only traces of it left, barely enough to measure.”
“Oh my God!” Freya squeals excitedly.
“All that resting you’ve done has paid off,” Belle replies, touching Freya’s hand gently as Freya’s eyes fill with tears.
She sobs a happy sound. “I’m fixing to burst I’m so happy!”
“You should be happy. Baby looks perfect.”
“We’re calling him Fergie,” Freya offers, touching her belly affectionately as she sniffles. “Short for Fergus. That was his great-grandfather’s name.”
Belle smiles. “Fergie looks like a strong little guy, and I can’t wait to meet him. But for now, I feel very comfortable taking you off bed rest completely.”
“Thank good heavens for that!” Freya exclaims enthusiastically as Belle and I help her sit up on the exam table. “I’m just going to pop into the loo to change and call Mac with the good news!”
“Brilliant,” Belle says, wiping the wand off with a smile. “And Freya, if you guys want to come in next week for another scan, I can set it up. That way you can show Mac the bleed is fully gone and hopefully ease his mind a bit?”
“Would you really do that?” Freya asks, sliding off the table.
“Of course! You’re practically family.”
“You are the sweetest pie I’ve ever tasted.” Freya hugs Belle tightly and shuffles off to the attached bathroom to call Mac.
As Belle grabs her medical chart and prepares to leave, she pauses in front of me and gets a sneaky look on her face. “So, I’m sorry, but I have to ask. What did you think of Ronald? You left so quickly. Was he that horrible? He can be a pompous ass sometimes, but I really think he’s changing.”
“Oh God, no. He was nice!” I reassure, feeling horrible how that must have looked for her. “I mean, we didn’t talk much, but for the small bit we did, he seemed great.”
“Oh good.” She exhales a sigh of relief and bites her lip nervously. “Should I maybe give him your number?”
I cringe and wrinkle my nose. “I’m afraid not.”
“Why not?” she asks, her face the picture of confusion.
“I’m…seeing someone.” Wow, saying that out loud is actually a lot freakier than I thought it would be. “It just got serious.”
“Oh, really? Who?” Belle inquires, looking intrigued.
I bite my lip anxiously. “Santino Rossi.”
“Oh my God!”
I hold my hands up. “Mac doesn’t know yet.”
“Protective big brother alert?” Belle asks knowingly.
“Protective, big, Scottish brother alert. He’s on a whole other level.”
Belle nods and smiles. “Well, I’m highly familiar with dating someone my family doesn’t approve of. But as adults, your family is just there on the weekends, you know? The person you fall in love with is there every day. That’s who you make your own family with…babies and all.”
She begins rustling with her chart, having no idea that her comment has triggered a thought in me that I haven’t truly considered until right this moment. “Belle, can I ask you a weird medical question?”
“You and anyone who ever runs into me at a party.” She laughs and gives me her full attention. “Hit me.”
I inhale deeply. “If a person has had a miscarriage before…what are the odds that they’ll have a miscarriage again?”
Belle’s brows knit. “How far along was the pregnancy?”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “Nine weeks?”
She nods knowingly. “First trimester miscarriages are very common, and the odds of another miscarriage are basically the same as if the patient had never miscarried.”
I chew my lip. “Got it.”
She tilts her head. “It was an intrauterine pregnancy, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“It wasn’t in your tubes, was it?”
My face heats with embarrassment. “No. It wasn’t.”
She smiles reassuringly. “Then I think you’ll be fine.”
“I don’t even know if I want to have kids,” I rush out and shake my head, feeling really uncomfortable that I even had the nerve to ask this question. “I can’t ever see myself as a mother.”
“That’s okay too,” she offers helpfully. “But you know…you did have a baby inside you, so technically, you already are a mother.”
My body stills at those very poignant words that hit me like a ton of bricks. “But I never even saw the baby. I just…started bleeding. Then they told me there was no heartbeat anymore, and it would pass on its own.”
Belle nods sympathetically and reaches out to touch my leg. It’s a gentle touch, but it feels meaningful. “You became a mother the moment you got that positive pregnancy test. Tell me you didn’t change your life around for that baby before you ever even had a scan done.”
I pause,