Hi guys! After taking the exam this morning, I thought of celebrating by publishing another chapter!
Well, things are changing a little eh...
Hoping you like it, I send you a hug.
Stay safe out there!
Ps: opinions, criticisms, ideas are always welcome!
See you soon, H
She twisted her hands nervously while sitting on the table waiting for Natalie. Jay was sitting in the chair next to her, motionless and with a distant expression on his face.
"Last time it wasn't possible to see it, but if this time Natalie could do it...would you want to know? If it's a boy or a girl... Last time you didn't seem convinced…"
Her words seemed to awaken him from a long sleep, because he turned to her with clouded eyes. He had been strange, silent and absent all day long, but they had had so much work Hailey had only been able to meet him for an hour during lunch.
She looked down at her bare belly. By now, she could no longer deny the bulge she saw there. Stroking it during day had become the most normal thing in the world. Her baby should have been about the size of a mango by now, she reasoned mentally reminding she was already in the middle of the fifth month.
She had had to go to shopping, a thing Vanessa had been thrilled with. Jeans and trousers were starting to tighten. So, the first afternoon without work, she spent hours around shops with an enthusiastic Vanessa who hopping around as if she had springs.
She remembered how the thought of how her belly would become in another three months made her feel almost nauseous but then, from afar, she saw the baby clothes section.
She ended up abandoning Vanessa alone while she, silent, had admired with open mouth every possibile baby onesie in the shop.
Then hours later, they returned home with a series of jeans, shirts and trousers for her, but also with a small, adorable yellow onesie with many little chocolate biscuits drawn.
Every evening, before going bed, she stared at that onesie imagining it on her son, or daughter. She had spent hours wondering what she would have wanted more, but in the end the only thing came to her mind was that she wanted it to be healthy. As far as she was concerned, she would have won anyway, both boy or girl.
She returned to the present seeing Jay blink his eyes a few times, as if he were focusing on her.
"Sorry, what you told me?"
"But you feel good?", she leaned towards him who, being seated on the chair, was lower than her.
"Just headache since this morning. Tell me."
"I asked you if…you wanted to know if it's boy or girl. You didn't seem sure…"
"I think…", he stopped, lowering his head and staring at her from under eyelashes, "I think I wish it was a surprise. I care it's fine, just that. But yeah, I would like to have a surprise… But if you prefer to know, that's fine!", he added quickly.
Hailey smiled sweetly at him. He was scratching his neck trying not to meet her eyes. He seemed to be ashamed of wanting to express what he wanted.
"I like this idea. Let it be a surprise then!"
His head snapped, "Really?"
"Sure", she held out her hand wanting for him to grab, "You're the dad, you're in it as much as me…"
She saw him blush to the tip of his ears, the expression on his face was one of the most tender she had ever seen.
"Will you ever stop blushing when I say you're the dad?", she laughed, rolling her eyes.
"No, probably not…", he muttered, shaking his head.
"Hey guys! Sorry but I had an emergency! Okay, today we'll do a morphological. It'll be a little longer and I'll have to take a lot of notes, but in the end we'll know for sure this baby is healthy! You ready?"
Natalie entered the room like a fury and, without stopping for a second, she got ready and sat down next to Hailey.
She nodded nervously, the prospect of discovering something was wrong made her stomach tighten in fear.
But then, Jay's hand slid lightly under hers and, with a deep breath, she nodded again to Natalie.
Times passed slowly. Her gaze was always focused on the screen, but she could feel Natalie move the probe over her stomach, scan the screen and then take notes writing furiously on the sheet.
With relief, she noticed how her expression never wavered from serenity she had from the beginning.
The images in front of her were confused, but for the first time since she found out she was pregnant, she could make out the profile of her baby. It was real, it existed seriously, within her.
"Well, as I imagined, everything's fine here. And now…", she said after what seemed to Hailey centuries, "One of my favorite moments, you ready?"
Then, without waiting for their nod, still with the probe on her stomach, she pushed a button on the screen. And a steady rhythmic beat rang across the room.
Her gaze remained fixed on the image on her child as if she no longer could move a muscle.
She clearly sensed Jay stop and, after a moment, his voice sounded strangely weak.
"Is it? I mean…really?"
Natalie beamed at him, still busy writing something on her sheets.
"It's real, Hails. Like…seriously real!"
She turned her head staring into his wide eyes. They had never had so much green in them and Hailey found herself really hoping Bean had his eyes.
"Want to give up on it, huh", she laughed nervously.
"Oh no, not gonna happen!", his eyes, still huge, focused on the screen.
"And you would be Will's brother, I can't get it", Natalie snorted amused, then continued, "Okay, before make a fool: today I can tell you if we're talking about a girl or a boy…"
"No!", Hailey snapped suddenly, then, more slowly, "We want a surprise. If you say Bean is fine, we're happy!"
"Bean?", Natalie frowned in confusion.
"My brother started calling it this way and we got used to it…"
She laughed shaking her head, "Typical… Anyway, sure, all right. Bean is in great shape!"
She unplugged the probe and suddenly the room had become too quiet. If she could, Hailey would have liked to hear that beat forever.
...
"You wanna come for dinner? There's also Vanessa. Jay!", she called him alarmed. The man had unbuckled his belt but his eyes were still lost. He shook himself staring at her with a confused expression.
"Uh, yeah, of course. Take a shower and bring pizza. Okay?"
She nodded, studying him carefully. She saw him get out of her car and head slowly towards his door. There was something that disturbed her in his behavior, but it was probably just the sever headache he said he had.
She turned the car back on and, slipping through Chicago traffic, went home.
Before slipping into the shower, she wrote a quick message to Vanessa, who was evidently still at work, to informer of their plans for dinner.
And then, in the hot steam of the shower, she let her mind drift. The stress accumulated for days waiting for the visit slipped off her. The relief of knowing everything was fine was such as to make her lose her sense of time.
The thought of having to call her mother flashed through her mind and her eyes snapped open. She couldn't put it off much longer, but she didn't really know what was holding her back from making that call.
Honestly, she told herself, she thoughtfully washed her hands of her father's opinion. But her mom's face…yeah, she wanted to see it. As much as remembering her childhood made her suffer, she loved her mother. It was not her fault she had never been brave enough to leave her husband. It was still her mother. And above all, she knew she would have loved Jay.
Jay…the man no longer had a mother to tell she was about to become a grandmother.
Maybe she could call her…and ask her to come to town…and then tell her in person. Yeah, she would call her tomorrow.
She wiped away, moaning in pain, feeling her chest. Her boobs were killing her but it seemed to be normal, so she slipped into a sweatshirt and slowly went down the stairs.
She had just set the table in the kitchen that Vanessa's voice rang out fro the entrance. "Hailey! I found the pizza guy stand out of here!"
She turned to see Jay coming in with pizzas and Vanessa stealing a piece from behind him.
"You hungry?"
"To death! Come on, please, let's move or I could bite one of you!"
Vanessa sank her teeth into her slice and dropped into the chair.
"God, pizza has never seemed so good to me! So tell me how the visit went!"
Hailey launched into a cheerful description of the ultrasound done a few hours earlier. Beside her, Jay intervened sporadically. He was always silent, as if he were miles away from them.
It was only towards the end of the dinner Hailey concentrated on him. He had barely eaten the slice on the plate, his cheeks were red and his eyes always far away. He had to concentrate to listen to them, as if he focused them slowly.
"Jay. Hey, you good?", she shook him holding him by the shoulder. "Uh, yeah. I've headache and cold, I think…"
"You've fever! You should have told me!", she jumped up as soon as she touched his forehead.
He was burning and a shiver ran down the length of his back.
"Come on, get up. Come on", she dragged him to the sofa.
A grunt of relief escaped his lips as soon as he touched the soft surface.
"I'll wait a minute then I'll go home. Just a minute…", he muttered with narrowed eyes.
"Yeah, sure", she looked up impatiently. Then, turning around, she returned to the kitchen asking Vanessa to go and get Tylenol and a thermometer. She filled a glass of water and, returning to the living room, dimmed the lights and sat down next to him.
It will be a long night, she thought shaking her head.
It was only when she read his temperature that she understood why his sight was clouded.
"You have 102°F! You crazy! You should have told me!", she was indignant, then she forced him to take a Tylenol and the instant after he was collapsed on her.
"Here. Not your bed, just here", he muttered with his eyes closed.
"Seriously, Jay?!", she hissed angrily. She saw Vanessa, still leaning against the door jamb, and told her to go to bed. There wasn't much else to do there.
"Okay partner, you'll be better now. Come on over here."
She dragged him against her and the next moment he was already lying on the sofa, his head on her legs and his eyes closed.
She stretched her legs on the table in front of her and turned the TV volume down to minimus, just to be able to hear the movie.
A few minutes passed before Vanessa's footsteps rang in the corridor above them and the door to her room closed.
Hailey looked down and noticed how Jay was already deeply asleep. For the first time in days, he had a serene expression, despite the high fever.
She covered him with the blanket trying to mitigate the chills which kept shaking him even in sleep. She could feel the warmth of his fever through her pants and wondered how she had manage not to notice that it was so.
Because he was so stubborn and stupid, that's why.
His head touched her belly lightly and Hailey was unable to restrain himself and reached out for him.
She slowly ran her fingers through the short hair on his neck in a gentle massage. He had already done it for her on the evening she had had a terrible headache and remembered how much better she felt afterwards.
She placed her other hand on her belly and slowly, cradled by his rhythmic breathing, fell asleep.
She awoke with a start when heard moans beside her. She raised her head mumbling with neck pain, but the dark room didn't help her understand what was going on.
"Hailey?", Jay's low voice snapped her head in his direction. Gesture she regretted immediately, feeling the pain radiate to the back. She slowly loosened her neck muscles and moved closer to his figure.
"Hey, I'm here. How you feel?"
"I'm boiling, burning…"
He continued to move uncomfortably, now sitting on the ground.
"Take off your sweatshirt, but keep the blanket on you. It's okay to be hot, your temperature's going down. Going to get you some water."
She made her way to the kitchen lighting only the entrance lamp. A soft light illuminated the space around her preventing her from crashing into the table.
She was so tired, she just wanted to close her eyes and keep sleeping…
Her gaze fell on the clock on the oven indicating two in the morning, they had slept for about five hours and still felt like a rag.
She went back to the living room only to find Jay sitting on the floor, on the cold tiles. His head lifted up hearing her chuckle, "I'm really hot. Like I'm on fire."
She handed him the glass of fresh water before putting the forgotten blanket on the sofa on his shoulders.
"You know…", he began, sliding again on the sofa next to her, his head still sank on her legs and his hand touching her belly, "You'll be a good mom."
He was on his back, so Hailey managed to find his eyes in the darkness of the room. Her heart skipped a few beats hearing his words and her hand automatically slid on her belly.
"Yeah, I don't know…"
Then, silence followed her words, so she continued, "I haven't had the best examples… what if I were like…?"
"Not a chance", he interrupted her with lightness.
"How do you know?"
The voice came out louder than she wanted, so, clearing her throat, she looked at the stairs hoping she hadn't woken Vanessa up.
"I just know it. It's you, I trust you. You'll be the best. You've been taking care of me for years and I've had periods when I was worse than a child, so…"
They chuckled silently still in the dark. A ray of light entered the window illuminating a long strip of floor in the middle of the living room. Hailey focused her gaze on that point before hearing him move and walk away from her.
"Go to bed, Hailey. I'll be okay."
"Come with me?"
She couldn't see his expression, but if silence had words then she knew what he was saying.
"Then I'll stay here. And don't fight me, I'm not going anywhere", she said resolutely.
She heard a long sigh coming from the other side of the sofa, then a hand grabbed her arm by pulling her towards him.
"So, come on, you can't sit there and your sofa is big enough for two people."
She felt him stretching on the sofa and instinctively she did too. Lying on her side, with the blanket lying on them and Jay behind her.
His breath was directly between her hair and his chest, hot indeed, leaning against her back. "I'll sweat, I'm sorry…"
"Doesn't matter", the voice caught in her throat.
If someone told her, this morning, that she would end up sleeping with him, she would laugh out loud. Instead now here she is, in the middle of the night and with Jay lying behind her.
She was thinking of pinching herself when felt his hand crawl on her side and rest on her belly.
Really, she forced herself to breathe normally noticing her heart pounding in her chest. He could probably hear it too, she cursed silently.
"Don't snore", he interrupted her ramblings muttering in a sleepy voice.
"I do not…"
But then his faint laughter rang in his chest and spread automatically in her body as well.
"Ah, dumbass!"
And a moment later, his breathing had returned to regular and his inanimate hand against her belly.
She would have thought that she would not be able to fall asleep in a situation like this, instead the rhythmic movement of his chest that rose and fell against her back made her slowly slip into sleep. She just needed so much to rest…