Chapter 31

Chase was completely out of his comfort zone, but he pressed through anyway.

He walked with Piper into the doctor’s office, sat beside her in the waiting room with three other women. Two who were well into their pregnancies and one that either wasn’t pregnant or wasn’t showing.

He’d only just noticed the slightest change in Piper’s body. If he didn’t know she was pregnant, he would have missed it.

The door opened, and someone called Piper’s name.

They stood at the same time.

“You sure you want to be here?” she asked for the tenth time since they’d left the office.

He gathered her hand in his with a smile.

He let go of her hand when they walked through the door, and he followed behind as the nurse, or assistant, or whoever she was, walked her down a hall.

The first place they stopped was a scale.

Chase immediately turned away and looked at the office wall art. Women and weight . . . he had yet to meet a woman who liked to share that information. Not that he cared, but he wasn’t going to infringe on that unless invited to do so.

“Good. I’ll put you in room four. We need a urine sample.”

Chase was dropped off in the exam room while Piper found a bathroom.

So far, the office looked like any other, only this one had images of the female anatomy on the walls and several medical devices that he wasn’t familiar with outside of a comedy bit on a social media reel.

Piper returned, and the nurse followed her in, took her blood pressure, and wrote it down. “No need to get undressed, you can pull what you’re wearing down for what Dr. Resnik needs today.”

Piper sat on the edge of the exam table while Chase sat in a chair. “Are you completely weirded out yet?” she asked.

“I haven’t started playing with the speculum, so I think I’m doing okay.”

“I’m impressed you even know what that is.”

“I’m cultured.”

Piper laughed. “Don’t think being cultured falls into the OB-GYN category.”

He leaned forward and placed a hand on her knee. “If you need me to walk out of the room, just nod at the door and I’ll go.”

She shook her head. “You know everything about this. I’d just tell you afterward anyway.”

A knock sounded on the door right before it opened.

Chase sat back as the doctor walked in. “Hello, Piper . . .” The doctor’s eyes landed on Chase. “Oh, hello.” She smiled.

“Dr. Resnik, this is Chase.”

Chase extended a hand. “Her boyfriend.”

Dr. Resnik looked between Chase and Piper and back again.

For a moment, no one spoke.

“He’s not the dad,” Piper told her.

“All right.” The doctor crossed to the opposite side of the room from the door and looked at Piper’s chart. “How is the nausea?”

“Much better. My appetite has come back.”

Chase laughed. The woman could eat. He liked that part.

“You put on the three pounds you lost and gave me one and a half. That’s good.”

“I’ve never gained weight and actually applauded it.”

“If you’re not gaining weight, there’s reason for concern. I’ll let you know if you’re gaining out of what we like to see.” The doctor looked at the chart again. “Your blood pressure is . . . okay. I’ll have the nurse check it again before you leave.”

“Is it too high?” Chase asked.

“Barely. Probably nerves.” She turned back to Piper. “How are you feeling overall?”

“Better. Well, I cry at the cat videos on Instagram.”

The doctor laughed. “A certain amount of that isn’t avoidable. If you feel you’re getting depressed—”

“No. I think I’m past any of that now.”

Chase looked at Piper, a little surprised to hear that she ever felt depressed.

“Good. Let me know if it changes.”

Dr. Resnik placed the chart down and moved to the sink and washed her hands. “How is your stress level?”

“Better. It helps that someone knows what’s going on.” Piper looked at Chase when she spoke.

The doctor listened to Piper’s lungs and heart and asked her to lie back.

Chase stood and moved to Piper’s side to give the doctor room in the tiny space. The doctor removed a measuring tape from a pocket and asked that Piper undo the button on her pants. As the doctor measured Piper’s abdomen, she explained what she was doing. She tossed out words Chase hadn’t heard before.

“My clothes are getting tight.”

“Time to go shopping,” the doctor said. “There are new-mom groups out there that sell their maternity clothes if money is tight.”

“That’s a good idea,” Piper said.

Chase looked at her and shook his head. She was not going to wear another woman’s clothes.

“What?”

The doctor wrote something down. “Excuse me?”

“Nothing,” Piper responded.

“I’m going to do another ultrasound today. As long as everything looks good, we won’t have to do another one.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll be right back.” The doctor left.

“Are ultrasounds safe?” Chase asked Piper.

“Yeah. She wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t.”

When the doctor returned, she rolled in a machine. A few minutes later, and Chase viewed Piper’s baby wiggling around. “There you are. Strong heartbeat.”

A fast-whooshing sound put a huge smile on his face.

He reached down and grasped Piper’s hand. “That’s amazing.”

“It is,” the doctor said under her breath. “It doesn’t get old. Are you feeling anything yet?”

“Like the baby moving?”

“Yeah.”

“Not really. Is that bad?”

The doctor kept moving the wand over Piper’s tiny belly as she spoke. “No. You will . . . any day now. Imagine a butterfly in your stomach. In a few months, it will be more like the baby is bouncing on your bladder.”

“Oh, great.” Piper wasn’t amused.

“And do we want to know the sex today?”

Chase wanted to blurt out yes, but he looked at Piper instead.

She squeezed his hand. “You can tell?” Piper asked.

“I can.”

Piper stared at Chase, he saw the indecision in her eyes. “Up to you.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.

She gave a tiny nod, and he responded with an even bigger nod.

“What is it?” she asked.

The doctor pressed a final button on the machine and printed a picture. She turned and handed it to Piper. “You’re having a girl.”

Piper took the picture and started to cry. “I am?”

Chase didn’t know what he wanted to hear, but hearing a mini Piper was headed into the world opened his heart in a way he wasn’t expecting.

“Yes.”

Chase dropped her a kiss. “A girl.”

Piper swiped at her eyes as she sat up.

“I want to see you in four weeks.”

“Doctor, is it okay if Piper flies?”

“Absolutely. You need to get up and move around later in your pregnancy, use compression stockings on long flights. Those tiny seats are a great place to form a blood clot when you’re sitting for long periods of time.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Chase told her.

The doctor narrowed her gaze.

Piper swiped at his arm. “Ignore him. Moneybags here has his own jet.”

“Well, in that case . . . no, Piper needs medical supervision at all times. Where are we going?”

They laughed.

“Seriously, it’s completely fine.”

“Good.”

The doctor watched them for a second. “Chase, I’m going to have you step out while I talk to Piper really quick.”

“Of course.” He leaned down, kissed Piper. “I’ll be in the lobby.”

Chase walked back to the lobby, all smiles.

She’s having a girl.

Piper was having a baby girl.

“He seems like a nice guy,” Dr. Resnik said the moment Chase was gone.

“He is. I wish I’d met him before.”

“Are you still considering adoption?”

She shifted on the table. “Uhm, yeah. I mean, Chase doesn’t change that. Does he?” Why was she asking the doctor that?

“I can’t answer that question.”

“We’re new, so . . . he’s a great guy, but who knows. I did . . . let the biological father know. He denied knowing me. I read that adoption agencies ask those questions.”

“I’m sure they do. Have you spoken with them yet?”

Piper shook her head. “I’ve been really busy.”

“Flying on private jets, apparently,” the doctor said, smiling.

“Yeah.” Piper laughed. “I’ll call them.”

“Don’t call them until you’re ready. This is your choice.”

Piper wiggled off the exam table. “Thank you.”

“Stay here for a minute, I want another blood pressure on you.”

Alone, Piper slid her hand over the smallest bump on her belly, smiled, and swallowed hard.

“I’ll make sure you’re born healthy,” she promised.

Piper had started making a Google search part of her weekly routine. In addition to Chase’s and Alex’s names, she had alerts placed on her name, Melissa Stone, and that of Stone Enterprises. Piper was getting tired of gossip magazines landing on her desk with pictures of her in them.

Even though there was a public relations team that watched out for the company, Piper was more interested in seeing where she landed. Twice she’d had a nightmare that her parents discovered she was pregnant because of a gossip magazine. Thankfully, their geography and lack of desire to keep up on the rich-and-famous chatter afforded Piper privacy in her relationship with Chase. Truth was, as the weeks were stretching longer into her pregnancy, she was growing more comfortable with it. Piper was also keenly aware that her dating Chase and being pregnant was going to make a headline.

It was only a matter of time.

Piper was combing through her personal email at lunch when she found an alert on Melissa. Of all the names Piper followed, Melissa’s was the most active.

Expecting more of the “What is the widow wearing now?” crap, Piper was surprised to see this was “Who is the widow dating now?” crap. The dating part wasn’t the shock, it was the man in the picture.

When Chase and Alex returned to the office after a lunch with a half a dozen members of the management team, Piper closed them off in the office and showed them what she’d found.

“In case you’ve forgotten, that is Paul Yarros. He’s one of the more vocal members of the board.”

Chase leaned against the desk while Alex sat behind it. Both scanning a copy of the picture and the article that came along with it.

“Melissa has a type,” Alex said under her breath.

“Old and rich.”

“I doubt Yarros has the zeros in his account to keep Melissa happy,” Piper told them. “If you look at the picture objectively, they seem to be deep in conversation and not making kissing faces at each other.”

Chase glanced over the paper in his hand and pursed his lips in her direction.

Piper smiled. “Yeah, there’s none of that.”

“If it isn’t romantic . . .” Alex started.

“Then it’s business,” Chase finished.

“Yarros wants a bigger chunk of the company, that’s not a secret,” Alex said.

“He said as much during the board meeting. Even asked about Melissa, if I’m not mistaken,” Piper reminded them. “Wanted her shares . . . if she ended up with any.”

Chase put the paper down. “Which she didn’t.”

“I don’t like it,” Alex muttered. “All she needs to do is convince one of the board members to investigate the will.”

“And if she does know about this brother, she’s whispering into the ears of Yarros and those that think like him. You know damn well he’d try and buy those shares,” Piper pointed out. “Time for one of you to spend some time with Yarros. Get-to-know-you lunch?”

Chase glanced at his sister. “You know what Gaylord said, dinners or golf.”

“Dinner,” both Chase and Alex said at the same time.

Piper laughed as she stood to leave.

Her hand immediately moved to her stomach as a small wave brushed against her skin. She sucked in a breath and held it . . . waiting for it to happen again.

Chase was at her side in two steps. “What is it?”

It happened again, a flutter, deep inside. Like wings of a tiny butterfly. “I feel her,” she whispered.

“The baby?”

It happened again, and Piper grabbed Chase’s hand and pressed it to her stomach. “There.”

She looked up at Chase, waiting for it to happen again.

His eyes moved away as he concentrated.

When it happened a third time, Piper watched to see if Chase could feel anything. “Can you feel her?”

He frowned. “No.”

By now, Alex was standing beside her, smiling. “Let me try.”

They stood in the middle of the office, taking turns with their hands on Piper’s stomach.

“How exciting,” Alex said as she dropped her hand to her side.

“I guess it’s only for me right now,” Piper told them.

Chase kissed her forehead and patted her stomach. “I’m looking forward to it.”