Riverbend Reunion(63)

“There’s not enough dirt in Texas to make me do that,” Mary Nell answered, “but I’ve got to admit that I might give him another chance if I was still living in Nashville. I’ve got a weak spot where he’s concerned. I think it’s the female version of knight-in-shining-armor syndrome. I rode in on my white horse and saved Kevin and his dreams. Down deep, I liked having him need me, but that’s not what a relationship should be, is it?”

“Absolutely not,” Haley answered. “What can I do to help you get over that syndrome?”

“Shoot the horse if I get on it and say giddyup,” Mary Nell answered.

“I’ve never killed anything, but I will have my gun ready if I see you saddling up,” Haley said with a nod.

A tall lady with gray hair pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck knocked on the door and then came into the room with Gloria right behind her. “I’m Dr. Jeannie, and I’ll be taking care of you.” Her voice was calming and soft, and immediately the tension that Haley was feeling eased up. “I understand this is your friend Mary Nell and you’ve got a support team with the rest of your friends.”

“Nice to meet you,” Mary Nell said.

“Always good to meet friends of my patients who are willing to help them.” Dr. Jeannie smiled. “Gloria tells me that you will be a single mother.”

“That’s right,” Haley said.

“I am a single mom to a daughter who’s now a senior in college,” Dr. Jeannie said. “As women, we’re tougher than folks think we are, and with a good support system, you’ll do just fine.”

“Thank you for that,” Haley said. “I’ve been pretty nervous about all this since I took the test and it turned out positive. Motherhood at thirty-eight is scary.”

“Motherhood at any age is scary, but you’ve got the advantage of maturity on your side, Haley,” Dr. Jeannie said. “These teenage girls I see think that motherhood is finding a cute name and playing dress-up with babies like they’re dolls.”

Haley wondered if that’s what Frannie had thought about when she was pregnant, and if she was the one who came up with the name Vanessa Haley. Did she ever play dress-up with her, or after she’d given birth to her, did she even help with the baby chores?

“I don’t feel so mature,” Haley admitted. “Being a single mother wasn’t the way I planned to start a family.”

Dr. Jeannie chuckled. “Me either, but I wouldn’t trade the experience of having my daughter in my life for anything in this world.” She extended her hand. “If you’ll lay back, we’ll get started and see how far along you are.”

Haley put her hand in the doctor’s and eased back on the narrow bed. Everything was going to be all right. If a medical doctor could raise a child and have a practice of her own, that gave Haley the courage she needed to do the same.

“We do things a little different here,” Dr. Jeannie said as she pulled a machine over closer to the bed. “I will be your doctor, and Gloria will be your nurse at every visit, and I do my own ultrasounds rather than outsourcing them. So, let’s get started. To me, hearing the heartbeat and seeing the tiny little being is one of the most exciting moments of the pregnancy, and I love being here to share it with you.”

She folded back the sheet and gown until only Haley’s belly was showing. “This will be cold at first,” she said as she applied the gel. “You and Mary Nell can watch the screen and see your baby. Don’t expect much more than a peanut right now.” She turned a knob and began to run the wand over Haley’s stomach. “The sound you hear is the heartbeat. Looks like you’ve got a healthy baby. Heartbeat is 140, and everything is looking good. You’ll begin to feel fluttery movements before long, since you are already about to finish up the first trimester. According to this, you are ten weeks and three days along, with a due date of January fifteenth.”

Haley did the math in her head. She had gotten pregnant that last time she had sex with Mark, as she had thought. That was the night he’d finally told her that he was engaged and getting married in another month. He’d been amazed that she was throwing a fit, because they had agreed that this was just a casual fling from the beginning.

All those thoughts disappeared from her mind when she realized that the thump-thump filling the room really was her baby’s heartbeat. That little peanut she was seeing on the screen was a human being, and right after the first of the year, she was going to be a mother. The full impact of it all hit her with such force that it brought tears to her eyes.

“The heartbeat won’t tell us a thing.” Mary Nell handed her a tissue. “I did some research and found out that anything below 140 is a boy and anything above is a girl. If I’m reading that number on the screen right, it’s right on the button at 140. Guess you’d better pick out a name for a boy and one for a girl.”

“A healthy baby would be enough for me,” Haley answered, almost breathless with emotion. That tiny little thing that looked like a lima bean was her child, and it already had a heartbeat. She fell in love in that moment in a way that words could not describe, and wondered if Risa had felt this surge of emotion when she heard the twins’ heartbeats for the first time.

“It looks like you’ve got your wish for a healthy baby at this point for sure.” Dr. Jeannie removed the wand and turned off the monitor, which made Haley even more emotional. She wanted to stare at her baby moving around a little longer.