“What are you talking about? We don’t have a baby yet.” Suddenly, it hit her that he was still asleep. His eyes were open, but unfocused, and he was obviously upset. Lowering her voice to keep from startling him, she said gently, “Honey, we’re home now. Claire and Jason have Chrissy and she’s asleep in her crib. We didn’t lose her.” He still stood there clasping and unclasping his fists. Great, what do I do now? Pour water over him? He’ll probably punch me if I try to touch him. Let him stand there all night?
Finally, she decided a loud noise might jolt him out of his sleep. Hopefully, it wouldn’t give him a heart attack. She grabbed a book off her bedside table and heaved it at the closet door. The resulting crash sounded like the walls were caving in. Maybe a little too much force behind the throw. Nick jerked and looked around the room in confusion. She was relieved to see that he was really looking at her now and not through her. “What’s wrong, baby?” he asked.
“You were dreaming and I was trying to wake you up. Do you normally talk and walk in your sleep?”
Nick looked at her in disbelief. “Um, no, I’m pretty sure I don’t. Are you sure you weren’t asleep yourself?”
“Nope, I was just coming back from the bathroom when you jumped off the bed and started trying to find the baby. I assumed you meant Chrissy.” He still looked skeptical, but she was too tired to try to convince him. “I’m going to bed, why don’t you get cleaned up, too.”
* * *
Nick felt like his head had barely touched the pillow when Beth started moaning beside him. When he reached out to touch her, she jumped from the bed and ran into the bathroom. He winced in sympathy as he heard the now-familiar sound of her being sick. He hurried into the bathroom and lowered himself beside her. He pulled her hair back from her face and rubbed her back.
When she finally seemed to have nothing left, he picked her up and lowered her onto the sink counter where he washed her face and helped her rinse her mouth and brush her teeth. Seeing her like this made him want to cut his dick off. He really hoped that she was not sick like this the whole pregnancy because he didn’t think either of them could survive. She’s the one having to puke her guts out every day; you’re getting off easy. She always allowed him to care for her after she was sick. She never complained as he cleaned her up and carried her to bed. He wrapped his arms around her and settled her against his chest. He kissed her neck and whispered, “I’m so sorry, princess. I’d take your place if I could.”
Tonight had been something out of a horror story at times, but he had loved it. Taking care of Chrissy with Beth had shown him a glimpse of something he never thought he would want: a family. He knew it would be hard, but he also knew that eventually they would hit their stride and, after a while, the small stuff like being peed, pooped, and puked on wouldn’t throw them as much. Tonight they had resembled two circus monkeys, but it would not always be that way.
Now he just needed to keep his cool and show Beth that he could handle anything she threw his way. Calm, cool, and rational. He definitely had this.
Chapter Thirteen
“Whoa, where the hell are you putting that?” Nick demanded. They were at her first doctor’s appointment and Nick spoke up just as the ultrasound technician raised the condom-covered probe toward Beth. You’re blowing it, buddy. What happened to calm, cool and rational? Get it together; they’re staring at you. Nick plastered on his default grin that never failed to charm. “Shouldn’t you at least buy her a drink before you bring that thing out?”
Mindy, the ultrasound technician, chuckled and said, “You might as well get used to it, Dad. You’ll have at least one more of the internal ultrasounds before we are able to switch to the external ones. The baby can only be viewed internally for the first few months. Remember, this is more uncomfortable for Mom than for Dad.”
He really wished she would stop with the Mom and Dad stuff because it made them sound like her parents. He could tell by the smirk on Beth’s face that she knew exactly what he was thinking.
Beth took a deep breath as Mindy inserted the probe. He quickly averted his gaze. “Okay, Mom and Dad, if you look at the screen you’ll now see an image of the uterus. I’m just going to get some measurements and then we will continue on.” After declaring Beth’s uterus to be perfect, she continued. “Now, here is the yolk sac and the fetal pole. I’m just going to measure those as well so we can get an estimate of the baby’s approximate age.”
Confused, Nick asked, “What are a yolk sac and a fetal pole? Where is the baby?”
“The baby gets nourishment from the yolk sac at this point. The fetal pole is another word for the baby right now. They go through several different stages in the pregnancy. If we are lucky today, we will see the heartbeat as well.”
Nick watched the screen in fascination as Mindy made her measurements. Beth looked shell-shocked. He took her hand, trying to give her the reassurance that she looked in desperate need of.