Cinematic Confessions

Autumn sat nervously in the hospital room, waiting for Dr. Shively to arrive so they could do the ultrasound and hopefully see the sex of the baby. Katherine was anxiously bouncing around the room, causing Autumn to be more nervous. She knew that Katherine and Cade would be happy no matter if it was a boy or a girl, but she was sure they'd talked about each one and probably had their heart set on one.

She looked at the newspaper that Cade had brought inside and had abandoned on the table next to her. The sports page was on top, and she saw a picture of Corey allowing a goal in during the Blackhawks loss in Calgary the night before. She had texted him after the game, but he had never responded, and she figured he either went out of the boys or he had immediately gone back to the hotel room to sleep before they left at six this morning for their flight to Edmonton.

Her attention was brought back to the present as Dr. Shively entered the room, the ever present smile on her face. "How's the happy family doing?" she asked, looking between the three of them.

Autumn plastered a smile on her face. "Good," she replied.

"How has the morning sickness going?" Dr. Shively asked as she sat on the stool next to the bed that Autumn was sitting in.

"It's going better," Autumn replied. The morning sickness had quieted down over the past week or so. She was no longer vomiting at all hours of the day, and she had been able to keep the majority of her food down now.

"That's just what we want to hear," Dr. Shively told her. "Now I know you're all excited about finding out the sex of the baby," she continued.

Katherine nodded her head. "We're very excited," she jumped in, and Autumn couldn't help but smile at her best friend. She was gripping Cade's hand, their fingers interlocked, and suddenly Autumn felt a twinge of jealousy. She wished Corey had been there with her, holding her hand. Not that he really had anything to do with this pregnancy, but it would still be nice to have him at her side.

She shook the thoughts from her mind as she focused on Dr. Shively once again, who was explaining that they would do the ultrasound and should be able to determine the sex of the baby, assuming the baby was in the right position to do so.

Autumn shivered slightly when the cold gel was placed on her stomach, and then she turned her full attention to the screen. Dr. Shively pointed with her index finger to show them where the baby was. Autumn turned her head to look at the doctor. "Can you tell the gender?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes," she smiled in response. "It's a girl," she announced.

Autumn's eyes stayed glued to the screen, looking at the baby girl she was carrying--Katherine and Cade's baby girl. "It's a girl," she heard Cade say in a strained voice. She didn't even need to look over in his direction to know he was holding back tears. He was so happy, and so was Katherine, and Autumn couldn't be in a better mood right now.

"A baby girl," Katherine said in agreement.

"I’m going to give you a few moments alone," Dr. Shively said, taking the ultrasound head off of Autumn's stomach and wiping the gel off of both the ultrasound head. "I'll get some copies of pictures of the ultrasound ready for you as well," she added as she walked out of the room.

"Are you happy?" Autumn asked as she looked at Cade and Katherine. She hadn't really known which one they were hoping for, a boy or a girl. But, she didn't even need their response when she saw the looks on their faces. Both had genuine smiles plastered on them, and Cade had Katherine wrapped up in his arms.

"Very happy," Cade nodded as he kissed Katherine's temple.

Autumn smiled at them. "I can't wait for you to have this baby," she said, putting her hands on her stomach. "It's about time she comes out of me," she added with a chuckle.

Katherine turned to look at her. "Not yet," she shook her head. "You've got a few more months before you can hand her over. But, before then, we've got to get you a sexy dress for this weekend," she said, beaming. It was clear that Katherine was more excited for the Blackhawks dinner than Autumn was.

Autumn started cracking up, and Cade looked downright confused. "What's going on this weekend?" he inquired, obviously out of the loop.

"Oh!" Katherine said, putting her hand on his upper arm. "Autumn is going to this Blackhawks thing on Saturday, and we're going to go shopping after we get out of here, have a little girls day," she said excitedly.

Cade nodded his head. "Gotcha," he said before looking at Autumn. "I hope you find what you're looking for, but trust me when I say Corey isn't going to care what you're wearing as long as you're there with him. Guys really don't care what women are wearing, just that you give them all your attention."

"Oh? Is that true?" Katherine asked, turning towards Cade, who nodded his head. "Good to know it doesn't matter what I wear."

"Can I ask you a question?" Autumn asked, looking at Cade.

"Shoot."

"How much are people going to judge me for being pregnant?"

Cade blinked, not saying anything for a few moments, trying to figure out how best to answer her. "Look, I'm sure there will be people there that are going to judge you," he began.

"Cade!" Katherine exclaimed, hitting her husband with the back of her hand in his chest.

"Let me finish!" he insisted, and both women stared at you. "Yes, Autumn, some people are going to judge you. I'm sure there will be some girls there that look at you and see you're with Corey and not understand why he's with you and not them." Katherine was glaring at him, and he knew he better get to his point quickly or it was likely she was going to kill him. "But, they're not the ones that matter. The people that matter, the ones that mean something to you and Corey, they're not going to judge you. They're going to know your story, why you're pregnant. And if they don't know, they're going to care enough to ask. And, they're going to be able to see every reason why Corey's in love with you. So don't worry about those people that don't matter, and just worry about you and Corey and the people that mean something to the two of you."

Autumn just stared at him. He couldn't have responded better if he had been given days to think up an answer. "Thank you, Cade," she said sincerely, holding her arms out so he could give her a hug, which he did right away. "You're amazing, and I'm so glad you're married to Kat. And, I'm so happy to be able to give you this child."

He kissed her cheek before pulling away. "Thank you for everything you do. Not just this," he said, motioning towards her stomach. "But for everything you do. For me, for Kat, for everyone. And, please don't worry too much about this party thing. Just have fun," he smiled at her.

"I'll try," she told him. "Kat's got a pretty big mission to try to find something that I can fit in," she said, looking over at her best friend.

"Something tells me she'll find you the perfect outfit," he said as his cell phone began ringing. He glanced at it before looking at the two women. "I've got to go. But, thank you," he told Autumn once again. "And, I'll see you at home," he said to Katherine, giving her a quick kiss on the lips before slipping out the door.

Katherine walked over to the bedside. "What do you say you get dressed, and we'll go shopping?" she suggested. Autumn nodded her head and smiled as Katherine gave her her clothes to change into as she left the room to give her some privacy.

Ten minutes later, they were leaving with the sonogram pictures in hand, heading to Katherine's car to go to the mall. "So what are you thinking of in terms of what you want to wear?" Katherine asked as she turned the corner.

Autumn shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Whatever will look good. I don't know that there's a whole lot that will look good on me right now."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "You're insane. You're glowing right now from the pregnancy. Yes, you have a baby bump, but it's cute. And really the only person you need to impress is Corey, and we both know that man is going to have sex with you after this dinner no matter what you're wearing. I'm sure if it's up to him, he'd do whatever has the simplest zipper so he can get you out of it," she smiled.

"So anything with a zipper, check," Autumn laughed.

"How's he feeling today after the loss yesterday? Brent said he wasn't doing so hot last night. They tried to get him to go out afterwards and he wouldn't, saying he'd just go back to the hotel and call you," Katherine told her.

Autumn scrunched her face up in confusion. "He didn't call me last night," she stated.

"Brent said that's what he was going to do," Katherine shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe he just fell asleep or something."

"Yeah, maybe," Autumn said as she grabbed her cell phone to see if she had missed a text or call from him, and was slightly disappointed when she saw none. She tried not to think anything of it when she tossed her phone back into her purse as Katherine pulled up in the mall's parking lot.

"So what color are you thinking?" Katherine asked, turning their conversation back to the dress that they were about to be on the hunt for.

"No idea," Autumn chuckled. "I really don't have anything in mind, so we might be here a while as I try on a thousand dresses."

Katherine linked arms with Autumn as they walked from the parking lot to the mall entrance. "You won't see me complaining. You know how I love shopping!"

Autumn nodded her head. It was something Katherine had always loved, shopping. She could spend an entire day in the mall just trying on outfits and having a blast the entire time. Autumn tended to get more frustrated when it came to shopping, never being extremely pleased with anything she tried on. She much preferred just casual clothes that always seemed to fit. So, she knew she was going to have a hard time today trying to find a dress that fit her pregnant body just the right way.

Katherine kept tossing Autumn dresses to try on in the dressing room. Autumn had gone in thinking she was going to find whatever dress would hide her baby bump the best. But, the dresses Katherine kept giving her actually accentuated it. She put on what felt like the twentieth dress and looked at herself in the mirror. "Uh, Kat?" she called out.

"Yeah? What's up?" Katherine asked from outside the dressing room.

"I like this one. Like really like it. But, I need an honest opinion, okay?"

"Which one?" Katherine asked excitedly.

Autumn glanced in the mirror one last time before slowly opening the door up to show Katherine the lilac dress that ended just below her knee in the front and the middle of her calf in the back. The V-neckline showed off her breasts that had grown since she had become pregnant. And the silver ribbon that went around her waist and had a bow on the front sat on the top of her baby bump, drawing attention to it.

"What do you think?" Autumn asked hesitantly.

"Are you kidding me? It's gorgeous! You're gorgeous in it! Corey will love it!" Katherine told her.

"You really think so?" Autumn asked, not entirely believing her.

Katherine put a hand on Autumn's arm. "I swear. It's perfect, we just need to find you some shoes now!" she said excitedly. Autumn couldn't help but get excited about it as well as she walked back into the dressing room to change back into her normal clothes.

She quickly grabbed her phone, texting Corey. Got my dress for this weekend :) She put it back in her purse, forgetting about it as she undressed. She knew he was most likely finishing up morning skate and didn't have access to his phone at the moment. But, in the back of her mind, she still wondered why he hadn't texted her the night before and why he had told the guys he was going to go back and call her.

She let the thought leave her mind as she focused at the current task on hand: getting some killer shoes to go with the dress.