Turning A New Leaf

Forty-Eight

Some days were more challenging to get through than others, but Brooke was doing the damn thing on her own. Brad had been served his divorce papers, and in a month or so, their divorce would be finalized. She hadn't asked for anything from him, just saying the house would be for sale and they'd split the profits, which was OK with her. They'd equally purchased the home.

Brooke was planning on moving to a smaller, more modest house, maybe on some land, once she sold her current home. All she needed was a two-bedroom place, so she and the baby would have their own rooms. 

She'd found out she was pregnant only a few weeks prior. Between the stress of the pending divorce, her recovery from the assault, and just plain not eating, she'd assumed her missed cycle was from that. However, when she had gone in for her annual Pap smear, they'd insisted on doing a pregnancy test as it had been a few months since she'd had a period.

Lo and behold, she was pregnant. Based on the fetal gestation age, she had to have gotten pregnant before the assault happened, most likely the night of Atira's bachelorette party when Brad had disappeared.

He'd coaxed her into sex once they came home, and she'd conceived. She was fourteen weeks along, just two weeks behind Atira and twelve weeks behind Brad's other woman. Brad had no idea she was expecting his child, and she hesitated to inform him. Brooke wanted his family to be involved and knew they'd be hurt if they didn't have the chance to see the baby, and it was important to her to have them around.

Brooke had paid out of pocket for the NIPT test, eager to find the gender as well. All the genetic markers came back clear, and it was determined that she would be expecting a little girl named Eleanor Delilah. Brooke was unsure if she should give baby Eleanor her maiden name, Walker, or Brad's last name. Perhaps the hyphenated last of Walker-Samson?

If she did decide to tell Brad about their daughter, she was unsure of how even to navigate that. With the protection order in place, they were not legally allowed to communicate, so the information would need to be passed along through a third party. Would he even be permitted to attend the birth?

What if he was still on drugs when Eleanor was born? Could she have the protection order applied to her as well? That was something she decided she would worry about when the time came. In the meantime, Brooke wanted to focus on having a healthy, stress-free pregnancy as much as possible.

****

Atira and Krist walked hand-in-hand as they entered the darkened room for the baby's anatomy scan at eight in the morning. The assistant motioned to a bed, instructing Atira to sit so she could check her vitals and then undress from the waist down, as the first part of the exam would be a transvaginal scan.

"I'm nervous," Atira gave him a sheepish smile as she covered her lower half with a stiff white blanket.

Krist leaned down and kissed the top of her head, "It is gonna be OK," he assured her, despite the fact he was nervous as fuck.

It had been at the anatomy scan that his baby with Nina had been declared to have passed in utero. Atira reported movement daily, but Krist was unable to shake his fears.

The tech returned to the room and performed the internal scan first. Mainly boring ass shit, checking the cervix, ovaries, and anatomy that was visible with the wand.

Afterward, the tech excused herself from the room so Atira could get dressed and use the restroom.

"I love you," Krist told his wife as she returned to the exam bed.