He was already standing and walking toward her. She’d take that as a yes. Mandy glanced at her watch. “I thought you had a one o’clock conference call. It’s twelve-thirty already.”

“I moved it to tomorrow.”

“Right in here.” The technician stopped and let them move ahead of her into a darkened room. “My name is Cheryl, and I’ll be doing your scan. It takes about ten minutes, and then you’ll get to go to the rest room. I’ll give you some pictures of the baby and you’ll be on your way. The results get faxed upstairs to your doctor. This is your first baby, right?”

“Yes,” Damien said.

Mandy frowned at him. “I think she was talking to me.”

Cheryl laughed. “Okay, lie on your back on the table and roll down the waistband of your pants.”

“You’re doing a transabdominal exam, correct?” Damien asked.

Mandy kicked her sandals off and stared at him. She was going to have to wrest that damn pregnancy book out of his hands.

“Yes.” Cheryl busied herself with her equipment.

Mandy climbed onto the table feeling whatever small amount of grace she’d possessed had disappeared. And she was only half through her pregnancy. Damien’s hand grabbed her elbow and he helped her down.

She pulled up her sky blue stretchy top and peeled down her black pants an inch or two, staring at the ceiling and grabbing a couple of deep breaths. Everything was going to be normal and she was going to see her baby.

Damien’s fingers on her stomach startled her. “I think you have to pull your pants down farther.”

If he started tugging down her pants she was going to smack him. But Cheryl was already shoving them down and tucking a towel into her underwear. Not very dignified, but the technician explained it would keep the gel from getting on her clothes.

“How does the test work?” Mandy asked.

“The instrument records echoes of sound waves as they bounce off the baby and translates them into pictures on the screen.”

Only that came from Damien, not the technician.

“Are you in the medical field?” Cheryl asked as she squirted the cool gel all over Mandy’s stomach.

“No, he’s a software executive with a desk full of baby books,” Mandy informed her. That were going to be disappearing mysteriously the next day.

Damien shrugged a little sheepishly. “I like to be well informed.”

That was an understatement. But her mild annoyance was forgotten when the wand was placed on her stomach and the first image filled the screen. It was a baby’s head, with eyes, nose, and tiny lips.

“Oh, my,” she breathed. She reached for Damien, overwhelmed with emotion. “Look at how clear that is.”

Damien’s fingers squeezed hers. “That’s unbelievable.”