Thank God Sin kidnapped me.
Rafe is talking to the doctor, so I steal a moment to look back at him, hanging back against the wall. There are no shadows in this brightly lit room, but he still tries to keep to them. He’s watching the doctor and Rafe. I hold up the ultrasound pictures to get his attention. My movement causes his gaze to flicker in my direction and he takes a tentative step forward. I nod and wave him over.
“Look at this,” I tell him, handing over the strip.
Smirking faintly, he says, “I just saw. I was standing right here, remember?”
“How freaking adorable was that?”
He rolls his eyes and his tone is dry, but I know he means it, the big brute. “So adorable.”
Now that I’m firmly decided and I would take a bullet for the tiny little nugget that couldn’t even survive outside my womb, I feel like a jerk for saying it was a pregnancy I didn’t want. I mean, it was, but it’s not now. I know logically it couldn’t hear me, but still.
“I normally wouldn’t want to say this and further encourage your pushy, oppressive, caveman bullshit, but thank you. I was leaning in the direction of not doing this, and… well, I’m glad now that I had a little extra time to consider my options first.”
“You like my pushy, oppressive, caveman bullshit,” Sin mutters, handing back my photo strip.
“I really don’t. Not philosophically. It’s why I dumped you.”
Snorting in amusement, he says, “Is that how that went down?”
I nod confidently. “Yep. All my idea. I hope your feelings weren’t hurt too badly.”
“I’ll try to survive,” he assures me, dryly.
“Laurel.”
Rafe’s voice pulls my attention to the foot of the bed, where he stands and talks to the doctor while I joke around with Sin. The serious look on his face startles me and I sit up. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s not the baby,” the doctor assures me, flicking a glance at Sin. He’s probably wondering why he’s the one standing at my side now. Rafe could move back into that spot, but Sin doesn’t move.
“Then what is it?” I ask.
Rafe cracks a smile and shakes his head. “You have a weak uterus.”
“What?” I frown, glancing from Rafe to the doctor, then back to Rafe. “This is funny? Why are we amused? What does that mean? Is the baby safe? How do I fix that?”
“You’ll be all right as long as you’re careful,” the doctor rushes to assure me. “It’s nothing to stress about. Rafe has my number, should you experience any bleeding or cramping, you can call me straight away, but this isn’t something to get yourself upset about.” His gaze flickers to Sin again and he pauses, awkwardly. “There’s just a minor inconvenience, and it may not last the entire pregnancy. I’ll check you again at your next exam in four weeks.”
“What’s the inconvenience?” I ask, though I don’t much care. Whatever it is, I’ll do it.
Rafe answers for him. “We can’t have sex.”
My eyes widen. “What?”
The poor doctor, clearly not happy to have to deliver this news, rushes again to assure me, “It could be a short-term situation. I’ll be sure to examine you again at your next appointment. But until then…”
Amusement bubbles up within me, but I smother it down. I shouldn’t laugh. This is not funny. If my uterus is weak, that pisses me off—not because of the sex thing, but because I don’t want there to be any risk to the baby, no matter how small.
It’s just that not being able to have sex with Rafe for at least a month being the only way to protect the baby? Kinda funny.
14
Rafe
It has been three days since the baby doctor appointment, three nights of sexless sleeping. I’m not excited about it. After two nights of warming Laurel up, I expected her happiness at the doctor’s office to have a very different result. As she squeezed my hand and squealed over the wiggling little thing on the screen, I was pretty sure I was going to have a very good night.
Instead I got “no sex for at least four weeks.”