Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
I grin and laugh a little to hear my new name for the first time
“We’ll take a blood sample from you.”
“Please, doctor,” Alessi says, stepping forward now, his face curious. “Could you please explain to us how it works? I am…well, I do not understand how a sample of Fay’s blood will demonstrate the paternity. Do we not have to wait until the child is born?”
“You used to have to wait,” the doctor says, turning to Alessi. “But technology has improved so that we now know that the mother’s blood carries the unborn baby’s DNA. We will use the blood sample to compare the baby’s DNA to the potential father’s,” he says, gesturing towards Daniel.
“Amazing,” Alessi says, his face breaking into a wide smile as he looks between Daniel and the doctor. “It is amazing what you can do now, with the medical technology.” Daniel smiles back, but I shift my eyes to Natalia, who does not look nearly as impressed.
The doctor murmurs his agreement with Alessi but then moves around the room, preparing the tests and then calling a nurse into the room to prep my bloodwork. Daniel obligingly opens his mouth, letting the doctor swipe around the inside of his cheeks with a cotton swab, while the nurse ties a rubber band around my upper arm and begins to locate a vein.
After the doctor has put Daniel’s testing materials away, he comes and draws a vial of blood from me himself. That finished, he cleans the very tiny needle puncture on my arm and puts a Band-Aid over it.
“All set,” the doctor says, giving us a smile all around.
“Doctor,” I say, sitting up and smiling at him. “Would it be all right to add Mr. Bianci’s email address to the account, so that they can receive results of the pregnancy test directly from your office?”
The doctor looks at me in surprise and glances towards Natalia and Alessi. “If you…consent to that,” he says, turning back to me, “then sure, we can send the results to you as well as Mr. Bianci.”
“Yes, why not,” I say, turning to give Natalia and Alessi a big smile. “I want you to have all of your assurances in place. And, as Daniel said,” I continue, reaching a hand out towards my husband, who immediately takes it, “we’ve got nothing to hide.”
Natalia gives me a tight smile while Alessi presses his hands together towards me in thanks and then goes with the doctor to the computer to provide him with his contact information. When they’ve finished that, we all stand up and head for the door, murmuring our thanks to the doctor.
But, just before we can reach it, I stumble and catch my breath.
“Fay?” Daniel asks, shifting his hold on me and catching me at the elbow, helping me stand back up. “Are you are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I murmur, looking up at him. “Um, I just got a little dizzy? Maybe from taking the blood?”
Natalia and Alessi stop in the hall before us, turning to see, and the doctor comes up behind. “That’s not uncommon,” the doctor says, gesturing back into the room. “Would you like to stay for a moment, Mrs. Lippert? We can have one of the nurses bring you a snack bring that blood sugar right back up.”
“Thank you,” I murmur, and then I grimace at Natalia and Alessi, guilt on my face.
“You two go on,” Daniel says, glancing at the Italians before turning his concerned face back to me and helping me back into the room. “She just needs to sit down for a moment ”
“Are you sure?” Alessi says, taking a worried step towards me, his eyes moving over me.
“I’ll be just fine,” I say, giving an embarrassed little laugh. “I’m just you know, weaker than I thought I’d be, pregnant.” I give a humble little shrug and a blush.
“Yes, come on, Alessi,” Natalia says, placing her fingers on her forearm and stepping away. “We have things to do.”
Daniel calls his goodbyes to them and helps me back into the room, where I sink into a chair and immediately clear my throat.
“You okay?” the doctor asks.
“Yup,” I say, smiling up at him. “I wouldn’t say no to that snack, though,” I continue, turning my head to the side. I am hungrier these days than I usually am.
Daniel laughs and steps away from me. “Nicely done, Fay,” he says, giving me a smirk as he folds his arms and leaning against the wall. “You even had me for a moment I thought you were really going to fall.”
“Drama camp, fourth grade,” I say loftily, leaning back in my chair and grinning up at him. “We practiced prat falls for hours.”
“So,” Dr. Banks says, standing between us and looking at Daniel with a grin. “Were you able to get the hair sample this morning?”
“I was indeed,” Daniel says, pulling a messy clump of hair from his pocket. “Sorry that it’s…all in a heap,” he murmurs, awkwardly handing the lump of Kent’s hair to the doctor. I feel very odd, watching it change hands, fighting a ridiculous urge that rises in me to jump up and touch it myself.
Don’t be so creepy, I chide myself. Or desperate.
So, I force myself to relax back in my chair, watching the doctor take the sample and seal it into a little clear bag. Then, he takes the tube with Daniel’s cheek sample and tosses it in the trash.
“Will that be enough?” Daniel asks, anxious. The doctor holds the bag up to eye-level to take a better look.
“Should be,” the doctor says, looking closely. “I’m seeing some roots there, so, it should be good.”
“Two days?” I ask, standing up for real now and coming to Daniel’s side.
“Two days,” the doctor says, nodding to us with a smile. “And no reason to suspect anything will go awry. Leave it with me, and we’ll get you the results you’re looking for.”
“Thanks,” I say, wrapping my arms around Daniel’s arm and resting my head on his shoulder. “We owe you one. Big time.”
“Your generous payment is enough,” the doctor says, giving us a wink and boxing Kent’s hair sample up with my blood sample, ready to be sent off to the lab. “But also,” he says, hesitating before looking up at us with hope in his eyes. “If you wouldn’t mind…putting in a good word with Janeen…”
“She’ll be keeping an eye out for you at the club,” I say, giving him a little wink. “You have our assurances on that.” Janeen was in on it, of course Dr. Banks has been her customer at the club for months now. She’s the one who introduced us.
“A chance with a girl like that?” Dr. Banks says, sighing and sinking his hands into his pockets. “That’s the real reward.”
I grin at him, pleased he sees what I see in my sister.
And then, saying our grateful goodbyes, Daniel and I head out the door.
By the time we get to the parking lot, Natalia and Alessi are already gone. I look up at Daniel, who is already looking down at me.
“What next?” I ask, curious.
“You tell me, mastermind,” he says, giving me a little nudge with his elbow.
I smile at him, knowing that he’s asking me for more information about what I have planned about why I wanted Natalia and Alessi here, and why I want them to believe, vehemently, that this is a Bianci baby.
But…those plans? They’re just not fully in place yet. So, I answer his question in another way.
“Do you want to go to McDonalds?” I ask, hopeful. “I didn’t get my snack in there, as promised.”
Daniel laughs and we head off to the car together. “I think I like pregnant Fay,” he murmurs, cheerful. “She’s got her priorities in the right place.”
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We spend a pleasant evening at home that night. Papa Thompson makes a lasagna from scratch and we spend hours sitting at the table outside, eating piles of garlic bread and talking cheerfully about nothing in that way that family does.
The entire evening, I feel Daniel’s eyes on me. But I ignore it, needing to not face him right now, to not…not talk about it.
Because while Daniel and I are on good terms great terms, even, now that we’re husband and wife I know he wants me to ask about his morning at the jail with Kent.