Page 134 of Shame the Devil

The doctor said, “That’s a twenty-week fetus. He looks just fine to me. His eyes are finishing up their development now, and he won’t open them for another six to eight weeks. I’m going to take some measurements here, and some images. I’ll give you a thumb drive to take home, and you can look all you want.”

Harlan barely heard her. He was still staring at the screen. At toes and fingers. Arms and legs. Tiny feet. A penis. Aperson.

“He’s about seven inches long now,” Jennifer told him, and Harlan spread out his hand, the one that wasn’t holding hers, to imagine it. His hand was nine and a half inches long. Big. The better to grip a football with, he’d always thought. The baby was so much smaller than that, still. And so skinny.

He said, “I need to study menus more. Maybe get a cookbook.”

Jennifer groaned. “More kale?”

He had to smile. “Yep. Hey, you liked that crispy kind I did. Tell me what you want, though, and I’ll see what I can do.”

“You have minicamp next week,” she said.

He leaned over and kissed her. He didn’t care that the doctor was still doing her thing. He needed to say this. “I can have minicamp,” he promised, “and still take care of you. And that’s what I’m going to do.”

56

Further Questions

It hadall been so emotional. Harlan’s hand had shaken, too. He’d been as nervous as she had, she’d swear it, and as affected by that picture on the screen. And then, when she was sitting up on the table again, he started asking completely different questions.

First, he told the doctor about her piercing. She wanted to hiss at him, “I was going to leadupto that!”

No leading up. He went straight there.

The doctor wasn’t fazed, at least. Judging by the leather pants, she might have some piercings herself. She said, “You’ll want to remove that for delivery, Jennifer, or if it gives you any discomfort. Otherwise, it’s fine.”

Jennifer had just breathed a sigh of relief at that being over when Harlan said, “Her orgasms with that thing are intense. I mean,reallyintense. And she has a lot of them in a row. Also, we sometimes do it more than once a day. Is that a problem? Could it start labor, or anything?”

Jennifer thought,Kill me now. Just kill me now.She couldn’t stand to look at the doctor, so she glared at Harlan instead.

The doctor said, “The intensity can be partially because of increased blood flow and engorgement during pregnancy. Are you experiencing those, Jennifer?” Which meant shehadto look at her.

She said, “Yes.” She tried to think of something else to say, but she couldn’t manage it.

“Are you having any bleeding? Spotting?” the doctor asked.

“No.” Would thisstop?

“Then I’d say she’s fine,” the doctor said. “Sex during pregnancy is excellent for bonding, since men can feel a little bit left out of the process, and it’s not bad for relaxing mom, either. She may not want it as much in the third trimester, so enjoy it while you’re both feeling it. And, no, multiple orgasms aren’t a problem. In fact, I’d say they’re a perk, wouldn’t you?”

“So what do we watch out for?” Harlan asked. “What’s off-limits?”

“Sex flat on her back during the third trimester,” the doctor said. “And thrusting too forcefully, if you bruise the vagina or cervix, especially with a well-endowed partner. If there’s any pain or spotting, you’ll know for sure you’ve gone too far, but much better not to let it get to that point.”

“Whoops,” Harlan said. “OK. Making a note here.”

Finally.Still embarrassing, but at least they were almost done.

Which was when he asked, “How about anal sex?”

What?She was staring at him, and he shrugged and said, “Hey. Beats me calling up the office and asking, right?”

“Do you want to have anal sex?” the doctor asked her. Yes, she did.

“Uh …” Jennifer was sure she was bright red. She no longer had blood flow to her genital area, because all the blood in her body was in herface.“I, uh …”

“Because one thingisn’tall right during pregnancy,” the doctor said. “And that’s doing anything you’re not comfortable with. Including having sex at all, if you’d rather not. If you’d like to discuss that with me privately, I’m happy to do it.”