At First Sight - Nicholas Sparks [82]
To Jeremy, who was sitting near Lexie’s head, the scene seemed surreal. Yes, the man was a doctor, and Jeremy had no doubt the doctor saw dozens of patients a day, but still, when the doctor tried to engage him in conversation, he did his best to meet the doctor’s eyes as he answered, while ignoring what was being done to his wife. He supposed Lexie had grown used to all this, but it was the sort of thing that made him glad to be male.
After the doctor left, Jeremy and Lexie were left alone for a few minutes while they waited for the sonogram technician; when she entered, she asked Lexie to pull up her shirt. Gel was squirted on the expanding drum of her belly, drawing a quick gasp from Lexie.
“Sorry, I should have warned you it was cold. But let’s see how your baby’s doing, okay?”
The technician led Jeremy and Lexie through the sonogram, moving the hand piece, pressing harder and softer on her belly as she pointed out what she was seeing.
“And you’re sure it’s a girl?” Jeremy said. Though he’d been assured the last time he was here, he’d had trouble making sense of the image but had been too embarrassed to say anything.
“I’m sure,” she said, moving the hand piece again. Pausing, she pointed at the screen. “Oh, here’s a good shot . . . look for yourself.”
Jeremy squinted. “I’m not sure what I’m seeing.”
“This is the butt,” she clarified, pointing to the screen, “and these are the legs here. Like she’s sitting on the camera. . . .”
“I don’t see anything.”
“Exactly,” she said. “That’s how we know it’s a girl.”
Lexie laughed, and Jeremy leaned toward her. “Say hello to Misty,” he whispered.
“Hush! I’m trying to enjoy this,” she said, squeezing his hand.
“Okay, let me get a few measurements here, to make sure the baby’s developing on schedule, okay?”
The technician moved the hand piece again, hit one button and then another. Jeremy remembered her doing the same thing the last time they were here. “She’s right on schedule,” the technician added. “It says here she’s due October 19.”
“So she’s growing okay?” he asked.
“Seems to be,” said the technician. She moved the hand piece again to measure the heart and femur, then suddenly froze. Instead of pushing the button, she moved the hand piece away from the leg, zeroing in on what seemed to be a white line stretching toward the baby, something that looked almost like static or a flaw in the screen. She frowned slightly as she zeroed in on it. All at once, she began moving the hand piece more quickly, pausing frequently to examine the new image. She seemed to be checking the baby from every angle.
“What are you doing?” Jeremy asked.
The technician seemed lost in concentration. “Just checking something,” she murmured. She continued trying to zero in on the image before shaking her head. She raced through the rest of the measurements, then went back to what she’d been doing before. Images of the baby from every angle appeared and disappeared. Again, the technician zeroed in on the wavy line.
“Is everything okay?” Jeremy pressed.
Her eyes were still focused on the screen as she drew a long breath. Her voice was surprisingly steady.
“I see something that the doctor might want to have a look at.”
“What does that mean?”
“Let me get the doctor,” she said, rising. “He’ll probably be able to tell you more than I can. Stay where you are and I’ll be right back.”
Perhaps it was the measured sound of her words that made the blood drain from Lexie’s face. Jeremy suddenly felt her squeeze his hand again, this time hard. A series of dizzying images flashed through his mind, for he knew exactly what the technician had meant. She’d seen something unusual, something different . . . something bad. And in that instant, time stopped as his mind raced through possibilities. The room seemed to close in as he tried to make sense of the fuzzy line he’d seen.
“What’s going on?” Lexie whispered. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” Jeremy said.
“Is something wrong with the baby?”
“She didn’t say that,” Jeremy said as much to steady himself as her. He