Page 21 of One Night with the Doctor

The ultrasound got under way and Ginny reached for Callie’s hand. Callie gave a reassuring squeeze but she was aware only of Sebastian standing to one side and slightly behind her. She could feel the heat radiating off his body and smell the rich, earthy tones of his aftershave, which seemed to have been imprinted on her DNA after Friday night.

All she needed to do was lean back and she’d be pressed along the length of him. Then it’d only be a small move to turn in his arms, press her face into his neck, feel his stubble scratching her cheek.

Blake pressed a button and the room filled with the steady whop, whop, whop of a tiny fluttering heart. It dragged Callie out of the haze miring her body and she actually took in what was on the screen for the first time.

‘Isn’t that a beautiful noise?’ Blake grinned at them.

Ginny burst into tears and Callie squeezed her hand again. The fuzzy image squirmed and from nowhere a lump of emotion rose in her throat, sitting like a giant bloody brick as tears pricked the backs of her eyes.

Callie blinked hard to dispel them. This was ridiculous! She’d sat through dozens of these. Unfortunately lack of sexual inhibition and promiscuity often went hand in hand with unmedicated mental health conditions, so she’d done this very thing with too many clients over the years.

She’d never, ever got weepy over the sound of a baby’s heartbeat! It just didn’t happen.

But there it was on the screen. All fuzzy black and white with a fluttering movement right in the centre. It was rhythmic and utterly entrancing.

‘She’s beautiful,’ Ginny whispered, touching the screen.

‘Oh, you think it’s a she, huh?’ Blake grinned. ‘We might need to wait a little longer for that.’

Callie didn’t really take in what Blake and Ginny chatted about over the next few minutes. Something about pre-natal blood screening and confirming gender. She was too caught up in the image flickering on the screen. And for the first time ever a tiny worm of regret wriggled a path through her insides.

‘According to my calculations,’ Blake mused as he input his final data and pressed a button, ‘you’re twelve weeks along.’

‘Twelve weeks?’ Ginny squeaked.

Ginny’s startled exclamation snapped Callie out of the strange twilight zone going on inside her head. She moved away from Sebastian and closer to the bed.

Blake grinned and patted the large metal machine like it was a much loved pet. ‘The waves don’t lie.’

‘That makes you due in September,’ Callie said, helping Ginny adjust her clothes and aiding her into a sitting position.

‘September twentieth,’ Blake confirmed.

Ginny shook her head. ‘I can’t believe it.’

Sebastian crossed to the other side and held out his hand, joining with Callie to help Ginny down off the high couch. ‘You’d better believe it.’ He smiled. ‘In a few months, you’re going to be a mummy.’

Ginny thanked the sonographer and Sebastian guided her out. Callie raised on her tiptoes as the door swung shut behind them and pecked Blake on the cheek. ‘What would I do without you?’

‘I don’t know,’ Blake teased. ‘There’s nobody like me.’

That was true. Blake had only ever been a phone call away and always managed to fit in Callie’s obstetric patients. Always. It was these kinds of connections that made her very good at her job. She smiled and pecked him on the cheek again.

‘Kiss Jen and the kids for me,’ she said as she headed out of the room.

Ginny was on a call when Callie joined them in the corridor. ‘Is that Brad?’ she asked, aware of Sebastian’s brooding gaze heavy on her profile, and ignoring it.

‘Yes.’ Ginny nodded. ‘He’s almost here.’

‘Okay, tell him to meet us at the cafeteria.’

They spent the next half-hour in the cafeteria, talking to Ginny and Brad about the baby and how to manage the pregnancy and Ginny’s condition without compromising either.

‘I’m worried that I’ll be so anxious about the baby, that it’s… you know… okay that I might have a relapse of my anxiety,’ Ginny admitted.

Callie grabbed her client’s fidgety hands and squeezed, stilling their nervous plucking movements. It was great that she could articulate her concerns because then Callie could address them and help Ginny through the next months.

‘I’m going to set you up with a community midwife service that’ll see you every week, and if you’re still worried – ever – you can come to Jambalyn. We have a hand-held Doppler there and I even know how to use it.’ Callie grinned. ‘You can listen to the baby’s heartbeat every day if you want.’