7

"Everything will be fine honey, we are in this together" Terrence assured and placed a kiss on Gabby's forehead.

As promised, he accompanied her for the checkup and they were both waiting in the reception until it was Gabby's turn to be called in. Gabby was so grateful he had accompanied her as she could not imagine going through this alone. She was anxious and scared at the same time.

Shortly, a nurse approached Gabby and told her that Doctor Isabelle was ready to see her in the ultrasound room. Terrence and Gabby walked hand in hand as if their lives depended on it.

"Hey! look who we have here," Isabelle stated as the soon-to-be parents stepped into the ultrasound room.

"Good morning, Isabelle," Gabby replied as Isabelle approached her and gave her a warm hug.

"Morning Bella" Terrence greeted, she hugged him too.

"I'm so happy you decided to keep the baby and I couldn't be happier seeing the both of you together." Isabelle cooed.

They all chuckled.

"So let's get started," Isabelle ushered Gabby to sit on the bed while Terrence took a seat on a chair beside the bed and held Gabby's right hand.

"Anything new between yesterday and today?" Isabelle asked.

"I felt less nauseous after taking the vitamins but I still had morning sickness today" Gabby replied. She bought the vitamins yesterday on her way back from lunch with Terrence.

Isabelle nodded at Gabby's response"It will take a while for the morning sickness to disappear completely."

"Now let's see how our precious one is doing," Isabelle told Gabby to lay flat on the bed and Terrence assisted Gabby in rolling her blouse up.

Even though her belly was still flat, he lovingly caressed her lower abdomen area. Isabelle was in awe and couldn't help but smile towards a blushing Gabby.

"So this will be a little cold" Isabelle warned before she applied a gel on Gabby's stomach and indeed the gel was truly cold as she shivered. Terrence noticed that and he gave her hand a comforting squeeze.

Isabelle placed a wand on Gabby's abdomen which was connected to a monitor. Something blurry appeared on the screen, Isabelle zoomed in and both Gabby and Terrence were able to have a better view of it.

"Here's your baby." She pointed to what looked like a jelly bean. "He or she is growing and in a few weeks, you will be able to see the head properly and I'm sure by then, your baby's hands and legs will have developed."

Terrence did not even blink for once. He was listening intently to what Isabelle was saying as his eyes were glued to the monitor. "Wow." that was only what he could utter.

Gabriela, on the other hand, smiled all through.

"So now let us listen to the heartbeat." She pressed something on the monitor and suddenly, the room was filled with a wonderful sound that both Gabby and Terrence would never get tired of hearing.

"OMG," Gabby burst into tears of joy. Everything just felt real to her by hearing her baby's strong heartbeat.

Terrence had a proud smile on his face. He wiped away Gabby's tears with his right thumb after which he kissed her forehead.

Isabelle smiled at the lovebirds then proceeded to print out copies of the ultrasound. She came back with the copies and handed them over to Terrence. "I didn't know exactly how much you guys would want so I printed as much as I could."

"Thanks." Gabby and Terrence said together.

"Don't mention." She gave Gabby some wipes to wipe off the gel on her belly while Terrence kept admiring the ultrasound pictures. God knows Isabelle printed out what Gabby could count as almost 15 copies.

"Remember to eat and rest well. You are still in your first trimester so make sure you avoid stress as much as you can." Isabelle warned.

"I will," Gabby assured.

She then turned to Terrence "I trust you to take very good care of her and the baby."

"You don't have to worry about anything, Doc. They are my priorities now. I will take very good care of them." He assured.

"Congratulations on your healthy baby, the strong heartbeat says it all." Isabelle gave both of them one final hug before they took their leave.

..............................

"No Sophie. No male friends." Terrence replied in a possessive tone.

"But Daniel is Olivia's cousin and he is in my class." Sophie groaned.

Terrence sighed.

"He is cute and friendly. I like him, Daddy. He drew a picture of me today. Let me go get it." Sophie jumped down her father's bed and ran out of his room to go get the picture Daniel drew of her earlier today.

Terrence sighed at his daughter's gesture. He hoped he would be able to cope with her when she became a teenager. The thought of a guy breaking her heart was already making him furious.

Soon enough, Sophie came back beaming with the paper. She handed it over to Terrence. "Isn't it pretty?" Sophie asked as Terrence just continued to stare at the drawing with his eyebrow raised.

'For a boy of Daniel's age, he tried with the drawing.' But the drawing looks nothing like his daughter as his daughter was far prettier than that.

"It's pretty!" Terrence mumbled as he handed over the drawing back to Sophie.

"Will you get me a frame, Daddy? So I can put this drawing in it and put it on my bed stand." Sophie requested.

"Sophie, frames are for pictures and not drawings like this" Terrence replied.

"You can put them in your scrapbook," he suggested.

"Okay"

"Alright, sweetie. It is bedtime." Terrence said as he stood up from the bed with a commanding tone.

"Already? But I just came in here." She groaned and Terrence chuckled.

"Sophie, you have been here for almost two hours. I would have allowed you to stay up late but you have school tomorrow."

Terrence picked up Sophie in his arms and walked out of his room.

"So, what do you think about my friend? Gabriela?" Terrence asked as soon as he settled Sophie on her bed. He covered her with her duvet and sat beside her.

"She's pretty and I like her." She replied, smiling.

"Do you like her too, Daddy?" She asked.

Terrence nodded.

"I knew it. You kept on staring at her the other day." Sophie giggled, referring to the day she and Terrence bumped into Gabby at his office.

Terrence just shook his head as Sophie kept surprising him as each day passed. His daughter was one hell of a handful.

"Okay sweetheart, time to sleep" Terrence kissed her forehead.

"Goodnight daddy. I love you." Sophie yawned.

" Goodnight princess," Terrence deemed the light on her bedside before walking out of her room.

Terrence was too excited to sleep as he found himself thinking about today's event at the hospital. Having that in mind, he decided to call Gabby who picked the call immediately.

"Heyy," Gabby answered.

"Hi, my love."

"I was just about to call you but you beat me to it." She said,

"Wow. We have like minds." He chuckled and then asked, "How are you? Have you had dinner?"

"I'm fine and yes I had dinner already."

"How about you and how's Sophie?" She asked.

"We are good. Sophie is a handful already. But I managed to get her to bed on time today."

"Sounds like her." Gabby chuckled.

He grumbled, "She kept on talking about a boy in her class who happens to be her best friend's cousin."

" I'm sure they are just friends, Terrence," Gabby said.

"I also asked her if she likes you"

"And what was her reply?" She asked, nervously.

"She likes you very much." He replied and Gabby couldn't help but smile on the other side.

"I'm too excited to sleep, Gabby. Today's event at the hospital just keeps replaying in my head. I keep looking at the ultrasound pictures over and over again." Terrence admitted.

"Yeah, me too. Today happens to be one of the days I will forever remember. Thanks for being there for me, Terrence."

"You have nothing to thank me for, Gabby. I should be the one thanking you for carrying our child." He said and Gabby could not help but smile again.

"I told my parents about the baby today," Gabby said, which caused Terrence to sit up immediately.

"How did they take the news?" He asked nervously.

"I told them over dinner. They were shocked at first but they took the news quite well. You know, they are so excited about becoming grandparents and my mom kept on ranting that she couldn't wait to start ordering stuff for the baby."

"I'm so happy to hear that. I guess it's time for me to visit them." Terrence said.

"You and Sophie can come over the weekend" Gabby suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea. I'm sure Sophie would want to come over to your place." He said.

"It feels so good to hear your voice, Terrence but I need to go to bed now. Nowadays, I get so tired easily" Gabby chuckled.

"Alright, dear. Have a good night's rest." He said.

"Goodnight sweet," Gabby replied.

"Goodnight, my love" Terrence ended the call. He laid down on his bed and slept with a huge smile on his face.