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It was true. I had missed his smile. His laughs, his hugs and kisses.
He took a deep breath, then spoke like he had been holding something in. “I couldn’t let this appointment pass by without seeing you and making sure you were OK. The plan all along was to do this together, and I still want to be here for you. For both of you,” he added, looking down at my belly. “But I understand if you need to do this alone, and you’d prefer not to have me around. I’ll wait out here instead if that’s what you want.”
I shook my head. “No. I want you in the exam room. You can come in with me.”
A door opened and a nurse appeared with a clipboard in her hand. “Amelia Weaver?”
“That’s me.”
“Come on back,” she said.
I followed her down the hall with Nathaniel trailing just behind me. We waited in the exam room for a few minutes for the tech to arrive, making nervous chit chat, until the tech came in.
Within minutes we were witnessing our baby, a fuzzy gray blob on the screen.
“And there’s your little one,” the tech said, smiling, her eyes going back and forth between Nathaniel and me.
I had never experienced so much love before in my life.
Our baby.
Nathaniel’s, and mine.
It felt surreal. Magical. Nathaniel reached for my hand, and I squeezed his palm, my heart growing ten more sizes for every blurry pixel. I heard a sniffle and glanced over to see him dabbing at the corner of his eye with his wrist.
“Our baby is perfect,” he said, then half-whispered, “Just like their mother.”
Tears gathered in my eyes, and my ear-to-ear smile made them fall down my cheek. Nathaniel used a finger to catch one, smiling and laughing with me as we watched the images of our baby, our hearts filling with joy and hope.
Everything looked as it should. The appointment went perfectly. I felt happiness for the first time since walking into the wine cellar on Saturday night.
After the appointment, we headed to the parking garage together.
As we walked, his fingers grazed mine. I had the instinct to slip my hand into his, but my stomach interrupted me, rumbling audibly.
“Oof,” I said, clutching my belly, for some reason embarrassed. “I’m famished.”
Nathaniel stopped walking, so I stopped, turning around to meet his gaze.
“Can I take you out to lunch?” he asked, his eyes hopeful. “I can’t have you and the baby going hungry on my watch. Besides,” he added, “it’s Christmas Eve.”
“Yes,” I said, feeling a warmth bloom in my chest at the prospect of spending more time with him. “Yes, I’d like that very much.”
Chapter 46
Nathaniel
Itook Amelia to her favorite taqueria. We discussed the ultrasound appointment between bites of tacos al pastor and sips of horchata.
“Want some more hot sauce?”
“Mm, yes please,” Amelia replied, dabbing the side of her mouth. “Can you believe the due date is the Fourth of July?” she asked, chuckling.
“We’ll be having an all-American baby if everything goes according to schedule,” I joked.
“The ultrasound tech was so nice,” she said, crumpling her taco wrapper after finishing her last bite. “I hope we get her next time, too.”
“I’m sure we can put in a request.” We had been beating around the bush, chatting casually about the appointment, but I could tell Amelia was just as anxious as I was to talk about the most important topic, us.
