Baby for My Stepbrother

Chapter 8

“ Okay, Luna, we’re just going to hook you up to a fetal monitor for a few minutes to locate the heartbeat and make sure that everything sounds the way it should with the baby. Because you’re not that far along, I doubt the fall would have affected the baby, but we’re just being overly cautious and making sure, okay?”

“ Sounds good,” I answered.

The doctor lifted my shirt off my belly and squeezed the cold gel onto my stomach. I jumped because of the sudden shift in temperature against my skin and every muscle in Dane’s body tensed as if he was about to go across the bed at the doctor. Looking up at him, I narrowed my eyes and said, “Chill, Dane. I jumped because it’s cold, that’s all.”

He visibly relaxed, but still watched the doctor like a hawk.

The doctor chuckled at Dane’s reaction as he pressed the wand to my stomach. Within seconds, the tiny little jackhammer sound filled the room and Dane’s eyes widened.

“What’s that sound?” He asked.

I looked up at him and smiled. “It’s the baby’s heartbeat.”

“Why is it so fast?” His deep voice couldn’t hide his concern.

“That’s perfectly normal for babies in the womb,” the doctor explained. “Judging by the sound of the strong heartbeat, everything is perfectly fine.”

I continued watching Dane’s face as relief flooded his eyes. That relief was soon replaced with wonder and excitement as he listened to Bean’s heart.

“That’s my kid’s heartbeat? I mean …that’s the baby? I can’t believe it, I …” his voice trailed off and he squeezed my hand, staring at my stomach as if the entire world rested beneath my skin.

The doctor pulled the wand away and handed me a paper towel to clean the gel off my belly. “Everything sounds good, Luna. As soon as your x-rays comeback and the orthopedist decides what to do for your wrist, you can leave.”

Left alone with Dane again I looked up at him and noticed he was still staring at my stomach. A smile creased my lips at the expression on his face. He looked like his world had just shifted, a feeling I knew all too well.

“I’m glad it was just a sprain. At least you won’t have to wear a cast for the next couple of months.” Dane held the door open for me, closing it once we were both inside the house. I was happy to be home finally. The hospital took all night and I was starving.

“Well, you can make all of this up tome by cooking me some dinner.” Rubbing my belly, I took advantage of the situation. “Bean is starving.”

It was the first time I’d referred to the baby by the nickname I’d given it and Dane looked at me with a funny expression. “Bean?”

A small, hesitant grin tugged at my lips, “Bean …the name I gave the baby. In the sonograms, it looked like a bean, so …”

I didn’t expect the smile that brightened Dane’s normally dark expression. His reaction warmed my heart, but somehow that only served to amplify the fear I was still feeling. It was odd sharing a moment with him where we weren’t arguing, and I wondered if a child could really pull together two opposing forces so quickly without there being a volatile reaction as a result.

With a simple nod of his head, he said, “Bean sounds good for now. But we’ll have to change that once we figure out if it’s a boy or girl.” He turned to walk into the kitchen, but paused in the doorway and turned back. “When do we find that out?”

“The doctor said twenty weeks. I’m almost halfway there, so …”

He nodded again and disappeared into the kitchen, the light flicking on as he entered, the yellowish glow filtering out softly into the hall. I stood still for a moment trying to make sense of the situation. It was one of those moments where you have to stop and understand the present reality as it stood, without complicating it with thoughts of the past or future.

I was Dane’s girlfriend …not his bratty stepsister or the girl he had to raise and watch over because our parents were gone. In addition to that, I was having his baby. How had reality shifted so severely in only the span of couple months?

It jarred me to think about it, but I soon heard and smelled the food Dane was cooking on the stove and it jostled me back to the moment, my feet carrying me into the other room.