Page 15 of Highland Heat

“A Doppler?” Graham said.

“Yeah, that thing. Anyway, they had it stowed away, so I grabbed it. I figured you’d like to use one.”

I hadn’t considered doing so, but now that he mentioned it, I loved the idea. And was also terrified by it. What if I couldn’t find a heartbeat? I was hardly a medical expert.

“That’s… awesome. Thanks, Micah. But I don’t know how to use one.” If I couldn’t find a heartbeat, would it be because I wasn’t pregnant or I just didn’t know how to use the tool?

“I used to have one when I was raising sheep. I’d forgotten about those.” Graham reached for it.

“It’s too early for an ultrasound, and none of us have our hands on one of them anyways, but I figure the Doppler might be fun until you get a hold of Cora.” Micah sat on the edge of the bed. He was never one to wait to be asked.

“Who’s Cora?” Graham asked.

“She’s the family midwife,” I said. “Generally, we try not to give birth at the hospital. We have ways of keeping our shifter nature secret, but we like to give birth at home where it’s quiet.” And there was always a risk of our beast forcing a shift after birth to help us heal despite our location, but my mate was already worrying about all sorts of hypotheticals. He didn’t need me to add more to that list.

“In a house, though, right? Not in the barn.” Graham’s mind did love to wander. Although, this was all new to him. It was easy to forget that with the way he adjusted to all that had happened since the auction.

I patted his hand. “Yes, in a house. Not in a barn.” Not unless I got stuck in bull form first. That wasn’t going to happen, though. My beast was good about letting me take charge. He wouldn’t do that. Please don’t let him do that. Cora had a wide range of experience in her field and had dealt with that situation before, but it was never pretty.

“Sue Ellen had her second baby in a barn on a bed of straw, remember? Zero out of ten, do not recommend, for sure.” Micah needed to shut up.

I shuddered at the thought.

Graham swallowed, his face going even more pale. I squeezed his hand.

“I promise it’s totally safe, and if there are any complications, we will go to a hospital.”

“Okay.” He swallowed thickly.

“All right, I’ll leave you to it. If Graham knows how to work the Doppler, then you don’t need me,” Micah said. He was already tearing off his shirt and heading toward the back door. He was as food-motivated as I was, and the pasture was calling him.

“Thank you,” I called after him.

“Don’t mention it. I’m just going to raid your fridge a lot and also gorge myself with the fabulous yums growing outside.”

Oh, he was definitely going to raid the fridge, too. He literally brought us dinner but didn’t get himself anything. My cousin was weird.

It was great to have my family be able to visit, and I knew they all appreciated having a safe place to shift… but we might have a discussion on boundaries soon… after my mate figured out if I was expecting.

I lay on my back and pulled my shirt up and pushed my shorts down a little. I wanted to hear the baby first. I knew the pee stick was accurate, but hearing my baby would feel more real.

Graham kneeled at my side. He pulled a pad off and the little bottle of gel.

“Are you sure we want to do this right now?” he asked.

I nodded. “Totally sure.”

“This is going to be cold,” he said.

“I don’t care. I’m excited to hear a heartbeat, aren’t you?” Besides, it couldn’t be that cold, could it?

“Yes, but we haven’t even taken the test yet. Maybe we should start there.”

“If we don’t hear anything, then that’s okay,” I assured him. “I’ll take the test, but I just want to try this right now. Please?”

Graham sighed, and I knew he would give in. My mate was a sucker for my puppy-dog eyes… er… Highland-bull eyes. “All right. This might take a minute, I haven’t ever done this on a human.”

It took thirty seconds, and then we heard the thump, thump, thump of our baby’s heartbeat.