Lane hugged her son.  “Then we’re agreed, Tanner’s on protection detail.”  She stood to leave, then gave her head a little shake, and laughed.  “Because you really don’t want to come to the doctor with us, believe me.”

Jamie gave a half smile, “Dad?  Do you really think someone is out to get the football team?”

Ben stopped in the doorway and turned to face Jamie.  “Yeah, I do and so does Tanner.  You know Tanner is a retired homicide detective and the one thing all cops agree on is that there are no coincidences.  It’s suspicious that something happened to the quarterback in the school parking lot Monday and on Tuesday the football coach was killed at the school.”

The doorbell rang and Ben went to answer it.

“How’s Jamie?”  Tanner asked as he entered the house.

“Safe, but shaken.  It’s a scary thought that someone out there might be trying to kill him and his friends.  There aren’t a lot of ways to explain what’s going on and none of them are pretty.”  Ben led Tanner to the hearth room.

Tanner nodded.  “Agreed.  It’s a rival of some kind or it’s someone trying to upset the odds.  I’ve reached out to some people to see who’s got big money on the other team.”

Jamie came into the room.  “Hello, Mr. Tanner.”

Roy Tanner was in his 50’s and stood just over six feet tall.  Jamie didn’t exactly tower over him, but he did wonder how this old guy was supposed to protect him.

“Dad says you think someone is out to get the football team.”  Jamie said as he sat in a chair adjacent to Tanner.

Lane came into the room.  “Roy, it’s good to see you.”  She smiled. “Thanks for coming by to do protection detail.”

Tanner stood as Lane entered the room.  He smiled and reached out to take the hand she’d offered.  “Lane, you know it’s what I do.”

She smiled again, and nodded.  Yes, she knew it was what he did.  Ben had sent Tanner to keep watch over her a couple of months ago.

Ben nodded toward the garage, “We need to go.”  He looked at Lane.  “Do you think we’ll be home by 5:00?”

She nodded.  “We should be.”

Ben looked around the room.  “Let’s have an early dinner at Papa’s afterward.  Jamie, why don’t you give Jake a call and see if he wants to join us.”

As Ben and Lane went to the garage, Ben grabbed they keys to Lane’s Escalade.  He opened the passenger door and helped her get in before going around to the driver’s door.  He leaned across the console and kissed her before he started the engine.  “I love you.”  He said as he put the SUV in reverse.

Lane smiled.  “The last couple of days have been kind of hectic.  I may have forgotten to mention how much I love you.”

Lane leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes.  Things had been hectic for more than the last few days; life had been hectic for months, and now there was a baby to consider.  She worried about being able to keep up with a toddler at 50.  She rubbed her abdomen.  Lord, she’d be almost 70 when this one graduated from high school.

Ben gave her hand a little squeeze.  “You awake?”

“Yes.  I was just thinking.  Do you realize I’ll be almost 70 when this baby is Jamie’s age?”

He looked over at her and winked.  “Come on, Red.  You’ll be what, 66? And you’ll probably still look younger than I will.”  He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.

The drive to doctor’s office took about 15 minutes.  Dr. Sennette never kept her patients waiting very long, so they got in quickly.  The appointment began routinely as Lane followed the nurse, first to the scale and then into an exam.  The nurse took Lane’s vital signs and asked all of the normal questions.

“How is the nausea?”

“The crackers have helped.  Now that I’m crossing the threshold into my second trimester, I’m hoping it’s a thing of the past.”

The nurse handed Lane a gown that snapped down the front to about the waist.  She told Lane that she could keep her underwear on, and left the room saying the doctor would be in soon.  When the nurse left, Lane quickly stripped down to her underwear and pulled the gown on over her head.  The next knock was Dr. Sennette.

“Hello.  You’re still experiencing the nausea?”  The doctor said as she entered the room.

Lane smiled, “It’s really much better.”

“Your weight is good.”  She took out a tape measure and placed it just above Lane’s pelvic bone.  “That’s good too.  Let’s get the ultrasound started.”  Dr. Sennette looked at the expectant parents.  “It’s a little early, but if we can see the baby’s gender, do you want to know?”

Ben was holding Lane’s hand and gave it a little squeeze.

He looked at Dr. Sennette, “We talked about that this morning.  We’d prefer to find out when the baby’s born.”

Dr. Sennette smiled.  “Ah, an old fashioned couple.”

She squirted the warm gel onto Lane’s abdomen, ran the transducer through it to spread the gel, and began the ultrasound process, stopping and clicking as she went.

The room filled with the fluid sounding thump-thump-thump that was the baby’s heartbeat.

“Is that what I think it is?”  Lane asked.

“Yes, that’s your baby’s heart beating.  It’s a nice strong heartbeat.”

Lane’s earlier pregnancies had all gone smoothly, and she hadn’t heard the heartbeat this way.  It brought tears to her eyes.  The doctor stood on one side, Ben on the other.  Dr. Sennette turned the monitor so they could look at the images of their baby.  Some facilities did 3D images, but there was really no need to have a 3D image ultra sound done, at least not now.

“Get dressed,” Dr. Sennette said as she handed Lane a towel.  “I’ll be back in and we can talk.” She smiled and nodded before leaving the room.

Five minutes later, there was a knock on the exam room door.  Dr. Sennette walked in and sat down.

“Everything looks good.  Your weight is good; the baby’s heart beat is strong.”  She handed Lane an x-ray like photo.  “Here’s your baby’s first picture. Your baby is about three and a half inches long now from head to bum, and weighs about one and a half ounces. I know it’s grainy, but you can make out the head and torso.  Do you have any questions?”

Lane shook her head as she handed the photo to Ben who was standing next to her looking over her shoulder.

Dr. Sennette looked at Ben, “Dad, any questions from you?”

Ben felt a little overwhelmed.  “How often will you be doing ultrasounds now?”

“Well, I’ll continue to see you every two weeks, but we probably won’t do an ultrasound at each visit.  Don’t worry.  Everything looks and sounds fine. You know the reason we’re seeing Lane every two weeks is because the pregnancy is high risk, but as I said everything looks good.”

Lane and Ben made their next appointment and left the clinic.  Ben held her hand as they walked to the SUV.  He opened her door, helped her in, walked around, and got in himself.

Lane held the photo and looked at it, “It makes it seem so much more real, doesn’t it?  The photo I mean.”

Ben nodded.  “Sure does.  It’s not just a concept; we can sort of put a face to him or her now.”  He wanted to jump up and down, waving the photo while shouting to the world that he was going to be a Dad.  Instead, he leaned across the console and kissed his wife.  “I love you, Red.”

Chapter 7

Jamie watched as his parents walked out of the house and then he turned to Roy Tanner.

“Mr. Tanner, what do you really think is going on?  Why would anyone care what was happening with a high school football state championship?”

They were sitting in the hearth room.  “You’d be surprised, Jamie.  Most people think that bookies only take bets on pro and college games, but when state championship time rolls around, some dabble in high school games.  Especially when a hometown team is involved.  I’m not saying that’s what’s going on, I’m just saying it’s a possibility.  Then there’s the possibility a parent out there thinks their kid should be on the team.  They may even think he should be the starting quarterback.  In Texas a few years back, a woman hired someone to kill the mother of one of the cheerleaders at her daughter’s school because she wanted to get her own daughter on the squad.”  He tried to give Jamie a look of encouragement.  “People do some pretty unbelievable things for reasons that make sense only to themselves.  Hopefully, the police will make the connection between the incidents with your friend and the coach, and figure out who’s responsible for them.  But, in the meantime, it’s my job to keep you all safe.  And, Ben and I will be thinking about the possibilities.  We’ll make the connection or the police will and either way the police will arrest the person or persons responsible”