Suddenly a Bride (24 page)

Chris left the building
and went to his car.  He had mixed feelings on his way to the doctor’s office.  On one hand, he
wanted to be with Caitlyn an
d see how her pregnancy was progr
ess
ing
, but on the other, he couldn’t help but wonder if she secretly wished he was Randy.  He tried being like Randy, but it didn’t seem to work.  Looking like Randy and taking an interest in music didn’t seem to impress her.  It had to have impressed her when Randy did it.  Something Randy did or said impressed her enough so she fell in love with him, but Chris had no idea what that could possibly be.

And to make matters worse, she didn’t say anything about getting their picture taken.  He kept waiting for her to bring it up again since she’d mentioned it that day they went to see her family.  Did she mean it when she said it?  Maybe she forgot.  There was a lot going on with buying a house and getting ready for the arrival of their baby.  He had to give her some slack in this area.  But it hurt. 
After all, she still kept some of Randy’s things, including his pictures. 
He rubbed his chest again, wondering if he should just go see a doctor and find out what was going on.

By the time he reached the medical center, he saw Caitlyn’s minivan so he parked next to it.  When he got out of the car, she was walking over to him with a big smile on her face.

“How are you feeling today?” sh
e asked, brushing a wisp of hair
from her eyes.  “I didn’t get a chance to see you before you went to work.  I must have slept through the alarm or something.”

“No.  I turned it off befor
e it went off.  I saw no reason to disturb you.”

She
ran her hand up his arm, an action which only serve
d to further arouse him.  “I
s everything okay?”

He wasn’t sure what to say
so he shrugged.  “I guess. 
Are you ready to see the doctor?”

“Sure.” As they walked to
ward
the entrance, she added, “I have to admit that I’m nervous.”

“Why?”

“Well, I’ve never been to a prenatal appointment before.  I don’t know what to expect.”

Noting the uncertainty in her voice, he
reached for her hand and squeezed it.  “I’m sure it’ll be fine.  They do this all the time on this planet.”

“True.  I’m glad you’re here.”

“Really?” He studied her smile.

“Really. 
Hey,
I made an appointment at the photographer
this morning.  I hop
e you don’t mind if we have to be there
at 5:30 on Monday.  I have to work on Saturday, so I can’t do it then.”

He paused
right outside the entrance and smiled.  “You mean, we’ll get a picture taken?  One with you and me?”

She chuckled.  “
You act like you’re surprised.  I mentioned it at my parents
’ house
.”

“Well, yeah.  But I thou
ght you forgot since you did
n’t mention
it again.”

“No, I didn’t forget.  I’ve just been preoccupied with the house and eating all
the
time.”

Feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss.  She felt heavenly against him, her body molding nicely to his.  Still smiling, he
said, “I’ll be there on Monday.”

“Good.  It’ll be nice to hang it up in our new home.  Then when the baby comes, we’ll have his or her picture next to it.  Oh, I hope you don’t mind wearing one of your suits when we get the picture done?  I have a nice dress I want to wear, and I don’t want you wearing
a
t-shirt and jeans.”

“Oh, sure.  I can wear a suit.” He couldn’t imagine wearing something as sloppy as a t-shirt and jeans to get his picture taken.  A picture was much too important.

She glanced at her watch.  “We better get going.  We don’t want to be late.”

His mind turning back to the appointment, he
nodded and opened the door so she could enter the building.  He followed her inside and let her lead the way to the doctor’s office.

They waited for ten minutes before the nurse called them back into one of the rooms.  He wondered what the doctor needed
to do.  It wasn’t like the baby would be born
today, but
he
stood
next to Caitlyn
while the nurse
checked Caitlyn’s heartbeat, pulse, and temperature.  He had no idea what that had to do with the baby but decided to keep quiet on the matter.

When the nurse measured Caitlyn’s abdomen, she
frowned.  “
Let me try it
again.”

Caitlyn gave Chris a look that told him she wasn’
t surprised.

The nurse shook her head again when she saw the result of the measurement.  “Are you sure about the date of your last period?”

Caitlyn looked like
she was ready to answer
,
paused, shrugged, and
said, “No.”

The nurse breathed a sigh of relief.  “Good because I was beginning to think I was losing my mind.  You’re measuring at fourteen weeks.  The doctor will probably want to do a quick ultrasound to get a better picture of what’s going on.” She patted Caitlyn’s shoulder.  “We’ll get this straightened out.  In the meantime, let’s see if we can find a heartbeat.”

Chris watched in fascination as the nurse spread the gel on Caitlyn’s abdomen before she
ran the fetal doppler over it.  Nothing happened at first except for a weird swishing sound, and Chris started to wonder if that was it when a galloping sound came through.

“Is that it?” Caitlyn asked.

The nurse smiled.  “Yep.  The baby sounds healthy.”

Chris had to fight back the urge to cry since it was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard and knowing he had a hand in creating the tiny life growing inside Caitlyn’s womb was an amazing experience.  On his world, nothing like this was possible.  Sure, they created babies in labs, but it was cold and impersonal.  This way was much better.  He quickly wiped his eyes and squeezed Caitlyn’s hand.

The nurse wiped the gel off of Caitlyn’s abdomen, marked the heartbeat
rate into the chart, and left.

Caitlyn sat up and sighed.  “I suppose future visits will show me further along than I should be.  I can only imagine what the nurse’s reaction will be next time I come here.”

“You think she’ll be upset?” he softly asked.

She chuckled.  “Stunned.  She’ll probably assume her me
asurements were off this time.”

“That’ll upset her, won’t it?”

“I can’t help how she reacts.  Anyway, at least the baby’s heartbeat is healthy.  That’s the important thing.”

“Yes, it is.”

“We can find out if it’s a girl or boy before I give birth, you know.”

“Can we?”

She nodded.  “Do you want to know or do you want to be surprised?”

“I’d like to know.  But what about you?”

“I want to know.  It helps to figure out what kind of clothes to buy.”

“You don’t want to be surprised?”

“It’s tempting, but I think I’ll go the more practical route.”

“But isn’t being surprised more romantic?”

Smiling, she shook her head.  “I don’t know what knowing the gender of the baby has to do with romance.”

“No.  I mean, in general.  Your mom said women like
to be surprised.”

She frowned.  “My mom hasn’t been bugging you, has she?  When I was going out with Randy, all she ever did was hound him about getting a better job.  Then when I married him, she said we better not have children until he was more secure.  It drove me crazy.”

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear about Randy or not
but wanted to know more about her relationship with her mother
.
  It seemed to him every time her mother was involved in something, she hated it.  “So, whenever your mom talked about Randy getting a better job, it drove you crazy?”

“Yeah.  He took it all in stride.  Nothing ever bothered him.  And you know, it wasn’t even her business whether or not we had children.”

“No, it wasn’t
,” he agreed.  “It’s not like she was there when you conceived our child.”

“Exactly.” She sighed and held his hands.  “Chris, there’s more to why I didn’t want to tell my mom I was pregnant than her assuming we were fooling around before we got married.  She’ll assume that
anyway when I give birth before our nine month anniversary.” She paused and took a deep breath.  “You see, I was pregnant while I was married to Randy.  I didn’t tell her right away because I knew she’d harp about his job
again, but when I miscarried, it didn’t matter so she never knew.  I don’t want to tell her I’m pregnant this time until I’m sure I won’t miscarry.”

“Miscarry?” he asked.

“The baby never survived to be born.”

His jaw dropped.  “That happens on this planet?”

“It happens a lot more than most people think.  Chris, I’m glad we’re having a baby.”

He squeezed her hands.  “Me too.”

Wom
en on his world
thought having babies was a burden
, so to hear Caitlyn say she was happy with the prospect of being a mother thrilled him to no
end.  He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her.  He had intended for the kiss to be short and sweet, but her lips parted, encourag
ing him to explore her mouth a
nd he was more than happy to comply.  His tongue brushed hers and he let out a contented sig
h before he deepened the kiss.

When
t
he kiss ended, she took his hands in hers.  “I love you.”

“You do?  Really?” he whispered, thinking he might be dreaming.

“I know.  We haven’t been together that long, but when you know, you know.  You know?”

His smile grew wide and he thought his heart might burst from happiness.  He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed them.  “I love you, Caitlyn.  I loved you from the moment I saw you in the diner.  I’m glad the agency sent me to you.”

“Me too.”

A knock on the door made him end the kiss.  Blushing, he quickly thought of some
math
equations and was relieved when his
erection went away.

Caitlyn settled back on the table and called for the doctor to enter.

The door opened, and the female doctor entered the room.  “Hello.  I’m Dr. Keeting.”

“Caitlyn.” She shook the doctor’s hand.  “This is my husband, Chris.”

Chris shook
Dr.
Keeting’s hand and smiled.

“So, you think you might be further along than
we originally thought?” the doctor
asked as she got ready to
measure Caitlyn’s abdomen.

“That’s what it looks like,” Caitlyn said, glancing at Chris.

He took her hand and squeezed it.

After measuring her, the doctor looked at the nurse’s notes and nodded.  “You’re measuring further along alright.  I’m going to do an ultrasound to get a better idea of where you’re at.  I’ll be right back with the machine.”

Chris couldn’t think of anything to say, so he squeezed Caitlyn’s hand again.

She looked at him and smiled.  “Nervous?”

“I don’t know what to expect.  I mean, it’s not surprising you’re further along than what an Earth woman should
be
, but I don’t know much about pregnancies.”

“Considering this is not a full-
Earth child, I don’t know much either. 
We’ll just have to learn together.”

He liked that they would be sharing this new experience together, but before he could voice his thought on the matter, the doctor
returned with the ultrasound machine.  He watched as she spread more of the gel on Caitlyn’s abdomen and turned it on.  She turned the screen in their direction and moved the wand over Caitlyn’s pelvic region.

The gray image on the screen wasn’t easy to detect at first, but when
Dr.
Keeting pointed out the heartbeat and he saw the baby move, it suddenly became real to him.  It was one thing knowing Caitlyn was pregnant and that he’d soon be having a child with her, but seeing the tiny new life moving in her womb was a wondrous experience.  As much as he tried to look at Caitlyn to see what she thought of this moment, he couldn’t take his eyes off the screen.

“On here, you’re looking like you’re at fifteen weeks, so let’s keep an eye on how things are progressing,”
Dr.
Keeting said, interrupting the image he had of ho
lding
his child in his a
rms
.

He couldn’t hide
his disappointment when she
turned off the ultrasound and wiped Caitlyn’s stomach up the best she could,
but he felt better when she
said they needed to schedule an ultrasound.