Chapter 3

Madison walked into the front office of Dr. Mason's practice. As usual, Lucy sat at the small reception desk and looked up with a smile to greet her. Madison did a quick survey of the room and was relieved to notice there were no other expectant mothers waiting in the office.

"Slow day?" Madison asked casually as she walked up to the front desk.

"A little. Doc said to keep the appointments light today. He has to take his girl out for a treat. She just won another tournament."

"Oh that's wonderful!"

"You can go right on ahead, I'll let Dr. Mason know you're here."

" Ummm, my uh partner is on his way up. Maybe I should wait for him."

"No need, my dear, I'll show him right in, when he gets here. Just let me know his name, and I will send him through as soon as he gets in.'

This was the moment , when everything changed. Kevin had dropped her off as she requested at the front of the building while he drove into underground parking. She thought it best, he shouldn't chanced being seen coming into a doctor's office with her. She wasn't ready for this to be out. Which is why she had walked into the office alone. He should be up any minute now.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to Lucy, "His name is Kevin Pearson."

She saw it. The slight pause in the pen where realisation dawned as Lucy made a note of the name, But professional as she was, it pleased Madison when Lucy turned to her and said , "I'll send him right in. Go ahead now in to Dr. Mason."

Lucy picked up the phone and buzzed the doctor's intercom, just as she moved towards his closed office door.

Madison knocked gently and entered the office after she heard the gentle "Come in"

" Hi Madison, how're you doing today?" Dr. Madison sat behind his ornate desk and smiled at her as she entered. She returned his smile and sat in one of the two visitors chairs on the other side of his desk.

" I'm doing well. Been getting tired a lot, everything seems to be okay." She replied,. For some reason, she started feeling a little nervous. This wasn't her first appointment but she was about to introduce Kevin and the thought made her a little edgy. She really hoped Dr. Mason liked him, because she had come to value his opinion a great deal. She knew she was projecting her father figure wishes onto her doctor, but she couldn't help. Few men in her life had shown her kindness, so she valued the ones that did.

"Well , that's what you're here to make sure. Are you ready to get started? "

"Actually, I've brought someone with me today. He's on his way up." She looked at the doctor knowingly.

He smiled back at her. "The father?" he queried tentatively.

She nodded her head at him. His smile widened. "Everything all good?"

"We're working on it, but yeah, I think we're heading in the vicinity of good, if a little strange."

"Strange?" he quizzically asked.

"Well, the thing is that the babies father is rather well known. He's an actor."

"Oh."

" His name is Kevin Pearson. He was onboard the minute I told him, and he's in this 100%. We have a little bit of an unusual arrangement at the moment, but we're making it work." She hurried through the explanation, so that there wouldn't be any awkward moments when Kevin, finally turned up.

Kevin stared at the numbers on elevator as it climbed to the 5th floor. He was getting a little nervous. This was about to get very real, in a way that he had been able to compartmentalize until now. He was about to enter a doctor's office that somehow made it feel all the more official.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped of teh elevator as it dinged and walked straight to the end of the hall, to exactly where Madison directed him. He walked into a small reception area and smiled at the young woman sitting behind the desk.

He saw the recognition hit her eyes, and he braced himself as he started to put up the wall, that separated him from is fame.

But she surprised him. Very few people did that lately to be honest.

"Mr. Pearson, you can go right in. Madison said you would be up soon."

The receptionist smiled helpfully as she directed him to a door behind her that had a name plate saying Dr. Mason. Normally, when people encountered him these days, they started stumbling over their words, grabbing their phones and shoving it in his face to get a selfie. He willingly obliged, as it was all part and parcel of his job, but it also caused him to have to maintain two versions of himself. The real him and the one everyone else saw. Genuine interactions were rare, so that simple smile and acknowledgement and downright professionalism from the receptionist, allowed him to lower his wall and keep being himself.

"Thank you so much... Lucy is it? " he asked as he spotted a name card on her desk.

That genuine smile again. " Yes it is, go right ahead now, I suspect they're waiting for you."

He knocked gently on the door and was ushered in my a kind sounding male voice. He walked in, spotted Madison, half turned in her chair, and his breath caught. His reactions to her, were getting a little more confusing. He'd known her for a few years now, and it wasn't until recently that the sight of her caused him to pause. His feelings were becoming complicated and he didn't yet know why.

Quickly he recovered and walked forward, putting his hand out to introduce himself, when Dr. Mason, he presumed, said " Nice to meet you Kevin. How about we sit for a minute, so you can ask me the million questions, that's been floating around your head. Then we can get to the fun stuff. "

About an hour or more later, Kevin sat in his car waiting for Madison to get in. She insisted they leave separately after the appointment, James Bonding his way through the parking lot to avoid detection. The quiet moment was welcome though. He had just had the most life altering experience of his life and he wanted to process it. He sat starting at the black and white blurred image that told him nothing but what he knew was the image of his children, after he had just heard the sounds of their heart beats for the first time. That sound that filled the air, that connected his heart with theirs and connected Madison's with his. It was the sound that made this big world make sense.

Finally, for the first time his life had purpose. He looked up and saw Madison walking towards the car, and thought. This journey has only just begun.