17. Chapter 17

Chapter seventeen

Grady

“I’m nervous.” Scottie squeezes my hand again as we wait in the exam room, eager for the doctor to come in and do her ultrasound. She’s right between four and five months along, which means we could determine the sex on an ultrasound if the baby cooperates, but if not, we’ll have to wait longer.

I never considered myself an impatient man, but between Scottie initiating sex between us and wondering if this appointment is going to go the way we want, I’m feeling more and more on edge.

Our road trip ended the way I hoped it would, with Scottie giving in to our connection. But as soon as I saw the look on her face in the light of day, my own fear surfaced—the fear she’ll regret us sleeping together again. So instead of asking her to explain what her expectations are between us now, I didn’t push for anything. And now, I’m in yet another limbo status of my relationship with my baby’s mother.

“Why are you nervous?”

“Because I don’t want you to be disappointed,” she says, startling me .

“Why would I be disappointed?”

She rubs circles over her stomach. “I don’t know. What if you have your hopes up for one gender, and it’s the opposite?”

“Scottie, I don’t care if it’s a monkey, as long as it’s healthy, okay?”

She stares up at me with a pinch in her brow. “If it’s a monkey, we have a whole other set of problems to deal with, Grady.”

Laughing, I press a kiss to her forehead just as Dr. Rivera comes into the room. “Well, hello there.”

“Hey, Doc.” I keep Scottie’s hand in mine but stand up tall now as Dr. Rivera crosses the room to her chair.

“How are you feeling, Scottie?”

“Pretty good. The nausea is finally gone, and there’s a lot of movement from the baby.”

“Good,” Dr. Rivera replies, flipping through Scottie’s chart.

“And she’s definitely aroused more,” I add, which has both the doctor and Scottie snapping their heads in my direction.

“Grady!” Scottie hisses.

Hiding my grin, I say, “What? It’s true.” Scottie has no reason to be ashamed of her need for my cock, but making her blush is quickly becoming a favorite activity of mine.

Dr. Rivera clears her throat. “Well, increased libido is normal in the second trimester. As long as it’s comfortable for you, Scottie, sex is perfectly safe.”

Scottie glares at me. “Good luck getting laid now.”

Squeezing her hand again, I turn my attention back to Dr. Rivera, who is also fighting a grin. “All of your labs look good though, so what do you say we have a look on the ultrasound. Are you two interested in finding out the sex?”

“Yes,” Scottie and I say at the same time .

Dr. Rivera chuckles. “All right then. Just don’t be disappointed if the baby gets shy on us. It happens fairly often, especially with the girls.”

As she lifts Scottie’s shirt and squeezes clear gel on her skin, I bring Scottie’s hand to my lips and gently kiss her knuckles. The doctor maneuvers the ultrasound wand, trying to get the right angle of the baby. “Everything looks great. Baby is measuring on track.” Dr. Rivera clicks around on the screen, taking measurements and then moves the wand around, trying to get a clear view of the baby’s anatomy.

“Oh my gosh.” Scottie leans forward in her seat, trying to get a closer look at the screen. But I don’t see a damn thing. In fact, there is nothing between this kid’s legs.

And that’s when it hits me.

“Looks like you two are having a girl!” Dr. Rivera exclaims. Just then, the baby moves and presses her legs together just long enough to confirm her lack of a penis.

“Holy shit.” I look down at Scottie just as she stares up at me. “We’re having a girl.”

“I don’t know how to raise a girl,” Scottie says with a pout of her lips, but there’s an excitement in her eyes as well.

Dr. Rivera chuckles as she takes a few pictures of our daughter’s profile, and then prints out a strip of pictures for us to take with us. “Each sex has its own set of challenges, but the teenage years are what you really can’t prepare for either way.”

Scottie sighs, leaning back on the bed, but my mind is still swimming.

I’m going to have a daughter .

Dr. Rivera hands Scottie the strip of pictures. “Keep doing what you’re doing, Mom. We’ll see you both in a month. ”

After Scottie gets situated and we schedule our next appointment, I lead her back out to my truck and help her inside. I insisted on picking her up from work to drive her to the appointment together, and now that I know I have a daughter on the way, the world just completely shifted beneath me.

“So, she’s not allowed to date until she’s thirty, and I may need to buy more guns—I already have a few at home.”

Scottie slaps my arm as I continue to drive back to Carrington Cove Elementary. “Oh, stop it.”

With a grin, I glance over at the mother of my child, picking up her hand and kissing the top of it. “We’re having a girl, Scottie.”

“Yes, Grady. That’s the third time you’ve said that now.”

“I’m gonna get to be a dance dad.”

She laughs at me. “Well, at least you already have practice with that.”

“There’s going to be pink and purple everywhere.”

“How do you feel about that?”

I take a deep breath. “Honestly, I’m overwhelmed all over again, but this time it’s an exciting overwhelm. Now I can prepare for more things that were up in the air—like the nursery.”

Scottie’s eyes dip down to her stomach. “Yeah. It just became very real.”

“Did you doubt that it was before?” I tease.

Smiling, she shakes her head. “No, but I raised a boy, Grady. Raising a girl is something I don’t have any experience with.”

“We’ll learn together,” I reply. “Plus, Astrid will go through everything with Lilly first, so we’ll get to watch her as sort of an experiment.”

Scottie nods. “Good point.”

“So when do you want to start getting her room ready?”

Scottie’s head whips over to me so fast, I swear, I hear it crack. “What?”

I quickly glance over at her. “What do you mean, ‘what’?”

“Grady, I…we don’t need to worry about that yet.”

Irritation builds in my chest, but I keep myself in check while breathing to relieve the pressure. “Scottie, we’re having a baby in four months. There’s a timeline, sweetheart.”

“I know that, and I don’t appreciate you insulting my intelligence.”

My head rears back on my neck. “I’m not insulting you, I just…”

“Well, that’s what it feels like.” She crosses her arms over her chest and stares out the passenger window.

“Scottie…”

“You can’t just make decisions without me, Grady.”

I push my hand through my hair. “I’m not bringing anything up that you’re not also aware of, but you’ve got to meet me halfway here.”

Her head whips back in my direction. “And you need to understand how difficult it was for me to take a step forward with you. I mean, my God, we just found out we’re having a daughter, just left the doctor’s office, and you’re already talking about me moving in. We’ve been sleeping together for a week! We’re not together…”

I shake my head, clenching my teeth and the steering wheel beneath my hands. “Thanks for reminding me of that fact you’ve made abundantly clear, no matter how much I try to get you to see…” I let my words trail off because the things I want to say aren’t going to make this situation better.

“You know what? Let’s just not talk about it anymore, okay?”

I want to push. I want to tell her that shutting down on me isn’t how we’re going to be able to work through shit, but I also know that she’s emotional, hormonal, and scared. And I need to take a minute to pause as well because if I don’t, I might end up saying something that I can’t take back .

As I pull into the parking lot, I turn into the bus circle that leads right to the front office. When I shift the truck into park, I turn in my seat to face Scottie as she gathers her purse from the floorboard, avoiding my gaze.

“Scottie…”

“I need to get back to work, Grady.” She reaches for the door handle, but I grab her other arm before she can, pulling her across the seat to me and smashing my lips to hers.

She refuses to open to me at first, but with the second pass of my tongue over her lips, she moans and lets me fuck her mouth with my own as I bury my hands in her hair, those curls that I can’t get enough of. I claim her for as long as she’ll let me, remind her of our connection, and help her relax all while working us both up for later.

When I pull back, her eyes are still closed. She slowly opens them and when our gazes meet, her bottom lip starts to tremble.

“I’m sorry,” I say before she can speak, cupping her jaw with my hand. “But if you shut down on me, we’re never going to get through this. I need you to be able to talk to me, Scottie. Tell me how you’re feeling instead of ending a conversation before it starts.”

“It’s just a lot. I need some time, Grady. Moving fast is the last thing I want to do because I don’t feel like I’m in control that way.” She pauses then says, “Hell, I don’t feel in control when I’m around you at all.”

I nuzzle my nose against hers. “The feeling is mutual, baby. You make me feel like a piece of my heart exists outside my body, and I want to do anything and everything I can to protect it.” I cup the side of her face. “But if you don’t meet me halfway, this isn’t going to work.”

With a pleading look in her eyes, she asks, “Can we table the discussion about the nursery then, please? ”

“Okay. But just know that it’s happening, Scottie. You and our daughter will be living under my roof where I can look after both of you. And Chase will be there too.”

She leans forward and presses a kiss to my lips but doesn’t reply to the declaration I just laid out there. “I’ll see you later.”

“Keep growing our baby girl, Scottie.”

When she turns back to the door, I watch her step down from the truck and walk toward the office, taking my resolve with her.

Baby steps. That’s what I keep reminding myself. But my baby is stepping into this world sooner rather than later, and her mother and I need to get on the same page soon. Otherwise, I’m not sure what world she’s going to be coming into, and I don’t like that feeling at all.

When I get back to the garage, reality shifts on its axis as I consider what’s most important regarding raising a daughter, and the first thing that comes to mind is safety. In a flash, one threat I’ve failed to forget surges through me with urgency, so before I can push it off any longer, I make the phone call I’ve been meaning to since I got back from Kentucky.

“Law Offices of Timothy McDonald. How can I help you?”

“Hi, Mabel. It’s Grady Reynolds. Is Tim available to chat by any chance?”

I hear some muttering in the background. “Actually, he is free. Hold on one moment while I transfer you to his line.”

“I appreciate it.”

The line goes silent for a moment before the boisterous voice of Timothy McDonald fills my ears. “Grady Reynolds! Gotta say, I wasn’t expecting a phone call from you today, or ever, really.”

“Usually I’m not in need of your services, Tim. But it seems things have changed. ”

I hear paper rustle around through the phone. “Well then, what can I do for you? You got into some legal trouble, I take it?”

“Not exactly. It’s actually a friend of mine that needs your help.”

“I see. What seems to be the issue?”

And so I tell him, preparing for the worst obstacle that Scottie and I will have to face before we can truly move forward.

But I have to make sure that my family is taken care of—all three of them now.