Chapter 16 #2
“And painful.” I turned off the ignition and said something I shouldn’t have said. Again. “Wanting someone you can’t have is like having a thorn in your chest, stabbing your heart with every beat.”
I froze. She froze. And then Daisy fumbled to unbuckle her seatbelt with the hand still wearing my best friend’s ring.
“We’re going to be right in here today.” The nurse, Teddy, stepped aside so Daisy and I could enter the examination room.
For being a smaller, coastal town, the hospital had pretty exceptional ratings for its delivery unit and OBGYN doctors.
I’d given Daisy a short list of other options I’d found in the area, including a smaller regional hospital closer to Portland and a midwife based a little south of Friendship, but Stonebar had good ratings and the first available appointment, so Daisy took it.
I’d asked if she wanted to see the hospital before making a decision, but she declined.
So now, her eyes darted along the hallways, lingered on the faces of the nurses and doctors we passed, wondering which one was going to be hers, and once inside the room, scanned every corner searching for a red flag. And so did mine.
Maybe Daisy didn’t feel like she had time for any other choice, but I wasn’t going to let her settle. Thankfully, when my gaze found its way back to hers, she gave me a small smile. She felt comfortable here, and so did I.
“Have a seat, Mama, and we’ll take your blood first and then do your ultrasound.” Teddy patted the big chair in the center of the pastel-painted room. “And, Dad, you’re welcome to have a seat over there…”
Dad. Shit. “Oh, I’m—”
“Can he stand by me?” Daisy cut in, her wide eyes swinging to mine. “I’m not good with needles.”
Wordlessly and without waiting for the nurse’s reply, my feet brought me right to her side.
“If you could just roll up your sleeve for me, Mama,” Teddy asked and began to unload vials and needles and syringes from the tub on the counter.
Settling onto the edge of the chair, Daisy managed to undo the first button on the cuff of her dress’s long sleeve, but the moment she saw Teddy prepping the needle about to go into her arm, her face turned white and her fingers stopped coordinating.
“Let me.” I stepped in front of her, using the excuse to help her as a reason to block off her line of sight.
As I worked free the second button, the color in her cheeks started to return, her focus now on me.
On my fingers brushing over her skin. Now I fought to not fumble as I carefully rolled the cuff once, twice, and a third time, giving just enough tension to the fabric that it stayed when I pushed it above her elbow.
“I hate needles,” she whispered after I’d finished but before I stepped out of the way.
“Have you ever met a person who loves them?” I countered and lifted my brow.
“Good point.” She pushed out a deep exhale and then nervously tried to look over my shoulder. “Will you hold my hand?”
“I’d let them take my blood instead of yours if it worked that way,” I murmured, reaching for her right hand.
“If only.” Her fingers squeezed tight to mine.
“So how have you been feeling? Do you have any concerns you want me to note for Dr. MacDonald?” Teddy asked as she rolled over her tray. I noticed how she positioned it just far enough back from the seat that it was pretty much impossible for Daisy to see what was on it just by turning her head.
“I’ve been feeling pretty okay overall. No nausea or extreme fatigue. My feet have started to swell more consistently now.”
“That’s the worst, isn’t it?” Teddy empathized with a shake of her head.
“Thank God both my girls were born in the middle of summer. I was going around barefoot the last four weeks because none of my shoes fit, and when I did have to go out, I ended up buying those horrible-looking toe socks, you know the ones?”
Daisy nodded, her eyes sinking to the needle in Teddy’s hand.
“I got the ones with rubber on the bottom so I could wear them out of the house, but I looked ridiculous. Toe socks in the middle of summer.” She laughed and shook her head, noticing then that her attempt to distract Daisy was fading, so she doubled down.
“And don’t get me started on the cravings.
All my youngest wanted from the womb was ketchup sandwiches.
No burger or hot dog or chicken or veggies.
Only ketchup and bread. My husband looked at me like I’d lost my mind every time I asked for one.
” She laughed at the memory. “Make a fist for me, Mama.”
Daisy balled her hand, the one the nurse wanted, and the other one locked with mine. I squeezed her fingers back. I’m here. I will always be here.
“How about you? Any big cravings?” She was trying, I’d give her that. But the second Teddy uncapped the needle, Daisy was gone. Her focus was solely on the needle that you’d think, after decades or centuries of drawing blood, could be a little smaller than it currently was.
She tried to wait for Daisy to answer, but I wasn’t sure Daisy had even heard her question. Maybe that was the reason I spoke instead. Or maybe not.
“Ours only wants blueberries,” I answered, my voice a low rumble.
Ours.
Not hers.
Not Todd’s.
Not theirs.
Ours.
Later, I’d tell Daisy it was only because the nurse thought I was the father, and I didn’t feel like explaining while Daisy looked as white as a sheet.
“Sounds much better than a ketchup sandwich,” Teddy said with a laugh, and then finally gave up on the tried-and-true distraction technique. “All right, Mama, why don’t you look at your handsome dad for a minute here for me, okay?”
Dad. This time, it was only Daisy’s gaze that cut me off. Afraid. Borderline panicked. I no longer gave a shit about correcting the nurse. All I cared about was caring for Daisy.
“You’re good, Daze. You’re doing real good.”
Pink seeped back into her cheeks like sunshine breaking through the clouds, and in the corner of my eye, I saw the nurse tie a band around her arm and then clean her skin with an alcohol swab. Daisy’s fingers tightened on mine.
“That’s it. Nice deep breaths,” I said, my voice suddenly morphing into a different beast. A lower, huskier beast. And I couldn’t control it. Not the way she was looking at me. Not the way she obeyed my command.
Her lips parted, their color a shade of hungry red as she let out a slow exhale.
The moment the needle punctured her skin, she whimpered and tensed, a wash of moisture coating her eyes.
“That’s it. It’s almost done. You’re almost there,” I kept talking, watching her visibly relax to the cadence of my voice. “Almost done, Daze. You’re doing so good. Just keep breathing for me.”
Air loosened from her lips.
“There you go. Deep breath in,” I cooed, watching her nostrils flare as they pulled in oxygen. “Deep breath out.”
God, she obeyed so well…and it simultaneously stiffened my dick and absolutely gutted me.
There was another reason I didn’t date a lot.
I had…preferences. Ones that took time and consideration for a partner to understand who wasn’t already exposed to that brand of intimacy.
I wasn’t a red-room-of-pain Dom, but I liked to give orders.
I liked to be in control. And it felt very different from the kind of man I was outside of the bedroom.
Chivalrous in the streets, commanding in the sheets.
It was easier to find like-minded partners at a kink club or website than it was to date and hope it wouldn’t turn the woman off.
It was also easier to have that be the reason than to admit the only woman I wanted to date in the last four years was already dating my best friend.
“All done,” Teddy announced cheerfully, the needle and vial clanking back on the tray, and a piece of gauze pressed to the crook of Daisy’s elbow. “You did great, Daisy, and so did you, Dad.”
My eyes still locked with Daisy’s, and neither of us attempted to correct her.
“Just give me one minute to get this going, and then we’ll do your ultrasound.”
It wasn’t until the door clicked shut that Daisy stirred and untangled her fingers from mine, knotting them back in her lap. “Sorry if I hurt you.”
I shifted my stance a little wider to accommodate my cock. She hurt me all right, just not my hand.
“No hurt at all.”
For the rest of the appointment, both Nurse Teddy and Dr. MacDonald referred to me as the baby’s father.
For the rest of the appointment, neither Daisy nor I corrected them.
“Here, let me—”
“I got it.” I shifted the takeout bags to my left hand, my right one colliding with Daisy’s as we both reached to open the Murphy door. “I got it, Daze.”
She sighed and pulled her hand back. Whether it was because she really wanted to let me open it or because she didn’t want to prolong our contact, I wasn’t sure. As soon as it opened, a knock rapped on the shop door.
“I’ll get it.”
“It’s after hours, Daisy. They can call—”
“After hours by only fifteen minutes. Let me just see if there is anything I can help them with,” she insisted, already waddling toward the door.
I bit back the threat to tie her down to stop her from working because that threat was more dangerous to me than it was to her.
Quickly setting the bags on the step, I strode after her.
Five seconds or fifteen minutes didn’t change that I didn’t want her opening the door alone.
Sure, Stonebar was safe, and this was a flower shop, but I wasn’t rational when it came to protecting Daisy or our baby… her baby.
“Mrs. McCormick?”
My blood turned to ice hearing Daisy’s shock.
“Miss Turner—”
“What are you doing here?”
Red fringed my vision as I homed in on Daisy standing wedged in the opening of the doorway, facing her almost mother-in-law on her own.
“I’m here because you never returned my voicemail and aren’t answering my calls.”
“Because I don’t want to talk to you,” Daisy blurted out, her voice choked with disbelief.