Page 90 of The Enemy's Defector

Even though today’s appointment was just supposed to be a routine checkup, Nik and I decided last week that we wanted to find out our baby’s gender, after all. The doctor said that they could take a few extra minutes for us and do a gender reveal.

“It’s just a few rooms down the hall,” I reminded him. Every time I came to an appointment, I felt grateful all over again that he’d relented on keeping me home or letting me come out to an office or the hospital. The closer my due date came, the more I started to worry about how I would fare during childbirth, but that wasn’t going to help me. Worrying that far in advance would drive me nuts. All I could tell myself was that Nik would provide every possible resource for me to have the smoothest birth possible.

That was how my man loved me.

He knew when to fight with me and when to compromise. I tried to always do likewise.

I handed Isabella over to Joann, who was already cooing at her and rocking. Lucy smiled at me and wished me and Nik luck.

“And you guys still don’t want to find out the gender of your baby?” I asked her and Damon.

He shook his head. “I want it to be a surprise.”

Lucy nodded with a silly little smile. “Yeah. It’s exciting to guess and wonder.”

“Nah. I can’t wait to know,” Nik said, taking my hand.

“Why, so you can practice baby names?” I joked.

“You know it,” he replied as we left the room.

“Maybe we could just have someone else name him or her.” Because the argument about our baby’s name often got heated and we both dug in, vetoing each other’s ideas just for the sake of not giving in.

“We’ll find one that we can both live with.”

“And then there’s nicknames,” I added.

“That’s just a loophole.” He laughed. “We will find a name.”

We would. While bickering came naturally for us, we both knew when to bend a little. Our baby’s name was an important decision, but we’d manage it.

Twenty minutes later, after a walk down the hall for my appointment, we were both beaming with the news that we’d have a daughter as well.

Nik kissed me, so happy and excited, as the ultrasound tech cleared the gel off my stomach.

“Louisa,” he suggested.

I smirked. “I told you. I like Rebecca.”

“Everyone would nickname her Becky.”

“What’s wrong with Becky?” I sat up with his help.

“It’s not good, that’s what’s wrong with it.”

I rolled my eyes as I stood, leaving the room with him a moment later. “Okay, then why not Simone?”

“I don’t care for a name that starts with the letterS.” He held my hand as we left the room. As we walked back to visit Sloane,Maxim, and Isabella, he smiled at the ultrasound images the tech had printed out.

“So you don’t like Sloane’s name?”

“Her name doesn’t matter. Or it doesn’t matter whether I like it or not. It’s her name that she was given and that’s that.”

I smiled, shaking my head. “Okay, then what about Josephine?”

He cringed. “Why do you want weird names?”

I groaned as we returned to the room. “Fine, what name is your backup for a girl?”