Lead Player - Alex Grayson Page 0,64
woman, nothing quells the hunger.
And I don’t think it ever will.
Chapter Seventeen
ALAINA
I look at the woman sitting on the swivel stool like she’s lost her mind. It’s the only logical explanation. She has to have gone crazy. That or she’s playing a cruel joke on me. I brace myself, expecting some camera crew to come bursting in the room yelling, “You’ve been punked!” I refuse to believe what she’s saying. There’s no way.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Miller, but you have to be mistaken,” I tell her, shaking my head slowly. “You must have used the wrong sample. Or maybe the tester thingy is broken.”
“I assure you that the results are correct. And you’re the only patient here at the moment who’s given a urine sample.”
“But how could this happen?” I protest.
Her eyes dance as she smiles wryly at me. “You’re thirty years old, Alaina. I’m sure you know how these things work.”
Her mocking attitude irritates me. I ball my hands into fists on my thighs.
“I’m on the pill! I just got off my freaking period! We’ve used condoms until recently!”
My words become hysterical, but can you blame me? I’ve always wanted kids, but I expected to be married before I became pregnant, and had love from the father. I know Enzo cares for me, I just don’t know how deep those feelings run. I do know he hasn’t told me he loves me. Of course, neither have I. And lord help me, but I do love that man.
“Contraceptives are never one-hundred percent effective. You know this.”
“And my period?”
“It’s not uncommon to have some bleeding while you’re pregnant. Especially in the first trimester.”
“But doesn’t that mean something’s wrong with the baby?”
The thought has a whole new bout of anxiety running through me. As much as I’m not ready to become a mother, thinking there could be something wrong with the baby scares me even more.
Dr. Miller rolls her stool over to me and places her hand on my thigh.
“I’m sure your baby is just fine. There are several reasons why women bleed after becoming pregnant. Many of them are no cause for concern.” Getting up from the stool, she walks to the laptop sitting on the counter by the sink. “Even so, I’d like to do an ultrasound to get an estimation on how far along you are. If there are any underlying issues, we’ll find them.”
Numbly, I nod, still in shock that I’m carrying a human being inside my body. I look down and rest my hand on my abdomen. It’s weird to know there’s a baby in there and not feel any different.
Dr. Miller says something to me, but I only half listen. I don’t realize she’s left the room until another nurse comes in a few minutes later pushing in a machine.
“Congratulations!” she says, beaming at me. I’ve never seen her before, so she must be new. “Dr. Miller will be back in a moment. In the meantime, why don’t you lay back?”
I’m on autopilot as I do what she suggests. A moment later, my doctor comes back in the room, wheeling her stool over to the machine. The nurse hands her a towel and a tube of gel before she leaves the two of us alone.
“I’m going to pull down your waistband some and slip this towel underneath to keep the gel away from the material.”
Once she’s finished, she flips open the cap to the gel. I jerk when the cold lubricant hits my lower stomach.
“Just relax, Alaina. You’re doing great,” she says calmly, patting my arm.
I feel like an idiot. It’s not like I’ve been diagnosed with some type of deadly disease. It’s only pregnancy. Yeah, I came in today for a pill refill to prevent exactly this, but hey, I’m still alive and healthy, and apparently, it’s now my job to keep the tiny being inside me alive and healthy too.
I jump even more when she sets the wand looking thing to my stomach and a loud whooshing sound fills the room. My eyes bounce to the monitor, but all that’s there is a grainy black and white picture. I’ve seen sonograms on TV, but I’ve never seen one in person.
She wiggles the wand a bit and presses down hard right above my pubic bone. A light thumping noise joins the whooshing sound.
“There she is,” Dr. Miller comments, a smile in her voice. “And that’s her heartbeat.”
I squint and try to find what she’s looking at.
“Where?”
Pointing to the screen, she says, “Right there. You see that