Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Hael
I ’m relieved to find Hayes in Arbor’s room by the time we make it back.
Morris has armfuls of bags from the cafeteria, but what was supposed to be a quick trip took way longer than planned. We had to wait close to thirty minutes for it to open.
Morris, the massive fucker, paced the floor bare, only to realize we were going to have to wait again for them to get the hot food set up.
That’s when I left him to it and made a quick trip across the street to the twenty-four-hour pharmacy.
Arbor’s phone has been dead since the accident. None of our chargers are compatible, so I bought her a new one and even grabbed a card. It’s not much, under the circumstances, but if she does have anyone she wants to call, she’ll need a charged device to make that happen.
I even remembered to grab her crappy phone from Hayes’s truck on the way up. It’s the kind people use when they don’t want to be traced, and I think that says it all.
“Dammit, she’s already asleep,” Morris whispers. “She hasn’t eaten anything, except half of a sandwich they gave her in the ER the first time she fed the baby.”
“Gracie,” Hayes says just as softly. He’s in the process of tossing two terrible hospital pillows on the fold-down bed.
Morris whips around. “She picked a name?”
“That’s what she’s been calling her,” Hayes says, stripping off his jacket.
“It’s cute.” Morris nods, unloading the rest of the bags on the small table. “I’ll take the couch.”
I guess that leaves me with Hayes on the full-size Murphy bed.
Jesus.
That joke from earlier tonight is coming back to haunt me.
My brain throbs when I try to comprehend that it was only earlier tonight when we came across her. Okay, technically it was last night, but since I haven’t been to sleep, it feels like one long-ass day.
Striding over to the end table next to the bed, I open the charger and plug in Arbor’s phone. As I step back, I bump into the baby cart and whirl around to make sure the little one isn’t about to wake up.
Gracie is wrapped up like a little baby burrito with a pink beanie that has a big bow.
It’s adorable.
Tugging out my phone, I snap a few pictures before turning to snag a couple more of Arbor.
The bed Hayes is stretched out on seems so far away, and everything in my being rebels at being that far away from the baby. Instead, I head over, take the pillow Hayes isn’t using, and stretch out on the uncomfortable-as-fuck recliner right next to Arbor’s hospital bed.
There is no such thing as a peaceful night of sleep in the hospital.
It feels like the nurse comes in every hour, and the pediatrician wakes us up a little after ten a.m. to introduce herself, then right as we fall back to sleep, a doctor comes to check on Arbor.
I am horrified to hear Arbor had a second-degree tear that required stitches . Apparently that’s normal, and it’s not even the worst kind of tear that can occur during childbirth. The doctor relays that she’ll be back to check on Arbor tomorrow, and that she’ll be released Wednesday, barring any complications.
Morris and Hayes manage to sleep through the conversation with the doctor, and once she leaves, Arbor turns to me.
I’m torn between pretending to be asleep and acknowledging that I probably should have left the room to give her some privacy while the doctor checked her stitches.
I didn’t look.
She was covered by the blanket, anyway.
“Hael.”
“Yeah, beautiful?”
She snorts. “The doctor wheeled my table away, and I’m dying of thirst all of a sudden. Would you mind grabbing my cup and refilling it from the pitcher if it’s empty?”
I’m up to collect her cup before she even finishes her sentence. She grabs it from my hand and takes a long swig from the bendy straw. She’s been drinking like a camel, and I make a mental note to add a giant super chug cup to the online cart I’ve been building.
She sets the cup on the end table next to the bed, and I check on the baby before heading back to my uncomfortable chair. I stretch back, almost wishing I had a blanket, but my eyes pop open at the sound of the bed rail being dropped.
Arbor heaves herself out of the bed and steps over to the cart.
My head tilts as I try to figure out what she’s doing. She places her hand on Gracie’s stomach and tilts her head close to the cart. Once she’s done, she wheels the baby bed over to the edge of the hospital bed and climbs back in.
She wiggles around, getting comfortable, and grimaces when she spots me watching. “Sorry, my head wouldn’t let it go. I had to make sure she’s still breathing.”
“No judgment here,” I assure her.
She’s really goddamn cute, but I’m not sure that’s an appropriate thought to have when she just popped out a baby less than twenty-four hours ago. It’s probably better to shelve those thoughts for a week or two.
By the time Hayes wakes up and realizes he never opened the gym or called to make sure someone else did, it’s early afternoon. He heads out to handle some calls while Morris does the same, which I’m betting revolves around Arbor’s car.
Now that I’m thinking about it, one of us is going to need to retrieve the car seat from her trunk before she and Gracie are released.
Arbor heads to the bathroom, so I fold up the blankets and toss the pillows in a pile on the Murphy bed.
The baby starts grunting, which turns to loud fusses almost immediately.
My head swivels, but yeah, I’m still the only one in here. Wiping my sweaty palms off on my jeans, I stride over to check on Gracie. Her face is red, and she struggles against the blanket she’s wrapped up in.
Okay, I can do this.
I’ve already held her when she was just born.
Wash your fucking hands before you touch her. It’s like I can hear Hayes’s voice in my head. Handling that as quickly as possible without skimping on the scrub time, I go back to the baby cart.
Gracie is officially pissed. Her shrill cries make my skin itch.
Okay, so, do the damn thing and pick up the baby. Hyping myself up doesn’t help much when the thought of fucking something up makes my stomach flip-flop.
The baby kicks at her blanket, and I scoop her up, taking extra care to support her head. It seems weird that some animals are born able to hop up and run, but human beings can’t even support our own heads for months.
Her little wails turn to unhappy fusses as I rock her against my chest.
“You’re so tiny, it feels like one small mistake could be a huge disaster, but I promise I’m not going to drop you,” I murmur, kissing the top of her head over the cap. “Okay, how about we check your diaper to see if that’s what has you so cranky? That way, you’ll be all clean for Mommy when she’s done with her bathroom visit.”
I carefully place her down, gently unroll her from the blanket, and pop the pacifier in her mouth. She starts sucking like it’s a boob, which seems like a solid distraction. They’ve got her in a long sleeve shirt-dress thing without legs, and that’s a good thing because I’m working with minimal knowledge here.
The nurse said to wipe front to back and to note the diaper on the chart.
That seems simple enough. Grabbing a fresh diaper and the wipes, I toss them in the extra area above her head and eye the straps of her diaper.
I can do this.
I think.
Probably.
“Ahh, shit. I forgot about the umbilical cord thing. I think that was probably traumatic for both of us, but we survived, and we’ll beast mode this diaper change too.” Rolling my shoulders back, I peel the little yellow tabs out of the way and pray for only pee. “Oh, thank God.” I grab the wipes, clean her up, then roll them up in the diaper, tugging it from under her bottom as I go. I chuck it in the garbage can and unwrap the new diaper. “You’re so light, it’s like lifting nothing.” I hold her socked feet and pull her up enough to get the pee holder in place.
Only, I put the damn thing on backward or upside down.
Something is not right.
It’s about this time Gracie decides she’s officially done with my shit. She spits out the pacifier and screeches.
“I didn’t know human beings could make that particular sound, so good job on proving me wrong,” I say, finally getting the diaper situated and fastened. “All right, we did it.” My hand slides under her arm and up her back to support her neck as I lift her again. I’m probably supposed to be washing my hands again, but she’s pissed. Her entire body scrunches as her legs pull up to her chest, and I chuckle. “I was wondering how you fit in there, but it all makes perfect sense now.”
I sway around the room, trying to calm the angry baby.
Arbor comes out of the bathroom with her forearm pushing against her tits. “My boobs heard her before I did.”
I snort, shaking my head.
She’s really cute, and I’m not even going to beat myself up about acknowledging it. It’s just one of those facts of life things—Arbor is fucking adorable, and I’m interested in her.
Arbor squeaks, grabbing the top of her breast as the baby nurses. “That was uncalled for. Random shooting pains during pregnancy. Now even more during breastfeeding?”
I chuckle and take a seat on the edge of her hospital bed. “I swear I’m not creeping on you while you’re trying to feed Gracie. I just wanted to talk to you about something.”
Her eyes widen as she gives a tentative nod, and I feel like a total dick.
“Whoa, it’s nothing bad.” Okay, that’s a lie. Or it might be. I have to find a way to warn her about the insurance stuff before it comes out from someone other than me. “We couldn’t find your insurance card when you were admitted, and I didn’t want you to have to worry about a big bill for the baby.”
Arbor lets out a whooshing sound and groans. “Oh shit, the cramps. Why do they come every time I try to nurse? I mean, I know they’re supposed to be helping shrink my uterus, which might be nice because I still look six months pregnant, but damn, they do not feel great.”
I frown, twisting to lie on my side, facing her. “Can I do anything to help?”
“No, sorry. I didn’t mean to cut you off.”
“It’s all good.” I bring a hand over, tucking her hair behind her ear.
She nuzzles her face to my wrist, and I feel my canines dig into my lower lip. “Do all identical twins share the same scent?”
“What?” I ask, chuckling. “Hayes and I might smell similar, but no one ever describes our scent as identical.”
“Really? You both smell like the weather after a thunderstorm, but with an electric tinge that I’m not sure how to describe. It’s not bad.” She cuddles closer to my forearm. “I really like it. Wow, that sucks almost as bad as the labor contractions.” She hisses, and her eyes clench shut.
Not only is my mind racing, because it sounds like she’s as fond of my scent as I am of hers, but she smells almost exactly the same way to me.
Scooting my chest closer to Gracie’s back as Arbor lies facing me, I ask, “Do you want me to take her?”
“No. She got a good latch this time, and she’s awake. Sorry, I know I’ve been non-stop complaining. I swear I’m not always like this.”
“I complain when I get a hangnail, trust me, you can complain all you need to.” I smirk, studying her big blue eyes. “Back to the other thing. I put down my information for Gracie’s insurance. If it would have helped, I would have tried to cover you, but I think you would have had to already be on the plan before delivering Gracie for it to pay for this hospital stay.”
“Hael,” she whispers as her jaw falls.
“Yeah, I know.” I frown, running my hand down Gracie’s back. “I panicked, okay? I wasn’t trying to be a pushy dick, but—and please don’t take this the wrong way—can you afford to pay for all this out of pocket?”
She flinches, and my chest gets tight. Wow, way to make a questionable situation even worse.
“I didn’t mean that how it sounded,” I say quickly. “I don’t know many people well-off enough to pay for a hospital stay without insurance. That’s all. Come to think of it, I doubt I know anyone who wouldn’t be hurting financially after even an afternoon trip to the ER without insurance.”
She reaches over, giving my shoulder a squeeze. “And I appreciate you trying to help us out, but how would that even work? They let you just add random people’s children onto your health insurance nowadays? Because I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.”
Fuck.
This seemed like such a better plan when my adrenaline was still pounding.
“I listed myself as your emergency contact…” I feel my face heat. Jesus, it’s been years since I blushed, but I bet I’m as red as a tomato. “And I may have put myself down as Gracie’s father.”
She blinks repeatedly, not saying anything, and I grimace.
This is really fucking bad… She’s about to freak out.
“Okay,” she says slowly. “We can fix this. We just update the information before we leave. I’m sure it happens all the time when stress is high.”
“Or you could let me sign the birth certificate,” I blurt out. “I checked into adding a kid onto my plan. All I need to do is be listed on the birth certificate and add her within ninety days to qualify as a life event. Otherwise, I’d have to wait until January, but this way, you won’t have to worry about paying for any of the pediatrician appointments out of pocket.” I give her a look that feels like some combination of pleading and seriously, just listen to what I’m saying. “You heard the baby doctor. They want to see her two days after leaving the hospital, then five days, a week, a month old, two months old?—”
“Yeah, that is more than I was expecting.” She swallows thickly. “But I can’t ask you to do that. That kinda stuff can’t just be taken back, Hael. We would have to go to court to prove she isn’t yours if you ever wanted to take your name off the birth certificate.”
“Hayes and I have an older brother. His name is Jacob, and he was three years old when my dads met my mom. She was working two jobs, bringing him with her to clean offices at night, because that was the only way she could keep the two of them fed and make sure they had a roof over their heads.”
My mom is the sweetest lady you’ll ever meet. She would strip down and give someone the shirt off her back if they needed it. When I was younger, I heard bits and pieces of her story, but it never clicked. Not until I became an adult and realized how badly she struggled. We didn’t grow up rich, but we never wanted for anything we needed. It’s not hard to see that Arbor is in an even worse situation than my mom was.
“It’s not going to hurt me in any way to help you and Gracie. Let me do this one small thing.”
“I don’t want you to get in trouble. Don’t people get arrested for stuff like insurance fraud?”
“Think about it like this,” I say, shrugging. “Who’s going to know it was purposeful? People hook up all the time. All you have to say is you assumed the baby was mine after a one-night stand. Then we didn’t see each other again until you tracked me down nine months later. That still makes providing insurance my responsibility. See what I’m saying?”
I sure fucking hope she does because I’m grasping at straws here.
“Ten months,” she says, licking her lips. “Pregnancy is forty weeks, but I was thirty-eight weeks and a few days, since I didn’t actually make it to my due date.”
“We can do the math later.” I run my fingers over her cheek. “Just let me give the two of you that extra little bit of security.”
She stays silent for so long, I think she’s going to let me down gently again . I’m busy thinking of other ways I can try to convince her when she finally nods.
“Okay.”
Holy shit.
I can’t believe it worked. Now we just need to find a way to casually convince her to come home with us.