Неизвестный - 2. Beyond The Breakwater

“Shouldn’t I be?” Reese asked quickly. Routine. You said it would just be routine.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Forty-five minutes later, Reese was nervous. “Tell me again what this is going to show.”

They were seated on facing chairs in one corner of Wendy Deutsch’s waiting room. There were two other couples in the room, the female members of each pair conspicuously pregnant. Tory rested her hand on Reese’s knee. The thick khaki fabric of her uniform pants was as reassuringly solid as Reese herself. “It will give Wendy, and us, some information about the baby. How it’s developing. If we didn’t know exactly when the date of conception was, it would help determine fetal age, too.”

Reese cleared her throat, ignoring the faint churning in her stomach. “So it’s routine.”

“Almost eighty percent of pregnant women have an ultrasound done at some point during their pregnancy,” Tory assured her. “And for high-ri…for women over thirty-five, it’s absolutely standard.”

High risk. She doesn’t think I know? Reese covered Tory’s hand with hers and squeezed gently. “And we’ll be able to see its…parts?”

“What parts would you be referring to?” Tory asked with a laugh. “Besides, I thought you said you didn’t care.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Reese grumbled in mock indignation. “The head and the heart and the spine. Those parts.”

“Very good, Sheriff. Yes, at eleven weeks we can see the heart beat and with a good image, we can tell if the neural crest elements…the brain and spinal cord…are developing normally.”

God, what if… But that was like wondering what an upcoming battle would be like. What it might be like to be shot or killed. Pointless musings about an eventuality that might never arise. Reese straightened her shoulders, and, with the long-ingrained gesture, her nervousness disappeared. “Will you be able to tell its sex, if you see it?”

“Well, if I see it, I’ll know. But not seeing a penis doesn’t mean it’s not a boy. It just means it doesn’t show.”

“But I won’t be able to tell,” Reese pointed out in a rare show of pique. “I’ve seen those pictures in your books. It looks like bunch of blanks in a snowstorm.”

“I’ll make sure you see, if you want to.”

“If you know, I want to know.”

“Deal.” Tory extended her hand to seal the bargain.

Reese smiled and took Tory’s hand, but she didn’t shake it. She folded it between both of hers and leaned forward to murmur, “I love you.”

“I lo…”

“You two all set?” Wendy’s nurse asked as she approached with a chart in one hand.

“Yes,” they both said in unison.

Forty minutes later, Tory was dressed again, and she and Reese waited in one of the consultation rooms for Wendy to return with the printouts of the ultrasound examination.

“So, what do you think about names?” Reese asked, her blue eyes dancing. “Something nice and strong to go with King, like yours. Victoria Conlon King. Great name for a girl. Oh, but Victoria’s already taken. And we already have too many Cs and Ks in the family. My mother, Kate. Your sister, Catherine. Maybe—”

“Reese, sweetheart,” Tory said calmly. “We don’t know it’s a girl.”

“Well, yeah, but we saw everything . So if it was there, we would’ve seen—”

The door opened and Wendy came in. “Okay,” she said briskly as she walked around the cluttered desk and sat down. She extended her hand with the polaroids. “Here you go. Baby’s first pictures.”

Grinning, Reese took them, then glanced down as she shuffled through the images. Suddenly all the black and white splotches looked miraculously like arms and legs and facial expressions.

“Everything seems fine with the fetus,” Wendy commented neutrally.

Fine with the fetus… Reese looked up instantly, her eyes darkening, focused and intent. She glanced at Tory, whose expression was unreadable.

“Your blood pressure is just a tad high, Tory.”

“Yes, I know,” Tory replied evenly. “I’ve been charting it for the last few weeks. It’s been running a bit above normal, but today is about the highest it’s been. I guess I was a little nervous.”

“Understandable,” Wendy said kindly. “And nothing to get alarmed about, although it bears watching. Keep a log. Call me if it starts reading higher. For now, limit your salt intake. And no caffeine.”

Tory groaned.

“Sorry.” Wendy grinned. “Regular exercise, and plenty of rest.”

“Can I keep kayaking?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“What about the dojo?” Reese asked quietly. “Should she quit?”

“Not for a few months,” Wendy replied. “I wouldn’t let an inexperienced student throw you, Tory, but ordinary workouts should be fine.”

“Okay,” Tory agreed, watching Reese. She had gotten very still, and a muscle bunched at the base of her jaw. Ah, damn. I didn’t handle this very well.

“Good.” Wendy stood. “Then I’ll see you in two weeks. I’ve got to run. Call me any time.”

After she left, Reese asked flatly, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Tory debated several answers, but there was really only one thing she could say. “I didn’t want you to worry.”

Reese reached over and took her hand. “Don’t do that again, okay?”

“No,” Tory murmured, lifting Reese’s hand to her lips. “I won’t.

The taxi ride to the airport was quiet, and Tory napped on the short flight back to the tiny Provincetown airport.

“Do you want to go out for dinner?” Tory asked as they settled into the Blazer.

“It’s been a long day,” Reese commented quietly. “Let’s go home, and I’ll cook.”

“Perfect.”

When they reached the house, Jed’s exuberant barking welcomed them. As they walked up the path to the rear deck, Tory suggested, “How about I take him for a walk while you start dinner?”

“Great. He’ll like that.” Reese unlocked and opened the door, then leaned over to kiss Tory lightly on the cheek. “You’ve got at least forty-five minutes.”

Tory ran her fingers lightly down Reese’s arm. “See you soon.”

Reese watched her disappear down the path to the harbor and wondered what was bothering her. And when she would share it.

The beach was deserted. Tory released Jed’s lead and let him run. She walked along the water’s edge, watching the last memory of sunlight shimmer and die across the water.

“Hey, Jedi, we’re going to have a baby,” she whispered. “What do you think, huh? Pretty amazing.”

He didn’t answer, but his large form in the gathering night was a comfort. As shadows turned to darkness around her, she watched stars flicker on overhead. “Pretty scary, too.”

Her stomach was queasy from the events of the afternoon, and it wasn’t just the news about the hypertension. She’d seen that coming for a few weeks and already had some practice trying to put her worries about it aside. Most of the time, she succeeded with that. Keeping Reese from worrying might prove to be a bigger challenge.

Most unexpectedly, it was the ultrasound that had thrown her. Watching the tiny movements, listening to the rapid beat of a microscopic heart, had impressed even her scientific mind with the magnitude of what was happening inside her body. As much as she’d thought herself prepared for the changes that were coming, there were still moments when she was almost overwhelmed. There were suddenly so many things she needed to balance—her personal needs for professional fulfillment, her responsibility to Reese, the physical demands of her pregnancy. In the midst of happiness she would suddenly feel uncertain, wondering how she was going to manage everything. Just thinking about the incredible challenge and responsibility of raising a child sometimes made her feel inadequate.