Chapter 303: Responsible Father
Kayden
"There seems to be a very huge improvement in comparison to last time, and look here," Amara muttered as she slowly moved the transducer probe over my stomach, watching the display screen closely.
The cold gel felt sharp against my skin, but my entire focus was locked on the monitor. Amara pointed at the blurred shape on the screen, explaining that my body had been successfully draining out the toxic suppressants I had been taking for so long.
"It’s a huge improvement, and once the suppressants are entirely drained from his body, the baby will definitely survive," she added. The assurance in her tone was all I needed to hear. "But I need to run more blood tests to be absolutely certain of the chemical levels, and also be careful with what you do in this early stage."
I nodded in response to her words because I would be careful. There was no way in hell I was risking the life of my baby, no matter what.
The moment the words left her mouth, Rhys immediately jumped in, his face tight with pure panic as he started throwing questions at her like a madman.
"Wait, what do you mean by careful?" Rhys asked, his voice cracking slightly as he leaned so far forward in his chair he almost tipped it over. He pulled out a completely blank notebook and a pen, uncapping it with a frantic jerk. Heaven only knew what he thought he was going to document, but his hands were actually shaking as he pressed the tip to the paper, waiting for instructions.
He shot a sharp, worried glance at Amara before tapping his pen against the page, staring at the empty lines as if preparing to memorize a playbook. "Can he walk down the stairs?" he suddenly asked. I had to roll my eyes because I couldn’t understand what he meant by that. Did he expect me to slide down the banister?
"What about joining us in the cold weather at the rink?" he pressed, the panic making his words run together. "I have been so busy training my brother for the upcoming hockey pre-season camp that I haven’t been able to watch him every single second of the day. Please, Amara, you have to tell me every single rule that I should follow because I am completely out of my depth here."
I looked at him, completely stunned by how dramatic he was being, and then I burst into loud, booming laughter. The sound echoed off the white walls of the clinic, and I had to hold my stomach because I was laughing so hard at his terrified face.
"Rhys, for the love of God, please stop," I managed to say through my giggles, wiping a tear from the corner of my eye. "I am only pregnant, not an invalid. You are acting like a complete psycho right now."
Rhys shook his head, waving the pen at me defensively. "I am not acting like a psycho, Kayden, I am being a responsible father," Rhys argued, his face turning a dark shade of red as he crossed his arms tightly over his chest, glaring at me. "You have zero sense of safety. Yesterday I literally caught you trying to lift a small laundry basket. A laundry basket! I told you to leave it to the housekeepers, softie. What if you pulled a muscle? What if you tripped over the rug? You can’t be trusted to sit still for five minutes."
"It was full of light towels, you absolute lunatic!" I fired back, my voice shaking with laughter as the banter escalated. "It weighed less than two pounds! I am a professional athlete, my core stability is literally fine. You are acting like a crazy helicopter parent and the baby is literally the size of a bean right now. I can walk across a room without breaking into pieces, I promise you."
"I don’t care if it’s the size of a bean or a melon, it’s my job to worry," Rhys snapped back, though his tone softened into that fiercely protective, completely clueless new-parent energy that always made my heart do a stupid flip. He looked down at his blank notebook, his jaw tight as he tried to figure out things he couldn’t just solve with a hard body check on the ice. "I’ve never done this before. If I’m stuck at the Northern Avalanche training facility running drills with my brother and the rookies, I need to know you aren’t home trying to rearrange the furniture or do heavy chores. And you don’t want bodyguards around you."
"Rhys, please," I chuckled lightly, rubbing my eyes.
Amara chuckled from behind her desk, just watching the two of us go back and forth with an incredibly entertained, maternal smile on her face. She rested her chin in her hand, thoroughly enjoying the chaotic view of a tough hockey captain completely losing his mind over standard pregnancy precautions.
"Alright, you two, settle down," Amara intervened smoothly, her warm voice cutting right through our bickering. She looked directly at Rhys, her eyes crinkling with amusement. "Mr. Calder, I highly appreciate your dedication, but I can assure you that Kayden is entirely right. He doesn’t need to live in a glass bubble. His body is remarkably strong, and the progress we are seeing today is proof that his system is handling the transition beautifully."
She stood up, wiping the remaining gel off my stomach before handing us a small, glossy printout of the ultrasound scan alongside a neat little appointment card.
"I want to see both of you back here in exactly three weeks for your next checkup," Amara informed us with a reassuring nod. "Keep him well-hydrated, make sure he eats his meals, and stop stressing yourself out, Rhys. Everything is going to be perfectly fine, and absolutely nothing is going to happen to the baby. I give you my word. The foundation is safe."
Rhys stared down at the little ultrasound photo in his hands, his thumb gently brushing against the tiny blur in the center of the paper.
The fierce, high-alert panic on his face completely melted away in a split second, replaced by a quiet, reverent awe that made him look completely defenseless. He looked like a real dad, totally in love and totally clueless, carefully tucking the photo into his jacket pocket like it was worth a million dollars.
"Three weeks. No laundry. Got it," Rhys muttered softly, offering Amara a deeply grateful bow of his head.
I slid off the examination table, letting out another chuckle as he immediately moved to grip my elbow tightly, guiding my steps as if the linoleum floor were a sheet of thin, cracking ice. I nudged his side playfully, looking up at his serious face. "See? I told you so, captain. Now take me out to get some real food before I start starving."