Chapter Thirty-Two
Iguess never explicitly stating you didn’t want a baby shower was not the best way to go about avoiding one.
I should have suspected something when Adam suggested he take me out for Sunday brunch at a nearby resort hotel. When I gave him a weird look, he’d said something about meeting my mom and Peter there. That seemed more credible, so I went with it without any further questions, probably because my tired brain couldn’t muster up the energy.
But here we were now, on a private patio overlooking the ocean, with my friends and colleagues, pink flowers, balloons and centerpieces everywhere. So much pink.
My girlfriends—April, Jenna, Alex and Katya—the enthusiastic co-hostesses, each accosted me with big hugs and fawning pats on my growing belly.
Alex jumped up and down, wide-eyed. She challenged me accusingly. “You didn’t ever tell me you were friends with celebrities.”
I frowned. “Who do you mean?”
“Well, he’s a big hero, I guess maybe you don’t think of him as a celebrity,” she hastily corrected when I met her with a blank stare.
“Oh,” Kat leaned in. “She means Commander Ty. I just walked by him. He remembered me from the demo I did for the astronauts a couple years back. That was cool.”
I turned back to Alex. “He and Adam are friends. They’ve known each other a long time.”
In turn, I greeted him and his adorable fiancée, Dr. Gray Barrett, a nerd girl after my own heart.
“Congratulations,” Gray said, punctuating her earnest words with a tight hug. “I’m so happy for you two.”
“Way to go, Adam.” Her hunky, national hero boyfriend, Commander Ryan Tyler, slapped my husband on the arm with a wide grin. “It’s yours and Mia’s duty to populate the planet with brilliant people.”
I met Adam’s gaze and though he smiled, I could read it at the back of his eyes. He wouldn’t willingly put himself—or me—through this again, so that re-populating thing was probably out of the question.
Before I could say anything, Adam fired back. “You’ve gotta help out with that burden, Ty. We definitely need more astronauts in the next generation.”
Ty’s brows twitched. “That would require me admitting I was getting old and needed a replacement.”
“Come on, we’re holding up the line,” was Gray’s only response to the male bravado about repopulating the planet. The planet was plenty populated as it was, so we were good.
Next came Lindsay with her boyfriend and a big hug, pointing out how much fun it had been to shop for baby stuff for us.
“Adam, I had no idea that you were friends with Dominic Fischer. Why did you never introduce me to him?” she said semi-jokingly while her significant other had moved on to put their giant gift on the gift table. Typical Lindsay.
Adam appeared extremely amused. “You seem to have done very well for yourself. You don’t need my help.”
“True, true. I’m quite happy but still, you’re full of surprises, aren’t you? Ever secretive, Adam Drake.”
I bit my lip, covering my own amusement. He was so much less so now, at least with me, but I could see where Lindsay was coming from. Adam didn’t share, as a rule. He kept things buried deep and close to the vest, which had me wondering again how things were working for him in therapy. Ever since he’d dropped that little bomb last month, a day had seldom gone by where I hadn’t thought about it.
How on earth did that poor women get him to open up when he was like Fort Knox buried deep under the Lonely Mountain with practically everyone else in his life?
I didn’t envy anyone trying to pry things out of him that he didn’t want to give up. She might as well be deep-earth mining for rare diamonds in South Africa. But the fact that he’d gone on his own without being cajoled or coerced said a lot. Maybe he was ready, now.
The reception line was getting a little tedious, but it was nevertheless wonderful to greet more friends. Louisa, Josh and their beautiful son, Wilder, were in attendance.
Louisa giggled. “Maybe Wilder and your baby girl will go on a date someday.”
The man beside me practically bristled with paternal defensiveness. “A little soon to be talking about dating.”
I sent him a look. Down, boy.
Josh laughed. “Someone’s setting her dating age at forty-three, then, huh?”
“More like a hundred and forty-three.” Adam grinned back at him.
This poor baby, when she hit teenagerhood and started dating. Either she’d have to go on medication, or her father would. I bit my lip. Perhaps we’d have to work slowly on getting him used to the idea well before that point, but we had over a decade before we’d have to worry about it.
Jordan came next with April to give us both yet another hug. Jordan gave Adam a vigorous handshake and kissed me on the cheek with genuine congratulations.
Then he said the most Jordan-thing ever. “There any booze?” Adam and I burst out laughing.
April smacked his arm with the back of her hand. “It’s a baby shower, you idiot.”
He sent her a look. “So...not even beer? Beer comes in bottles. Bottles are baby things.”
April pulled him away, apologizing profusely with laughter in her eyes. Those two laughed a lot, I imagined.
Dom Fischer came next. Adam stepped forward with a big grin. “Wow, glad we could catch you when you weren’t up north.”
He smiled back. “I’m trying to spend more time down here. Family obligations, you know.”
“Thanks so much for the gift. Your assistants notified me that it was dropped off at the new house yesterday but neither of us have had the time to go over and see what it is.”
Dom Fischer was a strikingly handsome man. Tall, dark-haired, gray eyes, strong physique. I could almost feel all the single women’s eyes on him—and some of the men’s, too. He smiled mysteriously. “I completely understand a busy schedule. But I hope you like it. Or more importantly, I hope she likes it.” And he made a gesture toward my stomach.
I smoothed my hand over the generous swell of my belly and smiled. “Whatever it is, I’m sure she will.”
“I have to check in at work today, so please don’t think I’m being rude when I duck out early. I apologize in advance.”
“I’ve never heard that one before,” I drawled sarcastically, shooting a look at my husband. In response, he shrugged sheepishly. “We completely understand. No need to apologize.”
With all our guests greeted, we settled in at tables in the adjacent dining room, ate brunch, listened to live music and chatted. In other circumstances, I might have been too busy to notice that Jordan was obviously up to something. But damn, he was being so obvious, walking up to people I was sure he didn’t know and whipping out his phone every five seconds.
I made a note to ask April about it but she was busy running the stupid baby shower games I would have rather avoided.
Most notably...the notorious candy bar diaper game. Gross.
My co-hostesses passed around numbered baby diapers containing melted chocolate bars that party-goers were then asked to guess the type of candy bar contained therein.
The first time someone pulled a diaper up to their face to get a big sniff, my stomach did a somersault. Ugh. Next someone would be asking if they could get a taste.
Before that happened, I made my great escape.
I nudged Adam and gave him a pointed look without saying a word. I then awkwardly pushed out of my seat and excused myself to the bathroom, making sure to throw another pointed look at my husband in case the subtlety had been lost on him. His head tilted slightly, as if indicating he’d got the message that he should meet me outside.
I was stretching my back in vain when he joined me.
Adam swaggered up with a devilish, devastatingly handsome grin on his face. He pointed to the nearby swimming pool. “Hey, sexy lady. Wanna go skinny dipping with me?”
My eyes narrowed. “I don’t flirt with strangers. My husband would rough you up if he knew.”
He smiled. “Sounds like a mindless brute.” Then, he hooked his arms around me and pulled me in for a kiss.
“Can barely get your arms around my waist anymore, can you?”
He shook his head. “Not true. My arms fit perfectly around you and your gorgeous body.”
I let out a long sigh, feigning irritation. “Stop flirting. You’re distracting me.”
His brows knit. “From what? I thought you just wanted an excuse to get away from the gross baby poop game.”
“It was gross, but it was also a great excuse to sneak off so I could talk to you about something.”
“What are we talking about?”
“Jordan.”
Adam frowned. “What about Jordan? Is he being inappropriate? Should I go rough him up or—even scarier for him—get April to do it?”
I shook my head. “No. He’s fine. But he’s acting weird. Keeps approaching people and walking out of the room with them. It looks hinky, like a multilevel marketing scheme or something.”
Adam gave me a skeptical look. “I wouldn’t put that above Jordan in normal circumstances, but definitely not at our baby shower.”
“Maybe you could find out what he’s up to?”
Adam shrugged. “I’ll try. But you never know, maybe he’s planning some kind of nice surprise for us or the baby or both. We wouldn’t want to spoil that, would we?”
I gave him a look. “You’re Adam Drake. You hate surprises, remember? Even the best ones.”
He nodded, blowing out a breath. “That’s fair.”
We parted ways not too long afterward when Jenna came looking for me because my participation in the next activity was mandatory.
Not too long later, as I was legit headed toward the bathroom, however, Adam found me again. This time the look on his face was one of exasperation.
“I solved the Jordan mystery. He’s got a betting pool going on. Dates and times for the birth.”
I blinked. “What the...what?”
“People are laying down money and the closer the date to the actual due date, the lower the odds. Higher odds for more than two weeks out on either side of the due date. Lower odds around the full moon in December because of statistics. He’s put some real thought into this shit.”
Despite my shock, I burst out laughing. How very Jordan of him to turn the impending birth of our child into a moneymaking scheme. I’d be disappointed with anything less.
“He actually asked me if I wanted to buy in on a slot on New Year’s Day. I said you’d murder me if you found out I was betting on you being that overdue.”
“You aren’t wrong. I’d make myself a widow and a single parent in one fell swoop.”
“Yeah, so on the basis of self-preservation, I declined. But the way he’s got it all figured out shows he did some research and put a lot of thought into it, so there’s that at least.”
“God help April when and if they ever decide to have a kid because...wow. That’s about as intense as your disgusting kale shakes.”
He held up a finger. “Don’t diss the kale shakes. They are completely healthy and good for you. So, they’re a little disgusting and made you nauseous but that’s beside the point.”
I peered at him through narrowed eyes. “Not for me, it isn’t.”
He laughed and pulled me into his arms, kissing me on the top of my head. That’s how Jordan found us.
“Get a room, you two. I’d also say get protection but it’s too late for that.” He threw us both his signature sly-charming grin. Sometimes, through all his bravado, I could see what the ladies who fell at his feet like dominoes saw. But most often I found him endearingly annoying. Like right now, for example.
“So, what’s this about a birth date pool?” I folded my arms across my chest, resting them on my prominent baby bump.
Jordan looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights, throwing my husband a glance that said something like, et tu, Adam?
“Hey, dude. I had to blab. You know the adage—or may understand it very soon, anyway—happy wife, happy life.”
“Yeah, but happy best friend happy—oh I don’t know, I’m not as witty as you two. Just know that someone’s going to make a lot of money off the impending arrival of your sweet little girl, and it will most likely be someone you love.”
“Not if you’re the winner,” I quipped back with a teasing smile.
Jordan put a hand over his heart and deadpanned in the most sincere-sounding voice, “Mia, you wound me, you honestly do.”
I smirked at him but moved up to give him a hug anyway. “I’m quite sure that I have not affected that black heart of yours in the least.”
He belted out a laugh, then leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. “Do me a favor and pass every bit of that snark down to your daughter. It will do me good to know that Adam is constantly being dressed down by his women at home.”
On further discussion, I discovered that nearly everyone had bought into the birth date pool—including my own mother. Though no one would tell me what dates they’d placed their bet on for fear of jinxing it. As if I had any control over the situation. Though I had half a mind to foil them all and pick a time no one had bet on to schedule a c-section.
And did my eyes deceive me, but when he thought I wasn’t looking, I saw Adam hand Jordan a twenty. I decided not to ask about it. But he better not have bought into that New Year’s slot.
After managing the transfer of gifts with the hotel coordinator, which was, really the only task we were left to do since our hostesses were that good, we made our way to the hotel exit. We were moving slowly, exhausted and ready to hunker down for the rest of the day at home.
Before that happened, however, Louisa ran into me on my way out. Josh had already taken Wilder to the car.
Her expression was serious enough that I paused and asked Adam to supervise loading the presents up for transport. Then, she led me back out on the patio where we had privacy and lowered her voice so we wouldn’t be overheard by the cleanup crew.
“I know you’re about to go on maternity leave soon, but I wanted you to know that I walked in on a really upset nurse who’s on my psychiatry rotation.”
Iverson was on that rotation with her. I mouthed his name to Louisa and she nodded slowly, giving me a look. He’d been keeping his distance from me, not even speaking or looking at me since I’d announced to my colleagues that I was pregnant.
I’d counted myself lucky and hoped it meant the end of his weird inappropriate behavior. Perhaps he’d moved that to some other target, however.
“She feels like no one’s going to pay attention to a nurse complaining about a doctor—even if he’s just a resident. You know how patriarchal shit gets in a hospital—especially with white, male doctors.”
I took a deep breath, let it go, and glanced toward the inside of the hotel to make sure my husband wasn’t remotely within earshot. “I should say something, so they take her complaint seriously.”
Louisa watched me carefully. “It would absolutely help her case. I think he’s been really forward with her and may have even asked her out.”
I blinked. “That’s not even remotely appropriate.”
“No, it’s not. If he goes unchecked, think about how shitty he’s going to be to his own staff in the future, if he’s this bad as a goddamn resident.”
I clenched my jaw and relaxed it. “Okay. Go ahead and tell her she’s not alone. I’ll file a complaint. I was prepared to do it but I kept second-guessing myself because this guy is like death by a thousand cuts. No one thing he’s done or said was enough to complain but adding it all up makes it something more.”
“Hostile workplace at the very least. His future colleagues and staff would thank you for it, if they ever knew, which they won’t.”
I nodded, inhaling deeply and feeling a new conviction settle in deep inside. “Okay...anything to help out my fellow female healthcare workers.”
Louisa leaned in and pulled me into a hug. “I love that you’re so brave, and I’m not sure I would be, in your place.”
“Thankfully, in this instance at least, you’ve been spared.” I returned the hug and stepped away. Louisa met back up with Josh and Adam was waiting for me by the front desk.
He cast me a questioning glance and I just shrugged. “She had some words of advice for me.” I rubbed my belly to misdirect his thoughts. None of that was a lie, and he didn’t need to go into beast-mode husband by knowing all the details.
I had no intention of giving the father of my daughter a reason to get thrown in jail before she was even born.
That night, I pulled out my laptop and composed my email describing Dr. Iverson’s behavior. A cold lump of dread formed in my stomach as I briefly described his words and actions, consulting my documentation file. And I honestly wondered why I’d waited until now to do it, in support of someone else instead of feeling this indignation for myself.
It seemed I had a lot to learn and as a woman in a still patriarchal world, I doubted this would be the last time I’d be in a position like this, unfortunately.
I only hoped this would do some good.