“Doctor Martinez will be with you in just a moment,” the nurse said as he finished writing the last of the data onto the tablet in his hand. He left them alone, with Grace sitting on the paper-covered exam table. Feeling awkward again, Alex went to stand by her.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“Not great.” Grace bit her lip. “A little queasy.”
“That’s understandable. You are pregnant, after all.”
“This isn’t because I’m pregnant. It’s because this all feels so weird.” She glanced up at him. “Doesn’t it?”
“It does,” Alex agreed.
Before either of them could say anything else, Doctor Martinez entered. She was a middle-aged woman with thick black hair and brown eyes behind glasses. She wore a white lab coat, but her shoes were bright purple. Alex found himself looking at those shoes, wondering if they meant that the doctor was whimsical and if a whimsical obstetrician was good or not.
“You must be Ms. Boden,” she said, taking Grace’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you. And is this your husband? Or boyfriend?”
“No,” Alex and Grace both said quickly.
“Oh, my apologies.” The doctor turned to Alex and held out her hand. “I’m Doctor Martinez.”
“I’m Alex Medson. I’m… the baby’s father.”
“Wonderful to meet you. Let’s get started.” Doctor Martinez asked Grace a few questions about her sleep, her appetite, and her emotions. Alex felt increasingly uncomfortable. This was a very personal interview, and he was the one who’d pushed to come. Maybe Grace felt uncomfortable talking about discharge and nausea and pimples with Alex around. He tried not to listen too closely.
“Time for the ultrasound,” the doctor said after a few minutes. She reached for a wand, squirted blue jelly on Grace’s bare stomach, and explained that the image would appear on the screen. “I’m checking to make sure everything is progressing as it should,” she said. “I’ll take measurements to confirm your dates as well.” She pressed the wand to Grace’s stomach, scanning, and then smiled. “There we go. That’s your baby.”
Alex squinted at the grainy black and white image on the screen. To him, it looked less like a baby and more like an alien life-form in an old movie. He tried to make out hands and feet, or at least a head, but just saw moving gray blobs.
“It looks like your dates are correct,” Doctor Martinez continued. “You look to be exactly twelve weeks along. And I know the baby’s sex. Would you like me to tell you?”
“Yes please,” Grace said.
“That’s fine,” Alex agreed. He kind of liked the idea of waiting, but he wasn’t going to argue with Grace.
“You’re having a little boy,” Doctor Martinez said. “Congratulations.”
Alex’s heart warmed as he imagined Little League games and scraped knees and blue walls in a nursery. He glanced at Grace, who was staring at the screen with wide eyes. He wanted this to be a moment that they shared, but she didn’t look at him. Again, he felt out of place.
“All right. I’ll continue checking the placenta and womb,” Doctor Martinez said. She swept the wand across Grace’s stomach—then her eyes widened. Alex caught the change in her expression before her face returned to reassuringly neutral.
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
“Just a moment,” Doctor Martinez said. Now, Grace looked at Alex with wide, scared green eyes.
“Alex?” she said quietly. Instinctively, Alex took her hand and squeezed it.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said.
Grace bit her lip and squeezed his hand back. The longest few minutes of Alex’s life passed, from one breath to the next. Grace held his hand, her fingers warm and gentle and fitting perfectly in his palm. In another moment, he might have wondered what it meant that they were holding hands, but now, he was completely focused on Grace and the baby. What if something had gone wrong? He couldn’t stand it if anything happened to either of them.
“Very well,” Doctor Martinez said. “I can confirm that you are carrying twins.”
“Twins?” Grace looked up at Alex as if for confirmation. “How?”
“Twins,” the doctor confirmed. “Don’t worry—both are perfectly healthy. Do you have any family history of twins?”
“No,” Grace said.
“Mr. Medson?”
