“Okay, Dee, we get it. Promise.”
She looks over at me with a frown, and I can see the fear in her eyes.
“Stay as long as you want.” Axel offers.
She nods her head and then leaves the room to grab her purse.
“You okay with that, Ax?” I know he is ready to have his house back, but he just gives me a nod with nothing but understanding swimming in his green eyes.
We leave the house a few minutes later and make the short drive into town to the ultrasound clinic. Axel holds my hand the whole way and a content smile plays at his lips. I smile over at him and thank my lucky stars that he is back in my life.
When we pull up in front of the office, I see Greg standing outside the doors with his phone to his ear. He looks up when he hears the rumble of Axel’s truck and quickly says his goodbyes. I look over at Axel, wondering if he caught the abrupt end to Greg’s call.
“Stay out of it, Izzy. He wants you to know, he will tell you, yeah?”
I grumble but stay quiet while he walks around the truck and opens my door before taking me gently around the hips and bringing me to my feet. I hear his moan when I brush against his cock.
“Do not get my dick hard right before I go see my baby,” he laughs but can’t disguise the strain in his voice.
“Later,” I promise and walk around him to give Greg a big hug. Dee hangs back but comes up to give Greg a hug, too.
“You ready, baby girl?” he asks with a smile.
“God, yes. Last-minute guess on your niece or nephew?”
He smiles and looks over my shoulder at Axel. “Boy, baby girl. That is definitely going to be a boy.”
“Why do all of you seem so sure it’s going to be a boy?”
They both laugh loudly, and Dee and I just look at each other with confused faces.
“Baby girl, look at him. There is no fucking way he made a girl. No way.” He is still laughing when we walk into the reception area and I sign in. I shoot him a few dirty looks before sitting down next to Axel and thumbing through a baby magazine.
We wait for about fifteen minutes before they call me back.
“Is it okay if my family comes back, too?” I ask the technician.
“Sure, honey. The more the merrier.”
We follow her down a long hallway before entering the ultrasound room. It’s a large room with a couch off the side and a large recliner next to the ultrasound machine. The only other thing in the room is a large projector pointing down from the ceiling. When I sit down in the recliner, I notice that the large wall in front of me is a screen for viewing.
“Here you go. Place this sheet over your lap. That way we don’t flash everyone in the process.” She laughs and helps me cover up.
I look over to Axel and see the nervous anticipation on his face. He smiles at me and grabs my outstretched hand.
“Love you,” he mouths to me.
“Love you too,” I return.
“All right Ms. West. Let’s get you ready.”
I smile at Axel one more time when I see the frown on his face over the use of my last name. He was not happy with me when I told him that I wanted to wait for the baby to be born before we got married. He grudgingly agreed when I bribed him with sex.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be married to Axel, just the opposite. I couldn’t wait to be Mrs. Axel Reid, but it just felt right that our baby be there with us. When I sat him down and explained my reasons for wanting to wait, he wasn’t so upset anymore, but that didn’t mean he was happy about it.
“I’m just going to do some measurements before we take a look and see if this little one wants to make an announcement today, okay?”
I nod my head, too engrossed with the image of our baby on the large screen in front of us. Axel squeezes my hand, and I hear him let out a shuddered breath.
“Amazing,” I hear Greg whisper to Dee, who is too busy sniffling in her tissue to answer.
When the baby’s heartbeat fills the room, we all seem to pause in amazement. It never fails to fill my heart with joy to hear that fast-paced beating.
“You ready, Mom and Dad?” she asks us with a smile.
“Yes,” Axel says quickly before I can open my mouth.
I look up at her and smile. She gives me a wink before turning her attention back to the screen.
“Well, will you look at that? Someone isn’t shy at all.” She laughs to herself, and we sit there all looking at the moving little image on the screen.
It doesn’t take long for us to see what she was talking about. Right there, larger than life, is my son just letting it all hang out. Axel lets out a loud whoop and jumps up from his chair. He leans down and gives me a kiss before slapping hands with Greg. I laugh at their antics and wipe the tears from my face.