If It Happens

6

She's laying on the table, only in her red chiffon shirt with flowers on it, with an itchy blue paper draped over her spread legs as the doctor works between her legs. She had inserted something and it was uncomfortable so every so often she was letting deep breaths go out of her mouth. The doctor stops moving the thing inside of her around and she relaxes a little bit and bites her lip just staring at the ceiling when a quick thump fills the room and her hands fall to her mouth as she starts to cry. 

"Well Stephanie, it looks like you're measuring around eight weeks so you'll be due sometime from around Mid-April until early May." Her Doctor Olivia Avery smiles. 

"Thank you so much." She states.

"You're happy?" Dr. Avery grins.

"So happy, but I'll admit I'm slightly scared because I had a miscarriage about fifteen years ago." She sighs.

"Yes, and we're going to make sure that doesn't happen again No stress for Mama. And I'm going to give you a high-risk prenatal vitamin. You're all done for today but I want to see you back again in four weeks for a twelve-week scan alright?" She questions pulling the thing out of her and she lets out a breath of discomfort and relief at the same time.

"Again, thank you so much," Stevie says when she sits up. 

"Absolutely. Would you like pictures?" Dr. Avery asks.

"Of course. Yes. Please." Stevie nods quickly. 

***

When Stevie walks into the house, Lindsey is carrying down two suitcases. 

"Hey, how'd your appointment go?" He asks.

"Fine. I'm all healthy." Stevie shrugs. 

"Good. I figured we could go get dinner before we leave." He asks kissing her.

"That's fine. But I want to see what you packed me." She takes the Michael Kors bag out of his hand.

She examines the contents of the suitcase and she scoffs at the substantial amount of lingerie that he packed but she nods in approval with the work clothes that he packed. 

"And why do I need six different things of lingerie?" Stevie inquires. 

"Well, I plan to ravish you." Lindsey kisses her neck. 

"Oh." Stevie gasps as he gets behind her and kisses that spot on her neck that he knows will get her going. 

***

As they're flying out of Washington DC, Stevie is wrapped in Lindsey's arms on the plane and his hands have fallen at her stomach and though she won't admit it, she feels her heart flutter. Lindsey doesn't know that his hand is cradling their baby but Stevie does and she can't wait to tell him but she doesn't want to tell him yet. She wants to keep it to herself for a little while and relish in it because she knows that as soon as she does tell him he's going to blow up on her. 

"Steph I had a great time with you." He kisses her temple.

"We were in bed most of the time." She states.

"I know and I loved every minute of it. Meeting the president wasn't that bad either. I voted for him you know." He states.

"I didn't know." Stevie states.

"Well I did and he did great things for this country." He kisses her cheek. 

"You're right." She smiles 

When they get home, Lindsey goes to bed but Stevie stays up. She's only eight almost nine weeks along but her mind is working too much to let her sleep so she finds her way into the room that is going to be the nursery. She's standing in there looking around and planning the nursery. She has a vision in her head and she smiles before making her way downstairs to start sketching. That's how Lindsey finds her the next morning, sleeping hunched over the island in the kitchen with her sketchpad next to her. 

He starts rubbing her back and she immediately wakes up. 

"What, what time is it?" She asks.

"It's about eleven in the morning on Thursday. Have you been here all night?" He inquires.

"I guess so. I couldn't sleep so I came down here to sketch." She explains. 

"Yeah, I see that...a nursery, why are you sketching a nursery is Christine having another baby?" He questions.

"No...ugh, one of my suppliers is having a baby I thought I'd help her design the nursery." She lies through her teeth. 

"Oh, that's nice of you. So...will you cook me some pancakes?" Lindsey hugs her tightly. 

She just stares at him and then laughs before pushing away from the table and going to start on the brunch. While they're eating, Stevie bites her lip and looks at Lindsey. 

"What?" He questions.

"I...nothing, I'm going to go take a shower." She says after a moment. 

"Alright." He nods. 

While she was in the shower, she peered down at her stomach and she just smiled 

"I know you can't hear my but I wanted to talk to you anyway. It's me, mommy. You've gotta stay strong little one. You would've had a big brother or a big sister but they weren't strong enough and they aren't here anymore. You need to be strong, baby. And I just want you to know that you are loved. I love you so much and I will do everything in my power to show you that. You're never not going to be loved." Stevie whispers to her stomach. 

"I love you." She kisses her fingertips and presses them to her little stomach. 

She was wrapped in her bathrobe standing in front of her vanity mirror fluffing out her blow-dried hair when Lindsey appeared in the bedroom door and just stares at her.

"What?" She questions.

"I don't know...there's something about you. You're glowing and you have been for a few weeks." He smiles. 

"Glowing...I'm glowing?" She asks.

"You are. You're glowing. And Steph...you're happy. You're really happy and I'm glad because for a while there. You were starting to scare me." He shrugs.

"Scare you how?" She questions placing her brush down. 

"I was just worried you were going to fall down a hole and start doing drugs or something." He shrugs. 

"I'm okay." She smiles. 

"I love you." He says again.

"I love you too." She grins.