Page 1 of The Sinner’s Son (Sawyer and Royce: Felonies and Fatherhood #2)

T he rapid whoosh whoosh whoosh of 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 the whooshes filling 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.”

“Thanks, Lucy,” the trio called out.

“You’re welcome. See you all at your next scan.”

Silence fell over the room, but the whoosh whoosh whoosh still played in Sawyer’s mind.

He closed his eyes to hold on to the memory longer.

He’d fallen in love with the sound at the eight-week scan and wished he could hear it all the time.

Lil Plum’s heartbeat got louder, and Sawyer opened his eyes to find Kelsey smiling at him.

She held up her phone to show that she’d recorded a portion of the ultrasound.

“They’ll record the heartbeat onto a tiny device for you at our twenty-week scan, and you can tuck it inside a stuffed animal,” Kelsey said.

“They have plushies to go with nearly every nursery theme. You’ll be able to hear Lil Plum’s heartbeat whenever you want.

We put Ella’s recording inside the cutest little Highland cow and used it in our pregnancy announcement. ”

Royce wrapped his arm around Sawyer’s shoulders and kissed his temple. “I can’t wait to share our big news.”

“Me too,” Sawyer said. “But when and how?”

“Our families are gathering at your parents’ house in two weeks for Labor Day,” Royce replied. “We can pull our parents aside for a private reveal and then do something else to announce the news to our extended family and friends gathered there.”

“Pinterest will have tons of fun ideas to look at,” Kelsey said. “Oh! We’ll need to come up with something to announce it at work.”

Royce’s eyes danced with mischief as he rubbed his hands together. “I’m looking forward to that.”

Sawyer got the feeling their pregnancy announcement would end up resembling a prank. He groaned and massaged his temple. “Let’s just keep that one simple. A nice cake shaped like a onesie that announces our due date or something. And we should probably tell Mendoza and HR immediately.”

“Or—”

A knock on the door interrupted whatever Royce had been about to say.

With any luck, he’d forget all about the idea when it came time to plan the announcement.

Dr. Naomi Yang entered the exam room with a pleasant smile on her face and an ornery gleam in her eyes.

Sawyer had liked the ob-gyn from the moment they’d met, and he understood why Kelsey had chosen her.

Dr. Yang’s qualifications alone were impressive, but it was her charismatic bedside manner that he liked most.

Dr. Yang made eye contact with each of them before asking, “How are we doing?”

“I feel great,” Kelsey said.

“Great,” Sawyer and Royce chorused.

“That’s wonderful to hear.” Dr. Yang sat down, opened her laptop, and began typing. “How’s your nausea, Kelsey?”

“Not bad at all,” she replied. “Brushing my teeth is the worst part, but I’m usually in fighting form after that. I get an occasional bout in the afternoon, but it’s nothing my ginger lollipops or teas can’t cure.”

“That’s good. Are you sleeping well?” Dr. Yang asked.

“Ten hours every night,” Kelsey said. “I wish I could sleep like this all the time.”

They went through a series of routine questions about nutrition and hydration before Dr. Yang turned her attention to them.

“Do you have questions for me, dads?” She’d clocked Sawyer as a nervous Ned during their first appointment, but she’d seemed charmed instead of annoyed by his list of prepared questions.

“Not this time.” Sawyer looked at Royce, who shook his head.

“All right. Let me know if that changes.” Dr. Yang stood up and approached the table to do a physical exam.

She gently pressed Kelsey’s abdomen and measured her uterus before returning to her laptop to enter the data.

She clicked around to review the images from the ultrasound and Kelsey’s urine test results from the lab.

“Everything looks great with the baby and Kelsey,” Dr. Yang said.

“Keep up the great work. Drink tons of water to stay hydrated during these scorching August temperatures.”

“Will do,” Kelsey said as she sat up and adjusted her shirt.

“See you all in four weeks.”

Once they were alone, Royce turned to Kelsey. “Where do you want to eat for lunch?”

Kelsey lowered her head and angled it to the side as if listening to her belly. She straightened back up and said, “Lil Plum says Mexican.”

“Are you going to play this cool?” Royce asked when they arrived back at the precinct after lunch. He parked the SUV in the lot but left the engine running. “You’re literally vibrating with excitement.”

“I don’t know,” Sawyer admitted. “I haven’t tried to keep a secret this big since coming out as gay.

Ro, I’ve never been this happy before, and I don’t know how to process this surge of emotions.

My heart can’t possibly expand further without exploding.

” He placed a hand over his chest, hoping the steady rise and fall of his lungs would help center him.

All he felt was the continued swelling of gratitude, love, and joy.

“I’m a human can of biscuits on the verge of bursting at the seams.”

“That’s just a buildup of gases from the heavy lunch we consumed,” Royce said, patting his stomach.

Denial danced on the tip of Sawyer’s tongue, but his lips wouldn’t form the lie. “The three of us devoured a basket and a half of chips and probably a half gallon of queso before they brought our food out.”

“And then I shoveled the rice and beans into my mouth like it was my last meal,” Royce said. “I need to finish setting up for the open house tonight, but all I want is a Gas-X pill and a nap.”

Sawyer snorted, and it must’ve acted as a valve release because the pressure in his chest eased slightly. “Can’t believe you’re comparing our baby joy to indigestion and heartburn.”

Royce unbuckled his seat belt and leaned across the console. “Two things can be true at the same time.”

Sawyer freed himself also and met his husband halfway, cupping Royce’s face. “ You make me incredibly happy. You’re the reason for my surging joy and the overstuffed feeling, not because I ate too much for lunch.”

Waggling his brows, Royce pressed his lips to Sawyer’s. “Stuffing you is my favorite thing to do.”

Sawyer groaned and lowered his head to Royce’s shoulder.