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The nurse took my blood pressure and then stood, telling me, “Blood pressure is normal.” She folded the cuff up. “The doctor will be in shortly, and then we can check the baby out.”
“Thank you,” I murmured as she walked out of the door and left the three of us alone again.
As soon as the door clicked shut, Mom burst out, “I can’t believe you’d take advantage of her like that, Ford.” I raised my brows and turned to face her. “You’ve been like an uncle to her, and then you go and do that? You’re more than twice her age.”
Ford laughed and scraped his hand down his face. “You really wanna go there, Lola?”
Mom’s nostrils flared, and she opened her mouth to reply, but the door opened again and in walked the doctor. I was starting to like this place because they knew exactly when to come in and break the tension. I couldn’t think about what my mom and dad would be thinking, not now, not when all I wanted was to make sure the baby was okay.
“I’m Doctor Lee,” the doctor said, holding his hand out to me, and I shook it. He was short, more like my height, but his rounded face seemed kind. Wrinkles dotted most of his face, but his eyes were sincere as he sat next to me on the same stool the nurse had been on. “The nurse tells me you’ve been in the wars.”
“Something like that,” I said, trying to sound easy, but I was anything but. I knew what I looked like. I knew the way the bruises were becoming darker with each passing second.
The doctor looked down at the clipboard the nurse had left behind and then pulled a huge machine closer to the bed. “I take it you’ve had an ultrasound before?”
“Yes. Two.” I paused and then continued, “I didn’t find out the sex, though. I want to keep it a secret.”
“Okay,” Doctor Lee said. “Not many people like to keep it secret nowadays. It’s refreshing, actually.” He picked up a bottle from the side of the machine and shook it. “This’ll be a little cold. Lie back and lift up your shirt.”
I gritted my teeth together as I laid my back against the bed and reached for the bottom of my T-shirt, knowing what they would all see. I was used to the bruises which were on my face, but the ones on my stomach made me feel physically sick when I’d seen them fully this morning.
“Motherfucker,” Ford gritted out.
I closed my eyes, scared to look at any of them while they were on display. I was ashamed of what I’d let Curtis do to me. Ashamed I hadn’t spotted anything wrong beforehand. I couldn’t turn back time, but I wished I could.
Doctor Lee pressed the instrument to my stomach, and I gasped from both the coldness and the pressure he applied to the bruised area. “I’ll try and be as quick as I can,” he told me, and I nodded, not sure if he was looking at me or not because I still had my eyes closed.
I desperately wanted to look at the screen and see the baby, but I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes, not until my T-shirt was covering my stomach again. Not until the evidence of what Curtis had done and the fight I’d put up with was partly concealed.
I counted in my head and got all the way to five hundred. The silence in the room was filled with clicking from the doctor as he pressed on the keyboard attached to the machine, and finally, he announced, “All done.” He swiped the jelly off my stomach, and I yanked my T-shirt back down, finally able to take a full breath again. “Baby’s measurements are fine.” I turned my head to face Doctor Lee. “And it’s active too.”
Grinning, I said, “I can feel that.”
Doctor Lee smiled and pressed a button on the side of the bed so it would be in a sitting position, and I rested my arm on the top of my bump. “I want you to come back next week for a checkup so we can keep a close eye on you and the baby, especially after the…assault.” He cringed on the last word, and I didn’t blame him. “Nurse Jaya will be back in to take a urine sample.” He stood and held his hand out to me, so I shook it. “Take care of yourself, Belle, you hear.”
“Yes, sir,” I replied, and the nurse came back in just as he was about to open the door.
They exchanged a few words, and then the nurse handed me a small cup and said, “You probably know the drill by now.” She held her hand out to me to help me up, and I took hold of it gratefully. “The bathrooms are down the hall and to the left.” She stopped in the hallway and pointed toward it. “The nurses' station is right next to it, so you can hand it to me there.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
I didn’t look back as I moved down the hallway, but just as I was turning the corner, I spotted Mom coming out of the room with Ford behind her. He turned his head, met my gaze, and slowly, his lips spread into a smile.
My heart raced from the way he looked at me, but as soon as my gaze met my mom’s, I knew we had some explaining to do. I was intent on dragging out the amount of time it would take me to pee, but I couldn’t let Ford face it on his own. So I hurried and then gave the sample to the nurse and waited while she tested it.
“You’re good to go,” she told me. “I’ve booked you an appointment for next Wednesday at ten a.m.” She handed me a little card with the time and appointment on it. “We’ll see you then.”
“Thank you.” I gave her one last smile and then hurried down the hallway and back into the waiting room, but it was empty. I turned my head left and right, spotting part of my mom’s body through the two glass doors from outside.
I yanked open the first door and cursed from the twinge of pain it caused me, and then gritted my teeth as I opened the second door and came face to face with all three of them. Dad’s face was red, a thunderous expression etched into his features, and Mom was more livid than she had been in the exam room.
“Hi,” I greeted, not sure what else to say.
“Get in the car, Belle,” Mom demanded, and I almost spluttered at the way she spoke to me. I’d never heard her use that tone before.
“Mom—”
“No.” She cut her hand through the air and turned to face me. “We’re not doing this here, Belle.”
