Chapter Twenty-One

18 weeks

A few weeks later, first of June Sarah and Richie were getting ready for another visit to the hospital. Today they were finding out the sex of the baby.

Sarah hadn't asked for the sex of her baby during her previous pregnancies and was rather unsure to find out now. She hadn't really asked Richie about it and was unsure of what he wanted. Personally, she wanted to wait for the baby's birth to find out.

Their appointment was for later that morning and out of convenience they had decided to let Caleb drive everyone to school. At home alone, Richie sat with Sarah on the couch, letting her enjoy her day off of work.

"So, a son?" Sarah asked as she settled against Richie's chest.
Richie shrugged. "I don't know, it doesn't really matter. I'd like a son but if Sammy's a girl, I'd be just as happy."
"Really?" Sarah asked, maybe now was a good time to say she didn't want to know the sex.
"Yeah of course. It doesn't matter. Why?"
"I think I don't want to know. I want to wait and see when it's born."
"Oh okay..." Richie wasn't sure what to say or think, he didn't even know himself if he wanted to know or not.
"But you do want to know." Sarah looked up at him, a little worried that he was disagreeing.
"I don't know but if I do, I can keep a secret." He assured her.

As Sarah got up from the couch to get ready, she felt a first real kick inside her. "Oh." She said amazed and put her hands on her belly.
"What's wrong?" Richie asked, looking up at her.
"Sammy just kicked." Sarah smiled at him.
A smiled appeared on Richie's face too. "Really?"


An hour later they were sitting with Sarah's doctor again, she was telling them how the baby should be developing and that Sarah could indeed start feeling the baby kick. The baby would also be able to hear sounds and voices, so the doctor advised them to talk to the baby so it could already get used to their voices. Of course that gave Richie the idea to sing to the baby, making a mental note of doing so that same evening before they went to bed.

Another ultrasound let them hear the baby's heartbeat again.

"Everything still sounds good." The doctor said and made sure they could take home some more pictures. She looked around and checked the baby over.
Sarah and Richie were both watching the screen to see the baby too. A little curiosity made Sarah ask, "Is that Sammy sucking it's thumb?" She wasn't completely sure of what the picture what showing exactly but it looked like it.
The doctor looked a little closer too and confirmed Sarah's thoughts. "Looks like it. I'll take a picture of it."

A few minutes of watching the baby on the screen and the doctor continued with her check over.

"Do you want to know the sex of the baby?" She looked up at them to make sure what they wanted.
Sarah looked up at Richie, wondering what he was thinking.
"Let's wait a little longer." Richie suggested.
"That's fine too." The doctor agreed. "If at any point you change your mind we can do another ultrasound to see."
"Yeah, I like that." Sarah agreed.


At home they went back to where they left off and got back on the couch together and turned the television back on to relax the rest of the afternoon.

When everyone got back from school and found Richie and Sarah in the living room watching TV, it was obvious that they wanted to knew what the doctor had said.

Sarah showed Ava the picture of the baby sucking it's thumb, Ava thought it was adorable but it didn't distract her from her question.

"So is it a girl?" She asked anxiously.
"Or a boy?" Caleb insisted as usual.
"We don't know." Richie smiled, having a strange feeling of revenge for all the fights the two of them had had about the baby.
"We decided to wait a while before finding out what sex Sammy is." Sarah agreed.
Both Ava and Caleb got frowns on their faces while Noah smiled.
"I don't want to know anyway." Noah said happily.
"You don't?" Richie asked.
"Yeah, I rather wait til Sammy is born and see then."
"I think so too." Sarah agreed with her youngest son.

Richie was somewhat relieved to hear Noah say that, now he might not need to talk to Noah about it.

A couple of minutes later things turned back to peace and quiet as everyone went of to do their own thing, Sarah and Richie stayed in front of the TV.

Pretty soon, Richie noticed Sarah starting to fall asleep.

"Why don't you go upstairs and nap a little and I'll start dinner?" He suggested.
"Are you sure?" Sarah asked, she could make dinner, he didn't have to, she wasn't that tired.
"Yeah, go on upstairs and I'll come get you when dinner is ready."
"Thanks." Sarah said as she got up, turned around and kissed him.

When Richie got up from the couch to go start dinner in the kitchen, the phone started ringing. He turned the TV off and answered the phone.

"Hello?" He asked.
"Hello, I'm looking for Sarah Matthews and was told I could reach her on this number."
"Who's asking?" Richie asked suspicious.
"Thomas Slone, I'm a lawyer in the case of the State of Montana against Jonathan Gibson. I am trying to find witnesses that are willing to testify. According to records Sarah and Jonathan got divorced years ago."
Amazed, Richie didn't know what to say, had he heard that all right? "Uh yeah they did. She's not here right now though... Why do you need to talk to her again?"
"Are you related to Sarah?"
"She's my wife, we got married last September." Richie explained, still unsure of what was going on.
"Alright. As I said, I'm looking for witnesses that are willing to testify-"
"Witnesses of what?" Richie asked still confused.
"Mr. Gibson is being sued for abuse and attempted murder. I'd like to know if Sarah has gone through abuse during their marriage too and if she's willing to testify in court." The man on the other line said.
"Fuck, wow... I don't know... I'll have to talk to her."
"I'll leave you my number and someone could phone me back next week." The man offered.
"Yeah, thanks." Richie agreed and wrote down the number.