Music of the Soul (Runaway Train, #2.5)(42)

I was getting close to coming when a knock came at the door. “Abby? Loren is ready for you now,” Frank called.

“Just a second,” I shouted back.

“Oh please, since when does it take me a second?” Jake replied with a wicked grin.

I tightened my muscles around him, causing him to groan. “We’re cutting it short because I’m not letting Frank hear us.”

Jake gripped my expanding hips and pushed me on and off him. I came almost instantly, and he followed shortly behind. Once I could focus again, I scrambled off his lap as best I could with my expanding belly and grabbed a towel to clean up.

When I opened the door, Frank took one look at me before his face turned blood red. “Uh, I…I mean, Loren is ready for you now.”

“Thank you,” I said. Glancing over my shoulder, I blew Jake a kiss before heading out the door to follow Frank to the stage. He gave me a pleased smirk.

As it turned out, Loren had done a pretty cool job integrating lit stools for Eli and me to sit on, and he’d also managed a pretty cool swing that went along with one of our backdrops. I was sure that Jake probably wouldn’t be digging the swing since in his mind it could have mechanical failure, and I could fall. But I liked it, and I planned on using it. Of course, sitting in it and balancing a guitar with an expanding belly wasn’t an easy feat. I was at four-and-a-half months now, and I couldn’t imagine what it was going to be like when I was eight or nine months along.

At the same time, I knew there was no way in hell that even if my doctor let me, Jake would agree to allow me to perform late in my pregnancy. I figured I would have to cross that bridge when I came to it. For now, I was enjoying still being able to perform, and I didn’t want that to end anytime soon.





“Don’t you feel a little bit like we’re cheating on Dr. G?” Jake asked, as we sat in a posh OB/GYN’s office in downtown Salt Lake City.

I laughed. “She’s the one who found this practice for me.”

Since we were still in the middle of our Midwest tour, it had become necessary to find OB’s along the way. For today, it was about the fact I didn’t want to wait two more weeks to get home and find out what we were having. The suspense was killing me. I didn’t know whether I should start buying two of everything blue or pink or blue and pink. So, my OB had recommended a practice for us to go for the gender sonogram.

When the nurse called us back, I could barely control my excitement. Unlike our first ultrasound, I wasn’t scared or apprehensive. Instead, I was just so excited to find out what we were having.

The ultrasound tech, whose nametag read Jess, came in with her head buried in our chart. The moment she glanced up and took us in, she said, “Holy shit!”

“Guess she recognizes us,” I murmured to Jake.

She grinned. “I thought the names on the chart sounded familiar but…wow!”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Jake said, extending his hand.

With a trembling hand, she shook it. After staring at us for a moment, she finally pulled herself together and became professional again. “Right. Sorry about that. Totally lost my mind for a moment.” Taking the bottle of gel in her hand, she squirted some on my exposed belly. “Let’s see what we have here.”

The grainy image of the twins came on the screen. I never tired of seeing them—their tiny hands and legs flailing, the sight of their hearts beating strong in their chests.

“So Baby A is a…” She glanced over at us, appearing to enjoy torturing us with the suspense. “A boy.”

I squeezed Jake’s hand and stared up at him. “We’re going to have a son.”

His response was to kiss me. When he pulled away, he smiled. “And the other baby?” he asked Jess.

“Looks like you’re getting one of each—Baby B is a girl.”

“Really?” I asked.

She nodded. “Everything looks really good with them—strong heartbeats, healthy placenta. Of course, it looks like your son is stealing a bit of the calories since he’s bigger.” She pointed to the screen to show us the difference.

“But she’ll be all right, won’t she?” Jake asked, his brow furrowed in worry.

“Yes, she’ll be fine.” Jess then printed a few pictures complete with baby A and B identified with their genders. When she finished, she gave me a towel to wipe off my belly. “Good luck.”

“Thank you,” I said, as I pulled myself into a sitting position.

When she got to the door, her hand hesitated on the doorknob before she turned back to us. “Would you mind signing something for me?”

“We’d be happy to,” I replied.

We ended up signing a few pieces of paper before we escaped out the door. When we got into the limo, I took out the pictures to look at the twins again.

As he rubbed my stomach, Jake smiled at me. “Now that we know what we’re having, what about names?”

“Hmm, good question. I know I want our daughter to have your mother’s name.”

Jake’s expression pained as he stilled his hand on my abdomen. “That’s really sweet, Angel, but I don’t think I can bear calling her Susan. It would hurt too much.”

I cupped his cheek with my hand. “Then we’ll call her something else. What was your mother’s full name?”