The Free Pass

Chapter 26

Mallory

Because Shawn was a bit more famous in Toronto than he was in Charlottesville, we entered the new OB/GYN's office through a back door and were put right in an exam room instead of having to wait in the reception area. My new, and final, doctor entered the room and greeted us warmly.

"I'm Nancy Abbott and it's good to meet you," she said as she shook our hands. "I've reviewed your records and it looks like you've had a normal healthy pregnancy. The baby may be a bit big, but that's not too unusual."

"My other doctor mentioned the possibility of a scheduled c-section," I said.

"The baby isn't quite so big that I think it's undeliverable. We may have to make a call on that during delivery, but until then, let's think positive."

She proceeded with the exam which was fairly quick.

"I see that you'll be doing a blood test to determine paternity," she said as she looked at her iPad.

"Yes. Is that a problem?" I asked.

"Of course not. It's a quick and relatively painless procedure for the dad. I just need to make a note of it so that we extract some cord blood right after delivery for the baby's test. That's preferable to drawing blood from the infant."

We left the doctor's office and went back to the condo. I was slowly going through my non-clothes items. It felt strange to put things of mine out around Shawn's home, but he kept insisting it was my place, too. We'd had to buy a bookshelf for all my books. Shawn put it together and we'd placed it in the living room. I put a couple family photos on top of it.

I'd only been there a few days, so it was too soon to tell how things were going. We got along just fine, but we always had. We were working to establish some semblance of a routine.

For example, on my first full day in Toronto, Shawn and I had eaten breakfast together at his kitchen island.

"Can you cook?" he asked me.

"A little. You?"

"Less than a little."

"I'm not cooking all our meals," I said after eating several bites of my cereal.

"I guess we could split the meal duty," he suggested.

"Okay, but that doesn't mean getting take-out every time it's your day to cook dinner."

He frowned. Apparently that had been his plan.

"I say we get take-out, or go out, three days a week. Then we can each take on two dinners," he said.

"Sounds good. Do you want to divide up other household duties? I like to do laundry, so I'm happy to take that on."

"What can I do to balance that out?" he asked.

"Clean the bathrooms."

"I'm going to take a wild guess that you hate that job."

I smiled. "Maybe."

"I think we can just tackle the daily cleaning as it needs to be done," he said.

"Okay, but the bed has to be made every day. I can't sleep in an unmade bed."

"That's fine. I have a thing about a messy bathroom counter. I like it tidy."

"I'll do my best to keep my side neat," I said. This might be a challenge for me, but I'd make an effort.

The other routine stuff was easy to adapt to. During the day we often did our own things. Shawn would go to the gym or work on his music, and I would watch movies, sleep, or read my books on child-rearing. I wanted to investigate Toronto more, but I had no stamina for that. At nine months pregnant, everything was a monumental effort.