Never say forever (Never series Book 1) (20 page)

The doctor congratulates us and makes me an appointment for a month later when we get to hear the heartbeat. Can you guess how excited I am for that? I will be counting down the days until I can hear my baby.

***

Aiden

One Month Later

Football has been easy. The weather is cold and snowy so we have just been practicing what we can indoors. I never thought I would see the day that I would be playing football again. Serena really does bring out the best in me.

The day I went to the doctors with her for a checkup, I wasn’t prepared to see my little baby on a screen. I know you can’t tell it’s a baby yet because he or she is not developed yet, but it was still
amazing. Today we get to go back to hear the heartbeat. Its times like this that make me cherish everything for what it’s worth.

I finish the rest of the day at school anxiously awaiting hearing my baby for the first time. I don’t know how I will react because this is all new to me, but I’m sure I’ll probably cry like a little girl. Might as well give my man card up right now before entering the doctor’s office.

I drive to Serena’s, unable to clear my head. The only thoughts that stay resident in my head are all of Serena and my new baby. I know I am young but I will make it my power to see that I make their dreams come true. After all, she made my dream come true. The least I can do is return the favor.

I pull up in front of the house and I see her leaving through the front door. She is beautiful, even more so now that she’s pregnant. She seems to have a shine to her. I can see how excited she is just by the way she’s walking. Today is another stepping stone to changing our lives forever.

She sits down in the seat and smiles at me while putting her seat belt on. I can never get enough of her smile. I must say though, her hormones have been a roller coaster. I never know what Serena I’ll get. I just make sure I’m extra nice so she won’t bite my head off or cry because I said something I shouldn’t have. Her appetite is starting to come back. I know she still gets sick. I have seen her leave chemistry class to use the restroom and return with a tear streaked face. I feel so bad for her.

She leans over and kisses me after she puts her sunglasses on. “Someone seems a little cheery today.”

“
Are you kidding me? How can I not be cheery? We get to hear our baby,” she happily sighs.

“
I know Babygirl, I can’t wait either.” I start heading to the doctor’s office and she blasts the music and starts singing and throwing her hands around. That’s the Serena I fell in love with and I’m so glad I get to see this carefree side to her again.

We pull up to the doctor’s office and practically run right in. We sit down after checking in. I glance over at Serena and I can see the excitement she has because she can’t seem to sit still. She’s all over the place, anxiety at its best.

The doctor calls us back and it’s the same routine as before. They tell her to undress and to put on this clinic gown so they can make sure everything is still normal. The doctor leaves the room to give her privacy.

She starts undressing and I can’t help but notice her beautiful body. The baby is too small that she isn’t noticeable yet. She’s only about 8 weeks along. I walk up to her and kiss her softly. I can feel the goose bumps rising on her skin and I can feel her nipples perk up through her shirt. If I was at home, she would be laying down already really feeling the love I have to offer, but we are at a doctor’s office so I must contain myself.

Down boy!

Right then the doctor knocked and came in. She sat down and started on her exam. She talks as her head is literally at her crotch. “Everything is still looking good. You ready for the heartbeat?”

Serena and I look at each other and nod our head as we smile at each other. The moment we’ve been waiting for. The doctor tells Serena to lay back flat as she can. Once she’s flat, she opens the gown and places a Doppler on her abdomen. She moves it around for what feels like hours. I am starting to break a sweat because she hasn’t found it yet. What is something happened? What if something is wrong? Why can’t we hear the heartbeat?

It seems like doctor can see right through my fear because she stops what she’s doing and looks at me. “Don’t freak out. It’s very normal for this to take a while. Your baby is so small and with a large amount of room for this baby to move, baby is moving freely so it’s hard to get a reading. Just be patient. Everything is fine.”

How can she be sure? She hasn’t seen the baby since the last ultrasound, so how can you be so certain you have a live, beating baby in there without evidence of it.

Beat beat beat beat beat

That stopped me in my train of thought. That has got to be the most amazing sound. My mouth is wide open as I just stare into space,
listening to the life being made inside the woman I love. All I hear is the rapid beating of my unborn child. My mind has mentally blocked out all other sounds because right now this is the sound that is the most important.

I look over at Serena and she’s smiling through the tears. She’s so happy. I have never seen her so happy that she cried. She is my forever girl, carrying our love child. What more could I ask for?

I silently watch how beautiful she is, loving her baby that she doesn’t even know yet. It takes a lot for me not to break down with her. I try to compose myself but a few tears did end up escaping. Serena got one glance at that and she started crying again. She grabbed hold of me and just held me to her chest.

“
I love you so much, Aiden,” her whispered voice cracked in my ear from the crying.

I kissed her on the forehead and held her hand. “I love you too Babygirl. That was one of the most amazing things I’ve encountered.”

“
I know. This feels so much more real now that we heard the heartbeat. I know it sounds weird but I didn’t feel like a baby was inside me, it almost feels unreal. Now that we heard the heartbeat, this is very much real and it feels amazing. I didn’t think my heart could grow but I can feel it growing as the baby is growing.” She still has tears in her eyes. I know her hormones are preventing her from not crying. She has had an extremely emotional day.

“
You wanna go get some ice cream and celebrate?” I wink at her.

I can see by the look on her face that I said the right thing. Her eyes beamed at me. “You sure know the way to a pregnant woman’s heart,” she laughed.

She’s laughing now, right after she was crying. I have been seeing this lately. I have seen her moods change instantly. This is something I get to look forward to the next seven months. I’ll have to figure out a way to balance out her moods and how to respond without upsetting her. This ride is sure to be fun.

Chapter 13

Serena

One Month Later

It’s been a month since we heard the baby’s heartbeat. I am still amazed by that beautiful sound. We won’t get to find out the gender for another two months, shortly before my seventeenth birthday. I haven’t seen Aiden too much. It seems kind of odd because we were always together, attached to the hip. He has been so busy with football and he said he is also working on a project. I tried to press him for details but he won’t budge. My first thought was that he was making something for the baby, possibly a crib? I immediately thought that because his dad likes to woodwork. I’m sure he is getting help from him. It makes sense that it would be a crib. I am still confused though because he has been working on this project for over a month now and I would think it would take less time to build a crib. Maybe I’m all wrong on this. I would love to know what it is but he won’t tell me, so I finally gave up after asking him for the three-hundredth time.

I have been talking to Abby on a regular basis. She is really happy for me and always asking questions about the pregnancy. I know she and Ben have had some scares in the past but I think she really wants a baby and is hoping one of those scares works in her favor. She hasn’t told me any of this but I can just sense it when I’m around her. I can feel her anticipation growing as I am getting further along.

I have still been hanging out with Larissa every day. Everything is back to normal. Nothing seems
different. Well except now I have a baby in my belly, but I still feel the same. I am still not showing yet since I am only about three months along. My nausea has gone down which I am really happy about. I still do have the occasional morning sickness but not as bad as the beginning. That was just horrible. I couldn’t keep anything down. Now I can eat most of the food I used to eat. Well except for certain foods with certain spices that make me run for the bathroom.

I have become more comfortable with the situation. My mother is still on my side which I’m thankful for. I kind of walk on eggshells around her, doing everything she asks and not starting a fight. I can’t risk being thrown out of the house because of my own stupidity. My baby doesn’t deserve that kind of life. Even though I am not even seventeen yet, I feel as if am more mature. Maybe it’s my motherly instinct already kicking in. I do believe that Aiden will stick around for the rest of my life and be here for me and his baby. Even though I have seen nothing but the opposite. Look at my family. My dad cheated on my mother and left her for his mistress and my sister ran away pregnant and alone. I never had high hopes for a great future with a good person because everything that surrounded me came tumbling down. The day I met Aiden, my life changed. Once I really got to know him, I changed my perception of life and what I know.

I am prepared to have a lazy day on the couch. I don’t feel like doing anything at all. I pulled out some movies to watch and grabbed some microwavable popcorn out of the pantry to make. I put the bag of popcorn in the microwave and hit the popcorn button.

I hear the constant pop in the microwave when my doorbell rings. I wonder who that could be as I walk to the door. I look through the peephole and see Larissa. I open up the door.

“
Hey, what’s up?”

Larissa just walks in. “What is your pregnant ass doing on a beautiful day like today indoors?”

“
I was just going to lounge around and watch movies,” I tell her as I’m walking back to the kitchen to check on my popcorn.

“
Just because you’re pregnant doesn’t mean you have to confine yourself to your house,” she said.

“
I know. I just don’t feel like doing anything. I just want to lie around. You could join me if you want. I have popcorn,” I teased knowing she will stay.

She raised her eyebrow, “Ultimate butter?”

I laughed, “Extreme.” I winked at her.

“
I’m in! What are we watching?”

“
I have a few movies but I was thinking of watching
The Notebook
,” I tell her as I am preparing the popcorn to her liking. She stops in her tracks.

“
Are you sure?” She questions me. Why the heck wouldn’t I be sure? I picked the movie.

“
Yeah, why what’s the problem? You don’t want to watch that?” I ask.

“
No, it’s not that. It’s just, that movie is super emotional. Since you’re pregnant you will probably cry like a baby and I wasn’t sure you would want to do that. Just looking out for you and your crazy ass hormones.”

I love her. She’s always making me laugh.

I wave my hand. “Nah, I won’t even shed a tear. I’ve seen this movie a million times. I know what happens. This is one of my favorite movies.”

“
Okay. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

She takes the popcorn from me and heads to the living room. I sit down in my chair and she places a box of Kleenex in my lap.

“
Thanks for the concern, Lar, but I’m not going to need these.”

She thinks she’s so funny and that she has me all figured out. She just smiled at me and turned her attention to the movie. I start watching the movie and my eyes are glued. Once I get to the scene where they had that passionate kiss in the rain, I thought about Aiden. I remember our kiss in the rain. This scene reminds me of our first kiss and how magical it was. That makes me start thinking about everything else and the future. Before I know it, I have a huge smile on my face.