Against the Odds (Fighting to Survive #2)(17)
Leah: Ace, Your hint is… sugar and spice and everything that’s nice.
I look at my phone and blink a few times. I look up and Leah is smiling with tears in her eyes. “A girl?” I ask.
She nods, “Yes.” I watch as the tears from onto her rosy colored cheeks.
“We’re having a girl?” I ask, again. All of the sudden I can only see Leah sitting up in the bed with her cell phone in her hands. I guess this is what’s called tunnel vision. I know our parents are in the room, but I don’t see them. I hold my phone and slowly walk over to Leah. When I get to her, I softly sit on the bed, cup her face in my hands and say, “A girl?”
She smiles, cries, and nods her answer. I kiss her softly and passionately. I break away slowly from or kiss and wipe away her tears with the pads of my thumbs. “I knew it was a girl all along,” I say and kiss her again. I can feel her smile on my lips.
Leah
I swat at Robert’s arm and pull away from his kiss. “You did not know it was a girl.”
He smiles his dimpled smile and says, “I did, too.”
“What about you saying, ‘It’s a boy — I can feel it.’”
“Did I say that?” he jokes.
I have to laugh at him. “Yes, you did. You were so sure it was a boy we were going to bet on it.”
“Oh about that, I was just teasing.”
“How did you find out the gender of the baby?” Mom interrupts.
“That would be my fault,” Dr. Fouch says as he walks into the room. “With all of the excitement I just let it slip. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m glad you did,” I say honestly.
Dr. Fouch looks and nods at everyone in the room. He asks, “How are you feeling? I see the medication worked and your labor has stopped.”
“I feel good — tired, but no pain.”
“Good, I want to examine you again and make sure you haven’t dilated anymore.”
“That’s our cue. We’ll make a coffee run while he does… whatever it is he needs to do,” Walter jokes.
Dad, Walter, and Robert kiss me goodbye before they walk out the room. Mom and Margie stay in the room with me.
Once the exam is done, he tells me that I haven’t dilated anymore. The guys knock before walking into the room. Robert walks over to me, coffee in hand. The doctor explains that he is going to schedule surgery for me in the morning. He calls the procedure a cervical cerclage and explains to Robert and me that is it a very minor surgery and that we should expect another overnight hospital stay and strict bed rest and pelvic rest until I deliver. Pelvic rest is a nice way to say no sex.
Later that night after everyone leaves, Robert and I talk about what happened at the meeting after we left. I have a feeling he doesn’t tell me everything, and to be honest, I’m fine with that. I still battle my depression and I know that some things won’t change, no matter how hard I wish they would. Robert and I mostly talk about positive things and we avoid everything that has to do with the baby swap.
Robert sleeps in the chair next to the bed. I knew he wouldn’t go home. I did text his Mom to see if she would bring him some clothes when they return tomorrow. He is still wearing his suit and tie from earlier: a reminder that we were meeting our biological daughter today. Robert sleeps and I lie wide awake in bed. I can’t get over the fact that my biological daughter has been in the shop. Shouldn’t I have felt a connection to her? Shouldn’t I have noticed how much she looked like Robert and me? I smile when I remember her slight wave when she saw me at the meeting. She liked me and she remembered me.
“Happy thoughts?” Robert asks from his deep sleep.
“I thought you were asleep.”
“Are you awake?” he asks.
“Obviously.”
“Then I’m not asleep. Thinking happy thoughts?” he asks as he stretches his arms and legs.
“Are you saying that you never sleep if I’m awake?”
“I don’t know about never, but mostly never is probably accurate. Happy thoughts?” he asks again.
When I think back on Robert’s statement, I think I believe him. Robert is always the last one to fall asleep at night and is almost always the first one up in the morning. I don’t think I can remember a time when he fell asleep before me. “Why do you do that?” I ask.
“Do what?”
“Stay awake like that?”
“I want to watch over you. Now what about your happy thoughts?” he asks again. “You were smiling for no reason a few minutes ago. Care to share why?”
I smile again. “I was thinking about when Madison walked into the meeting and how she smiled and waved when she saw me.”
“That was pretty special.”
“It was. It makes me happy to think that she already likes me. Maybe it’ll make the interaction between our family and hers a little smoother for her.”
“I hope so. Drake Sinclair seems to be a little…”
“Anxious?”
“High-strung, I was thinking.”
“Maybe it’s just because of all that has happened. I hope so,” I say.
“Maybe.”
Robert tells me that Bruce ended up giving the gifts and the envelope of pictures and newspaper articles to their attorney, Mr. Reed. He also tells me that the Sinclairs left the meeting shortly after we did.