Page 10 of The Paternity Puzzle
His mortification was darling. Royce turned his head and quirked a brow. “Do you really care if they did?”
Sawyer chuckled and shook his head. “I should, but I don’t.”
“And with any luck, we won’t need to make a repeat trip to the lab.”
Royce knocked on the door to suite five, and Kelsey called out for them to come in. Sawyer entered the room first, and Royce followed him inside. The examination table was inclined at one end, and Kelsey reclined against it, looking like a regalqueen even in a disposable gown with a paper blanket covering her lower half. Royce already knew from a previous visit that stirrups came out of the business end of the table. Kelsey looked from one of them to the other before a wide grin spread across her face. Royce could tell that she wanted to razz them about their newly relaxed state.
“Go ahead,” he said. “You deserve to give us shit after all the blood tests, ultrasounds, and ovulation tracking you’ve had to do.” In comparison, their week of abstaining was minor.
Kelsey covered her mouth and gave in to the giggles. “It’s like a night-and-day difference. You were wound so tight before your trip to the little rooms that the slightest wind would’ve broken you. And now you look like you’ve shared a joint.”
Sawyer snorted and shook his head while Royce held up his forefinger and mouthed, “One room.”
She giggled harder, and Sawyer’s face turned bright red as he stared incredulously at Royce.
“That was a tiny down payment for the things she’s going to endure over the next nine months.” Royce turned to Kelsey. “Anything else you want to know?”
“So many things, but I might not be able to look either of you in the eyes if you tell me,” Kelsey said. As if she and Sawyer didn’t gossip about him and Andrew on a regular basis. Royce was probably the one who should be shy about making eye contact. “You’re feeling confident the intrauterine insemination will take today, huh?”
Dr. Flores had previously said their probability of success was higher than most based on all the test results, but it wasn’t a certainty. Royce looked at Sawyer, who smiled happily. “We are,” he said.
Kelsey extended both hands to them. Royce took the right side of her bed, and Sawyer took the left. “I felt the same way when I woke up this morning. This sense of calmness washedover me, and peace filled my heart. I am so honored to be part of this journey. I love you both.”
Royce’s eyes stung, and he shook his head. “No crying. Not yet.”
They were still laughing and holding hands when Dr. Flores knocked on the door and stepped inside a few minutes later. She greeted them with a warm smile. “Are we ready to do this?”
“We are,” the trio said together.
“The sperm samples are nearly identical in concentration, motility, and morphology,” Dr. Flores said. “I can’t recommend one donor over the other, so this decision comes down to personal choice. Do you know which sample you want my lab to prepare?”
Royce and Sawyer stared into one another’s eyes for what seemed like hours. They’d had this debate many times once they decided to do the insemination process, but they could never agree on who would be the biological father. Royce wanted one thing, and Sawyer wanted another. But suddenly, the answer was just there.
“We do,” Royce and Sawyer said together.
Sawyer smiled as he watched the poolside shenanigans through his kitchen window. This time next year, their baby would celebrate his or her first Memorial Day weekend. He still felt like they were meant to be dads to the sweetest little girl to ever live. A warm hand settled at the small of his back, and he nearly dropped the tomato he’d just washed. Sawyer would know that touch anywhere and turned to look at his husband, who wore a matching grin.
“I’m worried our mouths are going to stick in this current position,” Sawyer said. They hadn’t stopped grinning all over themselves since leaving the clinic with Kelsey the previous day. “Your future cadets won’t be able to take you seriously.”
Royce arched a brow. “And the suspects you interrogate will?”
Conceding the point with a slight nod, Sawyer said, “What are we going to do about it?”
Royce took the tomato from his hand and gently set it on the counter. He cupped Sawyer’s face and moved in until their lips nearly touched. “I have an idea.” He waggled his brows for emphasis.
Sawyer’s blood migrated south as memories of their passionate lovemaking replayed in his mind. Their interlude at the clinic had taken the edge off so that they could act like respectable humans. They’d treated Kelsey to lunch at the Hummingbird Café after the procedure, and then she took them to a mega store that sold anything and everything a parent could want for a new baby. It was overwhelming to say the least, and Sawyer had expected Royce’s eyes to glass over like they did every time they went into a store that didn’t sell tools or equipment. It turned out that Sawyer had underestimated his husband, but only because there were tons of high-tech gadgetry available for babies and their parents. Royce had wanted to start a registry there and then, and the only way Sawyer could get him out of the store was to whisper some of the wicked things he wanted to do to Royce’s body when they got home. They’d barely kept their hands off each other since.
Royce’s next words proved he was still trying to make up for lost time. “I just need everyone to go home so I can have you to myself.”
They had plans with family over the holiday weekend, but they’d set aside Saturday night for hosting a pool party for their closest friends, who were also their SPD colleagues. Kelsey was the only one from their core squad who had prior commitments she couldn’t shake.
Sawyer suppressed a shiver and the urge to drag his husband to their bedroom. “They just got here,” he protested. “And shouldn’t you be getting the grill ready?”
“I did,” Royce replied. “I came in to get the meat and caught you daydreaming.”
“Was not.”
“Were too. You’ve stood in the same place for at least two minutes with the tomato suspended in the air. Bet you were thinking about how different our party will look next year.”