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I pushed my eyelids open, but it was a fight. “Sleepy, but better. The pain stopped.”
He nodded. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to run a couple of tests, but based on the readouts I’ve seen, I suspect the contractions were brought on by a combination of stress and dehydration. But, we’ll check to be sure. I’m going to have the nurse collect a blood sample, but first, let’s do a quick ultrasound to see how your little one’s doing in there, okay?”
True and I both nodded, and Dr. Parker wheeled the little screen over next to the bed. True stiffened. “Do you need me to move?”
Dr. Parker shook his head. “No, you can stay there, but I need to lay the bed back.”
After he adjusted the bed, he squirted the cold jelly on my skin and pressed the wand against my stomach. “Let’s see what’s going on, little one.”
The screen flickered to life, and our baby popped onto the screen, moving and looking perfect. Tears sprung to my eyes and flooded down my face. When I tore my eyes away from the screen and looked at True, a tear ran down his face, too.
“Does she look okay, doc?” True’s voice was husky.
Dr. Parker nodded with a smile. “She looks perfect.”
He printed us off a couple of pictures and put the machine away, stepping over to the sink to wash his hands. “Once we have the blood test results, we can send you home, okay? I’ll turn off the lights, and you can try to rest until the nurse comes in to collect the sample.”
I nodded and snuggled into True further, my eyes closing almost immediately but then snapped back open as Dr. Parker left the room. “Is everyone still here?”
“Yeah, they’re in the waiting room.”
“Can you tell them what’s going on? I don’t have the energy.”
He nodded, pulling out his phone. “I’ll text Z. He’ll tell everyone.”
I dozed off feeling content for the first time all day, but it didn’t last long. When I came to, I’d wrapped myself completely around True, and he was shaking me lightly. “Honey, the nurse is here. Give her your arm.”
He chuckled as he pried my fingers off of his shirt and held my arm out for the nurse who took a blood sample. I barely noticed through the haze of exhaustion.
I drifted off again when she left and woke back up as I was being lifted into True’s arms. “We’re going home, mama. Everything’s fine with little P. Just hold onto me, ‘kay?” I wrapped my arms around his neck and snuggled my head back into his chest.
When I woke up next, I was in my bed, but the sheets next to me were cold again. Had I dreamed the entire day? I was disoriented, but it was dark outside. Standing up, I looked down and found myself wearing True’s t-shirt. I grabbed a handful and held it up to my nose, breathing deeply.
I walked out toward the living room, but my walk was definitely starting to turn into more of a waddle at this point. I leaned against the hallway wall as I watched True. His blonde hair was messy as if he’d been running his hands through it, and he was sitting on the couch bent over his guitar, playing a song I hadn’t heard before and singing softly. It was so quiet I couldn’t make out the words and could only hear the tune.
When he paused, I spoke. “That was beautiful.”
He opened his eyes and turned his head toward me with a crooked smile. “Thanks. What are you doing up?”
Shrugging, I closed the distance between us, sitting right beside him and resting my head on his shoulder. “I don’t know, I didn’t need any more sleep right now, I guess. What about you?”
He blew out a breath and plucked at the guitar strings absently. “The past forty-eight hours have been a lot. I guess I was just decompressing a little bit. Trying to relax so I could shut off my mind and go to sleep.”
“I get that. What song was that?”
“One from the new record. Did you like it?”
I nodded. “I couldn’t really hear the whole thing, but I really liked what I heard. Your voice is beautiful. And your fingers are so talented.”
He let out a low chuckle before wrapping his arm around me and running those rough, callused fingers of his lightly up and down my shoulder and arm. I shivered. “Oh? These fingers?”
“Mmhmm.” I closed my eyes, getting lost in the electricity his touch sparked under my skin.
He abruptly stopped and pulled his arm away, the cold air a shock to my heated skin. “Why’d you stop?” I looked up at him as he pulled his guitar off and set it in its stand.
True stood up, holding out his hand for me. “Dance with me.”
Giggling, I put my hand in his as he pulled me up. “There’s no music.”
