One Night Standoff - By Delores Fossen Page 0,70
discuss them. Clayton wanted to talk about how she was doing. He watched the doctor put aside the needle and pick up another piece of equipment.
“Is it okay if he stays for this?” the doctor asked Lenora.
Lenora looked up at him, and for a moment he thought she was going to ask him to leave, but she just nodded. “Dr. Landry’s about to do an ultrasound.”
He’d heard of them. Some kind of sonar imaging to see the baby. That didn’t help the nerves, either. God, was something wrong with the baby?
“It’s just a precaution,” Lenora said, her voice a gentle whisper. “The baby’s moving just fine, and Dr. Landry says my injury wouldn’t have any impact on the pregnancy.”
He wanted to believe that. Desperately wanted to. But with all the bad things that had happened in the past couple of months, he was having a hard time hanging on to hope.
Dr. Landry helped Lenora put a scrub top on rather than her bloody shirt. Clayton didn’t ever want to see that shirt again.
“Okay, let’s get a look at this kid,” Dr. Landry said. She pushed up the gray-green sheet that was covering Lenora. She was still wearing her jeans, but they’d been shoved down to her hips so that her belly was exposed. The doctor used a squeeze bottle to smear some goopy-looking stuff over Lenora’s stomach.
Clayton figured in just a few seconds, they’d all be caught up in seeing the baby. And that was critical. He had to know that his child was okay. But there was something else critical, too, and while he would have preferred this conversation to be private, he didn’t want to delay it or the ultrasound.
He leaned in closer to Lenora. “You said yes, that you’d marry me.”
She blinked, no doubt surprised that he’d bring it up now. “I did.”
Instant relief. Well, sort of. She remembered saying it, but Clayton wanted more. Much more. “Did you mean it?”
She stared at him a moment while the doctor continued to get the machine ready for the ultrasound. “I meant it,” Lenora verified. “But not for the reasons you think.”
Okay, there went any sense of relief. “You said it to distract Quentin.”
Another blink, and Lenora frowned. “No. I said it because I’m in love with you, and that’s the reason I want to marry you.”
Dr. Landry cleared her throat. “Uh, should I step out for a minute or two?”
“No,” Lenora and Clayton said in unison. “Clayton and I can talk afterward. Go ahead and do the ultrasound.”
But Clayton didn’t want to wait until afterward. Partly because Lenora had knocked the breath out of him with what she’d said. “You’re in love with me?”
Lenora smiled and pulled him down for a kiss. “Don’t look so shocked. You’re a very lovable guy.”
Clayton hoped like hell that she wasn’t toying with him, but he knew Lenora wasn’t the toying type. In fact, he knew a lot about her.
“Good.” He returned the kiss. “Because I’m in love with you, too.”
Now it was Lenora’s turn to look shocked. She made another sound, too—a breathy, happy sound that rushed right out of her mouth and against his when he kissed her again.
“You love me?” she asked.
“Hey, you’re a very lovable woman.” And because he couldn’t help himself, he continued the kiss.
Until the doctor cleared her throat again. “I don’t mind doing stitches or ultrasounds, but I’d rather not witness celebratory foreplay. Besides, those kisses are making Lenora squirm, and I need her to stay still for this.”
Clayton smiled at the thought of making Lenora squirm, but he did as the doctor asked. However, it was darn hard not to kiss Lenora with her nuzzling her face against his. The nuzzling continued until the images popped up on the screen.
His breath stalled in his lungs.
It didn’t look like a baby. More like some alien creature. He hadn’t expected seeing those fuzzy images would pack such a wallop.
“Oh, man,” Clayton mumbled, and he had no choice but to lean against the bed. He thought his legs might buckle at any second.
“Yes,” Lenora whispered and clutched his hand again.
He had no doubt that she knew exactly what he was feeling. The love. The joy. The terror. Yeah, that, too. It suddenly seemed like such a huge weight to be responsible for that little life, but then Clayton felt no weight at all. Just the miracle of seeing his baby.
“Lots of movement,” the doctor said, her attention on the screen.
“That’s good?” Clayton asked once he could get