Free With Honor by Rhonda Lee Carver Page B

examining robe.
    “You’re fast.” Her smile grew wider.
    “I drove like a maniac. I had to outrun a patrolman, but it’s all good.” He dragged in a breath and exhaled slowly. His heart rate finally slowed.
    “Really?” Her smile weakened.
    “No.” Strolling into the room, he glanced over her from the top of her head to the tips of her feet encased in blue booty socks. “I hope you didn’t call me here just to see how cute you are in those socks. I’d be seriously miffed.”
    With laughter and a dramatic wriggle of her toes, she shook her head, sending her ponytail swinging. “No, not the socks. But the baby.”
    “Baby?” He threw up an eyebrow. Maybe all wasn’t well. His heart pounded.
    She gave a quick nod toward the monitor to her right. “I came here because I had spotted blood. Dr. Freedmon decided we should take a look at the baby just to make sure all is okay. I thought you might like to see our baby on television too.”
    “Blood? Television?”
    “Are you okay? You didn’t hit your head on the way here, did you?” Her eyes slanted.
    “Are we ready?” A voice from behind him interrupted his answer.
    Shane turned as the doctor shut the door on his way into the room.
    The gray-haired man offered Shane a smile. “You must be the proud father. I’m Doctor Freedmon.”
    Shane shook his hand, although he was still in shock.
    “We’re ready, Doctor Freedmon,” Jasmine offered.
    “Well then, let’s get you laid back here and your feet into the stirrups.”
    Shawn stood at the end of the bed, feeling like a fish out of water. Doctor Freedmon tapped him gently on the shoulder. “Son, would you like for me to give Jasmine the ultrasound, or would you prefer I give you detailed instructions so you can give it to her?”
    Pulling himself out of his worried cloud, Shawn realized he was standing in between Jasmine’s legs, blocking all access. With an apologetic expression, he moved. “Better let you do your job, Doc.”
    The doctor pulled a tool-like long apparatus from the machine and proceeded to slip a condom-like sheath over its length.
    Shawn eyed the contraption. “Wow, that’s an interesting looking gadget.”
    Doctor Freedmon smiled. “We hear that a lot from first-time fathers, until they realize where it inserts into.”
    “Huh?” Shawn’s mind raced. “Inserts where?”
    “The baby is too young yet to get the best visual with old technology so we use a vaginal probe to get the pictures.” The doctor sat down onto the swivel chair, rolled up between Jasmine’s legs and stuck his hand between her knees.
    “Vaginal probe?” Shawn didn’t like where this was heading, literally.
    “The probe doesn’t hurt the mother or the baby. Rest assured, it’s all worth it,” Doctor Freedmon said in a calm voice. Shawn was stuck somewhere between large probe in vagina and feeling a little confused when the screen flickered with blobbed black and white images. “There’s the baby.” The doctor pointed at one of the brighter masses.
    “Great, honey, we’re having a blob,” Shawn joked.
    Neither Jasmine nor Doctor Freedmon laughed. In fact, Jasmine’s eyes were misted with tears.
    “Look closer.” Doctor Freedmon proceeded to show them the outline of a mermaid-looking shadow. “And here is the heartbeat.”
    Shawn’s world came to a stand-still. In this tiny little gray figure was a heartbeat. The heartbeat of a Conner. Shane’s memory would live on, even if he wouldn’t. He heard a sniffle and looked down to find Jasmine’s cheeks wet with tears. She attempted to wipe them away, but they seemed to fall quicker than she could clear them.
    “What’s wrong, baby?” Finding a box of tissues, he grabbed several and handed them to her.
    Blotting her eyes, she looked up at him. “I…I don’t know what’s wrong.”
    “Are you sad?” Searching his mind for what he should do to help, he felt useless. Seeing a woman cry ate through him. He wasn’t equipped to handle that