The Baby's Guardian by Delores Fossen

Sabrina said. “Please.”
    She was scared. Shaw could see that in her pale color and constant lip nibbling. Hell, the doctor looked worried, too. He certainly was. So, he stood there, praying that this test would show that the baby was all right.
    “How are the contractions?” the doctor asked Sabrina.
    “Gone. Well, almost. I get Braxton Hicks every now and then, but they aren’t at regular intervals.” She paused, swallowed hard. “They are Braxton Hicks, right? I’m not in labor?”
    The doctor began to move the tiny probe over Sabrina’s gel-coated belly. “You don’t appear to be. And you certainly haven’t dilated. That’s the first thing I checked when I examined you after Captain Tolbert brought you in.”
    Yes, Shaw had definitely waited outside for that part of the exam. It had seemed to take hours, but he figured it was less than fifteen minutes before Dr. Nicolson had come out and said that the preliminary results were good, that Sabrina wasn’t in the full throes of premature labor. But the doctor had still wanted to do an ultrasound before she declared the baby safe and sound.
    “If all checks out well here, will Sabrina be able to leave?” Shaw asked. Because if the doctor planned to admit her to the hospital, that would require some serious security arrangements. The San Antonio Maternity Hospital was closed and being processed as a massivecrime scene, and the other nearby hospitals had had to absorb the patients.
    “I think under the circumstances, a hospital might be more stressful, and unnecessary,” Dr. Nicholson concluded. “These false labors are fairly common in the last trimester. I seriously doubt the recent events had anything to do with it.”
    Maybe, but still Shaw didn’t intend to let Sabrina out of his sight. Which, of course, would cause a whole set of problems of their own.
    “We don’t know why some women have false labor,” the doctor continued, talking to Sabrina now. “But understand that it isn’t your fault. Just relax and try to lead as normal a life as possible. That includes sex if…” She shrugged. “Well, if that applies to you two. I know Sabrina is a surrogate, but I sense something more going on between you two. Or maybe the potential for something more.”
    Shaw didn’t look at Sabrina.
    Sabrina didn’t look at him.
    “Forgive me if this sounds like a medical lecture,” the doctor went on, “but recent studies show that sex, specifically a woman’s climax, doesn’t trigger premature labor. If the labor’s going to start, it will with or without an orgasm.”
    Sheez. Shaw was trying to remember the last time he’d felt this uncomfortable.
    “Oh, and sex doesn’t hurt the baby, either, in case you were wondering,” the doctor mumbled, and stared at the screen.
    “Shaw and I aren’t having sex,” Sabrina interrupted. “Never have.”
    She seemed to imply never will.
    “Right,” the doctor added. She moved the monitor around. “The heartbeat’s still good.”
    Finally, she was changing the subject. And it was a good change. Shaw stared, too, and saw the baby’s images appear on the screen. Oh, man.
    He hadn’t expected it to be so clear. He could actually see a baby.
    His baby.
    Shaw moved closer. Too close. His thigh bumped right into Sabrina’s hand. Her fingers brushed against his fly, giving him an uncomfortable jolt.
    “Sorry,” he grumbled, easing back just slightly. But he couldn’t take his eyes off the baby.
    “The baby’s sucking its thumb,” the doctor said, and she chuckled.
    Shaw couldn’t believe it. “They do that in there?”
    “They do a lot of things in there,” Dr. Nicholson confirmed.
    Sabrina chuckled, too. “In the last ultrasound, she was grabbing her toes. Between that and the daily soccer practice, she knows how to keep herself amused.”
    It nearly took Shaw’s breath away. Seeing that would have been a miracle, and here he’d missed it because he hadn’t come to the appointments.
    Where the