Twenty-Five
Cameo
As the weeks go on, I can’t help the anxiety of not knowing who the father is.
Sager swears he doesn’t care as long as this baby is happy and healthy, he’ll love it either way, but I need to know. I need my mind to be at peace at least a little. I need to know if I have to prepare myself for the worst and how I’ll even handle Alec if he is, in fact, the father.
Heading to the doctor’s office, I try like hell not to let my nerves get the best of me.
The ride feels like it takes forever and when I finally pull into a parking space, I have to take a couple of deep breaths before even undoing my seatbelt.
Grabbing my bag, I get out and make my way into the doctor’s office.
After checking myself in, I wait in the waiting room for longer than expected and when they finally call my name, I feel like I might throw up. I know this isn’t even the worst part of everything, but it feels like I’m going behind Sager’s back to find out.
When the doctor walks into the room, he gives me a polite smile and says, “Good morning, Cameo. How are you doing today?”
“Nervous. Terrified is probably more like it.”
“There is nothing to be terrified about. This is non-evasive, and you and the baby will both be perfectly fine.” He writes a few things down in the chart in his hand before he continues. “Were you able to bring DNA from the father?” Just as I’m about to hand him the little baggy with the gum that I picked up after Sager spit it out last night, the door to the exam room opens, and Sager walks in with a nurse following behind him.
“Sorry, doctor, I tried to stop him, but he said his fiancée was back here.” The nurse gives me an apologetic smile, and the doctor ushers her out the door and leaves too, giving Sager and I a few minutes alone.
“Why didn’t you just say something, Cam? You know I would have been here with you the entire way.” I look down at my lap, and a million thoughts are rushing around in my head as I try to figure out the best way to say it.
“You said you didn’t care whose baby it was… but I do. I need to know if I am tethered to Alec for the rest of my life or if I just get to put the past behind us and move on, me and you.”
“If you would have just said this last night, I would have dropped everything to be here with you this morning.” His eyes burn right into me and I hate this feeling like I’m messing everything up.
“It looks like you did drop everything already.”
He lets out a chuckle and walks over to me.
“Cameo, I didn’t drop anything that was important, and G was fine with taking my class today. You just need to tell me what is going through this pretty head of yours. If we keep secrets, we will end up destroying everything between us, and I don’t want that at all. I love you.”
He wraps his arms around me, and I try like hell not to start crying. Between everything going on and these hormones, I cry all the dang time.
“I love you too, Sager.”
Just as he places a kiss on my nose, the doctor comes back into the room.
“Are you two ready?” he asks.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” I answer as I bury my face into Sager’s side.
“Okay, so I will need to take blood samples from the both of you to send off to the lab. Depending on when you need the results, you can get them expedited, or you can wait the standard two weeks for the results to come in.”
I look over at Sager, and he looks so calm and collected. On the inside, I feel like I’m freaking out and there is nothing that I can do to stop the wayward thoughts that are taking over.
“What do you think Sager?” I ask. I don’t trust myself to make the decision. I would want them in a few hours, plus I know he is the more rational one.
He looks down at me and smiles. It puts me slightly at ease, and I wait for his answer. “Can we expedite them?”
I see the doctor nod his head out of the corner of my eye while Sager never takes his eyes off me. It’s like he can read my mind.
The doctor busies himself getting ready to take blood samples and the whole time I am praying that the outcome is what we are both hoping for. I want nothing more than for Sager to be the father, but with my luck lately, I have this sinking feeling in my stomach that it’s going to be Alec.
Once the doctor does all the blood samples, we get to see the baby. Our baby.
Sager holds my hand while we stare at the monitor in awe of the little baby inside me. As the months go on, I ache to finally get to hold him or her.
“Do you want to know the sex of the baby?” the sonogram tech asks with a huge smile on her face.
“Up to you, babe,” Sager murmurs kissing my forehead.
“Yes, please.” I can already feel the tears stinging my eyes as I stare at the screen, waiting for her to tell us.
She moves the wand around on my belly and then snaps a picture.
“You are having a girl.”
I can no longer hold back the tears. I am not really sure what to think other than if she is anything like Sager, I am going to be in a world of trouble.
Sager wraps his arm around me and kisses the top of my head. “A little girl.” His voice is choked up, and more tears fall down my cheeks when I look at him. He looks terrified and excited all rolled into one adorably cute expression.
“Everything else looks good. I can have your next appointment scheduled for you, and I’ll print out a few photos for you as well.” I give her a smile, and she goes off doing some things before leaving the room.
“A little girl.”
I look over at Sager, and I think it’s finally really sinking in for him.
“I can’t believe we are having a little princess.”
Grinning at him, I kiss him on the cheek and his attention turns away from the little sonogram machine and toward me.
“I fucking love you, Cam. Thank you.” He grabs my face with both of his hands and gently presses his lips to mine.
“No, thank you. You’ve been amazing through all of this. I couldn’t have done any of it without you.” He kisses me again, and I melt into him. If everything else goes to shit, at least I know that I’ll always have him by my side, trying like hell to make sure everything is taken care of and that I’m loved. He’ll always do everything in his power to make sure this baby girl is taken care of and loved.
“I’ll always be right here.”
The nurse comes back into the room with an appointment card and the sonogram photos, handing everything to me and telling us to have a good rest of our day and to celebrate the news of a little girl.
When we get to the car, Sager helps me in and leans down into the open doorway. “I knew that you were up to something when you asked to borrow my car today. I had G drop me off when I spotted the car in the parking lot.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I was terrified and you were happy either way. I just needed to know the truth. It’s killing me to worry about it and do nothing.” I look down at my hands in my lap, and he kneels down in front of me.
“You have to trust me enough to tell me you’re freaking out. I will be right there with you through everything but you have to talk to me. I can’t read your mind.” I nod my head, and he grabs my chin, forcing me to look at him. “I love you, Cameo. You are the only thing I want in this world, and this is going to be tough. Our lives aren’t perfect, but we can get through anything.”
“I know. I love you, Sager.”
“Now, let’s get you home. I asked the guys to cover my classes today so that I can spend the rest of the day with you.”
I can’t help the huge grin on my face as he leans in and kisses me.
By the time we get home, I’m exhausted and starving. As we walk through the kitchen, I can’t help but go straight for the fridge. I search the shelves until I come up empty and turn to Sager and pout.
“What?” he asks, looking at me with a knowing grin. I’m sure he could already guess what I am wanting without me having to ask because it’s the same thing I always ask for.
“You know what.” I pout a little more, and he just shakes his head. “Please, Sager.”
“It’s unhealthy. Eat something here.” I groan and then pout, walking toward the bedroom. I know that once I do this, he’ll break down and go to get me what I want. It never fails.
“Cameo, it’s not working this time,” he calls out.
It doesn’t take him long to mutter under his breath before grabbing his keys and walking out the front door. Grinning to myself, I slide under the covers and cuddle up on his side of the bed.
A hand on my face wakes me, and I look up into Sager’s eyes. “I got you food.” I give him a sleepy smile, and he presses his lips to my forehead, setting the bag next to me on the bed.
“It smells so good.” I practically moan when he hands me the aluminum foil wrapped burger. Just as I start to dig in, the doorbell rings. Sager gets off the bed, and when he answers it, I can hear the concern in his voice.
“Cameo,” he calls from the door. Getting out of bed, I set my burger down and make my way toward him. When I get to the door, I see a man standing on the other side, a clipboard in hand.
“Are you Cameo Hartley?” I nod my head, and he scribbles something on the clipboard before he hands me a stack of papers. “You’ve been served.” With that, he turns and walks back down the walkway toward his car, and I stand there in shock, staring at him as he disappears.
“Cameo, come on.” Sager moves me from the doorway and takes the papers from my hands. He quickly reads through them while I continue to stay still as a statue in shock.
When I look at Sager again, he looks pissed. He walks into the kitchen where I left my purse and grabs my phone. Everything happens in a blur, and then the shouting starts. All the words jumble together, and I can’t make anything out, but then again, I don’t know if I really want to.
I just want this nightmare to finally be over with. I want to be able to live my life with Sager and this little girl. If I hadn’t made a mess of everything, we wouldn’t be where we are now. In a few days, we will have the answers we need, and then hopefully all of this will be over.
We can then move on.
I want this to be over so I never have to hear from Alec again. Arms wrap around me, and I’m pulled back into Sager’s chest. His lips hover just above my ear, and he whispers, “Everything is going to work out.” I wish I believed that but with the way things have gone lately, I’m not so sure.