I’d be more than happy to catch you up. Give me a moment to grab the machine.”

She left us alone, returning about a minute later with the ultrasound machine. My hands were sweaty as she prepared Mia. A nigga had never been so nervous. The moment she flipped on that machine and my baby’s heartbeat filled the room, tears sprang to my eyes. When the image populated, it took everything in me not to cry like a bitch.

“Fuck man…” I whispered. “That’s my baby.”

Dr. Reid smiled. “That’s your little one. Seventeen weeks. Strong heartbeat. Very healthy…. Oh! Somebody is showing all their business today! Would you like to know what you’re having?”

“Wait,” Mia said, looking at the screen. “You can tell now?”

“Yep. I just need a yes or a no.”

She looked at me, and I looked at her. I was dying to know. Mia must have sensed it because she nodded.

“You can tell us.”

“You’re having a baby girl!”

I stood and stepped closer to the monitor. “A baby girl, huh? You gon’ run my pockets heavy, aren’t you, lil’ mama?”

“And you’re gonna let her,” Mia answered.

I grinned. “She can bankrupt me.” Cupping her face, I kissed her lips. “Thank you, baby.”

“I can have these printed for you,” Dr. Reid said.

“Multiples,” I requested. “We have a lot of family to break the news to.”

“Of course.”

Dr. Reid checked a few more things before leaving us so Mia could get dressed. I was already thinking of ways to break the news of our pregnancy to my parents. Maybe the news of their impending grandparenthood would soften the blow of knowing that I got married without them being present. My mother for sure was gonna get in my ass.

Tara DeLuca didn’t play that secrecy shit. There were never any secrets in our family. Everyone knew everything because, in some way, shape, or form, it involved us all. She wasn’t going for being a grandmother and not knowing about it. Just like Ms. Maddie, she was sure to pull out that belt and whip my ass.

After Mia got dressed, we headed up front to get the pictures. While we were at it, we had her records sent over to the same doctor who had delivered the last couple of babies in the Dillinger family. Since she was headed home in a few days, I wanted to make sure everything was set. Hand in hand, we walked out the building and headed to my truck.

No sooner than we were inside did her phone go off. She turned the screen so I could see that it was JacQues. Mia sighed heavily before answering the call on speaker.

“Yes?”

JacQues came through speaker in frustrating tone. “Celeste? Where are you? We were supposed to meet this morning.”

“Something came up. My apologies.”

“This was an important meeting.”

“And I said something came up. Didn’t you run out on dinner the other night? I didn’t make a big deal about that.”