Well, I could completely understand why he was staring at the safest spot in the room—a blank corner.
"Wow, so now I'm worried," I said, pointing to the model on the counter.
J.J. glanced at it out of the corner of his eye. "I have a basic understanding of how pregnancy and childbirth works but that model makes me want to apologize to you. And to my mother."
I laughed a little and turned to the table, stopping short when I saw the cotton gown and paper blanket sitting on top.
"Oh, joy," I muttered.
I glanced around the room, relieved to see a pair of swinging doors at the rear of the space. A quick peek told me that it was a changing area.
"I'll be out in a minute," I told him as I carried everything inside.
Since the nurse mentioned an internal ultrasound, I assumed I needed to take my underwear off. I folded my clothes once I was changed and left them stacked neatly on the wooden bench on one side of the room.
I was grateful that the gown closed in the back and wasn't going to leave me struggling not to expose myself when I walked past J.J. to the table.
I'd just lowered my bare butt to the cold, paper-covered table, when a brisk knock sounded at the door and the nurse came in with glass tubes and a capped needle.
She smiled at both of us. "Don't look so nervous, you two. I promise you'll enjoy your visits here. Especially when the little one is big enough for you to see their face in the ultrasounds."
I glanced down at her nametag. She hadn't introduced herself when I came in, but I figured I'd be here pretty often over the next few months and I would need to know her name.
Her tag read Faith Lovejoy. With the font and spacing, it almost looked as if it were one of those signs with inspirational quotes on it.
As she wrapped a piece of rubber tubing around my arm and briskly rubbed the inside of my elbow with an alcohol pad, my eyes shot to J.J. and widened.
He misunderstood the intent behind my look and was on his feet beside me in a split second, my other hand clasped in his.
I inhaled sharply in an effort to control my laugh and squeezed his hand when the needle pierced my arm. I barely felt it, but J.J. seemed to think I was distressed so he continued to hold my hand as he leaned down and pressed his lips to my temple.
"She's almost done," he murmured in my ear.
My amusement at the nurse's name was forgotten and I inhaled again, this time slow and shaky.
He was trying to comfort me because he thought I was scared of the needle. He was holding my hand and stroking my hair as though he loved me. Or at least cared a great deal for me.
I didn't even feel the needle leave my arm as Faith finished the blood draw and pressed a piece of folded gauze to the puncture mark, holding it down tightly so she could wrap a flexible purple bandage around it.
"There. You handled that very well," she said, patting my knee. "The doctor will be in shortly."
She looked around and saw that there was only a paper blanket on the table and shook her head.
"We keep this office so cold that won't keep you warm enough." She went to the cabinet, opened the door below the model of the fetus in utero, and pulled out a thick, woven cotton blanket. "Here you go. That'll keep you warm," she said, shaking it out and draping it over my legs.
"Thank you," I murmured, suddenly feeling bad for being amused by her name.
"I know it's still warm right now," she commented. "But you might want to bring some socks next time so your poor little feet don't freeze."
"I will," I said.
As soon as she left the room, J.J. moved around in front of me. "I didn't know you were afraid of needles," he said.
"I'm not." I glanced down at where his hand still clasped mine. "I was just surprised when I saw her nametag."
"Why?" he asked.
I looked up at him and felt a smile tug at the corner of my mouth. "Because her name is Faith Lovejoy."
He obviously didn't get why I found it funny so I let it drop, but he still didn't release my hand and go back to his seat.
Considering how nervous I was getting, I appreciated it.
"I'm nervous," J.J. said after a few moments of silence. "Are you nervous?"
I swallowed. "I wasn't at first, but I am now."
"Sorry."
"No, not because you said that but because it's becoming more and more real by the second," I admitted.
It cost me to confess that. I'd promised to try and open up to J.J. but it was so darn hard. I'd gotten so used to doing things for myself, by myself, that I had trouble admitting I needed help.
I could ask for help from my mother, but asking for help from anyone else was tough. My brothers were so bossy that they would try to take over the minute I told them I had a problem. My dad wasn't that bad, but he was still a fixer. Sometimes I just needed him to listen but all he could focus on was making the problem better. Or making it go away entirely.
And life didn't always work like that.
Before we could continue our conversation, there were two sharp taps on the door and it opened to reveal Dr. Stubens the Younger.
Dr. Stubens the Elder was my mother's OB-GYN and he had delivered all my brothers and me. His daughter, Dr. Eleanor Stubens, was in her forties. Her father had been my first gynecologist. He was a hoot and his daughter didn't fall too far from the tree. She'd worked by his side for over a decade and then taken over his practice when he retired two years ago.
She actually made my yearly pap smears tolerable with her sunny smile, warm disposition, and tendency to laugh about anything and everything on God's green earth.
"Good morning, Lee!" she greeted me with a bright smile. "I hear congratulations times two are in order."
I returned her smile. "Yes, I got married a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if you remember J.J. McClane."
She grinned at him. "I certainly do. Congratulations, J.J. On the marriage, the baby, and surviving what was surely an intimidating gauntlet put forth by her brothers."
I rolled my eyes. Dr. Stubens had no idea.
"Hi, Eleanor," J.J. said.
I turned to stare at him. He called her by her first name like they were old pals.
He felt my gaze and looked down at me, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he grinned.
"Eleanor used to babysit me."
"Don't repeat that anywhere but here," Dr. Stubens demanded. "If you say it in public then everyone will remember how old I really am."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," J.J. said.
Dr. Stubens shook her head at him but focused on me once again. "Well, you've had quite a bit of upheaval in your personal life this year, haven't you? I didn't even realize the two of you were dating."
My face heated but I forced myself not to look at J.J. Dr. Stubens might be fun and hilarious, but she was smart and sharp. She would see right through that exchange of eye contact.
Though she probably already had a very good idea that we'd gotten married because I'd gotten pregnant.
"So based on the timing you've listed, you believe you're approximately twelve weeks along, correct?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Have you been taking prenatal vitamins?" she asked.