for Richard

[mother_confessor]

Dr. Zimmerman had scheduled her to come in this week for something she called an ultrasound. It would, among other things, show Richard and Kahlan the child growing within them and they might be able to tell if she were carrying a boy or girl. Kahlan had been impossibly nervous about this; if it were a boy, would she rather know and dread it all along or would she rather be blissfully ignorant? She couldn't say.

Dr. Zimmerman seemed to understand this nervousness, even if she didn't know the cause, and had been happy to let Richard stay in the room while the procedure was completed. It was like magic, in a way, getting to see deep within her to something she shouldn't be able to see until the child was born. She wasn't fully formed, of course, but she was a girl. That much was absolutely clear, according to Dr. Zimmerman, and Kahlan couldn't help but be elated at the prospect.

Once she was given the clean bill of health and instructions for the next few months as to what to eat and what signs needed to bring her back to the clinic for more than just a regular appointment, she and Richard were allowed to take their leave. Once they were on the path back home, hand in hand, Kahlan turned to him with a wide grin on her face.

"A girl. I knew it."

Comments

[mother_confessor]

"I am glad that you did," Kahlan said quietly. "Just as I know your parents were glad for the chance to raise you and for all the years they spent with you. From what you've said, they're the most loving and generous people who could possibly have ever been entrusted with a child. I know that my purpose in life was very different but I cannot help but be envious of that upbringing."

[truenamedseeker]

"They were the best," Richard sighed. The grief had passed, but he would never really stop missing his parents. "I wish you could've met them. They would've loved you, Kahlan."

[mother_confessor]

"We will just have to tell Cara about them instead," Kahlan decided, tugging Richard's hand down to the slight swell of her belly. "So she can learn about where she came from."

[truenamedseeker]

"They'd have loved her too," Richard sighed, giving Kahlan's belly a rub and bending down to kiss the little bump. "They'd have just been beside themselves, deliriously happy."