In Name Only (Pine Falls #2) - Jennifer Peel Page 0,24

made me ill. If the spotlight shone any brighter on me, I might go blind.

When I arrived at the doctor’s office, I was shuttled in through the back entrance like a criminal. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate the discretion, but this wasn’t how I had pictured motherhood beginning for me.

I was placed in my own private exam room to fill out the paperwork. I couldn’t help but feel like I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. The exam room was too posh. It had real hardwood floors and dark bronze mosaic lighting fixtures. It almost felt like a spa, except the exam table had stirrups, which didn’t give me warm and fuzzy feelings. Not only that, this place didn’t hand out cheap paper gowns to cover up with. We are talking cotton gowns with probably a thread count of a thousand draped my body. So this was how the other half lived?

Once my paperwork was done, a nurse drew blood and checked my vitals and weight. I’d lost ten pounds since this ordeal had all begun. Hopefully, I would feel better soon and gain it all back and then some. I wanted this baby to be healthy and strong. We both needed to be. Our lives weren’t ever going to be easy. Not like mine ever had been, but the situation we were in now was a different kind of beast. One I couldn’t slay, only appease.

The doctor finally came in. She was a pleasant-looking woman with short gray hair, a sparkling smile, and piercing violet eyes that made her seem younger than her fifty-five years her bio claimed she was. Her presence instantly made me feel at ease. Which was saying something given my state.

“Dani, it’s so nice to meet you.” She held out her hand to me.

I took her hand and shook it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Brock speaks very highly of you.”

She smiled. “He’s very complimentary of you as well. Congratulations, by the way.”

“Thank you.”

She took a seat on the rolling stool and scooted close to me on the exam table. “Why don’t we go through your chart first and then we’ll take a peek at the baby.”

That was the best news I’d heard in a long time. “Sounds good.”

She pulled up her laptop and my chart. “Looks like we don’t have any health concerns to be worried about and we’re looking at an April thirtieth due date. Tell me how you’ve been feeling.”

“Tired and like I might die of nausea.”

“Sounds about right.” She laughed. “That should go away in the next few weeks. If it doesn’t, let me know.”

Oh, happy day. Hopefully that meant ten days sooner than her calculations, since I was further along than I claimed to be.

We went through every little piece of information I’d written down, and she answered all my questions. Then it was showtime. Her nurse came back in with an ultrasound machine. I got uncomfortable in the stirrups, and Dr. Paulson proceeded with the vaginal ultrasound. I held my breath, waiting to see my little peanut on the screen. It didn’t take long for the most beautiful sight ever to appear before my eyes. Tears ran down my cheeks as I admired my tiny baby. When I heard the heartbeat, I full on started to bawl. Suddenly, all the pain and struggle didn’t matter. All that mattered was the small creature moving on the screen.

Mommy loves you. Everything will be all right. I promise.

Chapter Eight

I was dying to show Kinsley and Ariana the ultrasound pictures I had tucked away in my purse, but I knew I couldn’t risk it here among the sea of people at the book signing. It was probably not a smart thing for me even to have brought them, but I thought maybe I would be able to safely give my sisters a peek. Besides, the pictures of my cutie were like a talisman to me that I wanted to keep close by. My little cutie who measured too big for the due date. Thankfully, Dr. Paulson shrugged it off as not a big deal. Though she did have me reiterate the start date of my last period. I told her the baby was destined to be an overachiever, considering who the father was. That was true.

I found a quiet corner with a comfy chair near the women’s fiction section and settled in away from the main action. I felt as if I were in a movie watching people swirl around me in cocktail