Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
I felt a lump crawl up my throat.
I was looking at my baby!
“Want to look at it in 3D?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said.
He switched the screen over, and I looked at something even more otherworldly.
But it actually did look pretty cool. If not a little freaky.
“Can you tell if it’s a boy or a girl yet?” Ford asked.
Zach shook his head as he hit a button on the screen. A piece of paper started to spit out the side, and he ripped it off and handed it to us.
“Not yet,” Zach said. “You can take a NIPT—noninvasive prenatal test—and it can tell you the sex. It screens for other chromosomal conditions as well.”
Ford grinned and reached for the photo that Zach was holding out.
“Can we have another?” I asked. “Or about ten more?”
Zach snorted and did as we asked, taking a couple different shots before handing the long strip over to us.
I grinned widely at it, handing those over to Ford as well.
Zach shut the computer monitor down and hung the wand up, reaching over to an unopened roll of paper towels and ripping them open before handing me a couple of sheets.
I wiped my stomach clean and sat up.
Ford was still looking at the pictures when I asked Zach, “Can we do that with you? The testing?”
“I don’t want to know what the gender is,” Ford blurted.
My brows rose as I looked at him. “You don’t?”
He shook his head.
“Then why did you ask if you didn’t want to know?” I snorted, punching him lightly in the thigh.
He caught my hand and smoothed my fist out to rest against his hip.
My heart started to race, but not because of my closeness to his penis—though it did make it pitter-patter—but because of just how fucking happy I was.
We were doing this. Ford and me. Ford, me and a baby.
We were doing this, and he was happy.
I was happy.
I didn’t think anything could take this feeling away from me.
“Well,” Zach said when he held out a hand to help me sit up. “I hope that alleviates some of your fears. And I hate to kick you out, but I have a hot date tonight and I’m really hoping she’ll allow me to play doctor with her for real.”
I gagged and let go of his hand.
“You’re so gross, Zach,” I said.
Zach didn’t look the least bit contrite.
“You’re just jealous that I’m able to do it and you’re not,” he teased.
I shook my head, my eyes going up to Ford’s face.
“I’m not jealous of you,” I admitted. “Why would I be?”
Zach caught my drift and winked.
“I’ll call you in a prescription for some nausea meds at the local pharmacy. They should have it ready by the time you get there,” he said as he walked with us out of the room.
He and Ford and I fell into step, and I thought about all the times that we’d had together when we were younger.
“Hey, Zach?” I said. “You should’ve moved to Kilgore.”
Zach looked at me over his shoulder.
“I actually thought about that,” he admitted. “But there’s someone there that I don’t want to run in to.”
I frowned.
“Do I know her?” Ford asked.
Zach shrugged. “Probably not. But… yeah. I’m going to do this thing here. Live my life. Away from her.”
That’s when I tilted my head to stare at him curiously. “You have me intrigued.”
Well now I had to do some digging, and I knew just the person to talk to.
Luckily, I was going to be seeing Zach’s mom tomorrow at the party.
Aces.
***
Viddy hugged me hard the moment that I walked in the door.
A whole herd of puppies circled our feet, all of them cute as hell.
But I was too busy hugging Ford’s mother to pet them at that moment in time.
“I guess I’ll just wait for you to get around to hugging me,” Ford drawled, sounding amused.
Not upset in the least.
At one point in time, he’d definitely been annoyed by his mother’s love for me.
But he’d gotten over it around the time he’d turned into a teenager, seeing the goodness of me having another person in my corner.
Viddy laughed and pulled away, going for her son next.
“I can’t believe I had to find out that y’all were together from Tru!” Viddy cried.
“Honestly surprised the hell out of me,” I heard just as I was engulfed into a strong pair of arms.
Trance, Ford’s dad.
I hugged him tight and said, “Please tell me all of these puppies aren’t spoken for!”
He laughed, hugging me just as tight. “Sorry to say, they are. They were spoken for before we even knew how many there were.”
I sighed. “I want one of the next litter.”
Trance squeezed me tight. “Those are spoken for, too.”
I pretend pouted.
“What if I gave you an extra special gift?” I said, smiling wide.
“What kind of gift?” he asked, sounding intrigued.