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“There are far too many visitors around my patient,” said a woman in a white lab coat. She grabbed my chart from the end of the bed. “I’m Doctor Calliope. How are we feeling, Miss Hart?”
“Okay,” I replied. “My headache hasn’t gone away, but it’s better than it was.”
The doctor flipped a page on my chart. “Yes, well, blunt force trauma will do that. Fortunately, your scans all look clear. No internal bleeding. Your bloodwork is also clear. All that’s left is to give you an ultrasound to check on the baby…”
“I’m sorry,” I sputtered. “Thewhat?”
“The baby.” The doctor lowered the clipboard and frowned at me. “Miss Hart, are you not aware that you’re pregnant?”
53
Asher
I was hardly listening to the doctor. I was busy smiling down at Heather, a woman I cared deeply about. The second-most important woman in my life, behind Cora.
In the past few hours, I had come to a surprising realization: I loved Heather. The feeling was new and intense, but it was certainly real. The relationship we had been enjoying for the last six weeks wasn’t just physical. It was far more than that. It was emotional, it was intellectual. The way she cared for our children stirred something deep within my soul.
I wanted her to stay with us. I wanted her to be Cora’smother.
And we had dangled her in front of the stalkers like bait. The realization made me sick to my stomach.
We’ll never put her in harm’s way again, I thought while watching her.
Then the doctor said something that yanked my attention away from Heather. “…Are you not aware that you’re pregnant?”
The room was quite crowded around Heather’s bed: in addition to the three of us, there was Agent Cooper, Amirah Pratt, and Jimmy Cardannon. All six heads whipped around to stare at the doctor, then swung back to look at Heather.
Pregnant?I wondered. We hadn’t been using condoms with Heather, but…
“This must be a mistake,” Heather said. “I’m not pregnant. I’m on birth control.”
The doctor gave her a patient look. “Your bloodwork came back positive for the human chorionic gonadotropin hormone. At the levels present, you’re either pregnant, or you have testicular cancer. I’ll let you decide which is more likely. When was your last menstrual period?”
“I’ve always had a weak cycle. Sometimes I don’t even notice my period. I…” She trailed off and looked around the room.
The doctor cleared her throat. “Can we have some privacy, please?”
“Glad you’re doing fine,” Cardannon said with a little wave. “If you want to thank me for the help today, kindly direct any new clients to Heimdall Security.”
Amirah and Cooper left too. “They can stay!” Heather said when the rest of us started to leave. “They’re… They’re with me.”
We’re with her, I thought. The phrase made my stomach feel warm and content.
“Have you had any other symptoms?” the doctor asked Heather.
“No, I… Oh.” Heather blinked. “I have had morning sickness in the last week. I assumed it was queasiness from the hotel shooting.”
A nurse wheeled an ultrasound machine into the room. The doctor took it from her and said, “Hopefully this will clear up any confusion.”
The nurse lifted Heather’s gown and squirted jelly onto her belly. Then the doctor took the ultrasound wand and began rubbing it around.
“Since we don’t know the date of your last menstrual cycle, it might be too early to see much. It’s also been a while since I’ve used one of these, so bear with me if I need to call an obstetrician in to… Oh!Therewe go.”
The doctor’s voice changed at that last part—it became softer, more soothing. Like a mother speaking to a baby. The ultrasound was a blur of black and white lines, but suddenly it materialized into a black circle. Inside the circle, near the wall, was a smaller oval. It looked like nothing more than a peanut.
“That,” the doctor said, “is your baby.”
When the three of us first learned that our surrogate was pregnant seven years ago, we weren’t there in person. Our unit was visiting San Diego for a routine training exercise, so the surrogate told us the good news on the phone. I remember feeling relieved, and a little nervous.
