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“He picked on you because of me, because I led the club into his camp to find you. He did this to get back at me.Ikilled our baby.”
Novah lets out a sob as her arms wrap around Bayou tightly. I stand back, letting them embrace each other. “No, no, you didn’t. I couldn’t stand it if you took that blame. You didnotkill our baby. Don’t youeverthink that!”
My arms wrap around my body, holding myself together as tears fall freely down my face. I swipe them away as I sniffle, trying to keep my shit together.
Aubree takes a step closer, resting her hand on Novah’s knee. “I know this is difficult, but would you like to see your baby? I can do an ultrasound to show you the heartbeat and how strong it is?”
Bayou pulls back from Novah, glancing down at her watering eyes, and she nods. “Do we know which one survived? The boy or girl?”
Aubree smiles. “How about we have a look, and we can find out?”
Novah and Bayou nod, and Aubree moves over to the ultrasound machine already in the room from previous testing.
Aubree grabs the gel, smiling at Novah. “Little bit cold.”
Novah exhales, taking Bayou’s hand so tight his fingers turn white, but he doesn’t seem to mind. He continues to stroke her hair with his other hand, and his eyes fixate on the screen even though Aubree hasn’t started the scan.
She pulls out the wand, placing it on Novah’s small bump. The white noise sounds through the room, the fuzzy whooshing sound is my heart pounding, waiting to hear that little thumping noise of the baby’s heartbeat.
Then, as she slides the wand over Novah’s stomach, the view of the two babies comes clearly into focus. Novah’s bottom lip trembles and Bayou watches with a steely demeanor as they see their children for the last time.
Novah reaches out, her hand gently caressing the monitor, a tear falling down her face.
“Can you tell which one is gone?” she whispers.
Aubree nods. “I can… the unviable fetus is the girl. I am so sorry for your loss.”
Novah closes her eyes, letting out a heavy exhale. “So… we’re having a boy?” She sniffles.
“You’re having a beautiful, strong, healthy boy. Would you like to hear his heart?”
Bayou nods, wiping a tear from his cheek. “Yeah… I want to hear my son.”
I slide my hand up and down Bayou’s back comfortingly as Aubree moves the wand over my grandson’s heart, and the whooshing thump of his powerful heart plays over the machine. My breath gets caught in my throat as I gasp, hearing it for the first time. The moment so incredibly moving that it makes me choke up.
Novah’s eyes flick to Bayou. “He’s okay!” she cries out, finding some relief through the grief.
Bayou nods, planting a tender kiss on her lips. “He’s perfect.”
Aubree takes a couple of pictures and prints them out. “This will probably be the last imagery you will have of your baby girl, so I have printed pictures for you to keep. I’ll need you to come back in regularly so I can monitor baby boy and ensure he’s going strong.”
“Whatever we need to do to keep him healthy, doc, we’re gonna do. Right?” Bayou states, and Novah nods.
“Absolutely, whatever it takes,” she reaffirms.
“Okay, let me clean you up, and then you guys can spend some time together while we run some more tests on you, Novah, just to make sure you’re okay from all your other injuries. If everything is fine, we will keep you in for observation over the next few hours, but you might be able to go home later this evening. We will see what the other results tell us. Hang tight. I’m going to go check on Kaia and Lani, then I’ll be back.”
“Thanks, Aubree. We appreciate you looking after us,” I tell her.
“Yes, thank you. Even though it wasn’t good news, at least we still have one baby. It could have been much, much worse,” Novah states.
Dr. Adams nods. “Technically, you’re not completely out of the woods yet, but you can at least see the edge of the forest from here, which is a blessing. We just have to play it safe from here on out. So please keep Novah out of all future club wars if you can. She can’t risk any further injuries.”
Bayou dips his head. “She’s going to be so well-guarded she’s going to hate being surrounded by people for the next five months.”
Novah smiles, though I can tell it is forced. “Somehow, I don’t think I’m going to mind one little bit.”
“You let me know if you need anything in the meantime, okay?” Aubree states.
