Chapter 12
Roman
“Would you put that down?”
I looked at the pliers-type tool. “This thing looks like a bird.” I opened the handles and squawked like a bird.
Sage laughed. “Do you have any clue what the doctor does with those?”
“Not a clue, baby.”
We were sitting in the doctor’s office, waiting for the good ole doc to come in, and I was entertaining Sage.
“I’m sure they sanitize those, but I’m sure they have seen many hoo-has in their days.”
I dropped the pliers on the counter and jumped back. “Holy f-u-c-k. Those things are huge!”
Sage laughed and hopped down from the exam table she was sitting on and picked up the torture device. “That’s what happens when you snoop through the drawers.” I quickly rinsed it under the sink and dried it off. “Now sit down. You are worse than Sam when I take him to get his shots.”
“Shots?” I gulped. I plopped back into my chair and looked up at Sage.
“Um, yeah. Why are you so pale?” She cupped my cheek and stepped between my legs.
“Might have something to do with me not liking needles.”
“Sweet Jesus. You do know they are going to draw my blood today, right?”
Oh man. This was not good. “Really?” I rasped.
“My God. It’s like I just found out Superman’s weakness. Needles are your kryptonite.” She poked me with her finger, and I squirmed under her touch.
“Hey, that’s not funny.”
“It totally is. Wait until I tell the girls.”
I grabbed her wrist and pressed a kiss to her finger. “You can’t tell people what Superman’s weakness is. Then people will try to defeat me.”
She laughed and pulled out of my arms. “You’re not Superman.” She hopped up on the exam table and crossed her legs. She was wearing a long, flowy dress today that made my fingers itch to slide up her legs and see what kind of underwear she was wearing, if any. “You plan on wearing that all day?”
She looked down and shrugged. “I didn’t have any diva wardrobe changes planned for today.”
“Good.” I crossed my arms over my chest and started making a list of all the ways I wanted to have my way with her.
“Why does it mat—” The doctor walked in before she could finish her sentence. I knew what she was going to ask, but now she was going to be surprised when I bent her over the couch after Sam went to bed tonight.
“Hello, Sage.” The doctor shook Sage’s hand and propped her hands on her waist. “I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw your name on the chart. I normally only see you when you bring Sam in.”
Sage smiled. “Yup. I’m the one who needs a checkup this time.”
I cleared my throat, and the doctor turned around. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there,” the doctor laughed. “I’m Maureen Glick.”
I stood up and shook the doctor’s hand. “Roman Yeck. It’s nice to meet you.”
I doctor beamed at me and looked back at Sage. “This is so exciting.” She released my hand and moved over to the rolling chair Sage made me get off of five minutes earlier. The chair could really move.
“So,” the doctor opened the folder she had brought in and clapped her hands. “You took a pregnancy test, and it came out positive.”
“Yup. I took it over a month ago.”
“Good, good. Mauve had you take a test too, right?”
“Yup.”
Ah, that was why they had her pee in a cup. I had tried to walk into the bathroom with Sage to help her out, but she had pushed me out and slammed the door in my face. She obviously hadn’t needed help.
“Oh, yep. Right here it says it came back positive.” The doctor circled something on the paper and set it down. She asked Sage a bunch of questions and then clapped her hands. “You ready to hear the heartbeat?” she asked.
Holy crap. Here we go.
“Are we going to be able to see the baby today?” Sage asked.
“I’m going to send you up to the third floor and have you do a vaginal sonogram. That will help us figure out your due date.”
I cleared my throat. “We actually know the due date.”
“Oh, really?”
“Um, Roman and I only had sex one time before I got pregnant.”
The doctor’s eyes bugged out. “Well then, yeah, I would say you know when your due date is then. What day did you conceive?”
“October second,” I spouted.
“Wow, how did you remember that?” Sage asked.
I shrugged and crossed my legs. “Best night of my life, baby.”
The doctor fanned herself with her fan. “Lord have mercy, he’s not even mine, and he just made me swoon.”
I didn’t know if I had just racked up brownie points with Sage, or if she was pissed off. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. I was going to go with pissed.
“So that would mean your due date is—”
“June twenty-fifth.”
“I have to say that is rather impressive, Mr. Yeck.”
Sage sighed and shook her head. “Don’t encourage him. Ever since he got some books from the library, he has been driving me insane.”
“Well, I guess it’s better to have a man who is all in on your pregnancy than one that doesn’t care.”
Sage’s face fell, and she dropped her gaze to the floor. The doctor didn’t notice the change in mood with Sage, but I saw it instantly.
“Let’s listen to the heartbeat, and then I’ll send you up to maybe get a couple of pictures.”
“We’ll get to see it?” From what I had read, we weren’t really going to be able to tell that it even was a baby.
“Yup. Can’t promise an amazing picture, but it’s always awesome to see it the first time.” The doctor pulled a couple of things from the drawer and turned her back to Sage and me.
I saw this as my opportunity to talk to Sage.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I moved next to her.
“Yeah,” she whispered. She plastered a fake smile on her face and gave me a thumbs up.
“Don’t hide from me, Sage.”
The doctor turned around, cutting off our conversation. “Go ahead and lay back. I’ll just put some goop on your stomach, and then we’re off to the races.”
I had to say although the doc was cool, she was also a little bit off the wall.
Sage laid back and looked down at her dress. “I really didn’t think this through when I got dressed today.”
I ran my hand through my hair and tried not to laugh. Sage was either going to have to pull her dress up, exposing her underwear, or somehow maneuver the top down. I was good with either way she did it.
“One sec. You’re definitely not the first mom I’ve run into this problem with.” The doctor bent over and pulled out a gown from a drawer.
Dammit. Foiled by the good ole doc.
Sage worked the dress up her legs and over her stomach. I had a good ten-second glimpse at her bright blue underwear and long legs before the gown was draped over her bottom half.
“Sorry, Dad, but it’s kind of chilly in here. We can’t have mommy catching a cold.
Sage laughed. “You’re shameless, Yeck.”
I moved to stand by her head and leaned down to press a kiss to her cheek. “You like it,” I mumbled.
She didn’t agree, but she also didn’t protest. I took her silence as agreeance that she did.
The doctor made quick work of gooping up Sage’s belly and the small wand in her hand and started running it over Sage’s tiny baby bump.
“Sometimes finding the heartbeat is a little hard when you’re barely ten weeks.” She moved the wand slowly, searching for the heartbeat until a soft but steady sound of a drumbeat was heard. “There it is,” she whispered.
My jaw dropped at a steady rhythm, and I looked down at Sage. Her gaze was on her stomach, and she reached for my hand. I laced my fingers through hers, and we both listened to the heartbeat.
“Sounds strong and steady. Working just like it should be.”
I was speechless. We had made that. A small, tiny baby with a steady heartbeat was in Sage’s tummy, and I was the one who had helped make it.
“Holy s-h-i-t.”
Sage busted out laughing, and the doctor looked at me confused. Hell of a time for me to remember to start spelling out bad words.
“You don’t have to curb your language around me, Mr. Yeck.”
Sage covered her mouth with her hand and laughed her ass off.
I cleared my throat. “I’m trying to not swear so much around Sam, and it seems to have spilled over to how I normally talk now. Shit.” There, I could still cuss.
Sage laughed so hard that the gown draped across her legs fell off, and I would have been afraid she was going to pee her pants if she hadn’t just filled a cup. Even the doctor had a smile plastered on her face. I was apparently the entertainment.
“Well, I think we’re done here. You can make an appointment up front for a month from now. I have you scheduled for a sonogram upstairs to verify your due date.” She turned off the machine and wiped the gunk off of Sage’s belly. “Go ahead and get covered, and you’re good to go.”
Sage sat up and pulled her dress over her legs. “So everything looks good, right?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am. Baby has a strong heartbeat, and once you go upstairs and get a few pictures of him, I’ll give you call after I review them.”
“Did you have any questions?” Sage asked.
I shook my head. “Nope, I think I’m good.” I’m sure as soon as we walked out of the building, I was going to have a billion questions, but right now, my mind was blank. All I could think about what the tiny little heartbeat we had just heard.
The doctor quickly put everything away. “You can take a couple of minutes if you need. I’m on lunch after this so you can have the room for a bit.” She slipped out of the room and closed the door behind her.
Sage looked down at the floor and wrung her hands.
“Sage, look at me, baby.”
She looked up, but her eyes didn’t connect with mine. “We should probably head up to the sonogram. We don’t want to be late.”
“The appointment isn’t for another fifteen minutes. We have time for you to tell me what happened before.”
“It was nothing, Roman. I just felt like an idiot acting like you were annoying for being so interested in the baby. The doctor was right when she said I should appreciate having you. I guess I was just used to having Sam and not having anyone there with me.”
“I know Jack wasn’t around, but did you have friends or even his mom and dad to go to appointments with?”
She shook her head. “It was just me for the most part. I’m sorry I was a bitch before.”
I gathered her in my arms and pulled her close. “You weren’t a bitch, baby. Maybe a little testy, but not bitchy.”
“Why are you so nice to me?” she whined.
My hands slid down to her ass and squeezed. “Not gonna lie. This ass, baby. It’s all about this ass.”
She leaned back, her jaw dropped. “You did not just say that.”
“I did.”
A huge smile spread across her face, and she slugged me on the shoulder. “You are such a dick.”
“I am, but I just totally distracted you from thinking you’re a bitch.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re still a dick.” She grabbed her wallet from the chair and tucked it under her arm. “Let’s go see what this little monster looks like, Daddy.”
She grabbed my hand and pulled me through the door, and the only thought I had was how good that sounded.
Daddy.
*