She looked up as the tears ran faster down her cheeks. “I want this so bad, Bryan, but I can’t let myself get excited ’cause what if everyone is wrong and this is just some mean joke nature is playing on me?”
Bryan came over, smiling, as he held her gaze with his, and said, “Audrey, come on, let’s get this stuff done so we can have your answer.”
Thirty minutes and a positive pregnancy test later, Audrey was looking at a fuzzy screen showing her uterus, from what the tech, Rachel, had informed her. Bryan stood behind Rachel as Audrey lay with her legs wide open and Rachel’s hand between her thighs.
It wasn’t very comfortable.
Audrey watched as Rachel pressed buttons and then moved the ultrasound probe deeper and then up. Audrey’s eyes cringed a little, in pain, but she wouldn’t take her eyes off that screen for anything. When Rachel stopped and pointed, looking back at Bryan, Audrey said, “What? What’s that? What’s wrong?”
All Audrey could see was an empty space and what looked like a ball. Squinting her eyes, she waited for an answer from someone, but they were both looking very closely at the screen, not paying her any mind.
Was that a baby?
Her heart had beat rapidly since that morning, but now it was in overdrive, and she felt light-headed. Hell, she felt like she was going to puke.
“Audrey, look,” Bryan said, a grin forming on his face. “Rachel, zoom in closer, please,” he said as he bent over her, pointing at the screen. Looking back down at Audrey, he explained, “That is the yolk sack, and that is the embryo.”
Embryo? Embryo! That meant baby!
“I’m pregnant?” she asked as tears filled her eyes before running down her face. Rachel smiled at her as Bryan nodded.
“Yes ma’am. Your baby has a nice strong heartbeat of 126 beats per minute.”
“My baby has a nice strong heartbeat?” Audrey asked. “I have a baby in me?”
“You sure do, buttercup, congratulations, it looks like you are six weeks along, making your due date …” Rachel looked down at a little wheel and then smiled up at Audrey. “… August third.”
“I’m due August third?”
“Yup,” Rachel said with a grin, “so this was a surprise I see? I bet Daddy is going to be excited.”
Audrey couldn’t breathe as she watched the little spot on the screen twitch. Not even a couple days ago she had asked how life could get any better, and here she was. A little person was growing inside her! She had waited for this moment for the past nine years, and it was happening! She was going to be a mommy, and Tate was going to be a daddy. To their baby. She choked on a happy sob as the tears rushed down her face. When she looked up at Rachel and Bryan, the biggest, brightest grin ever came across her face as she gushed, “He’s gonna flip.”
Where the hell was she?
Tate paced through a hotel room as an interviewer was finishing up with Shea. He didn’t know where Audrey was, and he had even called Piper and Fallon to see if they knew. No one did. Everyone was just as clueless as he was, and it drove him insane. He knew she went to the doctor, and the last text he got asked him to tell her what he had to tell her. After that, nothing. He was not only getting pissed, but worried too.
Tate turned to say something to Lucas, but he was on the phone, yelling about something. Tate turned back to where Shea was being interviewed and sat down in the chair next to him. Taking a deep breath, he ran his hand through his hair and let it out as his leg bounced. He didn’t know what was going on with Lucas but he hoped everything was okay because Lucas’s face was bright red and a vein was popping out on his head.
Tate reached into his pocket, making sure his phone was on.