BEAU

“Everything looks good,” the ultrasound technician said, her eyes still on the screen showing the black and white blob that was our baby.
Our baby.
Holy shit.
I stared, in awe, between the screen and my wife.
Both were shocks to me. That I could have this life. That I could have Lainey and make a baby with her.
Lainey squeezed my hand, bringing my focus to her. Tears were in her eyes. I shifted, ran a hand over her hair. She was relaxed on an exam table, shirt up, leggings tucked down so the technician had room to run the wand-thing over her growing belly. There wasn’t much of any kind of sign she was pregnant for anyone else to notice, but I did.
I’d noticed right away. Her breasts had gotten bigger. More sensitive. I would swear her nipples were getting bigger, too. More to suck. I’d almost gotten her to come just from playing. She’d have gotten there, too, but I’d been too hot for her to keep going. I’d had to sink into her.
“You okay, love?” I asked, leaning in and kissing her forehead.
She nodded. “Yeah. It’s just… a lot. I mean, look what we made.”
“Yeah,” I whispered.
“Wanna know the sex?” the technician asked.
We both looked at her. “You know?”
She smiled. “Well, your baby’s not shy.”
Lainey turned her head, her shiny blue eyes meeting mine. “Do you want to know?”
We had five months to go. Could I make it five months without knowing what we were having? Yes, if I had to. If she wanted it to be a surprise.
But fuck, I really wanted to know if we were having a little girl that looked just like Lainey with her blonde hair and striking eyes or a little boy who’d come out with a lasso in his hand and a Stetson on his head.
“Let’s find out,” she whispered.
“You sure?” I asked.
“Do you want to know?”
“Oh yeah,” I said.
Lainey smiled. “Okay. “What are we having?” she asked the technician.
The woman slid the wand over Lainey’s stomach, the clear gel making a little squishy sound. The image on the screen shifted and then—
“What do you think, Dad?” she asked.
There on the screen was our baby. More than a peanut. Somewhat alien-like, but definitely a little person. Head, torso. There were the legs and then–
“That’s a penis!” Lainey called out.
The technician laughed. “Yup. Your little guy’s not shy at all.”
I stared in wonder. A little penis. We were having a boy.
A boy.
“I want to call him Charlie, after Pops,” Lainey said, tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes.
“Okay,” I said, then cleared my throat. I felt like crying, too. Fuck, my wife was making me a boy.
“And if she was a girl?” I asked, leaning in and kissing her on the lips.
“Charlie for a girl, too,” she said and I laughed.
“Charlie it is.”