Page 263 of Wicked Brutal

Becca leans her head against my shoulder. “Listen to that. That’s your baby.”

I laugh through my tears. “I know.”

“Yours and Ryan’s.”

“Cat wipes her cheeks. “That kid already has approximately nine hundred fucking people obsessed with it.”

“Language,” I say automatically.

Silence. All three girls stare at me. I realize what I just did. Penny starts laughing first, then Becca, then Darla.

Cat points at my stomach. “You hear that? Your mother is already ruining everything.”

“I am not.”

“You’re policing my language in utero.”

“I wasn’t thinking.”

“Clearly.”

I laugh hard enough that my lip pulls, and I wince.

Becca notices immediately. “So help me God, Roman.”

“Good day,” I remind her.

“Right.” She looks at the screen. “Good day.”

Darla keeps watching the baby. Then she smiles. “Heartbeat looks good.”

The laughter fades out. I look at her. “Good?”

“Good. Everything I’m able to see here is reassuring.”

My eyes close. For one second, I just breathe. Becca squeezes my hand. Cat rests hers carefully against my ankle. Penny comes around and puts one on my shoulder. All of them touching me. Holding me here. My baby is okay. We’re okay.

“This doesn’t change what I told Ryan,” Darla says. “Bleeding, cramping, pain, pressure, anything wrong — you call me immediately.”

“I will.”

“Good.” She takes one last look at the screen. “Because right now, that is one very stubborn little baby.”

Cat smiles through the last of her tears. “Obviously. Look at the parents.”

“Excuse me?”

Becca laughs against my shoulder. “She isn’t wrong.” I look at the screen again. At our baby. And for the first time since Thursday night, the fear in my chest loosens. Just a little.

“Can Ryan see?”

Darla smiles.

“I figured you’d ask.” She saves a picture. “I’ll send it to him.”

My eyes fill all over again. Cat groans. “Oh, come on. She’s starting again.”

“You’re crying too.”