Chapter Thirty-Seven
Eric
Two weeks later, it was time for Olivia's first ultrasound. I felt silly for being nervous about it, but there I was. I had made an appointment for us with one of the top gynecologists in the area, using an old connection that I had made in grad school and calling in a couple of favors. I wanted to make sure that she had the best of everything during this pregnancy.
Olivia laughed, not for the first time. “It's going to be fine,” she said as I glanced over at her from the driver's seat of the car. “I don't know why you insisted on coming all the way to Chicago for this anyway. We could have just gone to see Dr. Lazaro. Anyway, we already know the baby is happy and healthy; I'd be able to feel if there was something wrong. But right now, everything feels right.”
I loved the emphasis that she placed on that last word. Everything did feel right, that was the thing. I could never have imagined it would feel this right.
That wasn't to say that things hadn't felt right with Emily as well, but things had been different with her. Our love had been quieter, more self-contained. With Olivia, it felt all-consuming, a powerful fire ready to catch us up in the heat of passion at any moment. Maybe it was just that our relationship was so new, but I had to hope that this feeling would never die.
“We could have gone to Dr. Lazaro,” I agreed, shaking those other thoughts out of my head. The truth was, I hadn't told Olivia the real reason that I wanted to take her into the city: I had plans for us that night. I'd gotten us a reservation at a fancy restaurant for dinner, and I'd booked us into one of the city's nicest hotels for the night. Emma was excited to stay over at Christina's house for the night, a novelty for the young girl.
Olivia and I had been on a few dates already, over the past few weeks, but I wanted to do something special for her. I still kept trying to come up with ways to show her how much I loved her, buying her flowers and giving her gentle massages and making sure that she was comfortable in bed with me.
Not that I thought she was worried about it. She had spent nearly every night at my house that week, and things were going well for us. We had initially said, at the B&B when we'd finally gotten around to talking about what this meant for our relationship, that we didn't want to rush into anything. But neither of us seemed able to stay away from the other.
I had simply wanted to take her out to dinner one night, and that had led to a mind-blowing bout of sex in the back seat of my car on the way home. After that, as we lay there staring up at the stars, we'd been forced to reevaluate things.
“Maybe it would be all right if Emma knew,” I mused.
Olivia raised an eyebrow at me. “Do you think she'd understand at all?”
“Well, I'm not going to explain everything to her,” I said, grinning. “But if I told her that you were my special friend, maybe you could spend the night sometimes. I'd like to wake up with you.”
“Mm,” Olivia said, considering that. “If waking up next to you means you are cooking me breakfast every morning, I am interested in that!”
I laughed. “I don't know about every morning, but I'll see what I can do,” I promised.
“I might just have to reward you for that if you do,” Olivia said teasingly.
“I see,” I said, smiling against her hair. I paused. “You realize that if Emma knows, though, there's the possibility that she might mention it to someone. A couple of the other kids from town go to the same daycare as her. Or she might say something while we're shopping, I don't know.”
“Kids say the darndest things, don't they?” Olivia asked, but she didn't sound worried about it. If anything, I was pretty sure she sounded happy about the whole town knowing.
Come to think of it. I would be happy if the whole town knew as well. Not only would it be a weight off my chest, but I also couldn't help but want to show Olivia off, to make sure that everyone knew that she was mine and that I wasn't about to let anyone interfere with that ever again.
Which I supposed was what that whole night in Chicago was meant to be about. Not that I'd invited the whole town, or a sky-writing airplane, or anything that extreme. But I had plans for the two of us. I smiled to myself just thinking about them.
At this point, I was just happy to see Olivia smile. Even Emma seemed happier having Olivia around. I didn't know if it was the woman's calming presence or just the balancing effect of having two 'parents' to come home to at the end of the day. Or maybe it was just that Emma was growing up, or that her time in daycare was making her more mature. Whatever it was, I couldn't believe that everything was working out. They'd been so rocky at first that I had hardly dared to dream that we might get to this point.
At the doctor's office, I watched as they squirted gel on Olivia's stomach. She still wasn't showing, of course, but it was exciting just being here, knowing what was coming. “Only a matter of time now,” Olivia said, echoing my thoughts. I grinned down at her and reached out to take her hand.
“Now, as I'm sure you know, Dr. Jones, we're not going to be able to see much with this ultrasound, given that it's still pretty early in the pregnancy,” the doctor cautioned before she started. “We aren't going to be able to tell the gender of this little one. However, we will be able to give you an estimate of the due date, based on what we're seeing today, as well as let you know if the baby's healthy. Based on those two things, we'll be able to devise a plan for the pregnancy, including prenatal vitamins, birth classes, and everything else. In addition to that, we should be able to hear a heartbeat.”
I squeezed Olivia's hand. I'd gone through all of this before with Emily, of course, but this was just as exciting as the first time around. Or perhaps more exciting, because, despite the fact that I was still nervous, it wasn't the all-consuming worry of a first-time parent that I had to contend with.
“All right, let's get started,” the doctor said, snapping her gloves onto her hands. She smiled at both of us and passed the wand around on Olivia's stomach.
Olivia giggled. “That really tickles,” she said, helplessly squirming a little before doing her best to remain still.
The doctor grinned at her and peered at the grainy image on the monitor, moving the wand a couple more times. “Right there,” she said, pointing. “That's your little one. Looking good, for it being so early in the pregnancy. I'd say you're due for a winter baby. We'll take some measurements and give you a more specific timeframe shortly.”
I bent down to kiss Olivia's hair, unable to contain my emotion and only hoping that I could express it through the kiss.
“We're having a baby,” Olivia said as I broke away. She sounded just as awed as I felt.
“You're having a baby,” the doctor confirmed, smiling at us. “Dr. Jones, why don't you take over with the wand and I'll give the two of you a moment.” Before she left, she switched on the sound, and the distinct thumping sound of the fetus's heartbeat suddenly filled the room.
“It's really in there,” Olivia said, sounding breathless. There were tears in her eyes. She reached up to swipe at them, looking embarrassed.
I brought her hand to my lips, softly kissing the fluttering pulse point at her wrist, thinking of how that heartbeat moved in time with the baby's heartbeat. “It's really in there,” I murmured, feeling just as moved by the moment as she was.
“Thank you,” Olivia said softly.
“For knocking you up?” I teased, grinning crookedly at her.
Olivia burst out laughing. “No!” she giggled. Then, she frowned, looking considering. “Well, maybe,” she said shyly. “We'll see; motherhood could be the best thing that's ever happened to me. But I meant more, thank you for being here with me.”
“Thank you for letting me be,” I said seriously.
Things had been going well between the two of us, but there was no denying that our relationship was still young. I think we were both just relieved that things seemed to be going smoothly for now. I didn't want to say that I had been worried that she wouldn't want me to have any part in the baby's life. But then again, I supposed that went without saying: we both knew exactly where this relationship had come from.
I turned away, finding that I suddenly needed to brush away tears as well. Olivia squeezed my hand but didn't comment.
“Is it too early to start thinking about names?” Olivia asked a little while later, as we were strolling along Michigan Avenue.
I laughed. “Well, we've already heard her heartbeat,” I pointed out.
Olivia was quiet for a moment. “If it is a little girl, do you think we could name her Anne?” she asked. “That was Mom's middle name.”
I paused, pulling her around to face me and kissing her gently. When I finally pulled away, I rested my forehead against hers, looking seriously into her eyes. “Of course we can name her 'Anne,'” I told her. “Emma and Anne. Sounds pretty perfect.”
Olivia smiled over at me. “And if it's a boy?” she asked.
“Andrew?” I suggested.
“Andrew,” Olivia said, rolling the name around on her tongue. “Andy Jones. I like it.”
We smiled at each other and continued to walk. I barely suppressed a groan as we saw none other than Georgia Witherspoon coming out of one of the luxury stores with a couple of bags on her arm.
“What are the chances,” I sighed. Seriously, it was unbelievable that of all the days that Georgia might come to Chicago, and of all the places she might be in the city, she had to be right there. Again, I wondered if she was stalking me, but to be fair, I hadn't seen her that much over the past couple weeks. I'd assumed that she had finally given up once I'd made it clear that I was never going to be interested in her.
Olivia looked up at me, a small smile on her lips. “Well, I guess it was about time for the whole town to know, anyway,” she said.
Georgia stopped and stared at the two of us for a moment, and I half-expected her to stalk off in the other direction. But then, she marched up to us. “I guess you're fine with raising some other man's bastard, huh?” she snapped, without even bothering to greet us.
She must have realized it was over then, if she wasn't going to try to be civil and sugary toward me anymore.
I raised an eyebrow at her, knowing the best tactic was just to remain calm. “Good to see you too, Georgia,” I said pleasantly. “By the way, Buck told me all about your scheme. Paying someone to lie, just so that you could get a man, I wouldn't have expected that from you. But then again, I always knew you had no confidence or self-respect. Or class, for that matter.”
Georgia stared at us for a moment, and I could practically see the gears turning in her head. But she didn't say anything else, and when she hurried off down the street, she was practically fleeing to get away from us.
I looked over at Olivia prepared to apologize again to her, but then I noticed that she had a huge smile on her face. “Enjoying the show?” I asked her.
“Immensely,” Olivia told me.
Then, she sighed. “But I guess it must be time for us to head home, huh? Traffic is going to be pretty bad getting out of the city if we wait any longer.”
“I booked us a hotel room for the night,” I informed her, putting a hand on her lower back and guiding her up the street. “We're almost there now.”
Olivia blinked up at me. “You did?” she asked, sounding surprised. She shook her head. “Eric, you know you don't have to keep apologizing to me or trying to impress me,” she said quietly. “You've already got me.”
“Doesn't mean I shouldn't spend every moment that I have trying to make you smile,” I told her easily. “Besides, the hotel room is as much for my sake as it is for yours. I want to spend every minute of tonight making love to you, kissing every last inch of your skin, without having to worry about interruptions in the form of my little devil-child and the monsters that might be lurking beneath her bed.”
Olivia laughed. “Well, when you put it that way, I guess it doesn't hurt to spend a night in a hotel every once in a while,” she agreed.
“Just think of how it'll be when there's two of them,” I said, giving an exaggerated, playful shudder just to hear her laugh again.
“I've got a dinner reservation for us as well,” I told her. “It's a pretty nice place, so I was hoping you'd take my credit card and do a little shopping this afternoon.”
Olivia raised an eyebrow at me. “You know I can afford a nice dress on my own, don't you?”
“Of course I do,” I said, rolling my eyes at her. “But I want to treat you today. And every day.” I grinned at her, kissing her again, albeit mindful of the fact that we were in the middle of the street still. “I want to spoil you rotten,” I told her.
Olivia hummed quietly. “I guess I could get used to that,” she said. “How nice is this place that you're taking me to?” she asked.
“However nice it is, you're going to be the prettiest woman in there,” I said, winking at her.
She giggled and ducked her head demurely. “What time is our reservation?” she asked.
“6:30,” I told her. “You have plenty of time to find the perfect outfit. Then come along to the Millennium Hotel.”
“I'll be there at 4:30, or 5 at the latest,” Olivia promised.
I raised an eyebrow at her, glancing pointedly at my watch. “That doesn't leave you much time,” I pointed out. “What are you planning on doing at the hotel for that long, anyway? You don't need to waste time on a fancy hairdo or makeup.”
Olivia grinned at me. “Well, I figured if I got there a little early, you could help me out of these clothes, since I'll have to shower and put on the new dress anyway,” she said, innuendo clear in her voice.
“Ah,” I said. “Well, what kind of a man would I be if I complained about that?”
I wrapped my arms around her, kissing her one last time before I spun her off toward some of the shops. “I'll see you soon,” I promised.