they didn’t live together. When she spoke, though, she was all business. “Okay, this has been in the warmer but it might still be a little on the cool side. Sorry about that.”
She proceeded to squirt a bluish-colored gel over Charlie’s belly. It was on the cool side, but she’d had worse.
“Okay?” Sally checked.
“All good.”
“Then let’s say hello to this little person.”
Rhys drew up the chair beside the table as Sally used the mouse to click something on the screen. She swiveled in her chair, bringing the ultrasound wand close. Then, her gaze on the screen, she began to glide the wand over Charlie’s abdomen.
“Searching, searching… Ah, there we are.”
A small white shape appeared in the blackness of the screen, surrounded by what looked like static. Charlie held her breath as Sally tapped the keyboard some more and the magnification increased.
And there, filling the screen, was The Bean.
“Oh,” Charlie said. An unexpected rush of emotion washed over her as she looked at her baby’s tiny curled body.
“Okay, before we go any further I need to ask if you want to know the baby’s gender. Sometimes we can’t see it at twelve weeks but your baby is perfectly positioned.”
Charlie looked to Rhys. “We haven’t really talked about it, have we?”
“Now seems like a good time,” Rhys said with a faint smile.
“Yeah.”
“And?”
“I think I’d like to know.”
“Me, too.”
They both turned to Sally.
“You’re having a little girl,” she said simply.
Charlie swallowed against the sudden tightness in her throat. She hadn’t really thought about her baby’s gender. She certainly hadn’t had a preference. But a little girl suddenly felt extraordinarily right.
A little girl she could lavish love on. A little girl she could assure and nurture and guide. A little girl who would always, always know that she mattered.
“Hey,” Rhys said quietly. His hand gripped hers as she sniffed away the tears flooding her eyes.
“Sorry,” Charlie said.
“Nothing to apologize for,” Rhys said, and she saw that his eyes were shiny with unshed tears, too.
“For the record, I’m more than happy for you to call the baby Sally,” Sally said.
They all laughed and the tightness in Charlie’s throat eased. Sally spent the next ten minutes taking them on a tour of their baby, showing them the whirling miracle of her tiny heart, her limbs, her developing organs. They watched, awestruck, as the baby lifted a tiny arm, almost as though she was waving at them.
“Hey, there, baby girl,” Rhys said.
After taking some measurements, Sally informed them that there was a very low risk that their baby suffered from Down syndrome. She went on to check for spinal abnormalities before inspecting the placenta and declaring that everything looked healthy and normal.
Charlie only realized that she was still holding Rhys’s hand when Sally ducked out of the room to organize their films.
“That was freaking amazing,” he said.
She tugged on her fingers and he glanced down as though he, too, had forgotten they were holding hands.
“Sorry,” he said, relaxing his grip.
“Your mum will probably want to look at the scan. I wonder if we’ll be able to copy the DVD?”
It was strange, but she felt oddly shy after the intensity of the past few minutes. As though she needed a few minutes alone to compose herself.
“We can ask when Sally comes back. But you’re right, Mum will go nuts over this.” He pushed his hair back from his forehead, a relieved smile on his face.
“I don’t mind telling you, I was a bit nervous on the way here. I checked out some sites this morning and there’s some scary stuff on the Net about what could be wrong at twelve weeks.”
“I know. But we’re lucky,” she said quietly.
Sally reentered the room, her white coat billowing behind her. “Okay, that’s all sorted. We’ll get you cleaned up, Charlie, and the films and your DVD should be out to you within ten minutes.”
The other woman used special tissues to clean the gel off Charlie’s belly before disposing of the debris and washing her hands. Charlie zipped and buttoned her jeans.
“Here,” Rhys said, offering up her sneakers.
“Thanks.” She tied the laces hurriedly, very aware of the need to use the bathroom now that the excitement had passed.
“Good luck with everything,” Sally said as Charlie stood and reached for her bag.
“Thank you. Will we have you next time we come?” Charlie asked.
“It depends on the roster, but you can always request me,” Sally said with a wink.
Rhys shook hands with her again before they both exited to the corridor.
“We should—”
Charlie held up