The Road to Rose Bend, Naima Simone [jenna bush book club .TXT] 📗

Right. When pigs flew and Taylor Swift stopped making songs about her exes.

Dr. Prioleau didn’t give any indication that she listened to their exchange but walked to the sink/counter combo and removed a handheld Doppler from the drawer along with a tube of gel.

“Ready to hear this baby’s heartbeat?” She smiled, squeezing a generous dollop onto her belly, and pressed the end that looked like a small microphone to Sydney’s belly.

Static filled the room for several seconds, and the breath in Sydney’s lungs stalled. No, this wasn’t the first time she’d heard her baby’s heartbeat, but every time nerves flurried inside her. What if that beautiful proof of life didn’t echo in her ears? What if the doctor couldn’t locate it? What if—

A rapid pulse like a horse’s gallop reverberated in the room, a swish-swish sound throbbing beneath it. Sydney exhaled, a grin spreading across her face as relief poured through her. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to hearing this,” she breathed.

Dr. Prioleau chuckled. “Confession? Neither do I.” She winked, removing the wand from Sydney’s stomach. Quickly, she grabbed a handful of paper towels and wiped down Sydney’s stomach and then cleaned her medical equipment. “Be right back,” she said, storing the Doppler back in the drawer. “I’m going to grab the ultrasound machine.”

Suddenly feeling vulnerable and exposed, Sydney tugged her shirt back down. And then dared to peek at Cole again. A little scared of what she would glimpse.

His face could’ve been a wall of stone with two amber jewels set in it. A fine tension ran through his big body, stringing him so tight, one touch looked like it would shatter him.

“Cole,” she whispered. His gaze shifted from her now-covered belly to her face. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on inside your head.”

She halfway didn’t expect an answer to her plea; she definitely didn’t expect him to shift forward and slowly set a shaking hand on her belly. His large palm and long fingers spread across her bump, and each one of his tiny trembles ricocheted through her like sonar waves.

But he didn’t move his hand.

“I forgot...” He swallowed hard. Shook his head. “I forgot how beautiful that sound was. How...” Again, he trailed off, slid a tongue across his full lips, dampening them. “How amazing and incredible it was. That proof of a new life. Every time I heard it, I imagined what my son’s face would look like. How it would feel to finally hold him in my arms. Every. Time. Was a miracle.”

“What was his name?” Sydney dared to ask.

“Mateo,” he whispered. His gaze jerked from his hand to meet her eyes. “He—”

Dr. Prioleau opened the door, and he snatched his arm back to his side. A hollow pit opened low inside her as he strode over to the window, cradling his hand against his chest and rubbing a thumb into the center of his palm. As if trying to erase the feeling of her belly...or trying to capture it.

“Here we go,” the doctor said, holding the door while Jackie pushed the ultrasound machine into the room.

The two of them situated it next to the exam table, and within moments, had everything set up and working. Sydney lifted her top again. She stared at the black screen while Dr. Prioleau poured more warm gel on her stomach.

“Are you doing okay? Comfortable?” she questioned, pulling up a wheeled stool and sitting down near Sydney’s shoulder. “I know lying on your back can cause a little discomfort.”

Sydney shook her head, anxious to see her baby’s image fill that screen.

Just as the doctor lowered the probe to her belly, a knock reverberated on the door.

An instant later, her father poked his head through the opening. Shock sucker punched her in the chest, and her breath escaped her on a low gasp. She’d fully expected her father to avoid her just as he’d done the last time she’d visited the clinic. Seeing him for the first time since she’d left her parents’ home the morning after she arrived in Rose Bend catapulted her into a swirling morass of surprise, anger, longing and love.

Had he believed Dr. Prioleau was with another patient instead of her?

Was he here to speak to the other doctor?

Was he...could he be here...for her?

Her heart thudded against her chest, beating almost as fast as her baby’s. Because she wanted the answer. And she didn’t.

“Hi, Dr. Collins,” the other woman greeted with a warm smile. “What can I do for you?”

Her father glanced from his partner to Sydney, and on any other person, she would label the glint in his eyes as uncertainty. But no, this was her father, and he didn’t do uncertainty.

“I heard Sydney was here for her twenty-week checkup.” He looked like he would continue, his lips parted, but no words emerged.

“Yes,” Dr. Prioleau said. “We’re just about to start her sonogram. Sydney, is it okay if he stays for it?”

Yes, Dad I need you, that little girl cried out inside her. But the hurt, scared-of-rejection grown woman couldn’t voice that yearning for her father. Instead, she nodded and murmured, “If you want to.”

After a brief hesitation, he stepped fully into the room. He nodded at Cole and approached her. With her doctor on her right and Cole standing to her left, her father took position near the foot of the table, sliding his hands into his front pants pockets.

Staring at him and remembering who they used to be to each other before Carlin died had a snarled ball of emotion lodging in her throat, so she looked away from him and focused on the black screen.

Her baby. Today was all about her baby. Not her messy relationship—or lack of one—with her parents. Or the despair, regret and pain it caused her.

“Here we go.” Dr. Prioleau moved the wand over her abdomen. “Dr. Collins, could you hit the lights for me?”

A second later, the room dimmed, and quiet descended on the room as they all waited for