Read Online The Moment We Began (A Fairhope New Adult Romance) by Sarra Cannon - Free Book Online Page B

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my file and everyone in town will know by noon tomorrow.
    How am I going to tell Mason?
    What the fuck am I going to do?
    “I promise we won’t share this
information with your parents without your permission,” he
says. “If we’re discreet, you’re okay with doing
the ultrasound tonight?”
    I am dazed, not even sure how to process all this
information. This is the last thing I expected to find out tonight.
    “What about the alcohol?” I ask, panic
making my skin feel tingly and cold. “I had way too much to
drink. What if hurt the baby?”
    My face crumples and I press my fist to my mouth.
    “How often do you drink like this?” he
asks. “Every night? Once a week? Once a month?”
    My hands begin to shake. “I had a lot to
drink last weekend,” I say. “But before that, it was
about a month.”
    “Your blood alcohol level when you were
admitted was less than .10, and if you were only intoxicated twice
during your pregnancy so far, I would put your risk of complications
such as fetal alcohol syndrome as low,” he says. “However,
if you continue to drink during your pregnancy, that risk will
increase significantly.”
    I shake my head, relieved but scared. “I
won’t,” I say.
    He pats my shoulder. “I’m going to get
all the equipment we’ll need,” he says. “I’ll
be back in a moment. Is there anyone you want me to call? Someone
you’d like to be here with you when I perform the ultrasound?”
    I think of Mason. He must be so pissed at me right
now. I made a fool of myself, trashed his car, and now this. I want
him here, but I don’t think he’d want to be here. I have
no idea how he would even react to this kind of news. If he didn’t
even want to be tied down by a relationship with me, he’s
definitely not going to want to start a family right now.
    I bite my lip and run a trembling finger across my
forehead.
    I don’t want any of my friends here, either.
They won’t understand. There’s only one person I can
think of that I can totally trust to support me through this.
    “Can you get my brother for me?”

Chapter Sixteen
    Preston is standing at my side when the image pops
up on the monitor.
    I have no idea what I’m looking at. The
screen just looks like round black and white blob with a dark black
oval in the middle. Nothing in there looks even remotely like a baby.
    The doctor moves the wand around, then settles on
one location and stares up the screen, his forehead wrinkled and
intense.
    “What is it? Is everything okay?”
    He doesn’t answer at first. He moves the
mouse around and a couple of measurements pop up on the screen. I
squint my eyes, trying to make sense of it. Under the sheet, my toes
tap against the bed. Why isn’t he saying anything?
    “Doctor?” Preston asks. “What
exactly are we looking at here? Is the baby alright?”
    Dr. Mallory smiles, but doesn’t take his
eyes from the screen. “See this black part in the middle?”
he asks. “That’s your uterus.”
    My heart is pounding and I stare in awe at what
he’s showing me.
    “And here,” he says, circling the
pointer around a tiny grey blob that is barely sticking out into the
black part. “This is your baby.”
    I can’t take my eyes off the tiny little
spot. My heart aches and tightens and I think I’ve never felt
so in love with anything in my whole life. I raise the back of my
hand to my mouth and exhale, almost laughing.
    “So he’s okay?”
    “He or she,” the doctor says, glancing
toward me with a smile. “We won’t know that answer for a
couple of months, yet, but for right now, the baby seems to be doing
great. See this little flicker of light on the screen?”
    I lean forward and see a pulse of light.
    “That’s your baby’s heartbeat.
Nice and strong,” he says.
    I dissolve into tears for about the tenth time in
two hours, but these tears are different. This is a flood of relief
and joy and a sudden, paralyzing fear. I am pregnant.
    Preston hugs me and we both stare at