smoke • calum hood

epilogue, part two.

a little over one year later: december nineteenth, the final chapter.

adelin sat on the toilet seat with her leg shaking uncontrollably. her heart lurched when the timer went off. two minutes.

with shaking hands, she picked up the three pregnancy tests. and all of them read positive.

a thousand and one thoughts ran through her brain. she never knew if she really wanted kids or if she felt obligated to. the idea of pregnancy and labor terrified her to no end. but then she imagined a miniature calum or adelin running around, and having her own child for david and addy to play with and she felt pure joy. but mostly she was feeling excitement picturing the look on calum's face.

but she didn't want to tell him just yet. adelin decided she would book a doctor's appointment just to be sure.

so that was how adelin found herself in a doctor's office exactly a week later with a doctor explaining to her how an ultrasound worked and that the jelly would be a little cold.

"oh, i know," adelin told her. "i'm in my second year of med school. usc."

"my alma mater," dr. manning grinned with pride. "liking it so far?"

"i love it," adelin said honestly. "i'm planning on going into surgery, but not ortho like my dad. i want to go in pediatrics."

"your dad's an ortho surgeon?" dr. manning asked. adelin nodded. "do you mind if i ask, what's his name? maybe i've heard of him."

adelin took a moment to prepare herself for dr. manning's reaction. whenever she told anyone who her dad was, they always flooded her with questions because he was very well known. "andrew hemmings."

dr. manning's eyes went wide. "your dad is doctor hemmings? wow, i just read the article he published on familial hypophosphatasia. the man is a genius, he must be very proud."

"i suppose," adelin said awkwardly. she's had many conversations with her dad about her decision to go into pediatric surgery because naturally, he was pushing for her to follow in his footsteps.

sensing the tension, dr. manning switched the subject. "alrighty, i'm going to put it on now, okay?" dr. manning waited for adelin's confirmation. she put the jelly on her stomach and brought the tool over her stomach. and a few seconds later, she heard a thumping noise. "looks like we have a heartbeat."

"so, i'm really pregnant?" adelin stared at the monitor in awe. she had a child inside of her. her child.

"you sure are," dr. manning chuckled. "we'll have some pictures printed for you. it looks like you're about twelves weeks along, which is why we can see it on an ultrasound. have you been experiencing any symptoms other than an irregular cycle?"

adelin shook her head. "no, nothing. i just had this feeling, you know? i don't know how to explain it."

dr. manning smiled as she nodded. "i do. have you told your husband yet?" she glanced down at the band on adelin's ring finger.

"i haven't," adelin said. "i haven't told anyone, i wanted to be sure."

that day adelin waited for calum to come home from work like any other. except today was different. she normally got home before him as she had classes during the day. she was in her first year of medical school and the stress was driving her insane. she didn't know how she would handle pregnancy on top of it all.

"ad, i'm home love," calum's voice rang through their house. he smiled when he saw her waiting for him on the couch, and greeted her with a quick kiss.