A week later I was back in the hospital for my next scan. Evan is meeting me at the hospital to accompany me. I couldn’t let him miss another scan, it wasn’t fair to him or the baby. I would just have to get used to being around Evan again. After my break down in hospital, he’s been keeping his distance giving me the time I need to process everything that has happened.
Evan has organized a suite at a hotel for me to live in, with a nurse on call. Vanessa persuaded me to take Evan up on his offer, saying he just wanted to help, that he cares and wants what is best for the baby and me. Being confined to bed sucks, being in a luxurious hotel with views of the Eiffel Tower made it bearable. Each day Evan sends vases of flowers to my room. They arrive at the same time every day. They are beautiful. It really is generous of him.
“Hey, sorry I’m late traffic was crazy. Paris is so much worse than LA,” he says giving me a smile, flashing those killer dimples. Fuck! I hated how he affected me. All week I have been having these crazy sex dreams about him, stupid hormones making me horny. It’s just not fair. Thankfully the doctor called us in before I could say anything embarrassing. The doctor checks me over physically then asks for me to jump up onto the table and roll my pants down exposing my belly. Squirting a cold gel onto my stomach, he moves the wand around until he finds the baby. As we look onto the screen, jelly bean appears and moments later we can hear the heartbeat.
“Is that the baby’s heart beat?” Evan asks, his eyes wide as he stars at the screen.
“Yes, and it’s strong. The baby is looking very healthy.”
I felt Evan’s hand over mine, I look at him but he is lost in his own world staring at our baby, his ocean blue eyes glistening with unshed tears. A future that I dared not think about flashed before my eyes. Nights spent cuddled on a sofa with a sleeping baby against my breast, sitting in the sand building sandcastles with Evan and our child, a large house filled with laughter and pitter-patter of many feet across the floor as our family grows.
I wanted all of this with Evan. I wanted what he demanded from me last week, I want him to be my husband, I want us to be a family. I want Evan’s band to teach our child how to play instruments or sing. I want this child to know about crazy Uncle Derrick and bossy Aunty Vanessa and all the other people in its life. I want Charlotte to take photos of our little family savoring these memories. Fuck, I move uncomfortably on the table, tears falling from my eyes. I try to brush them away hoping no one can tell what I was thinking.
“You can clean up and meet me next door,” the doctor says, giving me a cloth to wipe the gel off my stomach.
“Are you okay?” Evan asks, helping me down from the bed, his strong arms holding me close to him. I can smell his citrus scent, I can feel his warmth as I look up into his eyes.
“I think we need to talk about all of this.”
Evan nods “I think we do too. Can I take you out for dinner tonight? Or would you like to eat in your room?”
“I would like to go out if that’s okay. I’m sick of being stuck in my room.”
Smiling as he rubs the dried tears from my cheek, he says, “It’s a date.”
My heart skips a beat at his words, did Evan still have feelings for me or was he caught up in the moment of seeing our baby?
Joining the Doctor back in the room we sit down and wait for him to explain how the baby is doing. Evan holds my hand in support.
“Okay, I’ve gone through your blood tests they took at the time of the crash and your new blood tests and I am confident to say the baby is doing fine. There is just one thing?”
My stomach sank.
“What is it Doc?” Evan asks, holding my hand tight.
“Well Miss Hayes here had some rather extensive tests after her crash to make sure everything was ok with the baby, tests that most pregnant women don’t have to have unless they are high risk, which she was. The tests tell me the sex of the baby. Would you like to know?”
I am stunned for a moment, I was expecting bad news not that we could find out the sex of the baby.
“It’s up to you, sweetheart,” Evan says, looking at me.
“I would like to know.”
The doctor smiles. “Congratulations, it’s a boy.”
Evan lets out a whoop.
Oh my, I’m having a boy, we are having a boy. A little Evan.
We leave the doctor but I am still in shock. I am having a boy.
“You alright, Sienna?” Evan asks, holding my hand as we walk through the bustling corridors of the hospital.
I stop walking, turn and hug him, I burst into tears as everything that I have been holding in over the past week comes out. Evan wraps his arms around me and holds me close to him. “Everything is going to be okay, Sienna. You and me, sweetheart we are going to be okay.” I look at Evan through tear soaked lashes, his face telling me that he meant what he said, that we were going to be okay. In that moment, his lips touch mine in the briefest of kisses for the first time in more than two weeks.
***
“So, dinner with Evan tonight?” Derrick asks, helping me pick out something to wear that I won’t look fat in.
“We have a lot to discuss,” I say, giving him a look as I flick through my clothes.
“You know he’s going to plan something romantic for you,” Vanessa adds, from her place on the bed.
Evan did say it was a date.
“The boy has been trying to get you to give him the time of day for the past week, he is not going to miss this opportunity to have you all alone,” Derrick smiles.
“You’ve changed your tune,” I note, looking at Derrick.
“Please, I have been ‘Team Wyld’ from day one. But I have been looking out for you,” he proclaims, putting his arm around me and pushing the black dress into my arms.
“I still love him, even after everything. I want us to be a family. I want all the things he promised me in the hospital. Do you think he still wants that?” Worry settles into my stomach and I wonder if I had let my anger, hurt and stubbornness push him away.
“That man still loves you S; he’s just waiting for you to catch up to him,” Vanessa smiles.