Evaline:
The hospital was feeling strangely quiet as the nurse wheeled me through the hallway for my prenatal checkup.
And I wasn't alone.
Oscar was walking right beside me, holding the clipboard the nurse had handed over. But what surprised me most was the presence behind me - silent, steady, and somehow more comforting than I was expecting.
Draven.
He hadn't said a word since we left the room. But he was here.
He hadn't walked away.
And as the nurse led us into a room, I glanced over my shoulder. He was watching everything - me, the nurses, the equipment - carefully, silently. And not with detachment.
He was present.
They prepped the equipment and applied the cold gel over my stomach, and soon the familiar, fast-paced thudding filled the room. My baby's heartbeat.
I was hearing this sound for the second time - so small, yet so powerful. And this time, I wasn't alone.
