His hand comes to cover mine, gently curving around my fingers and tugging my hand away. “You okay there, pretty girl?”
“Uhuh,” I nod, offering him an awkward smile.
The man has literally held me as I sobbed in his arms, not to mention impregnated me. Why am I always so awkward?
“Okay, here we go. It will be slightly cold.” Christine says, approaching my side.
My skin jumps as she applies the jelly, before she firmly presses the wand to my stomach.
“Let’s see here. Ah, there they are.” Christine smiles as she turns the screen to face us and my heart stops in my chest.
I’m suddenly glad Jackson hasn’t let go of my hand as I squeeze his tightly.
I’m also glad Christine uses a gloved finger to gesture to the blob on the screen. “There’s your baby.”
“Wow,” Jackson says under his breath, cradling my hand in both of his and leaning closer to the screen. “There she is.”
I let out a watery laugh. “They look like a little smudge, how can you tell it’s a girl?”
“I have a feeling.”
Christine moves the wand further and presses a few buttons. “There. I’m going to give you two a moment, but all looks healthy. Congratulations.”
I think I thank her but the room around me fades away. All I can feel is Jackson’s hands on mine and all I can see is the little smudge on the screen that’s growing inside me.
“She looks like you,” Jackson whispers in my ear.
I huff a wet laugh and wipe my tears.
“Look, can you see that?”
He leans over me and points at the screen.
“See what?” I whisper, leaning closer.
“Tiny little glasses.”
I playfully nudge him with a laugh. “Shut up, she’s going to have twenty/twenty vision, I’m manifesting it.”
We stare at the screen until the midwife comes back in, turning the lights back on and making my eyes flutter.
Jackson listens intently as Christine hands him pamphlet after pamphlet and his arm lingers at my back as we leave the hospital.
He opens the door to the car and waits until I’m inside and buckled before closing it and rounding to the driver’s side. I take the ultrasound out of my bag and stare at it as the car pulls out of the car park.
I glance at Jackson as he shifts in his seat, one arm outstretched on the wheel with the sleeve rolled up. My eyes linger on the veins on his forearms and my mouth goes dry. His forearm is probably the size of my calf. I bite my tongue to quench the urge to trace it along each vein.
“Can we go somewhere?” I ask before I can stop myself.
He glances at me with a slow grin. “You taking me on that date, pretty girl? We really do everything backwards.”
I blush and readjust my glasses. “No—uh, never mind.”
His large palm connects with my leg, squeezing gently. The warmth travels from his hand all the way to between my legs and I have to concentrate not to clench them together and trap his hand there. “Where shall we go?”
I look out the windshield, and bite my lip. I have no idea. We’re on the M25 and I glance at a sign. “Take this exit.”
Concentrating, Jackson easily pulls across all five lanes and it’s not long before the motorway turns to country roads. I offer up vague directions until we’re eventually pulling into a long manor house.
