"I thought these damn tests were supposed to be easy. Pee on a stick and it says yes or no. Why the hell is it taking so long?" I growled as Katerina swung her feet back and forth off the end of the examination table. She motioned me over with a smile.
"Pacing back and forth isn't doing anything but making me sick, Hap. Tara put a rush on it so we should know any minute now." Katerina whispered in my ear as I put my forehead to her shoulder. Her hands were running up and down my arms in effort to calm me down. I kissed the soft skin at the base of her neck, which caused her to let out a soft moan.
"This is exactly the type of behavior that brings you in here." Tara said with a small smile as she walked in the room. I moved to stand behind Katerina and wrapped my arms around her, ready for the news be it good or bad. Tara pulled a stool over and sat down as she read over a medical chart.
"Tara, am I pregnant or not? My husband is going to give me a panic attack if he doesn't start breathing soon." Katerina said with a kiss to my cheek. I grunted at her and looked over at the chart in Tara's hands like I would know what it meant if I could even see it.
"Kat, we need to get some more tests run today. I ran the blood work three times but they all came back positive. You are pregnant." I was about to smile when I noticed apprehension in her voice.
"Go ahead and drop the other shoe, Doc. You didn't say it but I heard the but." I growled as I tried not to get my hopes up. Katerina shifted closer to my chest and I didn't have to see her face to know she was chewing on her bottom lip.
"Your hormone levels aren't normal, Katerina. I want to run tests before I speculate as to what's going on. All I can confirm at this point is that you are in fact pregnant." Tara was obviously nervous about my reaction as she looked at Katerina. There wasn't time for questions before a knock came on the door.
"Come in, Carlee." Tara gave us a quick smile as a nurse walked in with an ultrasound machine. I knew what they looked like from the ultrasounds Ma had gone through with her cancer.
"Sir, do you want to step out while we get your wife ready?" The young girl asked with a smile. I was about to let her know just how much I didn't want to when Tara shook her head.
"He's seen it all before." Katerina said with a forced grin. I could easily make out her accent and I knew she was nervous. Instead of putting the nurse in her place, I kissed the top of my wife's forehead and helped her get out of her tights and get the dress up past her stomach.
"Shit that's cold." Kat groaned as the nurse squirted some jelly on her flat stomach. My eyes were fixed on the muscles lying just below her skin, baffled how anything could possibly be growing inside of her.
After a few minutes of running the probe over Kat's stomach, Tara paused and pressed a few buttons on the keyboard. She pulled the screen down closer and smiled brightly. Kat caught her smile and looked up at me nervously.
"Katerina, Happy, the baby looks perfectly healthy, so I don't want you to worry. Carlee, would you mind excusing us?" Tara asked, looking over at the nurse. She waited until it was the three of us again before continuing.
"The scan and the blood work go together. You're about ten weeks pregnant, Katerina." Tara looked from me to Kat nervously. I narrowed my eyes and shook my head.
"That's not possible." I growled as the timeline ran through my head. Katerina put her hand over mine and tried to slow her breathing down.
"The doctor said I lost the baby. You said it yourself, Tara." Tears started flowing down her cheeks as she smiled and shook her head. I felt my throat closing and stretched my neck to try and make it a little easier to breathe.
"I know. At the time, all of the tests said pointed to a miscarriage. We must have missed it on the ultrasound but there's no doubt you've been pregnant for almost three months now." Tara must have read the look on my face, because she started dropping her smile a little.
"I need to pee." Katerina said with a happy laugh. I smirked and kissed her forehead as she slid off the table and left the room quickly. Tara moved to follow her until I closed the door with my boot.
"You fucking told us the kid died. You fucking said my wife lost our baby and you weren't fucking sure? You get what that put her through?" I growled as Tara looked at her feet and nodded slowly. I gripped the top of the exam table to keep my hands still.
"Happy, I know it was hard for both of you and I'm sorry. The baby looks perfectly healthy and so does Katerina." She said with an apologetic smile. I shook my head and gripped the exam table even harder.
"It doesn't matter what I went through. My wife, the mother of my unborn child that you said died went through hell because you can't do your fucking job. If I didn't do mine, you wouldn't even have a fucking husband to go home to." Tara froze in place and locked eyes with me. I could see my words hit home as the door to the room opened again. Katerina walked in with a smile and wrapped her arms around my waist.
SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA
"Do you want it to be a boy or a girl?" I asked as we got back out to the truck. He had been quiet during the rest of the tests and didn't say much on the way out of the hospital. He opened the door for me and shook his head.
"I don't care, Kat. I just want both of you to be safe and happy." He kissed my nose and smiled before shutting the door and walking around to the driver's side. I laughed and pulled out the printout Tara had given me. The little white blob had an arrow pointing to it that said baby and it made me feel whole.
"I want twins, Happy. A boy and a girl." I said with a wink. He paused before starting the truck and shook his head.
"No. We can work on the second one after this one is out of diapers. Buckle up, babe." He stared at me until I finally snapped the buckle in place and stuck my tongue out at him. Happy seemed to be a little more himself, but I could still tell he was upset about something.
"I want to tell the family first, Hap. We can have dinner for us and Kiara, Ma and your aunt, and Lauren. I guess Chibs and Juice should come to. Damn, if we're doing that we might as well have the whole club over." I knew I was rambling, but it was just something I did when I was excited. Happy raised his brow at me and laughed.
"Whatever you want, babe. Don't stress over it. Tell me what you want and I'll make it happen." He was being even more loving than normal and it made me wonder what he'd done.
"Happy, what'd you do? I appreciate you rolling out the red carpet for me, but I know you too well." I narrowed my eyes at him and folded my arms over my chest. He scowled and focused on the road. "Happy, what?"
"I didn't do anything, Katerina. Tara pissed me off and I made sure she got that." He finally said as he parked the truck in the driveway. I sighed and looked over the patch on his chest before letting myself out of the truck and going inside.
"Do you want this baby, Happy? Don't tell me if I want it then you do or anything like that. Just you. Do you want this?" I curled my legs beneath me on the couch and wrapped my arm around Harley as he rested his head on my feet. Happy slammed the door he was walking through and shook his head.
"Katerina, I wanted the kid back when we thought we lost it. It fucking killed me to think it was gone. Hell, I'm running out of places to bury bodies at this point cause I was so twisted up over it, Kat. It hurt, like a lot. What was worse was seeing how fucked up you were about it. You're the strong one, babe. I could see it in your eyes every time you looked at me." Happy was yelling at me for the first time since we'd been together. He'd raised his voice before, but he'd never gotten to this point.
"Why are you yelling at me?" I wasn't scared like any sensible person would be. Instead, my heart was breaking for him all over again. He let out a sigh and shook his head before walking over and taking Harley's place beside me.
"Cause I'm pissed off that you would think I didn't want it and that shit with Tara." He said, putting his head in my lap and looking up at me. His booted feet were kicked up on the far end of the couch and his hands were holding one of mine. I shook my head and trailed my nails over his scalp.
"You're mad because they were wrong about losing it. People make mistakes, Hap." I watched his forehead tighten as he scowled.
"Not when it comes to my family." His voice was soft but I could hear the sincerity in the statement. I smiled at him and pulled my hair over to one side so it wouldn't be in the way as I leaned down and kissed him.
"I love you, Happy Lowman." I whispered before kissing him again. He wrapped a hand around the back of my neck and pulled me closer. I moaned quietly before finally breaking the connection.
"Bedroom, now." I said with a wink. He smirked and nodded as he stood up. I took the hand he offered me, only to be yanked up into his arms unexpectedly. I laughed and took advantage of the openness of his neck and trailed kisses and licks over his warm skin.
"What's going on?" Kiara asked as she walked in to the bar hand in hand with Juice. We had invited everyone over to the bar separately without any hit as to what we had planned. I smiled and shook my head as the two of them walked in and joined the crowd of Happy's brothers and our family.
I gave Happy's Ma a hug as she walked in hand in hand with Happy. She was the only one who knew about the baby outside of Happy and I. We'd tried to keep it a secret, but she had a strange sixth sense that made that impossible.
"Katerina, sweetheart you're glowing." She said as she kissed my cheek. I blushed a little and shook my head with self-consciousness. Happy planted a kiss in my hair before leading his mother over to a sofa. I smiled and looked around the room to make sure everyone had arrived. Tara gave me a small wave and smile as my eyes landed on her.
I had talked to her the week before and apologized for Happy lashing out at her. When he found out it became the subject of our first, real fight. He was adamant about not apologizing and said that I had spoken for him. It ended when I reminded him that if it wasn't for Tara, I might have died before getting back to the hospital after he found me.
"So, what's the free booze for this time?" Tig asked with a laugh as I walked over to where he and Happy were talking to Jax. I looked up at him and shrugged.
"I can't drink it so I might as well share." I winked and watched the realization dawn on his face. I pressed my finger up to my lips before whispering into Happy's ear. He smirked and nodded before disappearing out to the parking lot.
"Hey! Harley has an announcement to make!" I called as Happy brought him inside from the truck. Everyone looked over at me before turning his or her attention to our Cane Corso. He was feeding off of the energy in the room and wiggling excitedly. Happy patted his chest and caught Harley's front paws as he jumped up to stand on his hind legs.
The custom dog t-shirt I'd had made for him stood out against his blue-gray skin and I smiled. The room filled with cheers and whistles as they read the silver lettering that read, "BABY LOWMAN GUARD DOG."