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Louie kissed my cheek and pulled me a little tighter to his side. “Actually, you have an appointment today.”
As we passed the doctor, he gestured us into the room. “Connor, it’s good to see you again. Just get comfortable on the table and I’ll be right with you.”
I looked from Louie to the doctor. Why was I here? “Do I need to get undressed?”
He looked at me and shook his head. “No, you should be fine. Just lower your pants to your hips so I have access to your belly.”
“What?” A spike of panic flooded through me as I looked at Louie. “What’s going on?”
“Babe.” He looked at me as if I were being irrational. Maybe I was. I hoped I was. “Don’t give me that look like something bad is about to happen.” He cupped my cheek and gave me a soft kiss, lingering against my lips as my heartbeat slowly calmed down. “He’s agreed to do an ultrasound.”
“What? Already?” My hand immediately went to my belly. It wasn’t huge yet, but I definitely felt the growing life within me. “I thought it was too soon.”
“Too soon for a hospital to agree to it, maybe. But look around, sweetheart. We make the rules here, and if you want an ultrasound, you’ll get a fucking ultrasound.” He reached for my pants to help with the buckle and noticed they were the elastic kind that didn’t have any fasteners. He raised an eyebrow and grinned. “These look comfy.”
I laughed and shoved his shoulder. “Don’t make fun of me. This is your fault.”
He slowly dragged the front of my pants down in the front and dropped to his knees, kissing my belly. “My fault this time and every time.”
A warmth filled me as I imagined future babies with him. Babies that were planned in advance and welcomed into the family from day one. “Let’s see how this time goes before we plan the next one.”
He helped me onto the table and placed his hand protectively over my belly.
When the doctor came back, he quickly lubed up a wand and scanned the lower part of my belly until we could easily see our little one glowing on the monitor. “Okay, there we go.”
It got a little hard to see the tiny details the doctor was pointing out through the layer of tears in my eyes, but it was one of the best moments ever. Especially when a drop landed on my arm and I looked up and realized it had fallen from Louie’s eye.
“That’s my boy?” He had been listening to the doctor closer than I had.
“Wait, it’s a boy?” I wiped my eyes with my shirt sleeve and looked closer. “You can tell already?”
The doctor nodded and moved the pointer to a little speck on the screen. “Looks like a boy. Congratulations, Dads.”
A boy.
I turned to Louie and the tears streamed more freely. “We’re having a baby boy?”
“Damn right we are.” He coughed through his emotion, attempting to seem tough but not at all pulling it off. “I love you, Connor. Thank you for making this dream come true.”
He was my dream come true, but we had a lifetime to debate the topic.
EPILOGUE
CONNOR
Once we knew we were having a baby boy, everything seemed even more real.
A decorator was brought in to design a nursery because I couldn’t make up my mind by myself. In the end, I decided to keep it neutral with mostly whites and yellows, so it would work for this baby and all our future children. It also felt very elegant and nice, something I’d never really experienced in a bedroom before. Certainly much nicer than anything I ever had growing up and way beyond what I expected to be able to ever give to my child.
I spent most of my free time with Joey and Theo, helping him out while getting comfortable taking care of a newborn. Theo was alpha through and through, even as a tiny baby. He had lungs that made his demands clear and had every one of us wrapped around his little finger. And when my son was born, I hoped they’d be best friends as well as cousins.
Louie also changed almost overnight.
He went from gruff and stoic around his family to a doting softy who practically carried me around to make sure I was never strained or the least bit inconvenienced.
At first, it was silly. And then…it got to be a little annoying. But as the months wore on and my pregnancy progressed, it became a very nice luxury. He sought me out several times a day to see if I was hungry or thirsty or needed anything at all. And if Joey ever told me about a baby product or developmental toy that I just had to have, Louie ordered it immediately, promising that we’d always have everything we needed.
The only thing that would make my life perfect was having my son on the outside of my body…in my arms.
