The Wild Wolf Pup (Zoe's Rescue Zoo #9)(36)

“For what?”

“Everything,” he states simply, moving his hand up to my stomach. “All this.”

The door opens and the doctor walks in, lifting his eyes from my chart to greet us.

“Good afternoon, how are we doing?” He asks, extending his hand to Jack. He lifts his hand from my stomach and shakes the doctor’s hand. The doctor takes a seat on the stool in front of me and signals for the nurse to hand him a new pair of gloves.

“Good, the morning sickness finally eased up,” I tell the doctor, watching as he fits his hands into the gloves and turns on the sonogram machine.

“Very good, the urine sample you gave showed everything else is fine.” He grabs the tube of gel and the sonogram wand. “How about we take a look at this baby and hear that heartbeat?”

“Yes, please,” I say, my voice catching as Jack grabs a hold of my hand and leans forward. I stare at his face and watch his eyes become glued to the screen as the doctor squirts the blue gel over my stomach and presses the wand against my skin.

Kaboom, kaboom, kaboom.

“Is that the heartbeat?” Jack rasps.

“It sure is,” the doctor confirms. He pauses to measure the beats before a smile spreads across his face. “Nice and strong.”

Kaboom, kaboom, kaboom.

I divert my eyes from Jack’s face to the screen as he squeezes my hand and the image of our baby fills the screen.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Jack mutters.

“That’s the head,” the doctor points out, moving the wand around my belly and laughing. “Well now, look at that.”

“What?” I ask, wiping the tears from my cheek.

“Do you want to know what it is?”

I turn to Jack, his eyes widen as he peels them from the screen and lifts them to mine.

“Do you?” He whispers.

A part of me did but the bigger part of me wanted to be surprised. I don’t know if he read my answer from my eyes or if he felt the same. He turned to the doctor and replied.

“Let’s keep it under wraps, doc,” he states, lifting my hand to his lips.

“Nothing wrong with a surprise,” the doctor says. “Everything checks out. The baby is right on target,” he announces removing the wand from my belly and wiping away the gel. “The nurse will print you out some of the photos and I’ll see you next month.”

“Thanks, doc,” Jack says, handing me my clothes and helping me sit up. The doctor exits the room, and I dress as the nurse prints the photos and hands them to Jack before she leaves us alone.

I am putting on my shoes when I lift my head and see Jack staring down at the photograph in awe. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out his pack of cigarettes. I open my mouth to object but before I can he turns around and steps down on the trash can, opening it and throwing the pack inside. He shoves the photos into his jacket pocket and holds out his hand for mine.

“I quit,” he states.

“Just like that?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.

He lays his hand over his chest, over the pocket where the pictures are safely tucked inside of and shakes his head.

“Don’t want to miss a goddamn thing, Sunshine. So, yeah, just like that,” he says, pulling me to my feet and wrapping his arms around my shoulders, he bends at the knees and claims my mouth.

He kisses me thoroughly as the sound of our baby’s heartbeat echoes inside my head and I silently thank God for the first time since the tragic fire.

I thank him for letting me survive.

Because surviving wasn’t so bad.

Especially when I had so much to live for.

No, surviving was a blessing, the first of the many I have been granted.





Chapter Fourteen




I dare someone to tell me that being a mom is an easy job. While it is the most rewarding job I’ve ever had, it is also the most exhausting. I’m fucking tired as hell and if I’m being honest, I have no idea how my mother did it. I mean she was by herself with two kids and always seemed to hold it together. Me? I have a gallon jug of Carlo Rossi Sangria in the fridge at all times.

Eric is perfect.

The best little boy in the whole world—when he’s sleeping. The first few months was easy, he ate, slept and pooped. Then he turned eleven months and found his legs. Eric took his first steps and life as we knew it changed forever. He’s constantly running around, getting into things he shouldn’t be—hence the wine.

Between the work out I get from running after a toddler and the one Riggs gives me every night, I’ve officially lost all my baby weight. Don’t get me wrong there is no denying my body has changed from my pregnancy. I still have that bitch of a pouch above the scar from my cesarean and the stretch marks over my stomach never really faded much either. I’m okay with the changes though and that’s mainly because of Riggs. He calls my stretch marks my colors and tells me to own them. He tells me the scar hidden under my panty line is my patch, branding me Eric’s mom. He takes the MC thing a little too far but with him it’s go big or go home. It’s all part of his larger-than-life personality.

“Eric, no!” I groan as he grabs a handful of SpaghettiOs and flings them at me. He giggles mischievously. Yeah, there’s no denying Eric’s got his daddy’s personality.