I think I broke her.

Bristol fell asleep almost as soon as she climbed onto this examination table in the doctor’s office, and she hasn’t even twitched. Me and my randy ass, hard before the sun was even up, wanting to have sex instead of letting her sleep.

We didn’t use the main entrance, but arranged to enter through the back and come in here instead of the waiting room, but we still have to wait like everybody else for Dr. Wagner, Bristol’s OB-GYN, to finish with the patient before us. While we wait, Bristol sleeps. I’m mentally lecturing me and my dick on being more considerate in the future when Darla the ultrasound technician comes in.

She’s spreading some kind of clear jelly on our little baby bump. Bristol’s eyes pop open for a second, but then she drifts right back into deep sleep.

“She’s really out, huh?” Darla asks with a smile.

“Yeah.” I crook my mouth into a grin. “I’ve never known her to sleep this much. She usually works around the clock, but can barely get through the day without a nap now.”

“Not unusual.” Darla rolls the wand over Bristol’s belly, eyes trained on the screen. “Most mothers . . .”

Her words and her smile dissolve, her gaze sharpening on the ultrasound.

“Everything okay?” I ask, unease crawling over my skin.

“Um, sure.” Darla blinks a few times and shoots me a farce of a smile. She reaches up and presses a button that takes the screen dark. “I’ll be right back.”

“What’s going on?” I demand, keeping my voice low, not wanting to disturb Bristol, but she wakes anyway.

“What’d I miss?” she asks drowsily, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. Darla gently presses Bristol’s shoulder back until she’s lying down again.

“Nothing yet. I just need to check on one thing. I’ll be right back.” She stands and crosses over to the door. “We’ll wake you when it’s time.”

And she’s gone.

The hell.

“Is everything okay?” Bristol is now fully alert, her eyes darting from my face to the door Darla closed behind her. I’m up on my feet and at the door, too. “Where are you going?”

“Piss break.” I glance at her over my shoulder, ordering my face at ease. “I’m gonna drain the snake before Darla gets back.”

She rolls her eyes, but her brows bend with lingering concern.

“You sure everything’s okay?”

“Yeah, babe. I’ll be back.”

I walk swiftly up the hall, stopping when I see Darla and our doctor talking outside what I assume is her office or another examining room.

“Hey,” I say, walking up on them. “What’s going on?”

Two startled faces turn to me.

“Mr. James,” Dr. Wagner says, pulling a guard over her eyes, but not before I see the deep concern. “You should go back to the examination room. I’ll be with you shortly. Sorry for the delay.”

“Don’t bullshit me.” I don’t have time to be polite, to apologize for the shock I put on their faces. “Darla, your face changed when you looked at that ultrasound. Is something wrong with our baby?”

Darla blinks at me stupidly, a swallow moving her throat.

“Mr. James, I don’t—”

“Don’t lie to me.” My voice cracks like a whip into the tight air of the hallway. “If something . . .”

I draw a calming breath, blowing out anxiety and fear.

“If there’s something wrong with our baby, I want to know.”

“I’ll join you and Bristol in a moment,” Dr. Wagner says evenly. “I’ll talk to you together.”

She doesn’t deny that there’s a problem, and that fact cuts through my protests like a shard of glass.

“Wait . . . I . . . okay. If we could just . . .” The possibility of something being wrong with our child has me stumbling. “If you could just tell me first.”

“Mr. James.” Dr. Wagner’s reservations come to life on her face. “I’d prefer to discuss everything with you and your wife together.”

I want to be the first line of defense for Bris. I’ve always been protective of her, but the shit that went down with Parker ramped up my need to shield her from danger, from pain. Anything wrong with our baby is pain like I can’t imagine. A premonition of it skims across my nerves. It’s times like these I hate those extra senses Ma says growing up street gives us, the ones that dig between Dr. Wagner’s words, the things she says, into all the things she doesn’t.

“I’ll be there shortly,” she says, finality in her voice. “Thank you, Mr. James.”

Darla’s biting her lip, anxiety in the eyes she slides between Dr. Wagner and me. If I had one minute alone with Darla, I’d get it out of her, but with Dr. Wagner standing guard over whatever secret they’re keeping, I’m getting nothing. Resigned, I head back to the examination room. I open the door tentatively, not sure how I’ll handle Bristol’s questions on the other side.

But there aren’t questions—she’s fallen asleep again. Between the sleep her pregnancy demands and me interrupting her sleep this morning, she’s exhausted. Her head droops to the side, her long lashes shadowing her cheeks. Her hand rests over the small bump, even in sleep, protecting our baby. I slide the chair beside the exam table and dip my head to kiss the baby through Bris’s clothes. I do what I’ve been doing ever since we found out, and the ritual gives me some comfort. These words about what’s possible ease my mind as I wait to hear what left Dr. Wagner’s eyes so grave.

“Dwell in possibility, baby.”