Chapter 465

Olivia

I tapped my foot anxiously in the doctor’s waiting room, my eyes glued to the obstetrics office entrance. The minutes until my ultrasound appointment were dwindling away, but there was still no sign of Nathan.

He had sworn up and down that his important meeting would wrap in time to make it here, but he hadn’t even sent so much as a text to let me know he was on the way.

Shaking my head, I pulled out my phone for what felt like the millionth time and opened up our text conversation; still nothing, no matter how many texts I had already sent so far that afternoon.

“Hello?” I typed out, desperately hoping for something, anything. “Where are you? The appointment is starting in five.”

I hit send, my breath hitched in my throat as I stared at the screen. Then, my heart lurched as those three little bubbles popped up, indicating that he was typing. Finally. Maybe he was almost here.

But the bubbles rippled across the screen for an exceedingly long time before they stopped, with no text coming through.

Nothing. No reply. Just another desperate text to add to my growing repertoire.

My heart sank into my stomach. Surely he wouldn’t actually miss this monumental moment—seeing our precious baby on the ultrasound again and finding out if we were having a boy or girl. Would he?

No, I thought to myself. He couldn’t. He knew how much it meant to me, to us, to share this first glimpse together.

He had promised.

“Olivia Ford?” A voice suddenly pulled me out of my reverie. I snapped my head up from my phone to see the nurse standing in the doorway, a clipboard in her hand and a smile on her face. “We’re ready for you.”

I hesitated, wavering. The least Nathan could do was send some sort of explanation, but no. Another quick glance at my phone screen showed no response.

With a defeated sigh, I finally gathered my purse and followed the nurse down the hall, my eyes bouncing to my phone screen every few seconds, praying to see a notification.

Still, there was nothing. It was just as I suspected; this association meeting would, once again, come between Nathan and our unborn child.

The nurse led me to a warmly lit exam room, and as I settled reluctantly onto the crinkly paper lining the table, the young ultrasound technician squeezed glops of gel on my bare stomach. Those nervous flutters returned—where the hell was Nathan?

“Will your husband be joining us soon?” the tech asked brightly as she prepared the ultrasound wand.

I bit my lip worriedly. “Um, he was supposed to already be here…” Unable to come up with an excuse for my absentee husband, I trailed off helplessly.

The ultrasound technician and the nurse exchanged a knowing glance between each other. Great. Now the staff just saw my husband as the stereotypical deadbeat dad; this wasn’t the first appointment he had missed, either.

“Aww, well, I’m certain something just came up,” the nurse said as she patted my hand comfortingly. “You know how it is. Those Alphas are always so busy…”

I nodded silently. But her words, although comforting, did nothing to ease my anxieties. Busy. Yeah, he was.

But he had promised.

The technician shot me an apologetic look upon realizing that my husband really wasn’t coming. “Do you want to reschedule?” she asked. “We don’t have any other openings for another month, but if you wouldn’t mind waiting…”

I shook my head, offering a tense smile. “Really, it’s fine,” I said, trying to keep my tone steady. “We can go through with the appointment.”

Truthfully, I just didn’t want to wait that long. But I wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it.

With another exchange of wary glances with the nurse, the technician finally spread the cold gel across my bare stomach. A few minutes of silence passed, and then, an image filled the screen and the grainy profile of a tiny face came into focus—our sweet little baby.

“There’s your little one,” the technician said softly, turning the screen so I could see better.

My heart swelled in my throat as I looked at the little form in front of me. Oh, how I wished Nathan was here to admire the miracle we had created. He should have been here. He promised, but he wasn’t.

And still, my phone sat silent, with not a single notification in sight.

Oblivious to my emotional churning, or maybe just trying not to show that she noticed, the technician pointed out my baby’s features on screen enthusiastically. “Okay, let’s see… there’s the hands… the feet... Aw, look at that little button nose! Good strong heartbeat, too!”

“What a strong little baby,” the nurse said with a soft smile. “Just like mom; strong and healthy.”

Despite Nathan;s absence like a gaping wound inside of me, joyful tears pricked at my eyes as I took in our child. My fingers traced the fuzzy outline of the flawless profile on the screen in utter awe.

So very real, so very perfect, no matter what chaos brewed around us. I just wanted Nathan to be here to see it.

The ultrasound technician then leaned forward, grinning from ear to ear. “Well, would you like us to reveal the gender for you now?” she asked. “I know you’ve been excited to hear…”

My breath halted. This was the moment I had eagerly anticipated for months. But Nathan wasn’t here, like he should have been. I had wanted him by my side when we found out our baby’s gender. Without him here, it felt… wrong.

Blinking back tears, I wavered uncertainly. “Oh, um…”

Sensing my anguish, the nurse leaned forward and squeezed my hand. “Would it feel better to wait until your husband can make it to find out?” she asked gently. “We certainly don’t mind rescheduling for a day that works for both of you, so long as you don’t mind waiting for a few more weeks…”

As tempting as it was, the idea of having to wait another month to find out my baby’s gender, and to possibly risk another disaster like this, almost made me feel sick to my stomach. I bit my lip, thinking. I supposed that I could wait, but still…

Then, an idea struck me suddenly. “Actually, could you just write the sex down instead of saying it out loud?” I asked, my voice wavering slightly. “That way it can still be a fun surprise for us to find out together when he’s home. I know Nathan would love that.”

The nurse grinned and nodded. “Well of course! No problem, hun.” She walked over to the counter to scribble the reveal on a sticky note. After folding it tightly, she slid the paper into a sealed envelope and handed it to me with an excited smile on her face.

“Here,” she said. The envelope felt shockingly heavy in my hands, although I knew it was all in my head. “You should make an event out of it.”

“Have a cake made,” the ultrasound technician chimed in. “That’s what we did with my little girl. We gave the gender to the baker, and they made the inside of the cake pink; so when we cut into it, we revealed the gender.”

I smiled, although there were still tears in my eyes. “I’ll consider that. Thank you.”

The lonely twenty minute drive home was sheer torture. Where the hell was my husband? Why hadn’t he answered my increasingly desperate voicemails and texts?

With my mind spinning with horrible possibilities, I had to pull over once as panicked tears blurred my vision.

“Nathan,” I typed out, “where are you? This isn’t like you… I’m worried sick at this point. Just please let me know you’re alright!”

I hit send shakily. Still no response.

When I finally pulled into our driveway I craned my neck, praying to see Nathan’s car parked out front. No such luck.

He wasn’t home.