The past few weeks, Kaylee sensed Wes making it a point of being around her more. Oh, he’d been traveling too, but the time between his tournaments stretched out longer and longer. He seemed to be waiting until the very last second before he had to be somewhere.

Not that it changed anything. She was moving on.

Okay, she wasn’t really moving on. She missed him. But she had to think of the baby too. Kaylee was now fourteen weeks pregnant and past her first trimester. She wouldn’t be comfortable until the baby was born healthy, but it was a relief to know she’d made it past the period when she’d lost their first child.

She told her parents about the baby, and her mother was ecstatic. The woman couldn’t wait to be a grandmother. Her father, however, was furious and wanted to do bodily harm to Wes. Kaylee was unmarried, and her father still blamed Wes for getting her pregnant the last time. She couldn’t fault his logic. It was only natural that her dad hadn’t forgiven her ex-boyfriend/baby daddy.

Now that the shock of the pregnancy had worn off, Kaylee was thrilled about the baby she never thought she’d be able to have. Wes was around, so that helped her not feel alone. In fact, he was beside her in the waiting room at her doctor’s appointment. He’d insisted on going, and she saw no reason not to have him there.

Wes checked his watch. “They’re late.”

Kaylee dropped a hand to her small belly. She was starting to show a little. Goodbye, pants that fit. She could get away with looping a rubber band through the top buttonhole and hooking it to the button to give her extra space, but pretty soon she’d need to invest in maternity clothes. “Yep,” she said calmly, flipping the page of a fashion magazine.

Ten minutes later, he checked his watch again. “Why aren’t they calling us in?”

She turned to him, and he flinched. She might be giving him a death stare. “Do you want to be here or not?”

“Yes, I want to be here,” he said. “But it’s rude to make us wait… Isn’t it?”

“Babies don’t arrive when you tell them to. And my OB/GYN is very busy. She often has a long wait.”

Wes stared at her. She could tell he was deciding how far to push it. He scratched his jaw. “As long as you’re happy with the doctor.” Smart man.

She smiled and settled back in her seat. “I am.”

---

By the time the nurse called Kaylee’s name, Wes had tipped his head back and taken a catnap. The doctor was forty-five minutes late, but Kaylee didn’t seem to care, thus Wes didn’t care. And that was what he’d realized. If Kaylee was happy, he was happy. Therefore, he slept.

But he was awake now. Due to Kaylee’s history, they’d offered another ultrasound to give her peace of mind that the baby was all right. Wes was going to see his child for the first time, and he was ready to jump out of his skin.

His kid. With Kaylee. He was excited and terrified. What if something was wrong with the baby? What if Kaylee went through pain like she did with the miscarriage?

What was he thinking? Yes, she’d go through pain; childbirth was a bitch. Which was why he found himself in a perpetual state of anxiety.

They walked through the office to another room, where they waited fifteen more minutes—but who was counting—until the doctor came in.

“How is everyone doing?” she asked, closing the door behind her. Wes introduced himself, and she shook his hand.

“I’m feeling better,” Kaylee said once the introductions had been made. “No more morning sickness.”

“This is around the time when that typically goes away. You’re taking the prenatals?”

Kaylee described the vitamins she was taking, and the doctor seemed pleased.

“Why don’t we start with a measurement, and then we’ll do the ultrasound.”

Kaylee lay back on the examination table, and the doctor took out a measuring tape. She measured from Kaylee’s pelvic bone to a spot above her belly button. “Your uterus is the size it should be for fourteen weeks. Let’s take a look at the baby, shall we?”

The doctor oozed clear, goopy stuff on Kaylee’s belly and brought out a wand. The images that popped up on the screen were a blur of shapes Wes couldn’t decipher. He started to sweat, panic rushing through him. Was something wrong with the kid?

And then the doctor pressed a button and the sound of a fast-beating heart filled the room.

Kaylee’s eyes glistened and she reached for his hand. It was the first time she’d let him touch her in weeks, and he didn’t take the moment for granted. “That’s our baby.”

Wes breathed in nice and slow. There was no way he’d break down in the doctor’s office over hearing his child’s heartbeat. He could count on his hand the number of times since childhood that he’d felt close to tears, and almost all of them were since Kaylee had come into town. He’d become a sap, but he’d take it if it meant being with her. “That’s really our daughter’s heartbeat and not Kaylee’s?”

The doctor smiled. “The child’s heartbeat is much faster than the mother’s. That’s your baby, all right. Though I’m not sure if you have a her. Could be a boy. It’s too soon to tell.”

Kaylee wiped the corner of her eye and grinned. “Wes is certain it’s a girl.”

The doctor moved the wand around on Kaylee’s belly. “The baby is in a good position. I could take a look, though any guess I make might not be accurate. Would you like me to try?”

“Yes,” Wes said. He turned to Kaylee. “If it’s okay with you?”

Kaylee nodded.

“Well,” the doctor said after a moment of moving the wand in small increments, “I’m not seeing any little boy parts. It looks like Wes might be right, though we won’t know for sure until around eighteen or twenty weeks.”

Wes’s ribcage expanded so much he thought his chest would explode. He was having a girl. He didn’t care what the doctor said; he was certain. A little girl with the woman he loved…

Wes would make things right with Kaylee, no matter what it took. He had to prove to her that he would take care of her and their child and make them happy.