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CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE
MEARA
I was stuck at the hospital for three days. The guys objected strenuously when the doctor said he would like to keep me overnight that first night.
“You said she would be home in a matter of hours,” Kent argued.
“That was before the surgery,” the doctor interjected. “It’s a moving target. We just want to make sure that Meara is safe and the baby is healthy.”
“I hate the hospital,” the former athlete muttered.
I closed my eyes, searching for my strength. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m staying right here,” Damien said. He put his hand around mine and squeezed.
I fell back asleep, the medication they gave me winning out. I drifted in and out for a few hours and woke up in time to share a cafeteria dinner with all of my guys. They crowded around the bed, each one with a plastic tray. They ate sandwiches while I ate sliced turkey. It was so tender it just fell apart in my mouth, designed for people with digestive problems. It tasted salty, which was odd. I would have thought the hospital would eschew seasonings of any kind.
Over the next two days, I got stronger. Damien arrived as soon as visiting hours started and stayed for the entire day. He tried to get permission to spend the night, but the hospital was firm. Without a marriage certificate, the best he could do was ten hours.
I tried to get him to go to the office and work, but he wouldn’t listen. Kent and Sean both popped in for lunch and a few hours after work. I could see that the entire situation was stressful for all of them, so as soon as I was able to leave, I jumped at the chance.
They argued about whose house I would go to. I tried to interject and suggest that I go back home to my own apartment. I liked that space. It felt like mine. But Damien was adamant about not letting me stay by myself.
“You could move in with me,” I suggested.
He frowned as if the idea was distasteful. “Why would I do that? All your things are at my house.”
“Not all my things,” I reminded him. There was an equal amount of stuff at both Kent’s and Sean’s apartments.
“I have the biggest place,” Damien asserted.
Sean shrugged. I felt like he was pulling away a little bit, like he had accepted the supposition that because the baby I was carrying was Damien’s that meant Damien had a bigger claim to my heart. That simply wasn’t the case. I loved Damien, and I loved the baby, but I also loved Sean and Kent. It was time to admit that to myself.
Still, I didn’t have the strength to argue. When Damien pushed for me to come home with him and the other guys agreed, I went along with it. I signed myself out, and we picked up the prescriptions necessary for my recovery.
Damien drove me home and helped me through the door. I felt like an old woman and had an insane desire to just shoo him away. But I knew his attention came from a place of love, so I sucked up my objections and allowed him to smother me.
He walked me over to the couch and helped me sit down. He handed me the two remotes and went upstairs to grab a blanket and pillow. I sighed happily. This arrangement beat my apartment hands down. It looked like I had been right to let the boys take care of me. I could count on one hand the number of times I had been given permission to just lie around all day being waited on hand and foot. It felt wicked, and I lapped it up.
Sean and Kent stayed. Damien went to work in his home office while Kent drove to the store for takeout. It had been days since I’d eaten anything other than hospital fare, and I was in the mood for something flavorful. They asked me what I wanted, and I chose pho. There was a little Vietnamese place around the corner of my old apartment, which was not super close.
Kent didn’t grumble. Instead, he grabbed the keys to his car and disappeared, leaving Sean and me alone in the living room. Sean came to sit beside me on the couch, peeling back the covers to examine my waist.
He put a hand on my abdomen as if he was trying to feel the baby. I covered his hand with my own, sandwiching him. It was a beautiful and domestic moment. I was pleased to see the other guys taking just as much interest in my child as Damien. That meant good things for the future of our family. If they could all accept and nurture the baby, then we wouldn’t have to draw lines of demarcation in the sand. I didn’t want the pregnancy to pull us apart; I wanted it to bring us closer together.
“Has it sunk in yet?” Sean asked.
“A little bit,” I answered. “I know I’m pregnant. But I can’t really imagine having a baby this time next year.”
“Me neither,” he whispered.
“I can’t believe how much things have changed in just a few months,” I said, marveling at the newness of my stellar support system.
“Two months ago, I didn’t even know you,” Sean agreed.
“Now we’re involved and about to have a baby.”
He leaned down to kiss my belly button. I sighed happily, running my fingers through his hair. If this was motherhood, I wanted nothing less.
