Page 1 of The Sinner's Son
The rapidwhoosh whoosh whooshof their baby’s heartbeat filled the exam room, and Sawyer’s pulse raced to catch up and synchronize with it. He released the breath he’d been holding and squeezed Royce’s hand. The grainy white image on the black screen blurred as tears filled his eyes.Their baby. Blinking the moisture away, Sawyer brought their tiny miracle into focus once more. “She’s gotten so much bigger,” he said.
“Or he,” Lucy cautioned. The ultrasound technician rocked a bubble-gum-pink pixie hairstyle that conjured thoughts of fairy dust and magic. “The sex organs are present, but it’s too early for me to see them at thirteen weeks.”
“Girl,” Sawyer, Royce, and Kelsey declared at once. The trio looked at each other and laughed.
“We just know,” Sawyer explained.
Lucy surrendered with one hand since the other was busy scanning Kelsey’s stomach. “But, yes, Baby Locke has grown a lot. She was about the size of a kidney bean during your eight-week scan, and now she’s the size of a plum or a lime.”
“Our Lil Plum,” Royce said, his voice thick with awe.
The grainy white image bounced on the screen, and Sawyer sucked in a sharp breath. “What was that? Is she okay?”
Kelsey giggled and reached for Sawyer’s other hand. “She’s just a very active Lil Plum. Right, Lucy?”
“Yes, and that’s what we want to see.”
“Can you feel her move, Kels?” Sawyer asked.
“Not yet, but I should experience a light fluttering soon, like butterflies flitting about in there. The bigger she gets, the more pronounced her movements become.”
“I can’t wait to feel her kicks from the outside,” Sawyer said.
Kelsey squeezed his hand. “Just a few more months.”
“Women’s bodies are freaking amazing,” Royce added. “What a miracle.”
“Yes, we are,” Kelsey replied smugly. Lucy paused the scan long enough to bump fists with her.
They watched as their perfect angel bounced around like she was trying to avoid the ultrasound transducer.
Sawyer bumped his shoulder against Royce’s. “Obstinate like her dad.”
“I warned you,” Royce said dryly.
Lucy tapped a few keys with her free hand and changed the view on the screen. “There’s her heart.” Lucy zoomed in a little more, and they watched the tiny chambers pulse in time with thewhooshesfilling the room. “Nice and strong at one hundred and fifty-five beats per minute.”
Royce leaned into Sawyer and whispered, “This is much better than Disney World.”
Tears threatened again, but this time, Sawyer didn’t fight them back. “The absolute happiest time of my life.”
Royce stayed remarkably dry-eyed throughout the scan until Lucy handed him an updated sonogram printout. He held it between them so they could both stare at the photo together.Royce tilted his head to rest against Sawyer’s and said, “Look at our Lil Plum.”
“She’s perfect.”
“Aw,” Lucy said. “This is such a beautiful moment.”
“Good thing I captured it,” Kelsey said. “This photo would be great for the first page of her baby book.”
Sawyer looked up just as she set her phone on the exam table. “Thank you. I was too busy experiencing the moment to even think about documenting it.”
“I’m going to show this to Bones and Dolly when we get home, and then I’m going to hang it up on the refrigerator,” Royce announced proudly.
Sawyer forced his gaze away from Lil Plum’s image. “We better wait until after we announce the pregnancy to our family and coworkers.”
Royce grimaced. “Yeah. Stumbling across the sonogram picture isn’t the way I want anyone to find out, especially Evangeline.”
Lucy wiped the gel off Kelsey’s stomach and pushed her cart to the corner of the room. “Dr. Yang will be in shortly. She’s running slightly behind after an emergency C-section early this morning.”