AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Justin Fucking Travers is the reason this baby most likely isn’t mine biologically and that makes me wonder again where the hell I fit in. Sure, I can be a father. But not biologically, not legally, not with my name anywhere. I refuse to be a side note to our child.
"Danielle?"
We look up and see a woman in the open doorway, wearing scrubs and glancing around the waiting room.
"That’s me." Dani stands up.
We all pop up too and the woman looks a little startled.
"Is everyone coming with you?" she asks, studying our faces like she’s trying to figure out who is who and why the hell we’re all here.
"Yes, they’re all coming in with me."
The tech looks a little annoyed that she’s going to have to wrangle a crowd, but she pastes a smile on her face. "Great. I’m Jeanine. Which one of you is Dad?"
"They all are," Dani says, her chin up proudly, and a little defiantly.
There’s nothing but silence for a solid five seconds, then Jeanine appears to decide she doesn’t care enough to ask for further details because she just repeats, "Great. A couple of you will have to stand."
I open my mouth and Michael gives me a don’t-say-anything look, which offends me. I was going to say that was fine, but clearly he was assuming I was going to be an asshole about it. Instead of stating my case for most reasonable boyfriend ever, I just very generously take a spot at Dani’s feet and let Michael and Nathan file in on the side of her opposite the ultrasound technician. I stick my hands in my pockets because I don’t know what to do with them as the tech explains all the machinery and instructs Dani to lift her shirt and roll her leggings down.
It’s quiet in the room and when she squirts gel on Dani’s stomach, it sounds loud. It also sounds like ketchup or mustard coming out of the bottle and the unwanted thought has me lifting my hand and coughing into it. The enormity of this moment is suddenly making my throat tight.
I pull my phone out and take a few photos of Dani, the guys next to her. I want to capture that look on her face. It’s nerves and wonder and excitement as the wand drops onto her belly.
Then we see the image pop up on the screen. There is tapping on the keyboard from the tech and then we hear it.
The heartbeat.
Holy shit…
"There he is," Dani says, head turned toward the screen. "Hi, baby."
Her voice already sounds different. She sounds like a mother. I’ve never been more in love with her than I am right now, seeing her light up at the sound of our baby’s heartbeat.
"It sounds strong," Michael says, holding Dani’s hand.
Nathan has a hand on her shoulder. He doesn’t speak and I can see why. He’s fighting with his emotions. His jaw is set and his nostrils are flaring.
I give Dani’s foot a squeeze because it’s only the part of her accessible to me, but I don’t mind because holy shit, that’s a baby on the screen.
It looks more like a baby than I was expecting.
"There’s the head, obviously, and the spine." There is more clicking and tapping on the keyboard as the tech measures this and that and spouts out things that I’m barely listening to. I hear, "normal, age appropriate, well-developed," and a few other things that make it clear there are no red flags and so I just stare at that screen in total fucking amazement.
It’s a baby. Little feet, little fingers, a big head, a tiny button nose. For a brief second, I wonder if the baby looks like me before I recover my sanity. There is no way to tell on this screen. If anything, the baby looks like Stanford, Nathan’s grandfather, which isn’t even possible since Nathan can’t have kids.
“Do we want to know, boy or girl?” Jeanine asks.
The guys and I look to Dani. “It’s your decision," I tell her.
Dani quickly shakes her head. “I don’t want to know."
“So everything is good?" Nathan asks the tech.
“The doctor will let you know if there is any cause for concern, but everything is measuring the way it should.”
Michael is eagle-eyeing the shit out of everything, and he doesn’t look alarmed, so I feel reassured that everything is fine.
