"Including to him?" I said.
She looked at Dax. "Including to him."
"Understood," he said. He sat in the chair along the wall. Not beside the examination table. Against the wall, close enough to be present, far enough to be clear that he was there at my invitation and understood the difference.
The appointment was thorough. History, timeline, symptoms, blood panel ordered. All of it. And then the ultrasound.
I'd been managing the idea of the baby the way I managed everything that felt too large — at a practical distance. There is a pregnancy. The pregnancy has a timeline. The timeline requires medical appointments and dietary adjustments and a room with adjusted shower pressure. I'd been keeping it at that register.
The ultrasound ended that.
On the screen: something that was not abst
