My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 511

Nina

I couldn’t stop staring at the grainy image that was displayed on the monitor, watching in awe as the little blob that was our daughter flexed and kicked within the safe confines of my womb. A wide smile spread across my face as I studied her tiny features, committing every detail to memory.

“She’s perfect,” I breathed, tears of joy pricking at the backs of my eyes. I glanced over at Enzo, who was positively beaming with the kind of pride that only a father-to-be could have.

“That’s our girl,” he murmured, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. “She’s doing just fine.”

It was a relief, after all we had been through, to find out that our baby was safe, healthy, and most importantly: alive. In fact, according to my checkup leading up to this moment, our baby was as healthy as an ox.

It was hard to tell if the ritual that we had gone through was the sole cause of this; maybe there was more to it. Hell, maybe the ritual had done nothing at all.

But I knew that wasn’t the case. Selena had protected my baby and had destroyed the shadow entity, the generational curse that likely would have eventually ended both my life and our baby’s life. I could feel it. Even now, weeks later, I could feel her presence here-it was faint, but it was there.

Like a little candle flickering in the darkness, refusing to go out.

The ultrasound technician smiled warmly as she panned the probe around on my belly. “And she certainly is a lively one!” she said, casting Enzo and I a warm glance. “Her heartbeat is nice and strong, too. You should be proud.”

“We are.” Enzo’s grin widened and he squeezed my hand even tighter.

As the ultrasound technician printed the first images of our child and cleaned the gel off of my belly, though, her brow furrowed slightly when she saw the clipboard in front of her.

The technician nodded. “Well, from what I understand, you were instructed to attend prenatal yoga. Correct?”

I felt my chest clench at the mention of that yoga class. The last time I had been there was right before Enzo had been taken by Mila, and it hadn’t been as much of a stress reliever as I had hoped. That woman had given me trouble, and I feared that it hadn’t quite been resolved before I suddenly had to stop going.

But as I opened my mouth to let out an excuse, I realized that it wasn’t worth it and quickly shut it again. No. There could be no more excuses. There was no way that I was going to let stress harm my baby-especially not after everything we had gone through to ensure her safety.

As we headed out to the car a little while later, Enzo pulled me into a reassuring hug. “Did you hear that little fighter in there? She’s gonna be just fine.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Although her mother could probably use some more downtime…”