I like the sound of your heart beating, in my arms right here, right now. When it's so quiet I can hear you breathing, that may be my favourite sound.
Aaron Lines
******
"Derek, this is stupid."
"No, it's not, research proves that talking to an unborn baby stimulates brain development."
"Yes, but it can't even hear until the end of the second trimester."
"It still couldn't hurt."
Emily shook her head, but smiled. She'd broken the news all of about twenty minutes ago and he'd been over the moon ever since.
"At least I might be able to hear the heartbeat."
"Not until twenty weeks," she reminded, "It's only been four."
His smile made it clear that he didn't care. She sighed and pulled her shirt up to expose her stomach. He tenderly ran a hand over her slightly swollen belly before leaning down and press an ear to it.
"Hey sweetie," he murmured, "It's daddy here. Mommy thinks you can't hear me, but I know you can."
Emily laughed silently and shook her head for the second time in twenty minutes.
******
"Then the tall, dark, and handsome knight took the beautiful princess with big brown eyes away from the evil witch, Strauss, and they lived happily ever after..."
Emily chuckled as she heard the story. "Running out of stories, huh?" she asked as Morgan lifted his head from her swollen belly. It had been six months since she told him she was pregnant and he had been 'reading' bedtime stories to their child since that very night.
He paused for a moment, thinking of a good come back, but realized there was no point. So he relented, "Yeah..."
She smiled and shook her head at his antics, "You are so weird."
"Me?" he asked, raising his eyebrows, "Ha!"
"It's true," she said, shrugging her shoulders.
Morgan shook his head, "Well you must be just as weird for being with me then."
"Probably."
He just smiled and once again rested his head on her abdomen. "I can hear her heartbeat," he said quietly, "You know what else I can hear?"
"If you're gonna tell me you hear our baby girl speak again, I'm gonna ban you from putting your head here," Emily replied, with a half-hearted skeptical glare.
"No," he laughed, lifting his head up to look in her eyes. "I can hear your heartbeat too."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "It's strong."
"Well, it better be, I'm carrying another human being inside me," she joked. He remained silent and just watched her. "What?"
"I like it."
"You like what?" she asked, getting slightly irritated. He knew how much she hated his game of answering a question ambiguously.
"I like to put my head on your belly and talk to our daughter." He held her hand. "And if it's really quiet, I can hear her heart beating, softly. Then I can hear your heart beating, louder. I know it's weird, but it makes me happy."
And just like that, her heart melted and all traces of irritation vanished. She felt tears prickle at her eyes and she quickly brushed them away, hoping he wouldn't notice, but her soft sniffle gave her away.
"What's wrong?" he asked, worry on the edge of his voice.
"They're happy tears," she reassured. "Stupid hormones," she added under her breath. Morgan laughed. "You know," she said, "You like to pretend you're a tough guy, but you're really just a big softie..."
"Am not."
"Hopeless romantic..." she teased.
"Am not."
Emily smiled as she felt the baby start to move. "The baby's kicking," she said, a twinkle in her eyes.
"Really?" he asked, excitedly; he had missed the first few times the baby had kicked because he was at work. He quickly brought his hands down to her belly to feel the movement. "She likes the sound of her Daddy's voice," he said with a smile.
"Softie..."
******
Emily watched as Morgan held their daughter in his arms for the first time, an enormous smile on his face, tears sparkling in his eyes. "Hey sweetie," he whispered, "It's Daddy."
At the sound of his voice she looked up into his eyes, the ghost of a smile on her lips as she wrapped her tiny fingers around his.
"She already recognizes her Daddy's voice," Emily said quietly.
As the baby slowly fell asleep in his arms, cooing softly from the depths of her slumber, Morgan smiled. "I think this is my favourite sound..."