“One-night stand, huh? Did you get your STD testing done?” the nurse slips in.
“Yes—“
“She’s the only person I’ve ever slept with,” I roar.
“Whoa. Whoa.” The nurse holds up his hands. “You’re going to have to rein that temper in there, mister. Do you need social services? I can ask him to step out.”
“You were giving me the stink eye for not wanting to come back here and see you manhandle my woman and now you’re trying to kick me out. I think the fuck not.”
“You probably wish you still had the handcuffs right now,” Maddie snipes.
“You’re damn right,” I say. “I should’ve never taken them off.”
“Okay, that’s it. I’m calling the police.”
“No! Wait,” yells Maddie.
The doctor walks in at this precise moment. “We can hear you two rooms down and it’s really not conducive to examinations. Shall we all calm down or do I need to call security?”
“We’re calm,” I say, feeling anything but. My fight instincts have been triggered. Someone’s trying to take Maddie from me. I’m about ready to take both the nurse and the doctor out and run away with Maddie. I’ll take her to Canada, hide her in a cabin, learn midwifery and lock the rest of the world out. We don’t need anyone.
“Yeah, we’re good.” Maddie’s hand slips over mine. I grow still at this contact. It’s the first she’s initiated. I take a deep breath and turn my hand over to thread my fingers through hers. My heart settles down and my anger recedes as the threat fades.
The doctor turns to the nurse with a question in her eyes. The nurse could ruin this for us. The nurse could say something. I jump in with a false laugh. “I’m just a nervous dad, waiting for the news of what the sex of the baby is.”
“Want a boy, do you?” the doctor asks in a somewhat resigned tone.
“Nah. I want mini-Maddie. Someone I can spoil the hell out of since her mama won’t allow me to.”
Maddie sniffs. “Who said I didn’t want to be spoiled?”
A warm feeling floods through me. If she wants to be spoiled, she must like me a little bit. “One of everything coming up,” I say and I’m not even joking.
“It appears all is well in baby land,” announces the doctor. She sits down on a stool with rollers and scoots over to the table. She picks up a tube of gel off a nearby tray and hands it to me. “Want to do the honors?”
I look down at Maddie’s tummy that the doctor has bared and then at Maddie’s hand that is snug in mine. If I can touch her hand, then I can touch her belly, right? I can do this and not lose total control. I try to keep my trembling to a minimum as I reach for the gel.
“Warm it up between your hands before you squeeze it on. It’ll be a bit cold.”
I do as I’m ordered, watching Maddie’s eyes the whole time. Her eyes track my movements as I roll the tube between my palms, as I open the tube, as I squeeze a bit onto her small round bump. She sucks in a breath as the cold gel makes contact. The doctor starts to run a small object over Maddie’s belly and a sound fills the room. At first it’s a whirring and then a thump, thump, thump.
“That’s—oh, Oliver, that’s our—“
“Baby,” I finish in an awed whisper. I fall to my knees and press my face against her side. “That’s our baby.”
God, what a miracle. What a fucking miracle. I can’t ever lose Maddie or this baby. I swear nothing will separate them from me.
Chapter Fifteen
Madeleine
My throat goes tight as Oliver presses his face against me. I lift my hand, running my fingers through his short hair. I fight to not burst into tears. It’s all too much to take in at one time. From him saying that I’m the only woman he’s been with, to him wanting to spoil me, and now him falling to his knees with his face pressing against the baby and me. I watch the nurse fight a smile. My big giant Oliver quickly went from a grumpy bear who almost didn’t come into the exam room with me to a teddy bear in the flick of a switch. He’s laying himself bare for me and my emotions are on the brink of pouring out.
When the baby’s heartbeat sounded in the room, everything seemed to fall where it belonged. It was as though the missing piece had finally clicked into place, snapping Oliver back into reality. I’m not sure where he’s been for the last few days but it feels as though he might want more than just the baby. I can only hope I’m reading him right. I don’t want that switch of his to flip back.