Page 53 of More to Love

“I am Dr. Wilcox. I’ve been her OB/GYN for years. Glad to finally meet you,” she said with a beaming smile on her face.

“Same. Has she been doing everything she’s supposed to? Somebody is just now catching me up to speed with this.”

She looked at Sorimah and Ri gave her a slight smile. She knew she was in the wrong, but we were moving pass things and starting fresh. We figured that in order to make the best of us, we needed to let go of a lot and start moving as one.

“Well, I can tell you that she’s been coming to all of her appointments and staying on top of things regarding the fetus. I believe she’s been doing the best she can.”

“I tried telling him that but for some reason he thought I was lying,” Ri chimed in.

“Not lying but leaving things out. I need to know every detail about my family. I’m not playing about either one of y’all.” The eye contact was intact, so she knew I wasn’t joking around. She gave a soft nod and placed her hand in mine.

“Okay then. Let’s get started. Sorimah, have you experienced any pain or discomfort since our last visit? I want to make sure you’re good,” Dr. Wilcox spoke in a tone that seemed to always be in an excited mode.

“Nope. This man made sure to stress me out but also make everything feel better. I’m good Dr. Wilcox, I promise.”

“Good to hear. I love that for you. I know you had the girls but the support from your partner always makes things better. Let’s see what this nugget is so we can stop calling it an ‘it.’ Lay back for me,” she instructed.

I was eager to know the gender of our beautiful creation. I held Sorimah’s hand to my mouth pecking at the back of it. It calmed my nerves down a bit. Having her that close to me and knowing I was about to become a father felt surreal. It was a moment I never thought I would get.

For so long, I tried to have a child with Aviana, but I always failed. To be honest, I felt like she aborted my child and more than once at that. We were sexually active for damn near five years and unprotected for four and a half. There was no way we missed out on having kids together. She was just too conniving to believe anything other than that.

Everything with Ri happened so fast. Me falling for her and starting this family were at the top of the list but I was happier to have these moments with her than I was to make anymore with Aviana. I risked being able to see Princess every day to be able to have this life with my woman and biological instead.

“Look right here and began to look forward to your daughter. Congratulations you two, it’s a girl!”

Another daughter, one that I couldn’t be torn away from. I smiled and shed a silent tear. When it came to my kids, I always wanted them around and under me. I never wanted them to feel unprotected or unsafe. I was the protector and provider for them as well as their mother and Sorimah was going to be Akeera’s stepmother if I ever got the chance to be her father again.

“Yes!” Sorimah stated excitedly.

I couldn’t enjoy the good news fully because of the phone call I was receiving that interrupted our celebratory moment. I dug through my pockets and retrieved it. On the screen I saw that it was Amira, Aviana’s sister.

“Give me a second beautiful,” I said letting go of her hand and stepping away from the table. “Hello.”

“Hey Hendrix, it’s Amira.”

“Yeah, I know. What’s the issue?”

She had me worried that something was wrong with Princess. She wasn’t the kind of person that reached out, so my antennae was up and alert.

“Is there any way you can spare me some of your time? There are a lot of things going on and your help is needed.”

“Is Akeera alright?” I questioned with my tone elevating more than I wanted it to. That got the attention of both Sorimah and Dr. Wilcox.

“What’s wrong with her Hendrix?” Sorimah was sitting up not caring about her exposed belly covered in jelly. I instantly threw my hand up signaling her to hold up a minute.

“She’s fine but there’s more to it. I really just need to see you as soon as possible.”

“Yeah. Give me an hour and I’ll be back at the crib in Reedsburg. I’ll call you when I touchdown.”

Hanging up, my thoughts were all over the place. She has always been a soft-spoken woman but I could tell something detrimental happened and she wasn’t trying to let me in on it just yet. I walked back over to Sorimah and she wore a look of concern as well. She loved Akeera just as much as I did, if not more and my baby gravitated toward her equally.

“Can we wrap this up doc? We have a pressing matter to attend.” I didn’t want to rush this moment, but we really didn’t have a choice but to get this show on the road.

“Sure. Let me take a few more pics, print them off, and then you can be on your way.”

I stood caressing Ri’s hand but the way I wanted to take off to go to my baby was putting me in a difficult situation. All I could think about was my daughter and that something was wrong. I knew when bad news was supposed to be distributed because it was a wave of reassurance that everything was fine before they dropped the ball.

The room fell silent and all you could hear was our daughter’s heartbeat. It took Dr. Wilcox a little over ten minutes before she had our pictures ready, and our next appointment scheduled. She was able to handle it and get us out of the way as promised.