Chapter Fourteen

 

Nedra

 

When You're Not Through Yet

As soon as the blue gel plopped onto my rounded belly, I swore, jerking on the narrow table. I glared at my doctor.

“You could have a warned a bitch or something, Ashley!”

That damn gel was as cold as ice, and no matter how many times I was tortured with it, the temperature always caught me off guard. Why was it so cold anyway? Did it only work if it was near arctic levels? Inquiring minds demanded to know!

Jermaine chuckled and I aimed my glare up at him. He grabbed my hand from where he stood on my right and placed a kiss in the center of my palm. The tender, loving gesture melted some of my ire, and I pursed my lips in a request for a kiss, smiling pleasantly when he gave me what I asked for.

Dr. Vail didn’t pay us any mind; she just grinned as she positioned the handheld wand in the freezing goop and drove it across my belly. I held my breath as she stared at the black and white screen next to the bed.

“Well, Mom, Dad. Baby should be about the size of an avocado, but he or she is looking a little on the small side.” She glanced over and met my panicked gaze with a reassuring one. “But that’s nothing to worry about this early. You’re only four months in, and he or she has plenty of time to gain the weight they need.” Her eyebrows raised. “Have you been eating enough?”

I opened my mouth to respond when Jermaine burst out laughing.

“Yo, she never stops eating! She gotta be eating for three or four, Doc, because my baby is never full.”

I mugged his traitorous ass, but he just bucked his eyes at me in response.

“Gimme my purse.” I held out the hand that he wasn’t currently holding, but he slapped it away playfully.

“Hell naw. Leave all that shooting for the range. You know what I said is true. Shit, you should be telling her this yourself.”

I pouted as he frowned at me. Ashley, as she had instructed us to call her during our initial consult, didn’t need to know how many patty melts and chocolate shakes I could consume in a thirty-minute sitting. As long as I continued taking the gummy prenatal vitamins she had prescribed me, I was good.

“No worries,” she said, interrupting our stare-off. “I’ll just make a note to monitor that in the next couple of months. If baby doesn’t start to put on the weight they need, I might have to change up your diet a bit.”

I nodded and Jermaine squeezed my hand.

Smiling, Ashley tapped a couple of keys on the keyboard below the screen. “Do you two want to know the sex of the baby?”

I glanced up at Jermaine again. We’d gone back and forth over whether we wanted to wait to find out but finally, I decided that I need to know. He nodded at me, and I looked at the doctor and dipped my chin once. She moved the wand across my belly and a few minutes went by before she said anything. I assumed she was trying to catch the baby before he or she flipped around inside of me but suddenly, her movements stuttered.

“Oh, wow!”

My eyes widened and I craned my neck to see the screen as Jermaine grabbed my hand quickly. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Just a moment,” she murmured distractedly as she alternated between moving the wand around and typing keys. Finally, after three tense minutes, she turned to us with excitement in her eyes. “Okay, are you ready?”

I nodded haltingly. I was ready to find out what she saw on that screen. She turned around and pointed to the screen.

“That is your baby boy. You can see his penis sticking out just there.”

She pointed to a glob on the screen, but I couldn’t see anything through the tears in my eyes. I was having a boy. A baby boy, who would be so handsome, just like his daddy. I looked up at Jermaine, and my heart swelled to see him glassy-eyed as well. He was getting the son that he wanted; his legacy.

“A boy,” I whispered. When Jermaine looked down at me, he smiled and kissed me sweetly on the lips.

“I love you. Thank you for carrying my son.”

Ashley cleared her throat. “If I can, regretfully, interrupt and get you to turn your attention back to the screen.”

I whipped my neck around, fear clutching at me, once again. She winked at me and moved the wand to the other side of my belly, closer to her and pointed to the screen.

“Now if you look here, you’ll see your baby girl. She’s curled up behind her brother.”

It was like a record scratched. The room went still. “What?!”

“Twins,” Jermaine whispered in awe.

I shook my head at him. “Nah, that’s not what she said.” I looked at the doctor and she smiled at me. “Right?”

“Actually, Nedra, that is exactly what I’m saying. You’re having a set of fraternal twins. A girl and a boy.”

I nodded absently, tears falling silently down my cheeks as I glanced down at my exposed belly. There were two babies in there. Two. Two people were growing inside of me. It was unreal. I’d spent so much time wishing for just one child and now, I was getting two in one go.

“Baby?”

I looked up just as Jermaine brought his thumbs to my face and brushed the salty droplets away from my cheeks. The question in his eyes was clear. How did I feel about this revelation?

I smiled up at him. “We’re getting a twofer.”

When he unleashed the bright, ecstatic smile—he’d apparently been trying to mute—on me, my breath caught. This beautiful man—in body and soul—had given me my hearts’ greatest desire. Because of him, I was going to be a mother of not one but two precious babies. I was a little overwhelmed at the prospect of having two times the diapers to change at once, but more than anything, I was over the moon.

I reached up and Jermaine bent down, meeting me halfway. He kissed me gently, nibbling on my lower lip and pulling away before I could deepen it. His forehead pressed to mine as he stared into my eyes, allowing me to see all of him in those chestnut orbs.

“You know what this means, right?”

I nodded, my eyes fluttering closed as tears once again attempted to escape. He kissed each of my eyelids and I sighed contentedly.

“I’m yours.”

 

 

The End