Suddenly a Bride Page 16

  Chris shook Dr. Keeting’s hand and smiled.

  “So, you think you might be further along than we originally thought?” the doctor asked as she got ready to measure Caitlyn’s abdomen.

  “That’s what it looks like,” Caitlyn said, glancing at Chris.

  He took her hand and squeezed it.

  After measuring her, the doctor looked at the nurse’s notes and nodded. “You’re measuring further along alright. I’m going to do an ultrasound to get a better idea of where you’re at. I’ll be right back with the machine.”

  Chris couldn’t think of anything to say, so he squeezed Caitlyn’s hand again.

  She looked at him and smiled. “Nervous?”

  “I don’t know what to expect. I mean, it’s not surprising you’re further along than what an Earth woman should be, but I don’t know much about pregnancies.”

  “Considering this is not a full-Earth child, I don’t know much either. We’ll just have to learn together.”

  He liked that they would be sharing this new experience together, but before he could voice his thought on the matter, the doctor returned with the ultrasound machine. He watched as she spread more of the gel on Caitlyn’s abdomen and turned it on. She turned the screen in their direction and moved the wand over Caitlyn’s pelvic region.

  The gray image on the screen wasn’t easy to detect at first, but when Dr. Keeting pointed out the heartbeat and he saw the baby move, it suddenly became real to him. It was one thing knowing Caitlyn was pregnant and that he’d soon be having a child with her, but seeing the tiny new life moving in her womb was a wondrous experience. As much as he tried to look at Caitlyn to see what she thought of this moment, he couldn’t take his eyes off the screen.

  “On here, you’re looking like you’re at fifteen weeks, so let’s keep an eye on how things are progressing,” Dr. Keeting said, interrupting the image he had of holding his child in his arms.

  He couldn’t hide his disappointment when she turned off the ultrasound and wiped Caitlyn’s stomach up the best she could, but he felt better when she said they needed to schedule an ultrasound.

  “That ultrasound will show you a lot more than this one can, and it’ll give us a better idea of what due date we’re looking at,” she concluded.

  “When will this ultrasound be?” he asked, anticipating another opportunity to see his child.

  “Whenever the tech can do it,” she replied with a smile before she looked at Caitlyn. “I also need you to run to the lab and go through a series of blood tests.”

  “Blood tests?” Chris asked, surprised this was part of the process.

  “Yeah. Each time a woman is pregnant, they make her go through a lot of blood tests to make sure everything looks good.”

  His eyebrows furrowed. “But the baby is alright, isn’t he?”

  “The baby looks fine. These tests are routine.”

  Feeling easier about that, he nodded.

  Caitlyn sat up on the table and answered a few questions about how she was feeling during the pregnancy, and then the doctor told them to make an appointment in another month so they left.

  On their way out, Caitlyn checked her watch. “I’ll get the blood work done next week. Right now I need to get something to eat. I don’t feel so bad eating all the time now that I see how big our baby is.”

  He put his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “That was amazing, wasn’t it? It’s too bad we can’t have one of those machines to watch the baby all the time.”

  She laughed and patted him on the chest. “It was fun.”

  “You’re looking forward to the baby?”

  “Yes, and it’s nice that I’m in the second trimester already. That means I skipped the morning sickness and exhaustion and went straight to the good stuff. Soon I should feel the baby kick.”

  “Really? What does that feel like?”

  She shrugged. “I haven’t felt it before so I don’t know, but when I start noticing the baby moving, I’ll let you know.”

  Content, he kissed her cheek as they left the building.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The next afternoon, Chris pulled into the parking lot in his sedan and checked the address on the piece of paper to be sure he drove to the right place. He glanced at the large hotel that stood on the beach. Sure enough, he was at the right place. Getting out of the car, he tucked his dark blue shirt into his khaki pants and headed on into the building. He didn’t miss the jeans and t-shirts and was glad Caitlyn really didn’t care if he wore them or not. Why Randy insisted on wearing them, he didn’t know, and now that he knew Caitlyn loved him for him, he didn’t care.

  As soon as he entered the lobby, a woman called out to him, and he stopped and turned toward the sofa in the center of the large room. “Hi, Mrs. Rogers,” he greeted her mother who motioned for him to follow her. “Am I late?”

  “No. But I wanted to show you where the ceremony will be,” she said as she strode through the lobby and down a hall.

  He took in the chandeliers and expensive furnishings. “This is a fancy hotel.”

  “It’s where Lexie will be marrying the doctor. His family owns this hotel chain, so I got a nice discount for your wedding.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  “Yes, her father and I are proud she’s marrying so well.”

  He wanted to ask if she approved of him marrying Caitlyn but then decided he already knew the answer to that one. She wasn’t. When she talked about the doctor, there was a reverent tone in her voice that she never used with him, but then she hadn’t used it when she mentioned Randy either so he could live with it. He didn’t care what her mother thought of him. All that mattered was what Caitlyn thought.

  “I think I should tell Caitlyn about the wedding,” he said as they neared the veranda.

  She stopped and turned to him.

  He almost ran into her. “What? Did I say something wrong?”

  “Chris.” She shot him a scolding look before she chuckled. “The whole point of this wedding is to surprise her. It’s my wedding gift. Are you saying you don’t approve of my gift?”

  How did she deduct that? “No, of course not. I think this is a lovely gesture you’re making.”

  “But…?”

  Shrugging, he said, “I thought Caitlyn might like to dress up for the occasion. I’m wearing a tuxedo. Shouldn’t she wear something equally as nice?”

  “She will be. I’m getting her wedding dress made as we speak.”

  “But what if she doesn’t like it?”

  “What’s not to like about a wedding dress? They’re all beautiful gowns, and—” she patted his arm—“I have excellent taste. I know how to pick a gown that will accentuate Caitlyn’s best features. Do you know what she married Randy in? A white dress she bought from a department store.” She shivered. “Can you believe that? I nearly died.”

  “That was a nice dress,” he said, recalling the picture he’d seen of Caitlyn and Randy at the Rogers’ home.

  “If you don’t mind looking like you shopped at a dollar store for your clothes, it is. But this time, we’re doing things right. You might not be a doctor, but you dress much better than Randy. That’s a good thing.” He considered pressing the issue about Caitlyn’s wedding dress, but her mother continued, “Are you a woman, Chris?”

  Thinking that was a ridiculous question, he said, “No. Can’t you tell I’m a man?”

  Her eyes widened for a moment before she snickered. “Cute comeback. What I’m getting at is that I know a woman’s mind. Believe me, we’re complicated creatures.”

  “I believe that.”

  “Good. And while women are complicated, men are simple. As long as their stomachs are full and they have sex, they’re happy.”

  “That’s not entirely true. We need more than that to be fulfilled.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “You look like you actually believe that, but I’ve been married for thirty-nine years. I know all about men.”

  “We
ll, I’m a man, so I know how a man thinks.”

  Looking irritated, she rolled her eyes. “Whatever. My point is that it’s wrong to give away a surprise. A surprise isn’t a surprise unless the person being surprised is surprised. Understand? Now come on. Everyone is here and waiting for you. We need to get the rehearsal underway.”

  He weighed the pros and cons of arguing with her and finally decided it wasn’t worth ruining what he and Caitlyn had developed so he followed her out the door and stepped onto the veranda. Even if he didn’t care much for Mrs. Rogers, he refused to let her spoil his good day. Caitlyn said she loved him, and that was more important than bickering over whether or not Caitlyn should pick out her own dress or be surprised at the wedding.

  Once they were outside, Mrs. Rogers asked, “Will your parents or anyone from your side be coming?”

  His parents had been a sperm and a cloned egg, so he opted not to comment regarding that. They didn’t have parents raise children like they did here on Earth. He was created and born in the lab with the other males on his planet, and they were raised by teachers who instructed them in their lessons. The notion that he’d get a chance to raise his child with Caitlyn was much more exciting than her mother could fathom, despite her belief she knew everything.

  “Chris?” her mother said, breaking him out of his thoughts.

  Turning to her, he replied, “Mark is the only one from my side.”

  She frowned. “You don’t have any family?”

  “Caitlyn and our child is my family.”

  For a moment, she stared at him, her jaw dropped and the color drained from her face, and he immediately picked up on his mistake. Caitlyn hadn’t told her about the baby yet.

  “It’s not what you think, Mrs. Rogers. We were married before she got pregnant.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “And when is the joyous event supposed to occur?”

  “Joyous event?”

  “The birth!”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. It’s not like women on this world are equipped to know what day they’ll give birth. All they can do is estimate a due date.”

  Caitlyn’s mother put a hand on her hip and glared at him. “Well, excuse us women for not being specific enough for you.”

  “It’s not your fault. Science hasn’t progressed far enough yet. I’m sure sooner or later, there will be tests created to know for sure.”

  “Really?” Though she phrased it as a question, she looked doubtful.

  “Yes, really,” he replied, starting to get upset with her. “It’s possible to narrow it down to the exact date and time, and if you weren’t so delayed in medical progress, your question could be answered more easily. As it is, you’ll have to do with a vague answer, which is ‘I don’t know’ exactly when the child will be born.”

  She shook her head. “I bet she’s further along than you’ll admit. Amazing. I thought I raised her better than to give it up before she got married. No wonder she was too ashamed to tell me and her father when you two got married. I hope she’s not showing yet. I can’t have you two embarrassing me in front of my family and friends. You two really did get married, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.” His face grew warm. “I don’t care if you believe me or not, but we were married first.”

  “Well, I have to get the minister so we can do it right.”

  While her mom went to find the minister, Chris had the urge to leave the whole thing. He didn’t need to go through a ceremony on this planet to make the marriage legit. The bonding was his planet’s way of getting married, and he saw nothing wrong with it. At least the bonding was permanent, unlike the ceremonies on this world which could lead to the divorces Mark discussed with him.

  He stood still for a moment and caught sight of Mark lounging in one of the chairs by the pool talking to Lexie. Maybe Mark would know whether or not Caitlyn would like to go through with this ceremony and be surprised about it. Mark was, after all, collecting information from women, so regardless of what Mrs. Rogers claimed to know, he was sure Mark’s knowledge was sufficient. Deciding to get his friend’s advice, he walked over to them.

  “Hi, Mark. Hi, Lexie.”

  “Hi, Chris,” Lexie greeted and held the plate of food up to him. “Want some?”

  “No thanks,” Chris said as he sat down. Unable to hold back his excitement, he added, “Caitlyn told me she loves me!”

  “Good to hear it, man,” Mark replied.

  “Anyway,” Chris began, “I was wondering if Caitlyn’s going to like being surprised with this.” He motioned to the people who were gathered at the rehearsal. “Will she like showing up and realizing she’s getting married to me again?”

  Lexie shrugged. “I’m not sure, but one thing I do know about Caitlyn is that she hates it when our mother butts into her life.”

  “Butts?” Chris asked.

  “Interferes,” Mark inserted.

  Chris sighed. “So you think she might be upset next Saturday?”

  “I’d drop a few not-so-subtle hints her way,” Lexie replied. “Better to be safe than sorry. Plus, it gives her a chance to work on her hair. Believe me, no woman wants to get her picture taken unless her hair looks good.”

  Mark laughed. “I’ll take note of that.”

  Chris drummed his fingers on the table. “Can you give me some suggestions on giving Caitlyn not-so-subtle hints?”

  “Let’s see…” She glanced at the sky. “Tell Caitlyn she might want to wear white next Saturday. Tell her you’ve been talking to her mom about a surprise. Tell her you need to take a good look at her ring finger.”

  “Which one is her ring finger?” Chris asked.

  She held her hand up and pointed to the third finger on her right hand. “She should start connecting the dots.”

  “How about humming the ‘Wedding March’?” Mark suggested.

  Lexie smiled at him. “Nice. That’ll get her attention.”

  “What does the ‘Wedding March’ sound like?” Chris asked.

  Before Lexie could respond, Mark hummed it for him.

  Lexie shot them a wicked grin. “You want to know what she and Randy used as their wedding song?”

  Though Chris wasn’t enthusiastic to know what Randy did at anything, he figured it would be rude not to ask, “What did they use?”

  “Beethoven’s Symphony Number 5 - Allegro Con Brio,” she said.

  Thankfully, she hummed it for them because he hadn’t heard of that one either. “It sounds like Caitlyn was storming down the aisle. It’s not exactly a romantic piece.”

  “That was the point,” Lexie replied. “Our mother disapproved of her marriage to Randy, and she was determined to marry him anyway. They had the pianist cued to play Darth Vader’s theme from Star Wars if our mom decided to object to the marriage.”

  “It’s too bad I don’t know your mother,” Mark said.

  “You’re not missing anything.”

  Chris frowned. “You don’t like your mother? She gave you life.”

  Lexie nodded as she sipped more wine. “She did, and she reminds her children of that all the time. She got pregnant, had us, and we’re on the hook to do her bidding for the rest of our lives.”

  “Is that how mothers are on this world?” Chris asked.

  “No, not ideally,” she replied. “At some point, mothers are supposed to let their children grow up and live their own lives, free to make the decisions they want.” Clearing her throat, she added, “Caitlyn will make a great mom. She’s never tried to force anyone to be something they weren’t meant to be.”

  At that, Chris’ face lit up. “I think she’ll be a good mother too. I’m really lucky she married me, and what’s even better is she loves me.”

  “We’re ready for the rehearsal,” her mother announced, clapping her hands together. “We don’t want to burn daylight. Let’s get going!”

  As the three stood up, her mother turned to Lexie. “After the rehearsal, we need to go to the jeweler to make sure
your engagement ring has been properly enhanced.”

  Her mom told Chris, “We can’t have you outdoing a doctor now, can we?” She giggled and went over to Lexie. Wrapping her arm around Lexie’s shoulders, she added, “The doctor insisted you have the best. You’re very lucky.”

  Lexie offered Chris an apologetic smile as they left.

  The other man who’d been silent up to that point came up to them. “I’ll be the groomsman.” He shook Mark’s hand. “My name is Andy.”

  “He’s Randy’s brother,” Chris said.

  Mark blinked for a moment and then laughed. “You’re kidding.”

  Andy stiffened. “What’s so funny about that?”

  “Don’t you have a sister named Sandy?” Mark asked.

  “Yeah. So?”

  “Do you realize all of your names rhyme?”

  “I don’t see what’s so funny about that.”

  “It’s hilarious.”

  Andy rolled his eyes. “There’s one in every crowd.” Looking at Chris, he said, “I heard that Caitlyn said she loved you. That’s great. Let’s hope the love is permanent. It rarely is when the couple gets married because the woman got knocked up.”

  Mark stopped laughing and stepped toward him. “Hey, leave Chris and Caitlyn out of it. I get it. You’re touchy about the whole name thing. I’m sorry I mentioned it.” Really, had he known Andy didn’t see the humor in it, he would’ve watched what he said.

  Andy grunted and went over to the minister.

  “What a joy,” Mark commented, not hiding his sarcasm. “Don’t pay attention to him. You didn’t marry Caitlyn because she was pregnant. You told me that Andy didn’t have a girlfriend or wife. Now we know why. The guy’s a jerk. You ready to get the rehearsal underway?”

  Though Chris agreed, he couldn’t deny the fact that Andy’s words stung.

  “She wouldn’t have said she loved you if she didn’t mean it,” Mark said.

  Chris indicated that he heard him but didn’t say anything.

  “Talk to Caitlyn when you get home about what Andy said. I’m sure she’ll put your mind at ease.”

  “I’m fine, Mark. It’s okay. Let’s get this rehearsal over with.” With a sigh, he headed over to the minister.