Ariel

Loving you is never an option, it’s a necessity to live…

 

 

 

It’s been three months since we returned from our spur of the moment wedding and vacation. There have been no notes, flowers or threats since we’ve come home. I’m starting to think that he’s finally given up on stalking me. Maybe he’s found a new victim or has moved on. My stomach is finally showing a little pooch and I find myself rubbing it and talking to our baby as often as I can. I’m at work leaned over my bench wiping it down from my last client when I feel arms wrap around my middle caressing my swollen stomach.

“How are you feeling today, baby?” Dillon asks me.

“I feel great, plenty of energy and the baby has been cooperating today. Not moving around and kicking too much making it easier for me to concentrate on the work at hand.”

“Have you felt the baby move at all?” he asks, and I see concern written all over his face. My man worries too much.

“Yes, babe, just not while I’m working. He or she seems to be lulled to sleep whenever I pick up my gun and turn it on.”

“We may have a future tattooist on our hands,” he says lovingly.

“Who knows, could be a doctor or a lawyer too. We won’t know until he or she is much older.”

“Are you ready to go to your appointment? I’m ready to find out what we’re having instead of always having to say, ‘he or she’ while talking about the baby.”

“I’m ready! I can’t wait to start getting a room put together when we finally find our new house.” We’ve started looking for a place together even though my house has been repaired from the damage of the Molotov bomb that jackass threw through my window. We want to make new memories in a home that we build together. “Let me grab my purse and keys and we can get out of here.” We tell Emory and Rainey that we’re leaving for my appointment, promising to stop back by and tell them what we’re having. Mom is meeting us at the doctor’s office, she wasn’t willing to sit back and wait for us to tell her, stating that this is her first grandchild and she must be present for all the firsts.

We walk out hand in hand, and when we get to my car I drop my purse and begin to shake. Sitting there on the hood is a note and a single red rose.

“Motherfucker!” Dillon screams out. He brings out his phone and calls Carson. “Yeah, man, I need you to bring out gloves and a baggie, we’ve got another note.” Not long after he hangs up, Carson comes strutting our way with Levi in tow.

“What’s it say this time?” Levi asks us.

“We haven’t looked yet,” Dillon tells him.

Levi slips on the gloves and picks up the note, he reads it and his face turns red in anger.

“What does it say, Levi?” I find myself asking. I can see it in his eyes that he doesn’t want to tell me, so I walk over to him and read it over his shoulder.

 

Roses are red, Violets are blue, did you really think I forgot about you?

 

“Dammit,” I say. “I was hoping this pig had moved on already. When will enough be enough to make him see I’m not interested in him?”

“Obsessions are not easily overcome for someone like him,” Carson states.

“This guy needs to go down,” Dillon growls out. “I’m sick and tired of these games he’s playing. I really wish he’d come out and show himself to us. This is not a man, this is a fucking coward!” Dillon says kicking a rock in the parking lot shooting it way off to the other side. I place my hand on his forearm hoping to calm him before he goes completely nuclear.

“Let’s let the guys handle this and go see our baby,” I say in a soothing voice.

“Alright, baby,” he says lacing our fingers together. “We’re out of here guys, let Wasp know of this latest development and we’ll see you later.”

“Sounds good, we’ve got you covered on this end of things,” Carson tells Dillon.

“Sure you don’t want me to follow you two? An extra set of eyes is always a good thing,” Levi asks us.

“Couldn’t hurt,” Dillon tells him. “Appreciate it if you would.”

“No problem, I parked out front, so I’ll meet you on the street,” he says running towards the front of the store.

“Let’s go see our baby,” Dillon says pulling me around to the passenger side. We take my car everywhere these days, it’s easier for me to climb in and out of. His car is a sports car and sits too low to the ground and his truck sits up too high. The first time I lost my balance climbing up, Dillon put his foot down and we haven’t been in it since that day.

Once we’re settled in the car we start making our way to the office for our appointment. Levi, true to his word follows closely behind us, so close in fact that there’s no way a car could get in between us. I feel better knowing that he’s there and I don’t worry so much about if this creep does happen to make an appearance while we’re out in about.

We arrive shortly at our destination and as I exit the car I am immediately flanked by my two protectors. When we enter my doctor’s suite I notice Mom is already there and waiting for us.

“How long have you been waiting for us to arrive?” I ask her.

“Just a few minutes dear, how are you feeling? You look a little flushed, is everything okay?” she asks me, putting the back of her hand on my forehead.

“I’m not running a fever, Mom, I’m fine promise.”

“I got us signed in baby,” Dillon says taking a seat next to me.

“Someone want to clue me in as to why my daughter looks like she’s seen a ghost here?” Mom asks. So we tell her about the note and I watch as anger crosses her face. Now it takes a lot for my mom to lose her temper, but it’s something I see happening here shortly. Luckily the nurse calls my name before any further discussion can happen. I get on the scale and nearly lose my lunch when I see I’ve gained fifteen damn pounds! I mean I can still wear my jeans, where are all of these pounds coming from? The nurse pats me on the back and has me follow her into the exam room.

“If I gain too much more weight I won’t be able to move!” I say in exasperation.

“You’re supposed to gain weight when you’re pregnant, Ariel,” Mom admonishes me. “It isn’t healthy for you or that baby if you don’t.”

“I know that Mom, but fifteen pounds and I’m only four months along.”

“Baby,” Dillon says getting my attention, “The standard weight gain in pregnancy is twenty-five pounds. Look at it this way, you’re halfway along so you should be right on target.” I lean into him and bury my head in his chest.

“I don’t want to look like an oompa loompa,” I say causing him to chuckle.

“Sweetie, you could never look like one, you’d need to dye your hair green to even come close to resembling one by the end of this pregnancy.” I go to hit him, but he grabs my hand in his. “Plus, they’re short and freaky as fuck, you could never look that way, especially in my eyes. They’re the only ones that matter…right?”

“I guess so,” I mumble.

“Miss Masters…”

“Mrs. Connelly,” Dillon interrupts her.

“Right, Mrs. Connelly, would you please sit on the table so I can take your blood pressure?”

“Sure,” I tell her while mentally doing a fist pump in the air at Dillon correcting her on my name. I know it’s silly, but it makes me proud to carry his name, and I want everyone to know it, and use it. Once my blood pressure has been taken, I was told to get into a gown and hop up on the table and wait for the doctor.

 

 

“Well, everything seems to be right on target,” the doctor says. “Are you ready to go to the ultrasound room so you can see your baby?”

“Yes,” Dillon answers for me, I don’t know who’s more excited to find out what we’re having, him or me. Dillon helps me down from the exam table, helps me out of the gown, and into my own clothes. When we step out into the hallway, our nurse shows us to the sonogram room, and my nerves are going crazy with thoughts of what we may be having—a boy or girl. Not that it matters either way, I’m just wondering if my weeks are going to be filled with dance classes and recitals, or if my weekends will consist of football, baseball, soccer or if my son or daughter will take after me and love arts and crafts.

Of course, he or she could take after Dillon and be a brainiac, so to speak. Dillon sees and hears things and can remember them from that point on. Wish we could all be so lucky, I’d love to remember things I’ve read and been told.

“Wait in here and the sonogram technician will be with you in a few minutes,” the nurse says breaking me from my wondering mind.

“Thank you,” I say to her entering the room with Dillon and Mom trailing behind me. We left Levi outside, he wanted to have eyes on the building while we were in here, I’m hoping he’s okay out there by himself.

“What are you thinking about, beautiful?” Dillon ask me in my ear causing goose bumps to break out all over my body.

“A lot of different things actually,” I respond.

“Like what?”

“Wondering if we’re having a boy or girl, what he or she will be into…extracurricular wise, will the baby grow up to be more like me or more like you? And then my mind wandered to Levi outside all by himself and hoping he’s okay.”

“Well, let’s take that one question at a time, shall we? Okay first of all, this baby will be loved, regardless if our kid is a he or a she. Secondly, our kid could be into all those things, despite gender. It is acceptable these days for girls to play sports and boys to be dancers.” He laughs at me when I scrunch my nose up at him when he says that. He’s right, of course he is, but that’s a lot of activity for one child to be into, I may never sleep again! “And how you jumped from Levi to our kid is a mystery in and of itself to me, but baby, he’s fine. He’s trained for surveillance and he’s good at what he does. Stop worrying, he’ll be okay.”

“You’re right, I know there’s nothing to worry about, I’m just a little rattled at the moment. Why I’m letting this guy fuck with my head I’ll never know. I just want him gone so our baby will be safe.”

“You too, you need to be safe as well,” my mother calls out. “You girls are the reasons I wake up each and every morning. Since your dad left me, my reason for existing shifted on its axis. If something happened to one of my little girls, what would be the point of going on in a world where I outlived my kids…any of you?” She takes out her package of Kleenex and wipes her nose.

Dillon scrunches down on her level, where she’s seated in a chair. “Glory, I promise you I will do everything within my power to keep your girls safe, no one and nothing will happen to them as long as I’m around to stop it. Since meeting Ariel, and becoming an expectant dad, I can understand exactly how you’re feeling. Now, I want all these tears and worries gone, for the moment anyways. We have a baby to see!” he says with cheer in his voice and a smile on his face, which happens to be contagious because Mom and I are wearing the same smile on ours.

The technician walks into the room and asks, “Who here is excited to see the little peanut nestled inside their mother?”

“We’re so excited!” my mom says jumping up and down in her seat and clapping her hands together like the excited grandmother to be she is.

“Are you Grandma?” the tech asks her.

“I am, first grandchild and all. I wasn’t going to miss this, not one bit of any of it,” Mom says, giving me a motherly look that lets me know she means business.

“How exciting for you to be here, why don’t you come sit over here in this chair, so you can see the screen better? Our big screen television that’s bluetoothed into the sonogram machine has gone out unfortunately, that means we all have to look at the same screen together. But I promise to take my time and make it memorable for all parties involved,” she says so sweetly, that I can’t help but to believe every word of what she’s saying to be true.

“We appreciate that,” Dillon says while helping me up on the bench and laying back on it. She has me lift my shirt up and squirts gel on it that she’s had in a little warmer so it’s not freezing when it lands on my naked flesh.

“That’s not so bad now is it?” she asks me once its applied.

“No, not at all. I was expecting it to be quite cold to be honest with you, I’m glad you warmed it up for me though.”

“We find it’s more relaxing to the mother to not put freezing cold gel on her. I’m happy to hear we’ve accomplished that goal,” she says to me with a twinkle in her eyes. She’s such a sweet lady, she makes me feel comfortable.

“I’m going to take some measurements first of the baby and make sure everything is as it should be. Then we’ll listen to the heartbeat and hope baby is cooperating with us, so we can find out what the gender is. You do want to find out what you’re having, correct? I don’t want to accidentally say something and y’all wanted it to be a surprise on baby’s birthday. Sixteen weeks is sometimes too early to tell gender, but it’s happened before.”

“Yes, yes we’d very much like to know. I want everything to be ready and waiting for the baby’s arrival.” I’m excited and am barely able to contain it. We all watch in awe as she points out the different body parts of the baby and measures not just the baby, but the sac surrounding the baby as well.

“Why do you need to check on the baby’s sac?” I ask her curiously.

“We want to make sure there’s enough amniotic fluid surrounding the baby. This gives us an idea if there’s any tears or rips in the sac. We need to make sure baby is comfortable and in an environment where it can thrive and grow.” Makes sense, I think to myself. “Let’s listen to the heartbeat and make sure it’s strong and steady.” She turns on the volume and you can hear the thumping, it’s in a relaxing melody and I find that it makes my own heart melt. “Look at that, strong and healthy at one-seventy-five beats per minute.”

“Is that good?” I ask and feel Dillon squeeze my hand.

“It’s fantastic, means the baby’s heart is working as it should be at this stage of your pregnancy.”

“Look how beautiful your baby is, Ariel,” Mom says wiping moisture from her face. “This baby is going to be a heartthrob with yours and Dillon’s genes running through it.” I hate her calling my baby an it, but she’s emotional so I decide to bite my tongue and not say a word.

“I have to agree—your baby has a beautiful profile,” the tech says sounding sincere, and I can’t wait until I can see my baby up close and personal. The next five months need to fly on by. “Let’s see if we can’t find out what we’re having.” Dillon leans over me and is so intent on the screen that it makes me happy with the excited feeling flowing throughout the room. “Ah, would you look at that, no shame in this one…he’s letting it all hang out to view.”

“He?” Dillon chokes out.

“Yes, Daddy, you are having a little boy.”