“Proud of you,” Ryan said.
“Thanks for all your encouragement.”
Ryan nodded, and the others saluted or waved goodbye, and he ended the call.
Now to make his new wife proud by being the ultimate plus-one.
* * *
Gen studiedthe small white stick as Kyle’s voice drifted up the stairs.Smiled.Well, this would make life even more interesting.Already her new role as senior resident in the ED had possessed its highs and lows.Dr.Visek had been fired, which meant she’d taken on supervising his intern along with hers.Adding this complication to the mix would be fun.
But maybe there was wisdom in just getting on with it now.Already Dr.Singh was floating her name for the permanent role that was opening up next year.It would be a lot easier to take a break after her residency was finished and take care of this.Then when they’d had a sufficient number she’d get her tubes tied—or Kyle could get the snip—because obviously she was super fertile.
She smiled.It must’ve happened on their honeymoon on Vancouver Island.That’s what too much time in their harbor-view suite not looking at the view could do.Kyle had booked the Fairmont Empress for when he’d had a weekend off.That had allowed them to take the seaplane trip forty minutes northwest for a short honeymoon of utter bliss.He’d promised a longer vacation—with or without Bella—once the season was done.
But it was either put a rush on the wedding, or live apart until April at the earliest, when the season was over.And they’d already lived apart for too long.So while so many things had been a rush lately, that had been a no-brainer.
As would be his response when she showed him the white stick.
She glanced at the clock.He’d been on the call for way too long now.She needed his attention.So she wrapped her silk robe around her special dress and exited the room.
“Mom, can you help me with my English question please?”Bella called from her bedroom.
Oh.She hadn’t expected to be doing homework when she’d sauntered out like this.“Um, didn’t your father help you with your homework earlier?”
“Yeah, he helped me with my math.”Bella patted Betsy, who was also stretched out on Bella’s bed.“He’s really good at that, isn’t he?”
Gen nodded.“He’s always been good at math.”
Like how one plus one made three.
She smiled, remembering the stick in her bathroom.
“Um, honey, I need to talk to your father about something.Can it wait?Nanna and Poppy will be here any minute and I need to finish getting ready.”
“Yeah, I suppose.I just wanted to get ahead of things so I could be finished first in the class.”
“Oh, sweetie.”Gen clutched her near.“You don’t always have to be first, and you know it’s okay to take a breath and just be.I love you and your father loves you, and most importantly, God loves you just the way you are.”
“I know,” Bella said blithely.“It’s just that if I’m gonna be a surgeon one day I need to make sure I get good marks.”
“I understand.”Only too well.“But remember you only need to do the best you can, and you can always trust God with your future, okay?You don’t have to worry or stress.God holds the future in His hands.Right?”
“Right.”
She kissed her cheek and returned to her room and found Kyle hurriedly changing his clothes.She sat on the bed and watched him, raising her eyebrows suggestively when he stripped off his T-shirt.
“Don’t look at me like that unless you want to get there even later.”
“Hey, I can’t help it if my face talks without my permission.”
He chuckled and moved toward her but she waved him away.“Come on.Hurry up.I might be a lot more relaxed about a lot of things, but I still like to be on time.”
“Have schedule, must stick to it.”
“Most of the time, anyway.”She smiled.
A few minutes later he was changed, and she was awed at how her husband had managed to look so good so quickly while she’d needed hours with the hairstylist so her hair could look like she hadn’t tried.But that was always the way, wasn’t it?Men getting away with things while women had to work twice as hard while dancing backward in heels.
