Page 38 of CEO's Baby Scandal
“Alright, well it is your choice alone, so keep that in mind. Let me ask you, do you feel you’re ready for a child?” He looked at me with compassion, and I shrugged.
“I’m not sure I will ever be ready for that responsibility, but I know for a fact that I’m not getting an abortion. Even if I wasn't ready, I’d choose adoption. I’d never do that. Besides, I feel like no one is ready, that a baby comes along and you just dowhat you have to do because of love.” I pressed my hand to my stomach and knew in my heart that I was doing the right thing.
“Well, it sounds to me like your mind is made up.” He smiled.
“Yes, it is. I just hoped you’d get my mom off my back.” I chuckled and felt the tension wash out of my body. “I also hoped you could maybe refer me to a good doctor. I actually live in Chicago, but based on how things go with the father when I tell him, I may end up moving back here to Monroe County.”
“Of course. Well, let’s just get some info down first, and I’ll definitely point you toward a few great OB/GYNs.” He turned and laid his notepad on the counter, pulling out a pen to scribble some notes. “Your full name is Emily Elizabeth Kline?”
“Yes,” I told him. He rambled off several more questions, address, social security number, phone number. Then he looked up at me with a serious expression.
“Father’s name?”
“Daniel Jacobs, but that’s what I know about him. I don’t feel comfortable giving his number out, and I don't have his address memorized. I just know how to get there.”
“That’s alright. All of this stays private in your file.” He jotted down a few more things then asked, “Would you like to have a sonogram this morning? See the little guy growing?”
“What? I can do that?” I asked, feeling my heart swelling.
“Of course, and it’s free.” He stood and picked up his notes. “I’ll send a nurse in shortly. Just sit tight.”
It took a while. I waited at least twenty minutes in that cold room, staring at the various posters on the walls of babies in utero and the female reproductive organs. The thought of something that large coming out of my small body frightened me, but I reminded myself that every human on this planet came out of a body in a similar fashion and that I’d be okay, even if my mother chose to disown me after this.
When the nurse came in pushing a wheeled cart with a giant machine on it, I tensed. It had a computer monitor and what looked like an old rotary phone with a curly cord attached to it.
“Hi, Emily, I’m Heather. I’m going to do your sonogram.” She plugged the machine in and said, “You’ll need to lie down here and lift your shirt up.”
I did as she instructed. She took some napkins and tucked them into the waistband of my pants and pulled them lower over the small bulge in my belly that was barely noticeable.
“This will be cold,” she said as she squirted some jelly of some sort on my stomach. She used the paddle to maneuver around my stomach at different angles until I heard it—a perfect little heartbeat. I watched the monitor as she showed me the baby’s head and spine. His tiny little fingers and toes, and then something strange happened.
The nurse's forehead creased, and she twirled the paddle around my belly again and again. Something was wrong with the heartbeat, and it made my heart race. I felt like it was going too fast, like there was something wrong with the baby, but when Heather got a look of complete shock, I froze.
“Well, Emily, it’s too early to find the sex. And it's actually a little early for your belly to be this big. Here’s why,” she said, angling the monitor at me so I could see it more clearly. There on the screen were two perfectly round circles. I couldn’t tell at all what it was, but she grinned at me.
“What is it?” I asked, nervous for her answer.
“It’s twins. You’re having twins.”
“Twins?” I asked, relaxing back onto the table. She mumbled on about their measurements, how soon it would be before I found it if they were identical or fraternal. In fact, she did all the talking the rest of the appointment, and even on the ride home, I was still in shock. I endured Mom’s lectures, obsessing over this new revelation. I had a bottle of prenatal vitamins in my handand a prescription for some pills to help with the nausea too, but now, everything had changed.
If one baby seemed impossible, two definitely were. There was no way I could do this on my own. When we got back to my parents’ house, I locked myself in my room and turned my phone on to call Charlotte. I saw I'd missed a few calls from Daniel, but my gut churned just thinking of telling him. I dialed Charlotte instead and waited for it to ring through as I tossed myself across my bed.
“Em, hey, how are your parents?”
“They’re fine. Look, Char, I’m freaking out. Mom wants me to have an abortion, and so I went to this pregnancy clinic, and goddammit—” I almost started crying. I wanted these babies more than anything, but now I knew I couldn’t do it alone. The idea of telling Daniel and his not wanting them was terrifying to me.
“What? What happened?”
“Char, I’m having twins.” I blurted my confession out and let the tears fall. “I can’t do this on my own at all. What if Dan hates me?” I sobbed, burying my face in my pillow.
“Oh, God, Em. That’s harsh. Your Mom actually said that?”
“Yes, she forced me to go to a pregnancy clinic this morning. And I got to see the babies on a sonogram, and I just feel scared he won’t want anything to do with me anymore.”
“Calm down, Emily. You have to talk to him before you go all fatalistic on me. Okay? Just come back to Chicago. I’ll go with you if you want.” Charlotte was always so supportive of me.
“You will?” I asked, whimpering and sniffling.