Secretly Hers (Sterling Canyon)(74)
The high concentration of estrogen in the stuffy, windowless room was giving him more vertigo than an expert-only rated climb.
“Kelsey?” A nurse called out.
“Right here.” Kelsey’s sunny smile helped him settle. Knowing he’d helped put that smile on her face was deeply satisfying, too. “Ready?”
“Yep,” he lied. He didn’t know exactly what happened inside this kind of doctor’s office, but he guessed it wasn’t anything a man should have to see.
Dr. Davis, a pleasant, plump woman in her midfifties, helped put Trip at ease with her friendly, but matter-of-fact, approach to the visit. After asking a laundry list of questions, and performing a pelvic exam that made Trip very glad Kelsey’s doctor wasn’t a guy, she turned on some equipment and squeezed blue gel over the tip of some kind of probe.
Kelsey didn’t look bothered, but Trip felt his eyebrows scale his forehead and his thighs squeeze together when he watched it disappear under the paper drape over Kelsey’s legs. Then he heard Kelsey gasp. He followed her gaze toward the screen, where he saw a whole lot of black and gray and not much else.
“See that little sac?” Dr. Davis extended her finger toward the screen. Trip strained to discern the sac from the rest of the photo, but he finally saw it. “That’s the yolk sac and that tiny pea is the baby.”
His breath stuck in his lungs. His baby might not be any bigger than a sesame seed, but there it was, safe and warm inside this beautiful creature to his right.
“I don’t hear a heartbeat.” Kelsey’s anxious voice and pinched forehead caused Trip to hold her hand while he looked at the doctor, praying for a non-devastating explanation. He could handle almost anything except seeing Kelsey hurt.
“You’re not quite six weeks along, so it’s a little early for the heartbeat.” The doctor kept wiggling that probe and studying the screen while she spoke. “At your next appointment you’ll hear it and see more than this tiny speck.”
Kelsey’s face glowed once more. She craned her neck and squinted, concentrating on trying to see a baby instead of a dot. Then she pried Trip’s fingers from her hand. “Ouch.”
He hadn’t realized he’d been squeezing her hand. He looked at the little spot and back at Kelsey.
No doubts now. This was all real. A baby. A family. Hopefully one like he’d had with his mom and grandfather. Thinking of them, he wondered if they could see this somehow, from above. His mother would’ve doted on her grandchild.
His nose tingled and he felt his eyes begin to water. Overwhelmed by emotions he couldn’t name, he leaned forward, kissed Kelsey’s temple, and smoothed her hair. He might not be one hundred percent sure he could handle these changes, but he didn’t want her to doubt him.
She broke into another smile before turning to the doctor. “So what’s the due date?”
“May ninth, give or take.” The doctor handed Kelsey a printed picture of the ultrasound. “Let’s schedule your next visit in four weeks. In the meantime, fill this prenatal vitamin prescription, eat healthy, get lots of rest, and stay hydrated.”
Trip doubted Kelsey even heard the doctor’s last remark, she’d been so focused on the photo in her hand. Radiant—the only word that came to mind when he looked at her face. Seeing her full of joy and love and excitement made his heart beat a little faster. She looked gorgeous and sexy and, best of all, she was all his. That thought stirred a different part of his anatomy.
“Hey, Doc.” Trip’s one and only question might be indelicate, but he had to ask. “So, are there any restrictions on other activities, like, you know . . . sex?”
Kelsey covered her face, but Dr. Davis chuckled. “Normal sexual activity is perfectly safe and healthy.”
Relief washed through Trip, because the very next thing he wanted to do with his day was get Kelsey into bed. It’d been three weeks since she’d called quits on all physical contact, and he was more than eager to resume that part of this relationship.
As soon as the doctor left the office, Trip turned to Kelsey.
She sat up, cheeks as red as apples, and motioned toward her clothes for his help. “I can’t believe the only question you asked this whole time was about sex.”
“Really?” He handed her the dress and gave her a peck on the lips before joking, “I think anyone who knows me would expect that to be the only question I’d ask.”
At least she snickered before putting her clothes back on while still seated on the table. “I’m hungry.”